As either a major or a minor, the comparative literature program allows students great freedom to explore an area of their choice. The department encourages cross-disciplinary work between students of many fields of interest through cultural and linguistic borders. Students will learn different national literatures as well as the literature of ethnic groups, exposing them to philosophy, modern theory, cultural studies, and translation studies from distinctive communicative contexts.

The Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (CLCS) major at Franklin focuses on cultural phenomena and processes as they unfold under the pressure of historical, social, and economic forces. Inherent in our approach is an understanding of culture as an ever-evolving entity that demands continuous acts of interpretation, negotiation, and creativity.

Art History and Visual Culture courses investigate the production of art, architecture, and film through the technical, social, economic, cultural, psychological, and epistemological forces at work when they were produced and viewed.  The major places a particular emphasis on how images form beliefs and values, taking into account issues of ethnicity, gender, and class.

Comparative literature is the study of interrelationships among literary texts, themes, periods, theories, and genres without specific regard for national or linguistic boundaries. Beloit’s comparative literature major draws on the college’s strong offerings in modern languages, classics, English, and international studies.

Reach beyond the boundaries of the national framework to study literature across disciplines in the comparative literature major at Reed. Design your own coursework, either by focusing entirely on classes in the Division of Literature and Languages or combining literature courses with allied fields of study, such as history, philosophy, or religion. The crossover among courses may address a theoretical or historical problem, a subject explored across national canons, or an interdisciplinary line of inquiry. Your path of rigorous literary study will be shaped by thoughtful detours and unexpected connections with humanities and social sciences.

Comparative Literature is a discipline focusing primarily on how modern Western and Japanese literature have influenced each other. However, the discipline goes further than merely cataloging the influence of specific works in the sense of a “balance sheet” or ingredients label. In the study of comparative literature, one is required to critique the major premise of globalization in literature, which was born out of the need to accept the modern literature of “the West” as well as resistance to globalization and the distinctive changes that have emerged as a result.

Understand the cultural, national, and global context of literature through time. Comparative literature is a deeply interdisciplinary field that examines literary works from across human societies and examines their meaning in different contexts. Drawing from philosophy, history, linguistics, sociology, and the media, comparative literature asks what literature can tell us about our society and human society more broadly.

Comparative Literature is the critical, interdisciplinary study of literatures, other media, and cultures from different geographic regions and linguistic groups and across different historical periods. In the broadest sense, it provides us with the tools to compare and contrast the experiences, identities, and material products of people in other places and other times. Central to comparative literature is a concern with how literature, culture and other media are both theorized and studied across historical periods and how different aspects of literature, culture and other media both inform and influence each other.

The bachelor’s programme in Comparative Literature focuses on literary phenomena on a supranational level. It equips students with extensive knowledge of cultural history and the ability to analyse literary texts and relate them to other literary texts, art products and media. Students learn how to carry out research independently and acquire language skills in a second modern foreign language other than English.

Combine your love of languages, literature, and the arts in an internationally focused major that builds essential communication and critical thinking skills.

Study race and ethnicity across academic borders and boundaries with a comparative race and ethnicity studies (CRES) major at Reed. Combine focused study in anthropology, dance, English, history, music, religion, sociology, or theatre with comparative interdisciplinary work on race and ethnicity. Learn to interrogate the categories of race and ethnicity—together, in relation to each other, and as emerging out of separate politics of difference and otherness.

Study the categories of race and ethnicity across academic fields with a comparative race and ethnicity studies (CRES) minor at Reed. Examine questions of race and ethnicity in anthropology, dance, English, history, music, religion, sociology, or theatre. Learn to recognize, analyze, and compare key theoretical frameworks. Develop proficiency with theories and methods for studying race and ethnicity within given disciplines. Apply those theories and methods in CRES-designated courses to expand your expertise and strengthen your academic background.

The major is designed to prepare students to pursue graduate degrees or directly enter a range of fields