College of Liberal Arts

Launched in 1998, Theory and Cultural Studies (TCS) is a relatively new Ph.D. concentration within the Department of English at Purdue University. The concentration offers students a chance to organize their coursework, examinations, and dissertation research in unique ways, drawing upon several strengths of the department: literary and critical theory, cultural studies and its pedagogies, postcolonial studies, feminist and queer theory, visual culture, and the social-epistemic paradigm of rhetorical analysis.

The concentration brings together scholars working in important overlapping areas of inquiry: textual analysis inflected by feminist and poststructural critique; cultural analysis oriented by an understanding of global socio-economic systems; historical analysis attentive to the work of institutions and ideologies; and teaching practices conditioned by an emphasis on the process of textual production and the goal of what Jim Berlin called "critical citizenship."

Prospective students will apply to the Ph.D. program in English. The application letter should offer a statement of interest in Theory and Cultural Studies. Applications will be evaluated by TCS faculty prior to consideration by the Graduate Admissions Committee. Those admitted will be eligible for departmental teaching assistantships.

Students currently enrolled at Purdue (in M.A. or Ph.D. programs) will be eligible to join the concentration, given appropriate coursework and exam preparation. Please see the concentration director for details on the admission procedure.

In this section

• Theory and Cultural Studies
• Coursework
• Examination
• Faculty
• Resources