Portuguese Studies
The Portuguese Studies Minor is an interdisciplinary minor that enables students to study the language, societies, politics, and cultures of the modern Lusophone world. Over 250 million people speak Portuguese, spread out around the globe on five different continents. It is the fourth most commonly spoken language in the world, and the first most spoken in the southern hemisphere. In Massachusetts, there are more than half a million people of Lusophone ancestry, and many more immigrants in communities from Cape Cod to Gloucester. Massachusetts is directly connected to the Lusophone world through its ties to communities in Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Macau, and Goa.
The Portuguese Studies minor allows students to explore the Lusophone world in all of its complexity. Students can choose from a range of courses on the language, literature, film, culture, economies, politics, and societies of the Lusophone world. Students are encouraged to study abroad as part of the minor and we work closely with students who are eager to find internship or work opportunities where they can use their Portuguese skills.
Students in Portuguese Studies go onto careers in the government, medicine, Foreign Service, social work, business, teaching, and translation.