Literature and Culture, B.A.
The B.A. in Literature and Culture
The Literature & Culture Major teaches students how to read, interpret and write persuasively about novels, poems, plays and other imaginative works across a variety of genres and media forms. Along with teaching students the analytical skills and methodological tools to interpret these works, this major teaches the importance of understanding imaginative works within their cultural and historical contexts. In addition, the major is designed to train students in strong professional and academic skills like critical thinking, inductive reasoning and persuasive argumentation that are applicable to other fields of study and a variety of career paths.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Use disciplinary vocabulary from literary theory and Cultural Studies scholarship appropriately in analyses.
- Deploy literary and/or Cultural Studies theories/frameworks appropriately to describe, explain, or critique artifacts of communication.
- Apply methods appropriately to answer research questions commonly asked in Literary and Cultural Studies.
- Explain how contexts and identities (historical, social, economic, political, technological, etc.) influence cultural forms, language, and practice, and how cultural forms, language, and practice shape the contexts of use.
- Exhibit competence in reading, writing, and speaking in academic and professional contexts by identifying scholarly niches/research questions and synthesizing evidence to support a claim.
Curriculum
The Literature & Culture curriculum consists of 13 courses for a minimum of 117 units.
- At least one course other than 76-245 Shakespeare: Tragedies & Histories or 76-247 Shakespeare: Comedies and Romances must focus on a period pre-1900. Applicable courses have an asterisk (*).
Required Introductory Courses (3 courses)27 units
| Required Introductory Courses | Units | |
| 76-212 | Introduction to TV Writing | 9 |
| or 76-260 | Introduction to Writing Fiction | |
| or 76-261 | Intro to Writing Creative Nonfiction | |
| or 76-265 | Introduction to Writing Poetry | |
| or 76-269 | Introduction to Screenwriting | |
| 76-245 | Shakespeare: Tragedies & Histories | 9 |
| or 76-247 | Shakespeare: Comedies and Romances | |
| 76-275 | Introduction to Critical Writing | 9 |
200-Level literature & culture courses (2 courses)18 units
Course options include but are not limited to the following:
| 200-Level Literature & Culture Courses | ||
| 76-203 | Literature & Culture in the 18th Century * | 9 |
| 76-207 | Special Topics in Literature & Culture | 9 |
| 76-210 | Banned Books | 9 |
| 76-217 | Literature & Culture of the 20th and 21st Century | 9 |
| 76-220 | Mystery! From Detective Fiction to True Crime | 9 |
| 76-221 | Books You Should Have Read By Now | 9 |
| 76-230 | Literature & Culture in the 19th Century * | 9 |
| 76-236 | CMU Prison Education Project: | 12 |
| 76-239 | Introduction to Film Studies | 9 |
| 76-241 | Introduction to Gender Studies | 9 |
| 76-242 | American Woman Writers | 9 |
| 76-244 | Immigrant Fictions | 9 |
| 76-245 | Shakespeare: Tragedies & Histories If not taken already for the Core Required course. | 9 |
| 76-247 | Shakespeare: Comedies and Romances If not taken already for the Core Required course. | 9 |
| 76-259 | Film History | 9 |
| 76-268 | Comic Books & Pop Culture | 9 |
| 76-278 | Japanese Film and Literature: The Art of Storytelling | 9 |
| 76-295 | Russian Cinema: From the Bolshevik Revolution to Putin's Russia | 9 |
| 76-296 | 20th Century Russian Masterpieces | 9 |
| 76-299 | 19th Century Russian Masterpieces * | 9 |
300-Level Literature & Culture Courses (2 courses)18 units
Course options include but are not limited to the following:
| 300-Level Literature & Culture Courses | ||
| 76-312 | Crime and Justice in American Film | 9 |
| 76-314 | Data Stories | 9 |
| 76-317 | Contemporary American Fiction | 9 |
| 76-326 | Contemporary Global Fiction | 9 |
| 76-329 | Performing Race in Early Modern Drama * | 9 |
| 76-337 | Intersectional Feminism | 9 |
| 76-339 | Topics in Film and Media | 9 |
| 76-341 | The Age of Jane Austen * | 9 |
| 76-342 | Love: A Cultural History | 9 |
| 76-343 | Rise of the American Novel | 9 |
| 76-347 | Major Fiction | 9 |
| 76-348 | Adaptation: Fiction to Film | 9 |
| 76-350 | Critical Theories about Literature If not taken for the Theory Course requirement | 9 |
| 76-353 | Transnational Feminisms: Fiction and Film | 9 |
| 76-367 | Fact Into Film: Translating History into Cinema | 9 |
| 76-370 | Independent Study in Literary and Cultural Studies (instructor permission required) | Var. |
| 76-376 | Crafting Race in 19th-Century Britain * | 9 |
| 76-382 | Media: Past, Present, and Future | 9 |
| 76-392 | Special Topics in Literature & Culture | 9 |
400-Level Literature & Culture Course (1 course)9 units
| 400-Level Literature & Culture Course | ||
| 76-407 | Topics in Literary & Cultural Studies | 9 |
| 76-410 | The Long Eighteenth Century * | 9 |
| 76-414 | Decolonial Imaginaries | 9 |
| 76-423 | Transnational Feminisms | 9 |
| 76-424 | Theories of Social Class | 9 |
| 76-429 | Introduction to Computational Humanities | 9 |
| 76-431 | Gender Play in Early Modern Drama * | 9 |
| 76-434 | Literature & Social Change in the 19th Century * | 9 |
| 76-439 | Seminar in Film and Media Studies | 9 |
| 76-442 | Black Lives in Pre-1900 Britain * | 9 |
| 76-445 | Milton * | 9 |
| 76-446 | Revenge Tragedy * | 9 |
| 76-450 | Law, Culture, and the Humanities | 9 |
| 76-452 | Generations and Culture | 9 |
| 76-453 | Literature of Empire * | 9 |
| 76-454 | Rise of the Blockbuster | 9 |
| 76-455 | The Pittsburgh Review of Books (PRoB) | 9 |
| 76-461 | Refugee Stories: Literature, Art and Film | 9 |
| 76-467 | Crime Fiction and Film | 9 |
| 76-468 | Space and Mobilities | 9 |
| 76-482 | Rise of the Art Film | 9 |
| 76-495 | Other People's Words: The History, Theory, and Practice of Interviews | 9 |
theory course (1 course)9 units
| Theory Courses | Units | |
| 76-350 | Critical Theories about Literature | 9 |
| 76-424 | Theories of Social Class | 9 |
Rhetoric Course (1 course)9 units
Courses include but are not limited to:
| Rhetoric Courses | ||
| 76-204 | Race, Ethnicity, Controversy | 9 |
| 76-219 | Law & Blame | 9 |
| 76-318 | Communicating in the Global Marketplace | 9 |
| 76-325 | Intertextuality | 9 |
| 76-327 | Equity & Communication: Strategies for Institutional Change | 9 |
| 76-373 | Argument | 9 |
| 76-384 | Race, Nation, and the Enemy | 9 |
| 76-389 | Rhetorical Grammar | 9 |
| 76-390 | Style | 9 |
| 76-393 | Narrative & Argument | 9 |
| 76-415 | Mediated Power and Propaganda | 9 |
| 76-416 | Rhetorics of Race & Empire | 9 |
| 76-425 | Rhetoric, Science, and the Public Sphere | 9 |
| 76-427 | Topics in Rhetoric: Audience | 9 |
| 76-473 | Rhetoric & the Construction of Race | 9 |
| 76-475 | Law, Performance, and Identity | 9 |
| 76-476 | Rhetoric of Science | 9 |
| 76-479 | Model Minorities? Race, Rhetoric, & Identity in Asian America | 9 |
| 76-490 | Digital Rhetorics | 9 |
| 76-492 | Rhetoric of Public Policy | 9 |
English electives (3 courses)27 units minimum
Students may choose any three 76-2xx through 764xx nine-unit courses from our course descriptions to fulfill this requirement, provided the course has not already been used to fulfill a requirement above.
* Pre-1900 course
Double Counting
Students may double count up to two courses with other programs outside of the Department of English. NOTE: courses being used for the Dietrich College General Education requirements do not have a double-counting limit.
Transfer Courses
Students may transfer up to two courses from other non-CMU programs/institutions toward the primary or additional major in Literature & Culture or the BHA concentration in Literature & Culture, with the exception of the Required Introductory Courses listed above, which must be taken at CMU. If the two-course maximum is met, other related transfer courses will be considered for general education requirements and/or free electives for graduation. Please see the Dietrich College Advanced Standing and Transfer Credit Policy for more information.
Recommended Curriculum Pathway: B.A. in Literature & Culture
Below is the recommended plan, or pathway, for completing the B.A. in Literature & Culture in four years. This pathway includes the Literature & Culture course requirements as well as requirements for the Dietrich College General Education curriculum. While it is not required for students to follow this pathway precisely, it is highly recommended for students to do so, and we recommend students begin the major’s courses as early as possible. (Students in Dietrich College may declare their primary major as early as the beginning of their second semester.) Students who have not yet declared their major in the Department of English may still take courses with us.
Students may also view the pathway for the B.A. in Literature & Culture via the Stellic Degree Audit Application.
| First-Year | Second-Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Spring | Fall | Spring |
| GED ED: Foundations: Communication | GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Humanities | GEN ED: Foundations: Computational Thinking | GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Logic/Math |
| GEN ED: Foundations: Contextual Thinking / LITCUL: Shakespeare Course (double-counts) | GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Social Sciences | GEN ED: Foundations: Intercultural & Global Inquiry | GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Humanities |
| GEN ED: Foundations: Data Analysis | GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: The Arts / LITCUL: Introductory Genre Writing Course (double-count) | GEN ED: Perspectives on Justice & Injustice | LITCUL: English Elective #1 |
| GED ED: Grand Challenge Seminar | Free Elective | 76-275 Introduction to Critical Writing | Free Elective |
| LITCUL: 200-Level Literature & Culture Course #1 | Free Elective | LITCUL: 200-Level Literature & Culture Course #2 | Free Elective |
| Third-Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| GEN ED: Foundations: Scientific Inquiry | LICTUL: 300-Level Literature & Culture Course #2 | GEN ED: Experiential Learning |
| LITCUL: 300-Level Literature & Culture Course #1 | Free Elective | |
| LITCUL: Theory Course | Free Elective | |
| LITCUL: Rhetoric Course | Free Elective | |
| Free Elective | Free Elective | |
| Fourth-Year | |
|---|---|
| Fall | Spring |
| GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Additional Disciplines | LITCUL: 400-Level Literature & Culture Course |
| LITCUL: English Elective #2 | LITCUL: English Elective #3 |
| Free Elective | LITCUL: Literature Elective #4 |
| Free Elective | Free Elective |
| Free Elective | Free Elective |