Twin Cities campus

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Twin Cities Campus

Comparative Literature Minor

Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature
College of Liberal Arts
Link to a list of faculty for this program.
Contact Information
Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, 235 Nicholson Hall, 216 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (612-624-8099; fax: 612-625-4170)
Email: cscl@umn.edu
Website: https://cla.umn.edu/cscl/graduate
  • Program Type: Graduate minor related to major
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2021
  • Length of program in credits (master's): 9
  • Length of program in credits (doctoral): 12
  • This program does not require summer semesters for timely completion.
Comparative literature is the oldest field of literary criticism, dating back to the seventeenth century. Among the wide range of studies currently conducted in comparative literature nationally and internationally, this program focuses on theories of literary criticism and its explanatory bases; indeed the program is seen as one of the principal initiators of such fields of study. This program is likewise engaged in pushing the bounds of critical inquiry in related domains of literary studies, directing much of its energies toward the intersection of literature with other media (in various constellations of word, sound, and image) and of literatures of the global North with those of the global South, engaging problems ranging from narrative to postcolonial studies. The curriculum emphasizes seminars and directed research.
Program Delivery
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Prerequisites for Admission
Special Application Requirements:
Students interested in the minor are strongly encouraged to confer with their major field advisor and director of graduate studies, and the Comparative Literature director of graduate studies regarding feasibility and requirements.
For an online application or for more information about graduate education admissions, see the General Information section of this website.
Program Requirements
Use of 4xxx courses towards program requirements is not permitted.
The minimum cumulative GPA for minor field coursework is 3.50.
Required Courses (6 credits)
Take the following courses:
CSCL 8001 - Basic Research Seminar in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature I (3.0 cr)
CSCL 8002 - Basic Research Seminar in Comparative Literature II (3.0 cr)
Electives (3 to 6 credits)
Master’s students select 3 credits, and doctoral students select 6 credits from the following, in consultation with the Comparative Literature director of graduate studies. Other courses may be applied to this requirement with Comparative Literature director of graduate studies approval.
CSCL 5281 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
CSCL 5282 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
CSCL 5302 - Aesthetics and the Valuation of Art (3.0 cr)
CSCL 5305 - Vision and Visuality: An Intellectual History (3.0 cr)
CSCL 5331 - Discourse of the Novel (3.0 cr)
CSCL 5401 - Origins of Cultural Studies (3.0 cr)
CSCL 5411 - Avant-Garde Cinema (4.0 cr)
CSCL 5555 - Introduction to Semiotics (3.0 cr)
CSCL 5666 - Film Music: Theory, History, Practice (4.0 cr)
CSCL 5833 - Marx, Freud, Nietzsche: Intellectual Foundations (3.0 cr)
CSCL 5910 - Topics in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature (3.0-4.0 cr)
CSCL 8910 - Advanced Topics in Comparative Literature (3.0-4.0 cr)
CSCL 8992 - Directed Reading in Comparative Literature (1.0-4.0 cr)
CSCL 8993 - Directed Study (1.0-4.0 cr)
CSCL 8994 - Directed Research (1.0-4.0 cr)
Program Sub-plans
Students are required to complete one of the following sub-plans.
Students may not complete the program with more than one sub-plan.
Masters
Doctoral
  
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View college catalog(s):
· College of Liberal Arts

View future requirement(s):
· Fall 2022

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CSCL 8001 - Basic Research Seminar in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature I
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CL 8001/CSCL 8001/CSDS 8001
Typically offered: Every Fall
Key texts, positions, problematics in field of comparative critical theory. Historical precursors, influential contemporary debates, disciplinary genealogies.
CSCL 8002 - Basic Research Seminar in Comparative Literature II
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CL 8002//CSCL 8002/CSDS 8002
Typically offered: Every Spring
Key texts, positions, problematics in field of comparative critical theory. Special attention to historical precursors, influential contemporary debates, disciplinary genealogies.
CSCL 5302 - Aesthetics and the Valuation of Art
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CL 5302/CSCL 5302/CSDS 5302
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Society, ideology, and aesthetic value considered in light of recent critical theories of visual art, music, and literature. Meditations of place, social class, gender and ideology on aesthetic judgment in post-Renaissance Western culture.
CSCL 5305 - Vision and Visuality: An Intellectual History
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CL 5305/CSCL 5305/CSDS 5305
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Central role of vision/visuality in modernity. Modern age as scopic regime. Ways that ideas/ideologies of perception have shaped aesthetic experience within social existence.
CSCL 5331 - Discourse of the Novel
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CLit 5331/CSCL 5331
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Comparative study of the novel, 18th century to present. Its relations to ordinary language practices, emergent reading publics, technologies of cultural dissemination, problems of subjectivity, and its role in articulating international cultural relations.
CSCL 5401 - Origins of Cultural Studies
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CL 5401/CSDS 5401/CSCL 5401/En
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Intellectual map of the creation of cultural studies as a unique approach to studying social meanings. Key figures and concepts, including nineteenth- and early twentieth century precursors.
CSCL 5411 - Avant-Garde Cinema
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
In 1939, the art critic Clement Greenberg defined avant-garde art in opposition to the ?kitsch? of mass-produced culture. To what extent does this conception of the avant-garde apply to the cinema?an institution and art form that supposedly requires machines and industrial modes of production? This course introduces students to key works of avant-garde and experimental film made by artists working on the margins of commercial film and mainstream art institutions. From the first half of the twentieth century, we will consider influential films made under the banners of Futurism, Constructivism, Surrealism, and Dada, and discuss their complex relation to Hollywood commodities. In the postwar period, we will explore a range of increasingly global experimental film practices, from the queer underground cinema in Latin America to the use of film projection in avant-garde performance. We will examine these practices in light of larger debates about medium specificity as well as the aesthetics and politics of the personal vs. the structural. In the final unit, we will reflect on the way contemporary artists, scholars, and curators have assembled a tradition of avant-garde cinema in the age of new media, and contemplate new directions we want it to take.
CSCL 5555 - Introduction to Semiotics
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CL 5555/CSCL 5555/CSDS 5555
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Problems of the nature of the sign; sign function; sign production; signifying systems as articulated in philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and art theory. Application of semiotics to various signifying practices (literature, cinema, daily life).
CSCL 5666 - Film Music: Theory, History, Practice
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Role of music in American/European film from early 20th century silent cinema to near present. Narrative features, shorts, documentary, horror, thriller, science fiction, comedy, cartoon. Film music as social/cultural practice and as part of political economy within culture industry.
CSCL 5833 - Marx, Freud, Nietzsche: Intellectual Foundations
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Three thinkers who defined modernity: Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche. Central tenets of their thought/terms associated with their theories. Their careers portrayed against the background of their times; their place in intellectual history.
CSCL 5910 - Topics in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature
Credits: 3.0 -4.0 [max 32.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Topics specified in Class Schedule.
CSCL 8910 - Advanced Topics in Comparative Literature
Credits: 3.0 -4.0 [max 24.0]
Course Equivalencies: CL 8910/CSCL 8910/CSDS 8910
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Practical applications of specific methodologies and theories to a determined area. Topics vary by instructor and semester.
CSCL 8992 - Directed Reading in Comparative Literature
Credits: 1.0 -4.0 [max 12.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Prereq: instructor consent
CSCL 8993 - Directed Study
Credits: 1.0 -4.0 [max 48.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 8993/CSDS 8993
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Catalog Description: Directed Study in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature prereq: instr consent
CSCL 8994 - Directed Research
Credits: 1.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 8994/ CSDS 8994/ CL 8994
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
irected Research in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society prereq: instr consent