Literary and Cultural Studies

Undergraduate Curriculum

A major in Literary and Cultural Studies prepares students to pursue advanced degrees in literature and its allied academic disciplines. It is also appropriate preparation for any profession that emphasizes critical analysis and effective oral and written communication. A minor in Literary and Cultural Studies may be taken to enhance majors in humanities, social sciences, or interdisciplinary programs.

Requirements for Major (Revised Fall 2004)
Students can follow one of two tracks in fulfilling the major requirements for Literary and Cultural Studies.

A cultural studies concentration requires successful completion of a minimum of 36 credits. Of these, no more than 7 credit hours can be in courses numbered below 300 (including the required course, LCST 201). The distribution of courses is as follows:

  • A core for all majors of four courses totaling 12-13 credits: namely, Literary and Cultural Studies 201, 301, 302, and 401.
  • A minimum of 23 additional credits, chosen in consultation with a member of the Literary and Cultural Studies faculty to form a coherent program of study.

A film studies concentration also requires successful completion of a minimum of 36 credits. Of these, no more than 11 credit hours can be in courses numbered below 300(including the required courses, FILM 150/250 and FILM 251). The distribution of courses is as follows:

  1. Fulfillment of the requirements for the Film minor (18 credits).
  2. Completion of LCST 302 and 401 (6-7 credits).
  3. A minimum of 12 additional credits chosen in consultation with a member of the Film Studies Advisory Committee to form a coherent program of study. These classes may consist entirely of additional elective courses on film but can also include courses in such departments as Anthropology, English, History, and Modern Languages and Literatures that add significantly to the student’s understanding of the cultural contexts in which this twentieth-century art form has been produced.

Note: LCST 401 can also be counted toward requirement # 1 if the seminar is predominantly concerned with film. In those cases when LCST 401 is counted toward requirement # 1, requirement # 3 changes from a minimum of 12 to 15 additional credits.

  • For both concentration tracks, as well as for the minor, any additional courses taken in Literary and Cultural Studies, such as a special topics course (LCST 351) or an additional upper-level seminar (LCST 401), automatically count toward the major.
  • A student who satisfies all requirements for majoring in Literary and Cultural Studies also satisfies the Major Writing Requirement.
  • The Computing Proficiency Requirement is satisfied by successful completion of LCST 301.
  • English majors may include Literary and Cultural Studies 201 and 301 in the first 36 credits of their major program, but must explicitly alert the Registrar's Office that they wish these courses to count toward their English major.
  • Majors are encouraged to take an Independent Study (LCST 481). Students with the appropriate qualifications can also pursue Honors in Literary and Cultural Studies: once their proposal is approved by an advisor and by the Program Director, they will be enrolled during their senior year in LCST 495 and 496.

Language Requirements
Not every cross-cultural and interdisciplinary program of study completed under the rubric of Literary and Cultural Studies will require the advanced knowledge of another language that is necessary in order to take most upper-level literature courses in the departments of Classical Studies or Modern Languages and Literatures. However, students are strongly urged to take at least one upper-level course in a foreign language, if it is in any way appropriate to their program of study. Knowledge of at least one foreign language not only facilitates the comparative sort of inquiry that is central to Literary and Cultural Studies, it is also a prerequisite of graduate-level study in every literary discipline, including English.

Requirements for Minor
Students majoring in the humanities, social sciences or interdisciplinary programs can choose to supplement their major with an add-on minor in Literary and Cultural Studies. This minor requires a minimum of 18 credits: 9-10 credits being the three core courses (201, 301, 401) and the remaining credits being elective courses that in some way enhance and broaden the scope of the student's major; these electives, all of which must be numbered 300 and above, are to be chosen in consultation with a member of the Advisory Committee. (Courses from the department in which the student is majoring cannot be counted toward the minor; in the case of students majoring in other interdisciplinary programs, courses being counted toward the student's major requirements cannot also be counted toward the LCST minor.)

Students majoring in the natural sciences may also obtain a Literary and Cultural Studies minor by petitioning the Advisory Committee and arguing for its relevance to their own concentration.