Director: Kate Rigby
Comparative literature investigates literature in ways which
go beyond particular national or linguistic boundaries. Comparative literary
studies are of two main kinds: substantive studies of the literature of two or
more languages or literary cultures; and generalising studies of the literary
process itself, for example literary history or the sociology of literature.
Particular research strengths include: European, Asian and Latin American
literature; romanticism, modernism and postmodernism; literature and
philosophy; and comparative literary theory. Postgraduate students are expected
to read literary texts in the original language. Applications are encouraged
from students with good linguistic abilities.
Cultural studies is the study of cultural texts, spaces and practices in
relation to their various social, historical and ideological contexts. It is a
field that has been at the cutting edge of research and debate in the
humanities over the past 20 years. There are two main variants of cultural
studies at Monash: the study of popular cultural text normally excluded from
the canons of high art and literature (for example popular fiction, popular
cinema and television); and the study of canonical art and literature in
relation to its social, historical and ideological context. Particular research
strengths include postcolonial culture, genre studies, graphic novels, New
Hollywood, Japanese popular culture, science fiction and cyberculture. Cultural
studies at Monash is both comparative and theoretical in approach. It seeks to
identify and examine the binary oppositions between high and low culture and to
make use of a broad range of theoretical perspectives.
Critical theory is a term which has come to signify a number of
contemporary approaches to textual and cultural criticism. These include:
hermeneutics and reception theory; Marxism, feminism and psychoanalysis;
semiotics, structuralism and poststructuralism; postcolonial, postmodern and
post-humanist theory. Such theories have been central to recent work in
literary and cultural studies, but also to such related fields as anthropology,
performance studies, philosophy and sociology. Critical theory at Monash has
particularly strong research interests in ecophilosophy and ecofeminism,
cultural materialism, deconstruction, feminist critical theory, hermeneutics
and psychoanalysis.
The Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies runs a regular
research seminar program, which has hosted a wide range of scholars from
Australia and overseas. Postgraduate candidates are expected to participate in
this seminar program.
Visit the centre's website at
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/cclcs/postgraduate/.
Supervision is available in the centre's three main areas of work: comparative literature, comparative cultural studies and critical theory. Particular research strengths include comparative European, East Asian and Latin American literary studies; modernism, postmodernism and the avant-garde; utopia, dystopia and science fiction; contemporary cultural theory; popular fiction and popular culture; feminist theory, especially feminism and psychoanalysis; ecocriticism and ecofeminism; poststructuralist literary theory and semiotics; contemporary French and German philosophy; literature, philosophy and aesthetics, especially Adorno, Benjamin, Blanchot, Deleuze, Derrida, Gadamer, Kristeva, Levinas and Lyotard; literature, politics and society, especially Baudrillard, Bourdieu, Foucault, Jameson and Williams.
Candidates
working in comparative literature, cultural studies or critical theory may take
the degrees of PhD and Master of Arts by research only. The degrees of PhD and
Master of Arts may also be taken by a combination of research and coursework in
the discipline of critical theory. For further information, refer to the
research masters degrees and Doctor of Philosophy entries in the Arts research
section and
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/prospective/postgraduate/disciplines/.
The PhD by research only, MA by 100% research, MA by 66% research and
coursework and masters qualifying with research component can be commenced
mid-year.
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