Master of Arts in English Program in Cultural Studies
What is Cultural Studies?
The study of literature, music, film, television, games, shopping, sports, comics, animation, bear-baiting, minstrel shows, and so much more. Cultural studies looks at all these things and the theories that help us understand their historical and cultural significance: marxism, feminism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, queer theory, postcolonialism, gender theory, digital humanities, race and ethnic studies, and more. While cultural studies scholars study many things, they share a commitment to interdisciplinarity, contextualization, and social and community engagement.
Our students have written on such topics as cyberpunk and environmentalism, illustrations from Japanese American internment camps during WWII, contemporary novels and film, existentialism, science fiction, role-playing games, horror film, the #MeToo Movement, postmodernism, and so much more.
Our Cultural Studies Program is a track of the MA degree in literature. Kansas State University's department of English has offered a master's degree with specialization in Literature and Cultural Studies since 1992.
What degree and coursework is offered?
Students in this program are introduced to major theoretical influences in a course on "Theories of Cultural Studies," delve into a specific topic in the "Seminar in Cultural Studies," and choose from other advanced courses in literature, criticism, and theory. They also select relevant courses in other disciplines such as women's studies, anthropology, geography, history, sociology, philosophy, modern languages, political science, and mass communications. At the culmination of their degree, they develop an independent research project. Our courses in Cultural Studies cover a range of topics.
Students also select relevant courses outside the English department in order to pursue interdisciplinary study in areas such as women's studies, anthropology, geography, history, sociology, philosophy, modern languages, political science, and mass communications. For more information on degree requirements and policies, please visit the department's Graduate Student Handbook.
Cultural Studies Symposium
The Program in Cultural Studies hosts an annual Cultural Studies Conference which draws important scholars, critics, and writers from around the world. Our 34th Annual Symposium will feature Professor Chadwick Allen (Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies, University of Washington).
Who are the faculty and what do they work on?
Who are the students and what do they work on?
Students in the program are able to take courses in literature, film and theory within the Department, and are encouraged to explore courses in other departments as well. In their second year, students develop an independent writing project with the Major Professor of their choosing. Past student projects have ranged from images of women in rap videos, the #MeToo movement films, role-playing games, technology and hybridity, bodily reconstruction in Shakespeare, and more.
After graduation, may of our students go on to Ph.D. programs. Others have taken jobs in teaching, grant writing, technical writing, and the entertainment industry. For a selected list of alumni and what they chose to do after graduation, please click here.
For More Information
For application materials or for more information about the Program or Conference, contact:
Cydney Alexis
Director, Program in Cultural Studies
Department of English
English/Counseling Services Building
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506-6501
Phone: (785) 532-6716
FAX: (785) 532-2192
E-mail: csdirector@ksu.edu