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The Institute for Comparative Literature and Society (ICLS) supports interdisciplinary work in the humanities and social sciences as well as in the professional schools (Law and Architecture, Planning and Preservation) and the regional institutes. The Institute draws on a large number of comparatists in the language and literature departments as well as in related disciplines. Comparative Literature and Society combines rigorous training in the student’s home Ph.D. program with the most advanced cross-disciplinary work in the study of comparative literature and society.

All interested students must take the course G4900 (Introduction to Comparative Literature and Society) in the first year of graduate study, continuing students in the first year after admission. The main focus of Ph.D. work may be either one or more linguistic and literary tradition or work in history, anthropology, art history, or other affiliated Columbia departments and schools. Upon receipt of the application to study through the ICLS, the Institute sets up an advisory structure to determine the program of study for each student.

Once accepted into the program, full-time students receive the M.Phil. and Ph.D. through a participating department, and Comparative Literature and Society is listed on their transcript as a concentration.

Concentration (Language Departments)

For the M.Phil. Degree

Courses are selected with the guidance of an adviser and with a view toward the fields the student proposes to present at the M.Phil. qualifying examination as appropriate for the home Ph.D. program.

Points of credit: At least 24 points of graduate work at Columbia. Courses may be both in comparative topics, as offered by the various participating Ph.D. programs, and in the literature of a particular culture, if they are consistent with the student's program. All students are required to take the graduate course G4900 (Introduction to Comparative Literature and Society). Each student must also complete two terms of work in doctoral seminars in comparative topics, and one seminar in each of two minor fields (one of which has to be in literature and literary theory) apart from the student’s primary literature or field.

Teaching requirement: Participation in the instructional activities of one or more of the participating departments for three years. As a rule, in the second, third and fourth years of study, students gain exposure to teaching as assistants to professors in undergraduate courses, as section leaders in lecture courses, as language instructors or as instructors in the Undergraduate Writing Program. Students who are interested in broadening their teaching apprenticeships are eligible to apply to teach in the undergraduate Core Program, once they have received the M.Phil. Students may only apply to be a preceptor if they have or expect to have the M.Phil. by the May prior to being appointed as a preceptor, and if they are not past their sixth year of registration during the first year of the preceptorship. Students may not hold instructional appointments after year seven.

Language requirements: These vary in each student’s program, but in general a Ph.D. candidate is expected to read at least one language other than his or her native tongue to the standard of an undergraduate major before the candidate is admitted to the M.Phil. Program, and to acquire, in the case of a student in one of the language and literature departments, the same ability in at least two more languages before taking the qualifying examination. It is an assumption of the Program in Comparative Literature and Society that works in the student’s area of specialization are read in the original. The committee furnishes guidelines to advisers on the subject of language qualifications and arranges examinations.

As the alternative to the third required language, students may present a sequence of three courses emphasizing method and theory in another discipline.

M.Phil. Qualifying Examination: To be conducted by a board of examiners chosen in consultation with the student’s faculty adviser. The precise form of the examination depends on the student’s program, but the general requirements are the same as in the student’s home department. The M.Phil. examination is administered at and by ICLS. At least one member of the M.Phil. committee must have comparativist teaching and research interests. Students are awarded the M.Phil. and ultimately the Ph.D. in their respective home department with a concentration in ICLS.

Special Arrangement with the Department of Slavic Languages

A subset of students, after they complete their M.A. in Russian, Polish, Czech, or Ukrainian, go on to do their M.Phil. and Ph.D. in ICLS/Russian (or ICLS/Polish, or ICLS/Czech, or ICLS Ukrainian). Ultimately they are awarded a Ph.D. in their respective Slavic field with a concentration in ICLS.

For a Concentration in Comparative Literature and Society for the Ph.D. Degree

Dissertation: With the approval of a dissertation prospectus committee where at least one member is interested in Comparative Literature and Society, students may begin working on the dissertation after being awarded the M.Phil. degree and with the approval of the ICLS Executive Committee in the home Ph.D. Program and in ICLS. To obtain this approval, the candidate must submit to the committee a detailed prospectus (approximately 10 pages in length), together with a brief bibliography of works to be examined and sources to be used. The prospectus should be given to the DGS within six months after the orals. It should describe both the topic and the methods the student plans to use. Students should consult their advisers and the ICLS director or the DGS before drawing up the prospectus. Students should secure not only a sponsor from the list of departmentally-approved Ph.D. faculty sponsors, but also a second reader, in order to receive advice on the project and on drafts at all stages. After the proposal has been submitted with the signatures of the sponsor and the second reader, the ICLS Executive Committee votes to decide whether or not to accept the proposal.

Defense and deposit: The dissertation is defended by oral examination before a committee including the sponsor, the second reader, a third reader with a specific interest in comparative literature and society, and two other faculty selected from outside the list of faculty participating in ICLS whose fields are appropriate to the candidate’s dissertation subject. The defense is coordinated by and at the ICLS. After successfully defending the dissertation, students must deposit it before receiving the degree. For more information see http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/pages/cstudents/diss-office/dissertation/index.html.

Financial Aid

The Certificate in Comparative Literature and Society (Social Sciences)

The certificate is granted by the Graduate School on the recommendation of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society. The certificate is intended for students in the social sciences or other non-literary fields who pursue cross-disciplinary work that couples social scientific investigation with hermeneutic and semiotic questions about the construction of meaning as traditionally pursued in the humanities. Candidates for the certificate are expected to declare their candidacy as soon as possible after admission to the Graduate School. They are required to meet with the ICLS DGS who assigns an appropriate ICLS-affiliated faculty member as adviser. Candidates are expected to discuss their interest in ICLS at the time of application, and their programs of certificate study with their advisers at the beginning of each term. Both the ICLS adviser and the adviser in the candidate’s home Ph.D. program countersign a statement of the student's program during the registration period of each term of candidacy.