Programs

MA in Comparative Literature Mission, Educational Objectives and Student Outcomes

Program Mission

The mission of the graduate program in Comparative Literature is to teach, train, and conduct research in literature and trans-cultural studies, with special attention to Lebanon and the Middle East. The program offers coursework in English, Arabic, Persian and French, in response to the students’ needs and capacities. The aim is to explore the role of culture in a multi-ethnic, globalizing world.

Program Objectives

The purpose of the graduate program in Comparative Literature is to:

  1. Offer students linguistic and cultural training in more than one cultural zone.
  2. Offer students a highly individualized curriculum, through close cooperation with other disciplines in the humanities, arts, and social sciences
  3. Allow students to acquire an exceptional degree of expertise in regional intercultural relations, and a broadened perspective on the variety, and complexity, of the Middle Eastern cultures, combined with advanced training in critical and poststructuralist theories.
  4. Explore a range of literary, and cultural, theories, and demonstrate significant mastery of one or two.
  5. Achieve broad intercultural competence in genre, period, and theme.
  6. Receive advanced training in written and oral communication through working with experienced researchers.

Student Outcomes

  1. Graduate students in comparative literature will be able to:
  2. Develop a high level of specialization in methodology, theory, periods, themes and literary genres that constitute the framework within which they can pursue their study and research.
  3. Develop the skills to teach, train, and conduct research in literature and transcultural studies, with special attention to Lebanon and the Middle East in general.
  4. Acquire an exceptional degree of expertise in regional intercultural relations.
  5. Obtain advanced standing in secondary school teaching, work as literary translators, or work as specialists in literature and culture for the press, for international publishers, in diplomacy, and in international organizations.
  6. Acquire the knowledge and the skills which qualify them to pursue their education in the field at the PhD level.