Track in Global English Literature and Culture The undergraduate track in Global English Literature and Culture (gelc)

The undergraduate track in Global English Literature and Culture (GELC) allows students in the English major to extend their study into the widest contexts of international literary achievement. As with other paths through the major, it will offer engagement with major works in the Anglo-American literary tradition and will provide strong preparation in writing. Additionally, students examine the spread of Anglophone literary culture around the world, a phenomenon that has existed from the earliest stages of English literature and that has recently become one of the most striking features of our global cultural condition. Writing in South Asia, Anglophone Africa, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean, among other sites and regions, has acquired decisive importance for the future of English. Students also have the opportunity to take designated Comparative Literature (CPLT) courses designed to situate Anglophone writing in conversation with and in the context of other literatures. Students in GELC will encounter the provocation and accomplishment of such work, while also preparing to become globally literate citizens of this new millennium.

To complete this track, students must complete 33 hours of course work, including:

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  Two of the following: ENGL 3810, 3820, 3830, CPLT 2010, 2020.
  
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  GDS 2559: Global Humanities and Arts
  
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  Five courses from within the department, chosen in consultation with the student’s advisor, that have been designated as meeting the requirements for GELC. At least two of the courses must be in literature prior to 1900, and at least one must be at the 4000 level. Examples from recent semesters include:
  

Literature of the Americas

Fiction of Empire

Post-colonial Literature

The African Novel

Contemporary Ethnic Women’s Fiction

European Medieval Literature in Translation

World Poetry in English

African-American Literature

The Transatlantic Eighteenth Century

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  Two courses from outside the department, chosen in consultation with the student’s advisor, that have been designated as meeting the requirements for GELC. Examples from recent semesters include:
  

Global Media

World Art

World Religions

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  A capstone seminar (ENGL 4530), with enrollment restricted to students in the GELC track. Topics would vary depending on the faculty involved, but the seminar would include a research component issuing in a substantial essay. Students will be encouraged to approach the project as a way to tie together the curriculum they have pursued in the GELC track.