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School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics
Contact Information:
Campus Location: 1722 University Hall (UH)
(312) 996-5218
lcsl.uic.edu
Administration:
Director, José Camacho
Associate Director, Elizabeth Loentz
The School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics serves as the administrative umbrella over the following departments and programs: Classics and Mediterranean Studies (Arabic, Classics, Modern Greek, Latin); French and Francophone Studies; Germanic Studies; Hispanic and Italian Studies (Hispanic Linguistics, Hispanic Literary Studies, Spanish, Italian and Italian American Studies, Portuguese); Linguistics (Chinese, Computer Science and Linguistics, Japanese, Linguistics, Korean); Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian Studies (Polish, Russian, Lithuanian, Central and Eastern European Studies); International Studies; Religious Studies (Catholic Studies, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies); the Language and Culture Learning Center (LCLC); and Moving Image Arts.
The units within the school conduct original research and instruction on literary, cultural, and linguistics theories and practices in many languages and traditions. Faculty members within the school also have research and teaching interests in the moving image arts and religious and international studies. Its departments and programs are the primary source of instruction in foreign and classical languages at the basic and advanced levels and offer numerous majors and minors, which expose students to linguistic and cultural knowledge that responds to our rapidly globalizing world.
For information on individual units and their degree programs, please visit their home pages.
- Department of Classics and Mediterranean Studies
- Department of French and Francophone Studies
- Department of Germanic Studies
- Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies
- Department of Linguistics
- Department of Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian Studies
- International Studies Program
- Religious Studies Program
- Language and Culture Learning Center (LCLC)
- Moving Image Arts Program
Minor in Comparative Cultural Studies
The Minor in Comparative Cultural Studies offers a unique opportunity to explore and examine literature, film and visual media, and popular culture produced outside of the United States in courses taught in English by the departments and programs of the School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics. Students will be invited to critically engage and dialogue with difference, cultural and linguistic diversity, variety of expression, and distinct ways of being, knowing, and acting as expressed through these cultural products.
Students in this minor will:
- Expand their cultural competency, especially regarding cultural production outside of the geographical U.S.
- Develop the ability to think critically about cultural difference, pluralism, transnationalism, and dynamic interactions among varying and evolving world views and perspectives.
- Acknowledge the role of translation in intercultural exchanges.
- Study the formal characteristics of various cultural products—literature, film and other visual media, and popular culture—and critically examine the specific personal, social, cultural, and historical contexts within which these are created and disseminated.
- Develop the ability to critically consider and appreciate how literatures, film and visual media, and popular culture reflect, respond to, and influence shifting ideas about individuals, relationships, communities, and work in and across cultures.
- Understand how political and social trends and historical developments have influenced the ways culture is created and received.
- Bolster their critical-thinking, analytical, oral communication, and writing skills.
- Enhance their ability to equitably engage, learn from, and interact with peoples originally from countries and geographies outside of the U.S. in diverse personal, communal, and professional settings.
For the minor, students take courses on literature, film and other visual media, and popular culture from outside the geographical United States, taught in English, with texts in translation.