Director: Dr Christopher Worth
Graduate coordinator: Associate Professor Andrew Milner
The centre is an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary teaching unit, maintained by the Faculty of Arts, with responsibility for teaching and research in three main areas of work: comparative literature, cultural studies and critical theory.
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, the sociology of literature, philosophy and literature.
Cultural studies looks at cultural texts, spaces and practices, including texts that are not normally included in the canon of high literature (the texts of popular fiction, television or cinema, for example), and studies these in relation to the various social, historical and ideological contexts in which cultures manifest themselves.
Critical theory is a term which has come to signify a number of contemporary approaches to textual and cultural criticism, for example, hermeneutics, structuralism, semiotics, poststructuralism, theories of ideology, psychoanalytic theory, and so on. Such theories have also been central to, for instance, recent work in anthropology, English, feminism, performance studies, philosophy and film studies.
The centre has its own staff but also draws on the expertise of other departments to offer teaching and supervision in these interdisciplinary areas. The range of topics and fields of interest currently available for study in the centre is indicated below in the list of staff participating in the centre and in the available MA subjects. Amongst the topics in which the centre has particularly strong research interests and groups of postgraduates are the following: AIDS studies; cultural studies and cultural theory; deconstruction; feminist critical theory; hermeneutics; literature and philosophy; poststructuralism; poststructuralist literary theory; psychoanalytical theory; science fiction and theories of cyber culture.
At the graduate level the centre provides supervision for PhD and MA degrees by research and by research and coursework. Courses may be taken full or part-time.
Prospective graduate students whose research interests are within the three general areas described above are invited to address their preliminary inquiries to the graduate coordinator of the centre.
Michael Ackland Romanticism (English).
Philip Anderson Semiotics, structuralism (Romance Languages, French).
Pavlos Andronikos Reception theory, modern Greek literature, film studies (Classics and Archaeology).
Chris Atmore Cultural studies, representations of gender (Anthropology and Sociology).
Claire Colebrook Romanticism, poststructuralism, feminist theory, twentieth-century literature.
Gloria Davies Chinese literature (Asian Languages and Studies).
Alexander GarcÌa D[cedilla]ttmann Literature and philosophy, politics of culture, German philosophy, aesthetics, modernism, AIDS studies.
Joanne Finkelstein Cultural studies, fashion, consumption and the self.
Karen Green Poststructuralism, deconstruction (Philosophy).
Elizabeth Grosz Psychoanalytic theory, Lacan, feminist critical theory.
David Hanan Film studies (Visual Arts).
Kevin Hart Literature and philosophy, French philosophy, poetics.
Barbara Hatley Indonesian literature (Asian Languages and Studies).
Michael Janover Modernism, culture and politics (Politics).
Amanda Macdonald Semiotics, Barthes, cultural studies, graphic novels (Romance Languages, French).
Don Miller Poststructuralism, postcolonialism, Bourdieu (Anthropology and Sociology).
Andrew Milner Cultural studies, science fiction, political writing, Marxist critical theory.
Leonie Naughton Film studies (Visual Arts).
Brian Nelson Naturalism (Romance Languages, French).
Pauline Nestor Feminist literary theory, women writers (English)
Kate Rigby Modernism and postmodernism (German Studies).
David Roberts Modernism, Marxist critical theory (German Studies).
Alba Romano The comic, women writers (Greek, Roman and Egyptian Studies).
Philip Thomson Poststructuralism, the grotesque (German Studies).
Walter Veit Hermeneutics, comparative literary theory (German Studies).
Constantine Verevis Cultural studies, film and television studies (Visual Arts).
Millicent Vladiv-Glover Modernism, structuralism and semiotics (Slavic Studies).
Deane Williams Cultural studies, television studies (Visual Arts).
Chris Worth Narrative studies, poststructuralist literary theory, literature and the visual arts, Bakhtin and cultural studies.
Course code: 0020
*The availability of the PhD by research and coursework is subject to approval.
Candidates for admission to the PhD should normally hold a first class or second class division A honours degree or MA in an appropriate discipline or a first class or second class division A Masters Qualifying.
The degree will consist of a research thesis plus a selection of three eight-point subjects from the following:
Course code: 0017
The Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies aims to provide an environment in which students can develop their own research interests.
On completing this course students should be able to show their acquaintance with extensive readings in their field; to demonstrate that they can originate and pursue independent research; to discuss effectively and defend appropriately their ideas, both orally and in writing; to display a wide understanding of academic, self-reflexive and intellectual processes; and should have completed in their thesis a significant and original contribution to knowledge in the area in which they are working.
Candidates for admission to the MA should normally hold a first class or second class division A honours degree or a first class or second class division A Masters Qualifying.
The MA by research and coursework will consist of a thesis plus a selection of two eight-point subjects from the following:
* Offered subject to approval.
Program code: 1988The Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies aims to provide an environment in which students can develop their own research interests.
On completing this program students should be able to show their acquaintance with wide reading in their field; to demonstrate that they can originate and pursue research; to discuss effectively and defend appropriately their ideas, both orally and in writing; to display an understanding of academic, self-reflexive and intellectual processes; and should have completed in their thesis an original contribution to knowledge in the area in which they are working.
Candidates for admission to the Masters Qualifying in critical theory should normally hold a bachelors degree with a distinction average grade in the third part of a major sequence.
The Masters Qualifying in critical theory consists of CRT4000 (Literary theory), CRT4080 (Research project) and two twelve-point coursework subjects. Students intending to carry out research in comparative literature are normally expected to read literary texts in the original language.
The Masters Qualifying will consist of two core subjects:
and a further selection of two twelve-point subjects, including at least one of: