Diverse cultural forces – political, aesthetic, economic, technological and ideological – produce all texts. At the same time, though, we use such texts to invent, contest and remake our cultures from moment to moment. The Cultural Studies model invites students to explore these processes of cultural production, the challenges involved in conceptualizing them and the possibilities for transforming them.
The model organizes its approach to the English major by identifying five areas of questions: (1) the general domain of questions posed by critical and cultural theory; (2) the issues raised by specific forms and genres – from epic to romance, and from film noir to the sitcom – as the shaping devices through which cultures represent their conflicts and aspirations to themselves; (3) the questions that emerge at the intersection of forms of cultural production and a variety of social differences – for example, racial, ethnic, gendered, national, and sexual; (4) questions regarding the different configurations of material, social and economic relations of technology that obtain in oral, manuscript, print, film and electronic cultures; (5) problems having to do with the historical study of the transformations from medieval to early modern, modern and postmodern forms of culture.
Note: an asterisk placed by a course title indicates that it will not always fulfill the requirements of the heading under which it has been listed since it is a variable topics course. Check with an English department advisor to make sure that the course fulfills the requirement in question.
One course on The Practices of Cultural Studies:
- LIT 4483 Issues & Methods in Cultural Studies
- LIT 4930 Variable Topics (when appropriate)*
One course on Critical and Cultural Theory:
- ENG 3010 Modern Criticism
- ENG 3011 Major Theorists
- ENG 3115 Intro to Film: Criticism & Theory
- ENG 4015 Psych. Approaches
- LIT 4233 Postcolonial Literature, Culture, & Theory
- LIT 4554 Feminist Theories
One course on Forms and Genres:
- AML 4170 Am Literary Forms
- AML 4453 Am. Lit. & Culture*
- ENG 3113 Movies as Narrative Art
- ENG 4060 Hist. of Eng. Lang.
- ENG 4310 Film Genres, Directors, & Periods*
- LIT 3003 Forms of Narrative
- LIT 3031 Studies in Poetry
- LIT 3041 Studies in Drama
- LIT 4322 The Folktale
- LIT 4331 Children’s Literature
One course on Difference and Cultural Production:
- AML 3284 Amer. Women’s Lit.
- AML 3285 Var. Surveys of American Literatures*
- AML 3605 African Am. Lit. I
- AML 3607 African Am. Lit. II
- AML 4282 Genders & Sexualities in Am. Lit/Cult.
- AML 4685 Race/Ethnicity in Am. Lit & Cult.
- ENG 4130 Race/Ethnicity in Film
- ENG 4134 Women & Film
- LIT 3173 Jewish Literature
- LIT 3383 Women in Literature
- LIT 4194 Afr Lit. in English
- LIT 4188 World English Language Literatures
At least two courses on Technologies of Cultural Production:
One each from two of the following categories:
(a) Oral
(b)Writing/Print
- LIT 4930 Var. Topics (when appropritate)
(c) Film
- ENG 3121 Hist of the Film, I
- ENG 3122 Hist of the Film, II
- ENG 3125 Hist of the Film, III
- ENG 4110 Film Genres, Directors, & Periods
- ENG 4130 Race/Ethnicity in Film
- ENG 4133 Film Studies
- ENG 4134 Women & Film
- ENG 4135 National Cinemas
- ENG 4136 Film/Video Prod.*
(d) Electronic Culture
- ENC 3414 Hypermedia
- ENG 4136 Film/Video Prod.*
- ENG 4139 Television & Electronic Culture
At least two courses on Historical Areas in the Study of Culture – one each from two of the following categories:
a) Cultural Studies in the Medieval Period
- ENL 3210 Medieval English Lit.
- ENL 4311 Chaucer
(b) Cultures of Early Modernity
- AML 4213 Am. Col-Fed. Per.
- ENL 3230 Age of Dryden & Pope
- ENL 4220 Ren. Lit: 16th C
- ENL 4221 Ren. Lit: 17th C
- ENL 4333 Shakespeare
(c) Cultures of Modernity
- AML 3031 Am. Literatures I
- AML 3041 Am. Literatures II
- AML 3284 Am. Women’s Lit.
- AML 3285 Var Surveys of Am. Lit.*
- AML 3605 African Amer. Lit. I
- AML 3607 African Amer. Lit. II
- AML 4225 19th-C Am Lit/Cult
- AML 4242 20th-C Am Lit/Cult
- AML 4282 Genders & Sexualities in Am Lit/Cult*
- AML 4311 Major Figures of Amer. Lit. & Culture*
- AML 4453 Am. Lit. & Culture*
- AML 4685 Race & Ethnicity in Amer. Lit. & Culture*
- ENG 3121 History of Film, I
- ENG 3122 History of Film, II
- ENG 4110 Film Genres, Directors & Periods*
- ENG 4133 Film Studies*
- ENG 4135 National Cinemas*
- ENL 3112 Eng. Novel 18th C
- ENL 3122 Eng. Novel: 19th C
- ENL 3132 Eng. Novel 20th C
- ENL 3154 20th-C British Poetry
- ENL 3240 Romantic Period
- ENL 3251 Victorian Literature
- ENL 3350 The Age of Johnson
- ENL 4273 20th-C British Lit
- LIT 3043 Mod. Drama
- LIT 3362 Age of Avant-Garde*
(d) Cultures of Postmodernity
- AML 4170 Amer. Lit Forms*
- AML 4242 20th-C Am Lit/Cult*
- AML 4282 Am. Genders & Sexualities in Am Lit/Cult*
- AML 4311 Major Figures of Am. Lit/Cult*
- AML 4453 Am Lit/Cult*
- AML 4685 Race & Ethnicity in Am. Lit/Cult*
- ENG 4135 National Cinemas*
- ENG 4136 Film/ Video Prod.
- ENG 4139 TV & Electronic Culture
- ENG 4310 Film Genres, Directors & Periods*
- ENL 3132 Eng Novel 20th C*
- ENL 3154 20th-C Brit Poetry*
- ENL 4273 20th-C British Lit.*
The remaining 2 courses should be taken from one group in order to consolidate an area of concentration within the Cultural Studies model. Although a single course may be listed in more than one group, a student may not take a single course to satisfy the requirements of more than one group.
Faculty
Department of English faculty who regularly teach courses in this model include:
- Marsha Bryant – 20th-Century Literature & Culture (American & British), Poetry, Women’s Literature, Visual Culture
- Kim Emery – U.S. Literatures & Culture, Queer Studies, Semiotics
- Pamela Gilbert – Victorian Literature & History, The Novel, Women’s Literature, Cultural Studies
- Tace Hedrick – Chicana/o & Latina/o Studies, Feminist Theory, Feminist Art History, Women’s Studies
- Susan Hegeman – American Studies, Modernism, Literature & Anthropology
- Kenneth Kidd – 19th-Century Literature & Culture, Children’s Literature & Media, Lesbian & Gay Studies
- Leah Rosenberg – Anglophone Caribbean Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Cultural Studies
- Jodi Schorb – Early American Literatures & Cultures, Gender Studies, Lesbian & Gay Studies, Criminal Narratives
- Stephanie Smith – 19th-Century American Literature, Feminist Theory, Fiction, Fiction Writing