MAJOR IN INTERNATIONAL LETTERS AND VISUAL STUDIES

 

Directors: Charles Inouye, Joel Rosenberg, and Hosea Hirata, Dept. of German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literatures

 

The program in international letters and visual studies makes possible the study of literature, film, and visual arts in an international context. The major is aimed at students with a strong interest in global issues who wish to study the literature, cinema, or visual art of two or more cultures, to explore the interaction of cultures, and to gain theoretical insight on the discourses of literature, film, the visual sign, gender, and culture as such. The major requires firm grounding in at least one foreign language. Beyond the foreign-language preparation, the major requires twelve courses, distributed according to the emphasis selected by the student. The student must select either a literature emphasis, a visual studies emphasis, or a film emphasis. The major is administered by a committee of core faculty from the participating departments and programs.

 

Undergraduate Concentration Requirements

Language Preparation for the Major

Students are expected to have a firm grounding in two languages, one of which may be English. One of these languages will serve as a primary area of cultural emphasis, and the other as a secondary area, for the course work of the major.

 

All students, regardless of the areas of cultural emphasis, must take one foreign language through the eighth semester, pursued concurrently with the course work of the major.

 

Students may choose to take up to six semesters of a second foreign language, which will serve as the secondary area of cultural emphasis, for the course work of the major.

 

For all other students, English will be one of the two languages of the majors course work. These courses may be in English, American, and Anglophone literatures. In some cases-for example, when the major is structured as the exploration of a genre (the novel, the epic, etc.), the English-language component of the major may include foreign literatures in translation.

 

Recommended Additional Preparation for the Major

An introductory survey course in the literature of each cultural area of emphasis is strongly recommended, as are history courses in areas related to the conceptual focus of the major, and acquisition of technical proficiency in a visual discipline (e.g., calligraphy, painting, sculpture, filmmaking, theatrical design, or computer graphics and design), or a creative writing discipline (e.g., fiction, poetry, drama, essay, autobiography or journalism).

 

Requirements for the Major

The major consists of twelve courses, not counting those taken for language preparation. At least one of the twelve courses should be a seminar, directed study, or other intensive course requiring a substantial integrative project. The particular distribution of courses is determined by the emphasis selected by the student. The twelve-course selection is a fixed part of the major. Courses that may serve two categories of requirement cannot be double-counted within the major. Any changes in the proportions of these categories must be approved by petition to a committee of core faculty.

 

The Conceptual Focus

Students are expected to define, in close consultation with an adviser, a suitable conceptual focus and interaction of subjects, so that the specific combination of courses is neither arbitrary nor superficial. The active role of the adviser is crucial to a student's pursuit of this major. A student cannot assemble courses randomly, but rather must define an appropriate emphasis, whether in a world literature region, or an interaction of cultures, or a genre, or a particular era, or two interrelated eras, or gender experience within particular arts, literatures, and cultures, or perhaps a philosophical or theoretical issue relevant to the study of literature and the arts.

 

Conceptual focus for the major can examine domains such as the following: classical and medieval studies, Renaissance literature and art, the Age of Enlightenment, European Romanticism, literatures of the Third World, Asian literatures--China and Japan, Russia and the West, African-American and new world literatures, Jewish literatures in a world setting, the modern novel, studies in the epic, women authors and gender readings, world theater and film, literature and art, literature and film, art and film.

 

Sample majors with these emphases are published in a brochure that serves as a manual for students pursuing the major. Both students and faculty are invited to expand the repertoire of conceptual focuses, making the programs they design available to others.

 

LITERATURE EMPHASIS

 

I. National and ethnic literatures (6 courses)

The student must take six literature courses, four in the cultural area of the primary language and two in that of the secondary language. At least two of the six courses should be a 100-level literature course in a language not native to the student, with readings in the original language, whatever the language of instruction or written assignments.  If English is one of the two languages, and if the student’s conceptual focus crosses linguistic boundaries, the major may include literature courses in English translation, provided the major as a whole still includes at least two courses with readings in a language not native to the student.

 

II. Visual arts and/or film (2 courses) 

The student must take two courses in film or other visual arts (normally, one in the cultural area of the primary language, the other in that of the secondary language), chosen from section II-A or II-B of the course list that follows. (See Courses Acceptable for the Major.)

 

III. Cross-cultural and/or gender-oriented literary or visual studies (2 courses)

The student must take two courses of a cross-cultural or gender-oriented nature in a literary or visual art, chosen from the literature courses in section III-A of the course list, or from the courses in visual arts and film in sections II-B and III-C.

 

IV. Literary and cultural theory (2 courses)

The student must also complete one semester of literary theory, chosen from section IV-A of the course list, and one semester of cultural theory, chosen from section IV-C.

 

VISUAL STUDIES EMPHASIS

 

I. National and ethnic literatures (3 courses)

The student must take three literature courses, two in the cultural area of the primary language and one in that of the secondary language. At least one of the courses should be a literature course in a language not native to the student, with readings in the original language, whatever the language of instruction or written assignments.

II. Visual arts (5 courses)

The student must take five courses in visual arts, chosen from section II-A of the course list that follows, normally including one in the cultural area of the primary language and another in that of the secondary language. The student may substitute, for one of the five courses, a course in film, chosen from section II-B of the course list that follows. (See Courses Acceptable for the Major.) , or a studio course in a visual art (drawing, painting, sculpture, filmmaking, etc.)

III. Cross-cultural and/or gender-oriented literary or visual studies (2 courses)

The student must take two courses of a cross-cultural or gender-oriented nature in a literary or visual art, chosen from the literature courses in section III-A of the course list or from the courses in visual arts and film in sections III-B and III-C.

 

IV. Visual and cultural theory (2 courses)

The student must take one course in visual theory, chosen from section IV-B of the course list, and one course in cultural theory, chosen from section IV-C.

 

FILM EMPHASIS

 

I. National and ethnic literatures (3 courses)

The student must take three literature courses, two in the cultural area of the primary language and one in that of the secondary language. At least one of the three courses should be a 100-level literature course in a language not native to the student, with readings in the original language, whatever the language of instruction or written assignments.

 

II. Film (5 courses)

The student must take five courses in film chosen from section II-B of the course list, normally including one in the cultural area of the primary language and another in that of the secondary language. The student may substitute, for one of the five courses, a course in visual arts chosen from section II-A of the course list or a studio course in some domain of filmmaking (screenwriting, directing, acting, etc.) (See Courses Acceptable for the Major.).

 

III. Cross-cultural and/or gender-oriented literary or visual studies (2 courses)

The student must take two courses of a cross-cultural or gender-oriented nature in a literary or visual art, chosen from the literature courses in section III-A of the course list or from the courses in visual arts and film in sections III-B and III-C.

 

IV. Visual or literary theory, and cultural theory (2 courses)

The student must take one course in literary or visual theory, chosen from section IV-B* of the course list, plus one course in cultural theory, chosen from section IV-C**.

*Will be revised to read “section IV-C” when a Tufts film theory course is made available.

**Will be revised to read “section IV-D” when a Tufts film theory course is made available.

 

COURSES ACCEPTABLE FOR THE MAJOR

For present purposes, a cross-cultural course is defined as one that explores literary or artistic expression across national or ethnic boundaries, or that of two or more cultures living in proximity, or that of a diaspora culture living in several nations, or that of a racial or ethnic minority living in a particular nation. A gender-oriented course is one that comprises its content by gender, or makes gender experience or gender relations a principal (though not necessarily exclusive) focus of its subject matter.

I. NATIONAL AND ETHNIC LITERATURES

See course listings in the following departments and programs: Classics; Drama; English; German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literatures; Romance Languages; World Literature. These listings include: African, African-American, Caribbean, Chinese, Greek and Latin, English and American, French, German, Hebrew and Judaic, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Scandinavian, Spanish, and other literatures.

 


 


II. VISUAL ARTS AND FILM

 

A. VISUAL ARTS COURSES,
     EXCLUSIVE OF FILM


See listings in the Department of Art and

Art History  (including courses cross-listed with language & literature departments) and the visually-oriented courses of the Department of Drama and Dance, as well as the following courses:

German 174 Nineteenth-Century

  German Literature and Art

World Literature 166 Illustrated

     Literature

 

B. FILM COURSES

FAH 62/162 Art on Film, Film on Art

FAH 92 Film Noir

FAH 197B Problems in Art on Film

CHNS 80 Chinese Film: 1930s-1980s

CHNS 81 Cinema of Greater China: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the PRC

DR 45 Race and Its Discontents: Third World Theater & Film

DR 48 African-American Theater and Film

DR 60/160 Shakespeare on Film

DR 62 Hollywood Comedy

DR 64 Women and Film

DR 175 History of U.S. Film to 1933

ENG 62 Film and Society

ENG 80 Hitchcock: Cinema, Gender, and Ideology

ENG 191D Black World Literature and Film

FR 75 Classics of French Cinema

GER 85 German Film

HIST 91 The Camera and the Cold War

ITAL 75 Italian Film

JPN 80 Japanese Film

JPN 112 Major Japanese Film Directors

JS/CR 142 Jewish Experience on Film

RUS 80 Russian Film: Art, Politics, and Society

SOC 40 Introduction to Mass Media and Popular Culture

SOC 185 Seminar in Mass Media Studies

 

III. CROSS-CULTURAL AND/OR  GENDER-ORIENTED LITERARY OR VISUAL STUDIES

 

A. LITERATURE COURSES

(* = knowledge of foreign language required)

Arabic 61 Classical Arabic Literature

Arabic 62 Modern Arabic Literature

FAH 80/GER 50/WL 50 Feminist Analysis: Women's Voices, Women's Bodies

FAH/GER/CR 129 Women in Medieval Art and Literature

CHNS 70 Defining Contemporary Chinese Culture

CHNS 132 Women and Modernity in Twentieth-Century Chinese Literature

CLS 65S Journey of the Hero

CLS 75 Classical Mythology

CLS 135 Social Life in Greece and Rome

CLS 136,137 Classical Biography

CLS 140 Classical Epic

CLS 141 Classical Historians

CLS 143 Classical Satirical Writings

CLS 146 Ancient Greek and Roman Medicine

CLS/PHIL 151 Ancient Philosophy

CR 48 Qur'an and Islamic Tradition

DR 1 Comedy and Tragedy: An Introduction to Drama

DR 4 Twentieth-Century Drama

DR 42/142 Women in the American Theater

DR 137 Theater and Society I

DR 138 Theater and Society II

DR 178 Sex, Gender, and the Performing Arts

ENG 35 African-American Literature

ENG 36 Black World Literature

ENG 45 Non-Western Women Writers

ENG 73 Contemporary Anglophone Literature

ENG 77 The Modern Mind

ENG 105 The Literature of the Middle Ages

ENG 132 Women and Fiction

ENG 140 The African-American Novel

ENG 145 American Realism

ENG 146 African-American Women's Autobiography

ENG 147 American Women Writers

ENG 156 The Modern European Novel

ENG 160 Twentieth-Century Literature of the Indian Subcontinent

ENG 191 Third-World Women Writers

FR 44 French African Theater

FR 46 Masterpieces of Caribbean Literature

FR 48 French African Literature

*FR 179 French African Literature

*FR 181 French African Theater

GER 75 Grimms' Fairy Tales

GER 86/186 German Women Writers

GER 89 German Expressionism in its European Context

JS 65 Introduction to Yiddish Culture

JS 73 Aspects of Sephardic Tradition

JS 78 Jewish Women

JS/CR 84 Sources of Jewish Tradition

JS/CR 126 Roots of the Jewish Imagination

JS/CR 132 The Book of Genesis and Its Interpreters

PHIL 186 Phenomenology and Existentialism

PS 141 Shakespeare's Rome

RUS 114 Satire and Absurdist Literature

SPN30/130* Civilization of Muslim Spain

SPN 50/150* Latin American Civilization

SPN 73 Contemporary Latin American Fiction in English

*SPN 34 Survey of Latin American Literature

*SPN 101 Latin American Theater

*SPN 102 Latin American Short Story

*SPN 103 Contemporary Latin American Novel

*SPN 104 Poetry in Spanish America

*SPN 105 The Dictator in the Latin American Novel

*SPN 106 Literature and Revolution: Mexico and Cuba

*SPN 107 Testimonial Literature of Latin America

*SPN 108 Latin American Women Writers

*SPN 156 Afro-Hispanic Literature

CIV 19 Cultural Conceptions of the Self

CIV 21 Body Movement and Power on the World Stage

CIV 22/GER 84/JPN 84 East/West Perspectives on Fascism: Japan and Germany

WL 17/JPN 91/RUS 91 Reading the World: Love and Sexuality in World Literature

WL 77 Scandinavian Literature

WL 120 South African Writers

WL 150 Literature of Chaos

WL 166 Illustrated Literature

 

B. VISUAL ARTS COURSES

FAH 1 Art, Ritual, and Culture

FAH 2 Art, Politics, and Culture

FAH 4 Introduction to the Arts of Africa

FAH 5 Introduction to the Arts of Asia

FAH 6 The Royal Arts of Africa

FAH 10/110 Japanese Art and The West

FAH/CR 11 Buddhist Art

FAH 21/121/CR 23 Early Islamic Art: The Formation of a Culture

FAH 22/122/CR 24 Iconoclasm and Iconophobia: Threat of the Image

FAH 23/CR 25 Art and Politics of the Middle Ages

FAH 25/125 Medieval Architecture

FAH 32/132 High Renaissance Art and Culture

FAH 33 Renaissance and Reformation

FAH 35/135 Renaissance Artists Then and Now

FAH 41 The Age of Rembrandt and Bernini

FAH 44/144 The Renaissance Body

FAH 48 Nature into Art

FAH 63/163 The "Black" Arts of the United States

FAH 70/170 The Contemporary Arts of Africa

FAH 71/171 The Arts of the Afro-American Diaspora

FAH 80/GER 50/WL 50 Feminist Analysis: Women's Voices, Women's Bodies

FAH/CR 128 Monasteries and the Arts, 1000-1200

FAH/CR 127 Cathedrals and the Arts, 1150-1300

FAH/GER/CR 129 Women in Medieval Art and Literature

FAH/CR 130 Fourteenth-Century Art

FAH 191 Seminar in Asian Art

FAH 191A Seminar in African or African Diaspora Art

FAH 198A Seminar in African American Art

Dance 51 Dance Movement and Creative Process

DR 137 Theater and Society: Prehistory to the Renaissance

DR 138 Theater and Society: The Renaissance to Modern Drama

DR 178 Sex, Gender, and the Performing Arts

WL 166 Illustrated Literature

 

B. FILM COURSES

FAH 62/162 Art on Film, Film on Art

FAH 92 Film Noir

CHNS 81 Contemporary Cinema of the Greater China: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the PRC

DR 45 Race and Its Discontents: Third World Theater and Film

DR 48 African-American Theater and Film

DR 60/160 Shakespeare on Film

DR 64 Women and Film

ENG 62 Film and Society

ENG 191D Black World Literature and Film

HIST 91 The Camera and the Cold War

JS/CR 142 Jewish Experience on Film

 

A. LITERARY THEORY COURSES

DR 155 Directing I

DR 261/262 Dramatic Theory and Criticism (graduate courses; consent required)

ENG 130 Criticism and Society

ENG 149 African-American Criticism and Theory

ENG 170 Sexuality, Literature, & Contemp. Criticism

ENG 171 Post-Structural Literary Theory

GER/WL 50/FAH 80 Feminist Analysis: Women's Voices, Women's Bodies

GER/WL 100 Understanding Literature, Under-standing Yourself: Literary Theory & Interpretation

 

B. VISUAL THEORY COURSES

FAH/CR 20 Image and Icon:
Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

FAH 22/122/CR 24 Iconoclasm
and Iconophobia: Threat of the Image

FAH 100 Theories and Methods of Art History  (open for non-art history majors with consent)

FAH 158 The Roots of Abstraction

FAH 159 Movement in Time in Painting & Sculpture

FAH 160 Museum History and Theory

DR 70 Body Movemt. & Power on the World Stage

DR 19 Principles of Theatrical Design

ILVS  50 Intro to Film Studies

JPN 113 Japanese Visual Culture

 

 C. CULTURAL THEORY COURSES

American Studies 11 Introd. to Interdisciplinary Studies

ANTH 125 Ethnicity

ANTH 130 History of Anthropological Thought

ANTH 132 Myth, Ritual, and Symbol

ANTH 135 Visual Anthropology

ANTH 134 Emotion and Thought in Culture

ANTH 138 Introduction to Folklore

ANTH 142 Capital, Labor, and Desire

ANTH 145 Power, Politics, and Protest

ANTH 160 Linguistic Anthropology

ANTH 162 Anthropological Approaches to          Art and Aesthetics

ANTH 181 Anthropology and Feminism

FAH 100 Theory and Methods of Art History

FAH 101 Current Theory and Practice in Art and Art History

CIS 150 Interdisciplinary Processes

CD 143D Children and the Media

CR 191 Religion in International Relations

DR 137 Theater and Society I

DR 138 Theater and Society II

DR 178 Sex, Gender, and the Performing Arts

DR 70 Body Movement and Power on the World Stage

HIST 1 The Historian and History

HIST 8 The Making of the Modern World

HIST 36 The Transatlantic Relationship in the Twentieth Century

HIST 100 Historical Marxism

HIST 111 Sexuality, Disease, and Difference: Seventeenth to Twentieth Century

HIST 137 Nation, Religion, Language, &

        Class in Modern Asia

ML 182 Introd. to General Linguistics

PHIL 24 Introduction to Ethics

PHIL/PS 43 Introd.  to Political Philosophy

PHIL/PS 45,46 Western Political Thought I, II

PHIL  55 The Making of the Modern Mind

PHIL 123 Philosophy of Law

PHIL 124 Bioethics

PHIL 125 Racism and Social Inequality

PHIL 126 Theories of Human Nature

PHIL 128 Human Rights: History and Theory

PHIL 133 Philosophy of Language

PHIL 185 From Hegel to Nietzsche

PHIL 186 Phenomenology and Existentialism

 

 
 PS  20 Introd. to Comparative Politics: Western Europe

PS  28 Introd. to Post-Communist Political Systems

PS  51 International Relations

PS  52 International Relations: Imperialism

PS  145 Seminar: The Political Thought of Machiavelli

PS  146 Plato vs. Nietzsche: Philosophy vs. Art

PS  147 Seminar: Postmodern Political Thought

PSY 15 Theories of Personality

SOC 30 Sex and Gender in Society

SOC 40 Introd. to Mass Media and Popular Culture

SOC 103 Survey of Social Theory

SOC 181 The Arts in Society