Tracks

The  Master of Arts in the Study of the Americas at the City College of New York offers students a liberal arts degree, in step with the most cutting-edge trends in interdisciplinary education. For undergraduates in our program, we also offer the possibility to earn both a BA and an MA in the Study of Americas in less time.

The Human Rights track provides a deep, critical, and interdisciplinary understanding of human rights issues. The track offers graduate course options that approach the field of human rights and practice from multiple disciplinary and thematic perspectives within the regionally diverse geography of the Americas, thus enabling comparative and international perspectives. Students in this track benefit from a range of human rights initiatives at the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies: the Frances S. Patai Program in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights The Americas Film Festival of New, whose focus is cinema that deals with human rights; the Rights Talk podcast, hosted by Prof.  Danielle A. Zach, as well as the tri-divisional Human Rights Forum and Human Rights Conference.

Students in this track will be able to conduct and apply original research, use technological tools appropriately, and communicate with varied audiences effectively. In particular, by giving students an appreciation of grave human rights violations as well as recent normative and institutional developments within and across borders, this track contributes to advancing one of the core missions of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies: to encourage global citizenship. 

The program requires seven electives, two foundational courses, and either a thesis or a capstone. The Human Rights track comprises four elective courses among the seven required electives.

RIGHTS TALK 🎧  Podcast

With authoritarianism, nationalism, and xenophobia on the rise, gaping global wealth disparities, and the accelerating climate emergency, human rights appear increasingly fragile. Rights Talk is devoted to engaging contemporary challenges around the world across the human rights spectrum of civil and political rights; economic, social, and cultural rights; and solidarity rights, including to a safe and healthy environment. The podcast invites critical perspectives and questions the future of rights in the twenty-first century.

LATEST EPISODES

E38: "The UN in the 21st Century: Challenges and Contributions with CUNY Graduate Center Presidential Prof. Emeritus Thomas G. Weiss
E37: "Discontent on the African Continent: Youth, Inequality, and Rural Radicalism with CUNY Baruch Prof. Zachariah Mampilly
E36: "‘Power and Politics Lead, Rights Follow’: Advancing Rights in the 21st Century" with Columbia University’s Prof. Jack Snyder
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The Master of Arts in the Study of the Americas provides a broad, continental perspective on the region. Within this framework, the Dominican Studies track offers a focused examination of the place where the Americas began. Unique in its kind, it is the first graduate program in the United States to offer a comprehensive, specially designed curriculum in Dominican Studies.

This track enables students to develop advanced knowledge of the Dominican people in both the United States and the Dominican Republic. It explores the formation of Dominican identity from pre-Columbian times to the present, the role of La Española in shaping Latin America and the Caribbean, the interactions between colonial empires and the Dominican people, historical relationships with Haiti, and patterns of Dominican migration and community formation in the United States.

Students gain direct access to primary sources, including the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute’s unique archives on Dominicans in the United States, as well as extensive collections of 15th- and 16th-century manuscripts related to La Española and the wider Americas. The program also provides foundational paleographical training to read early Spanish manuscripts.

In addition, the track prepares graduates to pursue doctoral studies in fields such as the social sciences, humanities, and education, while also strengthening the credentials of those already in the workforce. It equips students with specialized knowledge applicable to growing professional sectors, including NGOs, public administration, nonprofit organizations, civil and human services, health and education, entertainment, and international relations.