I am very happy to learn that Universidad Francisco Marroquín has a new MA in History (official website in Spanish).

It seems that the program will be leaded by the Sociologist Carlos Sabino and the Institute of Political Studies and International Relations – link in Spanish (from where I got my BA).  The focus of the MA is in the teaching of methodological methods to research history topics and current historiography.

Some of the courses they will offer are:

• Methodology and Research Skills
• History of Political Thought
• History of Guatemala I, II
• History of Latin America
• Economic History I
• History of the 20th Century

Some of its faculty are:

• Cox, Glenn David: M. A. Pedagogy and Human Development; University of California. B. A. History; University of California.
• Sabino, Carlos: PhD in Social Sciences; Universidad Central de Venezuela. BA  Sociology; Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires.

The MA seems to be focused on the methodological research skills in History. I am certainly not a huge fan of Methodologies in Research and would have many things to question in regard to the focus of this M.A.  Also, the Euro-centric structure of the Program is something I really do not like.

This is a great step for UFM and Guatemala.  I am certain that in the following years we’ll see a change of how the M.A. programs of Social Sciences and History will evolve from such Methodology centered and Eurocentric studies into new fields of Global History, Migration Studies, Transnational Politics, International Commerce & Globalization.

I celebrate this new M.A. program in a country that needs the knowledge of Researchers and Postgraduate students urgently.