{"id":4,"date":"2022-11-02T18:09:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T18:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/colt\/?page_id=4"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:52:43","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/colt\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":" \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n Welcome to the Department of Comparative Literature!\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Letter from the Chair<\/b><\/p>\n

We are a thriving community of teachers and scholars working on a wide variety of topics and areas, ranging from literary analysis, media studies, critical theory, and ecocriticism to studies of race and empire in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. We are proud to be the intellectual home of students who have an abiding interest in languages and cultures, media and the arts, and interdisciplinary research.<\/p>\n

Comparative literature is a discipline defined by its twin commitments to deep knowledge of specific cultural contexts and interdisciplinary methodologies that enable us to apprehend them in new ways. Our department offers a wide variety of courses on topics such as cultures of Latin America, Southeast Asian literature and film, fictions of Africa, psychoanalysis and the arts, and queer cinema, to name a few. Through coursework, immersive language study, bibliographic and archival research, and fieldwork, students of comparative literature create a unique path of study that prepares them for a wide variety of career paths, including law, journalism, entertainment, and education.<\/p>\n

The Department of Comparative Literature also houses the PhD in Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture, a cutting-edge interdisciplinary program with tracks in Comparative Media and Culture, Comparative Literature, French and Francophone Studies, and Spanish and Latin American Studies. In addition, the department administers the Graduate Certificate in Translation Studies, a rigorous certificate program in translation theory and practice. Our graduate students produce original scholarship on topics ranging from gender and sexuality and animal and plant studies to translational ethics and experimental cinema from the early modern period to the present day across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a great pleasure and a privilege to chair the Department of Comparative Literature, and I look forward to working with the faculty, staff, and students in this exciting and innovative intellectual hub. I would be happy to meet with new students, whether they are interested in pursuing a major, minor, or PhD in comparative literature, or simply taking courses in the department.<\/p>\n

I invite you to explore our website and familiarize yourself with the many opportunities in the Department of Comparative Literature. And I look forward to crossing paths in a classroom or at one of our many events in the near future!<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
\nOlivia C. Harrison<\/em>
\nChair, Department of Comparative Literature<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n Explore USC’s Comparative Literature Department\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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