University Catalog > College of Arts and Sciences > Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies

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• Faculty
• Course Work
• Graduate Program
  • Cultural Studies, PhD
    • Admission Requirements
    • Degree Requirements

Web: gmu.edu/departments/cultural
Phone: 703-993-2851

Faculty

Albanese, Bergoffen, Brown, Brunette, Burr, Censer, Copelman (director), Deshmukh, Dietz, Dumont, Elstun, ffolliott, Forche, Foster, Foreman, Froman, Fuchs, Gilbert, Guagnano, Hanrahan, Hodges, Holt, Horton, Irvine, Irving, Jacobs, Jann, Johnsen-Neshati, Kaplan, Karush, Kaufmann, Lancaster, Landsberg, Levine, Lipset, Lont, Matz, Melosh, Mobley McKenzie, O'Connor, O'Malley, Palkovich, Rabin, Radner, Ricouart, Rosenblum, Rosenzweig, Seligmann, P. Smith, S. Smith, Sockett, Stewart, Struppa, Todd, Trafton, Weinstein, Yadav, Yocom, Zagarri

Course Work

The Cultural Studies program offers all course work designated CULT in the Course Descriptions chapter of this catalog.

Graduate Program

Cultural Studies, PhD

This doctoral program, the first of its kind in the United States, unites selected faculty members from 10 departments to serve students contemplating careers in scholarship and practice. Cultural studies is an emerging field of interdisciplinary inquiry, arising in response to dramatic historical and social changes. As the focus on cultural process transforms an entire range of disciplines in both the humanities and social sciences, scholars are embracing new conceptions of culture and new methods for its study.

George Mason's PhD in Cultural Studies is distinctive in several respects. Similar programs in other universities are usually departmentally based (in English, history, sociology, or communication), emphasizing either the humanities or the social sciences. By contrast, the cultural studies program at George Mason explicitly seeks to link the social sciences and the humanities, combining methods of interpretation and explanation to explore the production, distribution, and consumption of cultural objects in their social contexts. With particular focus on theory and method in crafting this linkage, the program engages contemporary issues of nationality, class, race, and gender, while opening its scope to all forms of culturepast and present.

Admission Requirements

Students who already have an MA in a relevant field are eligible to apply to the PhD in Cultural Studies program. Students with only a bachelor's degree should apply to a master's program in one of five departments that have established feeder programs in cultural studies: English, Sociology and Anthropology, History and Art History, Philosophy and Religious Studies and Modern and Classical Languages. All these feeder programs culminate in CULT 802 as a capstone seminar. Students may, if they choose, apply simultaneously to the PhD in Cultural Studies, so that faculty members may review their academic promise and the suitability of their interests to the program. Especially strong candidates with bachelor's degrees may be admitted into the doctoral program on a conditional basis, depending on their performance in the MA program, particularly in CULT 802. Students who wish to apply for an MA and the Cultural Studies PhD simultaneously will have to submit two separate applications; one for each program.

In addition to materials required of all applicants for graduate study at George Mason, applicants to cultural studies should submit the following:

1. Scores on the GRE (general test is required; subject tests are optional)

2. Three letters of recommendation from individuals who can judge the applicant's scholarly potential

3. A statement of purpose

4. A writing sample that demonstrates scholarly potential

Degree Requirements

As with all doctoral programs, the emphasis in this program is on the development of intellectual mastery and professional competence. The most important requirements in the program are comprehensive exams and the completion of a doctoral thesis that reflects the student's ability to do original interdisciplinary work that meets professional standards. Each student is required to demonstrate proficiency in at least one foreign language before being permitted to defend the doctoral dissertation proposal.

Candidates for the PhD in cultural studies must complete 48 credits beyond the MA degree distributed as follows:

1. Core requirements (nine credits):

• CULT 802 Histories of Cultural Studies
• CULT 806 Research Seminar in Cultural Studies
• CULT 808 Colloquium (three semesters)

2. Theory (three credits), selected from the following:

• CULT 810 Culture and Political Economy
• CULT 814 Gender and Sexuality
• CULT 820 After Colonialism: Race, Ethnicity, Nationalism

3. Methodology (three credits):

Under the guidance of faculty advisory committees, students select from departmental graduate offerings (600 level or above) a course in a relevant methodology in which they are not already trained.

4. Topic requirement (three credits), selected from the following:

• CULT 812 Visual and Performative Culture
• CULT 816 Science/Technology
• CULT 818 Social Institutions

5. Field requirement (18 credits; two fields of 9 credits each)

Under the guidance of faculty advisory committees, students select two fields that point topically and theoretically toward teaching interests, dissertation research, and related forms of professional development. Students select relevant courses from departmental graduate offerings (600 level or above), independent study courses, theory or topic courses not used to fulfill the requirements above, and special topics courses. Students also are required to take a three-credit directed readings course, CULT 870, in each field. Students demonstrate competence in each field by producing a field statement that consists of a comprehensive, critical literature review.

6. Comprehensive (Qualifying) Examination

The written field statements and an oral comprehensive exam based on them constitute the qualifying examination. On successful completion of this requirement, students are advanced to candidacy.

7. Dissertation research (12 credits; 998, 999)

Students are required to register for a minimum of 3 credits of 998 or 999 each semester once they first register for 998, until only 3 credits of dissertation remain (as listed on their program of study). Once enrolled in 998, a student must maintain continuous registration in 998 or 999 each semester until the dissertation is submitted to and accepted by the university library.