Minor in Comparative Cultural Studies
The Minor in Comparative Cultural Studies offers a unique opportunity to explore and examine literature, film and visual media, and popular culture produced outside of the United States in courses taught in English by the departments and programs of the School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics. Students will be invited to critically engage and dialogue with difference, cultural and linguistic diversity, variety of expression, and distinct ways of being, knowing, and acting as expressed through these cultural products.
A hallmark of the Minor in Comparative Cultural Studies is LCSL 250: Introduction to Comparative Cultural Studies: Debates in comparative cultural studies, global arts and world literatures. LCSL 250 offers an emphasis on diverse worldviews across Europe, Latin America, Francophone cultures. Students will develop competencies in: critical thinking, equity & inclusion, intercultural communication. Prerequisite(s): Completion of the English Composition requirement. Creative Arts course, and World Cultures course.
Students in the Minor in Comparative Cultural Studies will:
- Expand their cultural competency, especially regarding cultural production outside of the geographical U.S.
- Develop the ability to think critically about cultural difference, pluralism, transnationalism, and dynamic interactions among varying and evolving world views and perspectives.
- Acknowledge the role of translation in intercultural exchanges.
- Study the formal characteristics of various cultural products—literature, film and other visual media, and popular culture—and critically examine the specific personal, social, cultural, and historical contexts within which these are created and disseminated.
- Develop the ability to critically consider and appreciate how literatures, film and visual media, and popular culture reflect, respond to, and influence shifting ideas about individuals, relationships, communities, and work in and across cultures.
- Understand how political and social trends and historical developments have influenced the ways culture is created and received.
- Bolster their critical-thinking, analytical, oral communication, and writing skills.
- Enhance their ability to equitably engage, learn from, and interact with peoples originally from countries and geographies outside of the U.S. in diverse personal, communal, and professional settings.
For the minor, students take courses on literature, film and other visual media, and popular culture from outside the geographical United States, taught in English, with texts in translation.