PhD in Spanish Language and Spanish and Hispanic American Literature

The Graduate Program in Spanish Language and Spanish and Hispano-American Literature (PPGLELEHA) was created in 1977 and at the time had four doctors in charge of supervision. The first courses began in 1978 and, in 1980, another doctor joined the group. The Program began to receive doctoral students from 1984 and, in 1985, the first dissertations were defended. At that time, as all advisors were specialists in Spanish Literature or Hispano-American Literature, the research carried out in the Program was basically concentrated in these areas.

In 1986, the Program was recognized and accredited by CAPES, starting to work at the master's and doctoral level. From that moment on, it began to receive candidates from other Brazilian public universities and also from Spanish-American countries.

Due to the lack of specialists in linguistic studies of Spanish, the Program was unable to develop this area for several years. The picture changed in 1999, when three Ph.D.s in Linguistics, whose research was centered on the Spanish language, joined the Program. Since then, lines of research and specific projects have been created for the area in question.

Translations of works of Spanish or Hispano-American literature - annotated and prefaced by literary studies - have been carried out in the Program for several decades, especially at the master's level. In the early 2000s, research lines in the Spanish language also began to host student projects (at the master's and doctoral level) focused on translation issues, with a more linguistic orientation. The process of strengthening and diversifying this research in the Program culminated, in 2008, with the creation of an area dedicated to Translation Studies.