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Global Cultural Studies with tracks in Creative Writing and Translation, World History, and World Literature

Global Cultural Studies with tracks in Creative Writing and Translation, World History, and World Literature


Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary field that investigates the forms of social life and culture produced in today’s interconnected world. Understanding the complexity of global culture requires mastery over the tools of interpretation and knowledge production. It requires students to “read, write, and translate the world.” Global Cultural Studies courses combine the strengths of the social sciences, the humanities, and creative practice, by drawing on interpretive methods and theories from literary and translation studies, cultural anthropology, history, sociology, media studies, film studies, journalism, communications, economics, and more.


Global Cultural Studies takes the concept of “cultural literacy” seriously. It explores the fascinating and fluid nature of “culture” which is both created by individuals and societies, and transformative of them at the same time. The political and economic power embedded in culture must never be taken for granted. To this end, Global Cultural Studies core courses remain focused on the histories and poetics of economic exploitation, imperialism and industrialization, gender inequality, and other forms of social injustice.


Students armed with the expansive and critically informed tools for reading, writing, and translating our world, will apply their sharpened literacy skills to tracks in History, Literature, or Creative Writing & Translation. While study in the three tracks is different in obvious ways, all focus on texts and interpretation as critical tools for understanding the growing complexity of our globalizing world. Students in these tracks will pursue coursework and research on crucial challenges facing our interconnected world.


The major in Global Cultural Studies has tracks in Creative Writing & Translation, World Literature, and World History, and imparts students with skills and competency in critical thinking, cultural analysis, and communication for careers in education, the creativity economy, media and journalism, NGOs, and international business and law.

 

Major Requirements

(Not every course listed is offered every term, and the course list will be updated periodically. Please refer to the online Course Catalog for Courses offered in 2023-2024.)

Global Cultural Studies / Creative Writing and Translation

Divisional Foundation Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

ARHU 101

The Art of Interpretation: Written Texts

4

ARHU 102

The Art of Interpretation: Images and Sound

4
Interdisciplinary Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

GCULS 105

Critical Comparative Studies

4

GCULS 205

Texts in Motion

4

CULMOVE 201

Migration, Inequality and Culture

4

GCULS 202

Empires and Culture

4

GCULS 302

Gender in Global Perspective

4

GCULS 490

Senior Seminar: Advanced Topics

4
Disciplinary Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

LIT 216

Introduction to Creative Writing and Translation

4

Students are required to take an additional 20 credits from the thematic elective list below, with at least 4 credits from “Writing” and 4 credits from “Translation”. The remaining 12 credits may be from the lists below or any other elective or disciplinary course listed in any track of the major. A maximum of 8 total credits may consist of 2-credit courses.  At least 8 credits must be LIT courses at the 300-level or above.
Electives

Courses listed in the table below are recommended electives for the major. The course list reflects the most recent intellectual organization of major electives. Depending on the academic year in which you matriculated, some of the courses below may be requirements for your major. To verify required courses, always consult the requirements for the relevant class year in the bulletin of the year in which you matriculated unless you have been approved to complete the major requirements of a subsequent year.  (See Ability to Meet Major Requirements Published in Years Subsequent to Year of Matriculation.)

Writing: Students must take at least 4 credits from the following courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

Writing: Students must take at least 4 credits from the following courses

LIT 107

From Data to Narrative: A Workshop in Non-Fiction Writing

2

LIT 109

Writing Children’s Stories

2

MEDIART 110[1]

Audio Documentary and the Podcast

4

WOC 190

Creative Nonfiction: People and Places

2

WOC 290

Special Topics: Writing Across Cultures (not currently on offer)

4

WOC 108

Intercultural Communication

2

MEDIART 207[2]

Elements of Story: Introduction to Narrative Technique

4

LIT 220

Line Breaks and Chapbooks: Poetry Workshop

4

WOC 213

From Text to World: Editing and Publishing

2

WOC 214 / CHINESE 414

Reading Chinese Love Stories in Novels and Memoirs

2

WOC 216

Introduction to Feature Writing

2

WOC 217          

Introduction to News Writing

2

LIT 307

Digital Storytelling

4

MEDIART 310

Screenwriting

4

LIT 311

Poetry in Conversation

4

LIT 314

Big Stories: Fiction and Non-Fiction Workshop

4

HIST 314

Writing the History of War

4

GCULS 401

Games and Culture

4

GCUL 405 / MEDIART 405

The Curatorial: Theory and Practice

4

Translation: Students must take at least 4 credits from the following courses

WOC 207/ Chinese 408

Translation Workshop: Chinese-English / English-Chinese

2

WOC 210

Translation Workshop:  Adaptation and Transformation

2

LIT 219 / MEDIART 219

Stage Translation for Kunqu

2

LIT 217 / CHINESE 417

Li Yu and Seventeenth-century Chinese Pop Culture

4

GCHINA 302

Translating and using Chinese non-fictional sources for academic purposes

4

LIT 310

Translation for Kunqu: Literary Repertoire

4

LIT 315

Translation Theory

4

CHINESE 407

Readings in Classical Chinese

4

 

Global Cultural Studies / World History

Divisional Foundation Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

ARHU 101

The Art of Interpretation: Written Texts

4

ARHU 102

The Art of Interpretation: Images and Sound

4
Interdisciplinary Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

GCULS 105

Critical Comparative Studies

4

CULMOVE 201

Migration, Inequality and Culture

4

GCULS 202

Empires and Culture

4

GCULS 205

Texts in Motion

4

GCULS 302

Gender in Global Perspective

4

GCULS 490

Senior Seminar: Advanced Topics

4

Disciplinary Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

HIST 201

History Methods and Research

4

And choose five additional courses from the elective list below: at least two courses from “Themes and Theories” and at least two courses from “Research and Methods.” Of the five total courses, two must be at the 300-level or above.

Electives

Courses listed in the table below are recommended electives for the major. The course list reflects the most recent intellectual organization of major electives. Depending on the academic year in which you matriculated, some of the courses below may be requirements for your major. To verify required courses, always consult the requirements for the relevant class year in the bulletin of the year in which you matriculated unless you have been approved to complete the major requirements of a subsequent year.  (See Ability to Meet Major Requirements Published in Years Subsequent to Year of Matriculation.)

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

Themes and Theories

RELIG 108

History of God in Seven Paintings

2

HIST 110  

Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Global Issues  

4

HIST 111  

Ancient Roots to Global Routes  

4

HIST 112

History of the Indian Ocean World

4

HIST 123

All Around Us – Technology, Infrastructure, and History

2

HIST 202[3]  

Global Interactions in Historical Perspective  

4

HIST 204 

Asia in World History

4

GCULS 204

Global Histories of the Anthropocene

4

HIST 212

Pandemics in World History from the Black Death to COVID-19

4

HIST 301

China in Global Perspective 1: China and the Silk Roads World: 500-1500 

4

HIST 312

Southeast Asia and the Rise of Global Trade  

4

HIST 313  

Southeast Asia from the Age of Imperialism to the Global Cold War  

4

LIT 313

Anatomy of Emotions: Literature and Psychoanalysis

4

HIST 315 / CULANTH 315  

Why Be a Bandit?  

4

HIST 410

The Spice Race: How the Spice Trade shaped our World  

4

HIST 412  

Global Labor History  

4

Research and Methods

HIST 114

Conflicts and Resolutions in Modern South Asia

4

HIST 203

America in Asia, Asians in America 

4

HIST 205

Shanghai: From Treaty Port to Global Metropolis

4

HIST 210/ARTS 210

Global Art History

4

HIST 220

Global Media History

4

HIST 250[4]

Gandhi and Moral Leadership

4

HIST 302

China in Global Perspective 2: The Internationalization of Modern China 

4

HIST 307  

Cold War America

4

HIST 308

Immigration and the American Experience 

4

HIST 312  

Southeast Asia and the Rise of Global Trade  

4

HIST 314  

Writing the History of War  

4

POLSCI 317/ SOSC 317

Politics of Organization

4

HIST 411

Seeing History from the Mountains and the Seas: Ethnographic histories of Asia  

4

LIT 216

Introduction to Creative Writing and Translation

4

 

Global Cultural Studies / World Literature

Divisional Foundation Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

ARHU 101

The Art of Interpretation: Written Texts

4

ARHU 102

The Art of Interpretation: Images and Sound

4
Interdisciplinary Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

GCULS 105

Critical Comparative Studies

4

CULMOVE 201

Migration, Inequality and Culture

4

GCULS 202

Empires and Culture

4

GCULS 205

Texts in Motion

4

GCULS 302

Gender in Global Perspective

4

GCULS 490

Senior Seminar: Advanced Topics

4

Disciplinary Courses

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

LIT 214

Introduction to Literary Research Writ Large

4

And choose five additional courses from the elective list below: at least two courses from “Foundations” and at least two courses from “Relations.” Of the five total courses, two must be at the 300-level or above.

Electives

Courses listed in the table below are recommended electives for the major. The course list reflects the most recent intellectual organization of major electives. Depending on the academic year in which you matriculated, some of the courses below may be requirements for your major. To verify required courses, always consult the requirements for the relevant class year in the bulletin of the year in which you matriculated unless you have been approved to complete the major requirements of a subsequent year.  (See Ability to Meet Major Requirements Published in Years Subsequent to Year of Matriculation.)

Course Code

Course Name

Course Credit

Foundations

LIT 105

The Epic of America

4

LIT 201

Asian-American Arts and Letters

4

LIT 202

African-American Literature and Culture

4

LIT 204 / MEDIA 204

Online Novels and the Chinese Public Sphere

4

LIT 205

American Lyric Across Borders (Poetry)

4

LIT 207

The American Renaissance and Its Rivals

4

LIT 208 / ARTS 208

From Cool Japan to the Korean Wave: Popular Culture from East Asia

4

LIT 216

Introduction to Creative Writing and Translation

4

LIT 302

America’s Novel Modernity

4

GCULS 303

Chinatowns: A Cultural History

4

GCULS 304

Chinese Culture and Ideology in the 20th Century and Now

4

LIT 305

The U.S. and the Contemporary Global Imagination

4

LIT 308

American Icons (rhetoric and performance—pulpit /address /theater/ music)

4

LIT 311

Poetry in Conversation

4

LIT 314

Big Stories: Fiction and Non-Fiction Workshop

4

Relations

LIT 203

Reading Empire

4

LIT 209

Critical Inter-Asia: Rethinking Local and Global Connections

4

LIT 210

Robots and Monsters: Unruly Human Creations in World Literature

4

LIT 211 / POLSCI 211

Politics and Literature

4

LIT 212

Extinctionism: Representing the Survival of the Fittest in Literature and Culture

4

LIT 213

Literature and Global Citizenship

4

LIT 303

The Literary Arts of the Cold War

4

LIT 305

Translation for Kunqu: Literary Repertoire

4

LIT 307

Digital Storytelling

4

LIT 309

What’s the Fuss? The Art and Power of Banned Literature

4

LIT 312

Writing the World: Travel Narratives and Beyond

4

LIT 313

Anatomy of Emotions: Literature and Psychoanalysis

4

GCULS 301

Religion and Sexuality

4

GCULS 401

Games and Culture: Politics, Pleasure and Pedagogy

4

GCULS 402

Digital Tribes

4

[1] This course was named MEDIART 110 Audio Documentary and Storytelling prior to fall term 2023.

[2] This course was named MEDIART 207 Creative Writing and the Elements of Story prior to fall term 2023.

[3] This course was named HIST 202 World History and Global Interactions prior to fall term 2022.

[4] This course was numbered HIST 107 prior to fall term 2022.