Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies
"Pull a thread here and you'll find it's attached to the rest of the world."
Nadeem Aslam, The Wasted Vigil
The Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (CLCS) major invites students to think about the nature, function and impact of storytelling in a globalized world. The topic-based courses in CLCS take the insights of how narrative works in different literary genres and linguistic traditions and applies them to other fields, such as law, environmental studies, history, film and visual culture, and politics. In other words, we not only deploy literature as a window on the world, but ask how the world is molded by the stories we tell about it. To do this, students explore the categories of race, class, gender, sexuality and age to guide their critical thinking and understanding of culture as an ever-evolving entity that demands continuous acts of interpretation, negotiation, and creativity.
By offering theoretical approaches to literature, film and culture across four languages, and by supporting work in the creative fields, we train our students to become nuanced critics of the narrative forms and structures that provide the framework for cultural phenomena. By comparing a wide range of cultural narratives, CLCS majors gain a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural perspective on contemporary challenges such as migration, food sustainability, and identity politics as they learn to navigate multiple discourses and to propose creative, ethical responses.
This approach is not only theoretical and creative, but also experiential and hands-on, with onsite travel courses and professional pathways playing a key role in student learning. On Academic Travel, for instance, CLCS majors study how collective memory in the wake of the Holocaust is shaped in Poland, Germany and France; they consider how capital cities like Paris and Berlin become protagonists of our lives and narratives; and they study how landscapes influence notions of belonging and self in Morocco and Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Another way that students transform the knowledge that they gain in the classroom is through pathways. Students either design their own pathway in consultation with their CLCS advisor, or they choose from one of three pathways that give them the opportunity to investigate human rights and policy; ethics, food and sustainability; or storytelling and performance across media. In each pathway, a key CLCS course leads into a number of courses in related disciplines so as to afford interdisciplinary, creative or professional perspectives. Those who wish to gain hands-on experience in the field are encouraged to complete an internship option.
Our graduates have analytical, expressive and problem-solving skills; they are creative and understand how to navigate across disciplines and cultures. These are skills that do not become obsolete and are valuable in today's job markets. Their year-long capstone experience writing a substantive thesis or embarking on an extensive internship set them up for the most rigorous academic and professional contexts. The professions embarked on by CLCS students have included careers in education, publishing, creative fields, law, cultural consultancy and diplomacy, media production, political advocacy and government, and business. CLCS graduates have been successfully admitted to advanced degree programs, in various academic areas, at excellent universities around the world including most recently Emerson College, The University of British Columbia, Cambridge, and Columbia University.
Major Requirements (42 Credits)
The Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (CLCS) major curriculum is interdisciplinary and topic-based, providing in-depth exploration of specific cultural phenomena. Interdisciplinary streams designed to link to specific professional pathways further distinguish the CLCS major in its flexibility and responsiveness to student initiatives. Students participate in the design of the professional pathways by choosing three additional courses in consultation with CLCS faculty and their advisor.
Foundation Courses (6 credits)
Two of the following:
| CLCS 100 | The Stories We Live By | 3 |
| CLCS 110 | Reading Cultures: Approaches to Cultural Studies | 3 |
| CLCS 120 | Introduction to Creative Writing | 3 |
| CLCS 150T | Reading Film on Location | 3 |
Major Electives (18 credits)
200-level courses
Three of the following:
| CLCS 105T | Paris Protagonist: Lost in Translation | 3 |
| CLCS 200 | Gender and Sexuality in a Global Context | 3 |
| CLCS 216 | Opera: When Music Meets Literature | 3 |
| CLCS 220T | Inventing the Past: The Uses of Memory in a Changing World | 3 |
| CLCS 225 | Music and Popular Culture from the 1950s to the 1990s | 3 |
| CLCS 230 | Science / Fiction: Envisioning the Possible | 3 |
| CLCS 236T | Prague on the Page | 3 |
| CLCS 238T | Reading the Postcolonial City: Berlin and Hamburg | 3 |
| CLCS 241 | Forbidden Acts: Queer Studies and Performance | 3 |
| CLCS 242 | Representations of Poverty in Literature | 3 |
| CLCS 243 | The Cultural Politics of Sports | 3 |
| CLCS 247T | French Cultural Institutions: Power and Representation | 3 |
| CLCS 248T | European Food Systems: You Are Where You Eat | 3 |
| CLCS 250 | Ecocritical Approaches to Film | 3 |
| CLCS 251T | Reading Moroccan Culture | 3 |
| CLCS 253T | On Refugees: Representations, Politics and Realities of Forced Migration: Greece | 3 |
| CLCS 254 | Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures and Theories | 3 |
| CLCS 275 | Literature and the Land: Aotearoa-New Zealand | 3 |
| IS 274 | Italian and Italian-American Cinema | 3 |
| IS 278 | Italian Genre Crossings, Transmedia, and Hybridity | 3 |
| IS 280T | Italian Cinema on Location: Projections of the Eternal City in Italian Film and Cultural Studies | 3 |
300-level courses
Three of the following:
| CLCS 300 | Masculinities in Literature and Film | 3 |
| CLCS 310T | The Culture of Cities: From Roman Garrisons to Industrial Chic | 3 |
| CLCS 312 | Contraband: Censorship and Book Banning Over the Last Two Centuries | 3 |
| CLCS 315 | Slavery and Its Cultural Legacies | 3 |
| CLCS 316T | Transatlantic Slave Trade: Ghana | 3 |
| CLCS 320 | Culture, Class, Cuisine: Questions of Taste | 3 |
| CLCS 322 | Translation Theory: Staging the Page | 3 |
| CLCS 325 | Advanced Creative Writing Workshop | 3 |
| CLCS 330 | The Politics of Mobility: Exile and Immigration | 3 |
| CLCS 331 | Narrative Ecologies: The Uses of Environmental Humanities | 3 |
| CLCS 332 | Affective Narratives in the Age of Environmental Degradation | 3 |
| CLCS 335 | Hauntings | 3 |
| CLCS 340 | Fashion and Visual Culture | 3 |
| CLCS 350 | Culture and Human Rights | 3 |
| CLCS 360 | Critical Race Studies in a Global Context | 3 |
CLCS 370
| Topics in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies | 3 |
| CLCS 371 | Law and Culture | 3 |
| CLCS 372 | Tales of Catastrophe | 3 |
| FRE 324 | Postcolonial Franco-Maghrebi Literature: Exile, Margins, and Re-Territorialization | 3 |
| FRE 353 | Representations of Immigration in Francophone Literature and Film | 3 |
| FRE 374 | Introduction to French Cinema | 3 |
| FRE 376 | French Cinema: The New Wave | 3 |
GER 370
| Topics in German Literature and Culture | 3 |
| GER 372 | Postcolonial Switzerland | 3 |
| GER 374 | Strangers in Paradise?: Historical and Cultural Texts on Immigration into Switzerland | 3 |
| GER 376 | Screening Swissness: An Introduction to Swiss-German Film | 3 |
| ITA 350 | Topics in Italian Cultural Studies | 3 |
| ITA 370 | Readings in Italian Literature | 3 |
| ITA 373 | Italian Film and Society | 3 |
| ITA 374 | Italian Cinema | 3 |
Experiential Pathways and Interdisciplinary Approaches (12 credits)
Four courses either self-designed in close consultation with their advisor or within one of three pathways as designated below to complement one topic-based CLCS course already completed in the major courses. One of these professional pathway courses may take the form of an Internship (CLCS 498). Individually designed professional pathways must be approved by the advisor. Please note that upper-division courses may have prerequisites.
Professional Pathways
One of the following:
Food and Sustainability Pathway
Foundation Course
One of the following:
| CLCS 248T | European Food Systems: You Are Where You Eat | 3 |
| CLCS 320 | Culture, Class, Cuisine: Questions of Taste | 3 |
Specific Courses
Three of the following:
| COM 230T | Communication, Fashion, and the Formation of Taste (Italy) | 3 |
| CLCS 498 | Capstone: Internship in CLCS | 3 |
| ENV 200 | Understanding Environmental Issues | 3 |
| ENV 220 | Ecocritical Approaches to Literature | 3 |
| SJS 100 | Sustainability and Social Justice: Ethics, Equality, and Environments | 3 |
Human Rights, Law, and the Non-Profit Sector Pathway
Foundation Course
One of the following:
Specific Courses
Three of the following:
| BUS 135 | Introduction to Business Systems | 3 |
| CLCS 254 | Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures and Theories | 3 |
| CLCS 498 | Capstone: Internship in CLCS | 3 |
| HIS 325 | Human Rights in History | 3 |
| POL 321 | International Organization | 3 |
| POL 398 | Human Rights in International Law and Politics | 3 |
| PSY 220 | Multicultural Psychology | 3 |
Storytelling and Performance Pathway
Foundation Course
One of the following:
| CLCS 230 | Science / Fiction: Envisioning the Possible | 3 |
| CLCS 241 | Forbidden Acts: Queer Studies and Performance | 3 |
| CLCS 325 | Advanced Creative Writing Workshop | 3 |
Specific Courses
Three of the following:
| AHT 334 | Artists' Biopics | 3 |
CLCS 370
| Topics in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies | 3 |
| CLCS 498 | Capstone: Internship in CLCS | 3 |
| IS 278 | Italian Genre Crossings, Transmedia, and Hybridity | 3 |
| IS 280T | Italian Cinema on Location: Projections of the Eternal City in Italian Film and Cultural Studies | 3 |
Capstone Requirement (6 credits)
The CLCS capstone includes a first semester of research in preparation for the second semester of thesis or internship work.
| CLCS 497 | Capstone: Comprehensive Readings in CLCS | 3 |
One of the following:
A thesis is recommended for students interested in pursuing graduate studies. An internship is recommended for students interested in entering a professional field. Students should take the first capstone course in their penultimate semester or in the second semester of their junior year.
It is strongly recommended that CLCS majors take at least one Academic Travel course with a CLCS designation.