Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages

Courses offered by the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages are listed under the subject code DLCL on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses web site.

The Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages consists of five academic departments (Comparative Literature, French and Italian, German Studies, Iberian and Latin American Cultures, and Slavic Languages and Literatures), five focal groups (Digital Humanities, Humanities Education, Philosophy and Literature, Poetics, and Renaissances) as well as the Language Center, which oversees language instruction at Stanford.

All the departments of the division offer academic programs leading to B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees.

The division brings together scholars and teachers dedicated to the study of literatures, cultures, and languages from humanistic and interdisciplinary perspectives. The departments in the division are distinguished by the quality and versatility of their faculty, a wide variety of approaches to cultural traditions and expressions, and the intense focus on the mastery of languages. This wealth of academic resources, together with small classes and the emphasis on individual advising, creates a superior opportunity for students who wish to be introduced to or develop a deeper understanding of non-English speaking cultures.

The division's departments and the Language Center offer instruction at all levels, including introductory and general courses that do not require knowledge of a language other than English. These courses satisfy a variety of undergraduate requirements and can serve as a basis for developing a minor or a major program in the member departments. The more advanced and specialized courses requiring skills in a particular language are listed under the relevant departments, as are descriptions of the minor and major programs.

The DLCL itself offers four undergraduate minor programs, one Ph.D. minor program, and several graduate courses focused on the teaching of second languages, the teaching of literature, and academic professionalization.

Focal Groups

While the five departments in the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages serve common interests in literary and cultural traditions and their languages, the DLCL's Focal Groups bring together faculty members and graduate students who share topics and approaches that range across languages and national literatures. These groups are designed to respond directly to the research interests of the faculty as a community, and reflect long-term commitments by the participants. They are conceived as portals that open from the Division outward to the wider community of literary and humanities scholars at Stanford. The membership may include any member of the Stanford faculty or any Ph.D. student with an interest in the topic. Most Focal Groups include participants from several humanities departments outside the DLCL.

Thus the DLCL is characterized by two axes of intellectual inquiry:

• the departmental axis, which is organized by language, nation, and culture
• the focal axis, which may be organized by genre, period, methodology, or other criteria.

The convergence of the two axes, departments and Focal Groups, locates faculty members and graduate students in at least two intersecting communities. The DLCL believes that this convergence gives institutional form to the intellectual conditions under which many scholars of literature and culture presently work.

Each Focal Group maintains a standing research workshop at which both faculty and graduate student members discuss their work. Several Focal Groups offer formal courses; and all groups are responsible for overseeing research-oriented activities and extracurricular events in the relevant area, including sponsoring conferences, publications, podcasts, and other activities that disseminate the outcomes of their research.

Digital Humanities

Chairs: Amir Eshel (Comparative Literature, German Studies) Mike Widner (Academic Technology Specialist)

Faculty Members: Cécile Alduy (French and Italian), John Bender (Comparative Literature, English), Russell Berman (Comparative Literature, German Studies), Dan Edelstein (French and Italian), Amir Eshel (Comparative Literature, German Studies), Roland Greene (Comparative Literature, English), Alexander Key (Comparative Literature), Marília Librandi-Rocha (Iberian and Latin American Cultures), David Palumbo-Liu (Comparative Literature), Kathryn Starkey (German Studies)

The Digital Humanities Focal Group (DHFG) promotes faculty and graduate research in the digital humanities through lectures series, praxis workshops, curriculum, and the identification and development of digital humanities research projects, especially those eligible for grant-funding opportunities. DHFG sponsors a lecture series and convenes regular workshops alternating between praxis and theory. These activities provide fora in which faculty and graduate students can share work in progress, discuss the state of the field, and identify important research that should be shared with the DLCL and broader academic communities. Crucially, the DHFG promotes digital research on underrepresented literatures and cultures to counteract the English-language dominance of much work in the field.

The DHFG also establishes strategic partnerships with similar endeavors at Stanford such as the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis, the Literary Lab, HCI, etc. and with the larger academic community through organizations like the Association for Computers and the Humanities, the Praxis Network, and HASTAC.

Humanities Education

Chair: Russell A. Berman (Comparative Literature, German Studies)

Faculty Members: Cécile Alduy (French and Italian), Elizabeth Bernhardt (German Studies, Language Center), Eamonn Callan (School of Education), Adrian Daub (German Studies), Thomas Ehrlich (School of Education), Marisa Galvez (French and Italian), Pam Grossman (School of Education), David Lummus (French and Italian), Orrin Robinson (German Studies), Gabriella Safran (Slavic Languages and Literatures), Kathryn Starkey (German Studies), Mitchell Stevens (School of Education), Guadalupe Valdés (School of Education)

Web Site: http://dlcl.stanford.edu/groups/humanities-education

The Focal Group on Humanities Education explores issues concerning teaching and learning in the humanities, including research on student learning, innovation in pedagogy, the role of new technologies in humanities instruction, and professional issues for humanities teachers at all educational levels.

Philosophy and Literature

Chairs: R. Lanier Anderson (Philosophy), Joshua Landy (French and Italian)

Faculty Members: Keith Baker (History), John Bender (Comparative Literature, English), Russell Berman (Comparative Literature, German Studies), Alexis Burgess (Philosophy), Martón Dornbach (German Studies), Jean-Pierre Dupuy (French and Italian), Amir Eshel (Comparative Literature, German Studies), Gregory Freidin (Slavic Languages and Literatures), Robert Harrison (French and Italian), David Hills (Philosophy), Héctor Hoyos (Iberian and Latin American Cultures), Michelle Karnes (English), Alexander Key (Comparative Literature), Sianne Ngai (English), Marília Librandi Rocha (Iberian and Latin American Cultures), Joan Ramon Resina (Iberian and Latin American Cultures, Comparative Literature), Nariman Skakov (Slavic Languages and Literatures), Blakey Vermeule (English), Laura Wittman (French and Italian), Lee Yearley (Religious Studies)

Web Site: http://philit.stanford.edu

The Focal Group on Philosophy and Literature brings together faculty and students from nine departments to investigate questions in aesthetics and literary theory, philosophically-inflected literary texts, and the form of philosophical writings. Fields of interest include both continental and analytic philosophy, as well as cognitive science, political philosophy, rational choice theory, and related fields. The group offers undergraduate tracks within eight majors, a graduate workshop, and a lecture series.

Workshop in Poetics

Chairs: Roland Greene (Comparative Literature, English), Nicholas Jenkins (English)

Faculty Members: Marisa Galvez (French and Italian), Alexander Key (Comparative Literature), David Lummus (French and Italian), Michael Predmore (Iberian and Latin American Cultures)

Web Site: http://dlcl.stanford.edu/groups/workshop-poetics

The Workshop in Poetics Focal Group is concerned with the theoretical and practical dimensions of the reading and criticism of poetry. During the four years of its existence, the Workshop has become a central venue at Stanford enabling participants to share their individual projects in a general conversation outside of disciplinary and national confinements. The two dimensions that the workshop sees as urgent are:

• poetics in its specificity as an arena for theory and interpretive practice.

• historical poetics as a particular set of challenges for the reader and scholar.

The core mission is to offer Stanford graduate students a space to develop and critique their current projects.

Renaissances

Chair: Roland Greene (Comparative Literature, English)

Faculty Members: Cécile Alduy (French and Italian), Shahzad Bashir (Religious Studies), Paula Findlen (History), Tamar Herzog (History), Nicholas Jenkins (English), Alexander Key (Comparative Literature), David Lummus (French and Italian), Bissera Pentcheva (Art and Art History), Morten Steen Hansen (Art and Art History).

Web Site: http://dlcl.stanford.edu/groups/renaissances

The Renaissances Group brings together faculty members and students from over a dozen departments at Stanford to consider the present and future of early modern literary studies (a period spanning the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries). Taking seriously the plural form of the group's name, we seek to explore the early modern period from a wide range of disciplinary, cultural, linguistic, and geographical perspectives.

Minor in Medieval Studies

Faculty Director: Kathryn Starkey

The Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages offers an undergraduate minor in Medieval Studies. The minor in Medieval Studies:

• provides Stanford students with the historical knowledge and framework, through which to view globalism;
• embeds the study of medieval culture in a coherent framework that resonates with contemporary issues of community building, the virtual world and mobility;
• and promotes an innovative crossdisciplinary and skill-based approach to Medieval Studies.

Students in any field qualify for the minor by meeting the following requirements:

Students complete a total of 25 units (including a core course) in courses relevant to the major in departments across the University including, but not restricted to, English, East Asian Studies, History, Religious Studies, Music, and DLCL courses (Comparative Literature, German, French, Italian, Iberian and Latin American Cultures, and Slavic Languages and Literatures), and Classics. 

One of the following three introductory core courses is required to be taken for 5 units. Students engage creatively with the Middle Ages and produce projects that will be collected in a database and shared with the Stanford community.  The core courses are offered on a regular basis by faculty across the University.

Electives may be selected from a large number of offerings in a variety of disciplines according to student interests, but they must follow a coherent course of study. This course of study must be approved by the faculty director. Up to 5 units may be taken in a medieval language, such as (but not limited to) Old English, Old Norse, Medieval Latin, Old French, Middle High German, Classical Arabic. No transfer credit may be used toward the Medieval Studies minor. Appropriate courses offered through BOSP may count toward this minor.

Course work in this minor may not duplicate work counted toward other majors or minors. Advanced placement credit and transfer credit do not apply to this minor. All courses must be taken for a letter grade. By University policy, no more than 36 units may be required in this minor.  Students declare the Minor in Medieval Studies through Axess. 

Minor in Modern Languages

The Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages offers an undergraduate minor that draws upon courses in literature and language within the division's departments and elsewhere in the University.  The minor in Modern Languages is offered to students who want to supplement the course work in their major with course work in modern languages and literatures. The minor must be approved by the chairs of undergraduate studies of the respective language departments.

Students in any field qualify for the minor by meeting the following requirements:

Students are recommended to study, work, or intern abroad for at least eight weeks at a location where one of the languages is spoken. Course work in this minor may not duplicate work counted toward other majors or minors. Advanced Placement credit and transfer credit do not apply to this minor. All courses must be taken for a letter grade. By University policy, no more than 36 units may be required in this minor.  Students declare the minor in Modern Languages through Axess.

For further information including procedures for declaring the minor, contact Denise Winters at denisew1@stanford.edu.

Minor in Translation Studies

Faculty Director: Indra Levy

Minor Adviser: Cintia Santana

The Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, in cooperation with East Asian Languages and Cultures and the English Department, teaches undergraduates to develop and apply their foreign language knowledge to the production and analysis of translations. The minor is designed to give students majoring in a variety of fields the tools to consider the practical and theoretical issues brought up by translation as an aesthetic, cultural, and ethical practice.

Course work in this minor may not duplicate work counted toward other majors or minors. Course selection must be approved by the minor adviser.  For further information, contact the minor adviser, Cintia Santana.

Students must take a minimum of 23 units for a letter grade, in fulfillment of the following requirements:

Minor in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Faculty Director: Alexander Key

The undergraduate minor in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (MELLAC) has been designed to give students majoring in other departments an opportunity to gain a substantial introduction to Arabic, Hebrew, Middle Eastern, and African languages, and the cultures and civilizations of the Middle East and Africa. Contact the faculty director, Alexander Key <akey@stanford.edu> before declaring the minor:

• Courses for the minor must be taken for a letter grade unless only offered for faculty-elected satisfactory/no credit.
• All courses must be completed with a letter grade of 'C' or better.
• Students may not overlap (double-count) courses for completing major and minor requirements
• Students declaring the minor must do so no later than the last day of Spring Quarter of their junior year.

The minor in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures and Cultures (MELLAC) has two tracks. Their requirements are as follows.

Minor in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Arabic Track

Requirements for the minor include:

• Completion of four ARABLANG courses at the second-year level or higher, for a total of 20 units
• Up to 5 units of transfer credit may count towards this minor with the Faculty Director's approval.
• Two literature courses taught with Arabic texts, generally offered in Comparative Literature (COMPLIT) for a total of 6-10 units
• One course relating to Arabic taught with English texts, generally offered in Comparative Literature (COMPLIT), for a total of 3-5 units.
• Students must test for Proficiency in Arabic through the Language Center by Winter Quarter of tge senior year.
  • Students should minimally receive a notation of 'intermediate-High'.
  • Those requiring outside tutoring are advised to seek resources are available through the DLCL.
• All courses must be approved by the faculty director.

Minor in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, or African Languages, Literatures and Cultures Track

Requirements for the minor include:

• Three language classes in Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, or an African language.
  • All three courses must be in the same language and first year or beyond.
• 20 additional units from relevant literature and culture courses.
  • Courses are offered through the Language Center and DLCL departments.
  • One of these courses must be a (COMPLIT) Comparative Literature course.
  • Additional courses are offered through Jewish Studies (JEWISHST), and the Center for African Studies (AFRICAST).
• The faculty director may approve some upper-level language classes to count towards the 20 additional units.
• All courses must be approved by the faculty director.

Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities

Faculty Director: Matthew W. Smith

Faculty Director, Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts Subplan: R. Lanier Anderson, Philosophy

Director of Graduate Studies, Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts Subplan: Adrian Daub, German Studies

Overview

The Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities provides interdisciplinary training in the humanities through programs in two tracks:

• a general Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities
• a Ph.D. minor with a subplan in philosophy, literature, and the arts

The general minor prepares students for interdisciplinary humanities research and teaching by providing broad training in cultural history, focused around five period seminars (ancient, medieval, early-modern, enlightenment, and modern).

The track in Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts prepares students for focused interdisciplinary work at the boundary between philosophy and literary/arts criticism; the program offers structured, disciplined training in the student’s minor field together with in-depth investigation of special topics arising from connections across the two domains of research.

Application and Admission

Students declare the minor after admission to candidacy and before attaining TGR status by submitting:

• an Application for Ph.D. Minor form
• a one-page statement of intent
• students pursuing the philosophy, literature, and the arts track should indicate this on the form.

Requirements

• Students in the general minor must meet with the faculty director every Spring Quarter to review progress.
• Students in the philosophy, literature, and the arts subplan must meet annually with the subplan director of graduate studies (DGS) or with the minor adviser designated by the DGS who reports the results of the meeting to the DGS.
• Fulfillment of all program requirements must be completed before the student attains TGR status. The minor and subplan, if declared, are published on the transcript.
• All students in the minor from both tracks participate in the Autumn Quarter Interdisciplinary Humanities Symposium; the symposium features student presentations of their independent work on the role of the interdisciplinary humanities scholar/teacher in the changing university.
• Per University requirements, all course work taken toward the Ph.D. minor must be completed at Stanford; no transfer units from other institutions may be counted toward the Ph.D. minor.
• To be awarded the Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities, students must have satisfied all requirements of the admitting department for their Ph.D. degree, and they must complete a minimum of 20 unduplicated units of graduate-level course work as described below.

Note 1: Mastery of one or more foreign language(s) may be needed to support the interdisciplinary work of the minor. Although the minor itself has no foreign language requirement, students should work closely with their minor adviser to identify any needed language skills; students are advised to begin developing these skills early in their graduate careers.

Note 2: Although official declaration of the minor must occur after a student advances to candidacy, students are advised to begin planning a course of study and taking courses toward the minor earlier, particularly if the candidacy decision occurs at the end of the second year or later, so that they have ample time to complete the requirements before turning TGR.

Requirements for the General Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities

Students complete preparatory work for the symposium plus three interdisciplinary seminars from the set covering five historical periods: antiquity, medieval, early-modern, enlightenment, and modern.

Requirements for the Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities, Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts Subplan

The Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts Subplan of the Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities offers rigorous, structured training for students interested in the interdisciplinary intersection of philosophy with criticism in literature and the arts.

All students in the Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities, Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts Subplan take:

1. PHIL 333/DLCL 333 Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts Core Seminar, team taught by faculty from philosophy and from a literature or arts department.
2. At least three units of independent work registered either under a departmental independent work number, or under DLCL 220 Humanities Education or DLCL 222 Philosophy and Literature. This work should be undertaken with a faculty adviser identified to the subplan DGS; it should lead up to the student’s participation in the Autumn Quarter Interdisciplinary Humanities Symposium, and should concern interdisciplinary humanities research and teaching.
3. Two additional courses at the 200 level or above which are deemed by the subplan Committee in Charge to include material of substantial special relevance to the domain of philosophy, literature, and the arts. At least one of these courses should be offered in a participating department other than the student’s major department (e.g., a philosophy course for students in literature and arts departments, a literature or arts course for philosophy students).
4. All students in the subplan take two graduate-level courses providing a structured program of course work in the student’s minor field (such as philosophy for literature and arts students, or literary or arts criticism for philosophy students):
   • Graduate students in Philosophy take two graduate-level courses in a single literature, or in one of the arts.
   • Graduate students in literature or arts departments, including Classics, take two graduate-level courses in Philosophy, at least one of which must be in metaphysics, epistemology, or the philosophies of language, mind, or action (the PHIL 280s series and related upper-level seminars), and at least one of which must be in value theory (understood to include ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy, the PHIL 270s series and related upper-level seminars)
   • Graduate students in other departments submit a plan of study for approval by the DGS reflecting graduate-level course work that provides a background both within philosophy and within the study of literature or the arts that is substantially equivalent to that achieved by philosophy, literature, or arts students in their minor field. Students are advised that this plan of study may involve more course work than would be needed for students whose major field is in literature, arts, or philosophy departments.
5. If the six required courses do not total 20 units, students may satisfy the 20 unit requirement by taking units of DLCL 222 Philosophy and Literature or by taking additional graduate level courses of special relevance at their discretion and with the agreement of their minor adviser. 

Notes:

• Students are encouraged to include a member from the minor field on the University Oral Committee or on another of the general examination committees if that is judged more appropriate by the student’s departmental and minor advisers. Students in departments which deploy the University Oral as a dissertation defense are advised that a member from the student’s minor field should be involved on the dissertation committee throughout the dissertation writing period.
• Students are encouraged to develop crossdisciplinary breadth through course work for the minor, particularly through the courses of special relevance in section 3 above. The period seminars of the General Ph.D. Minor in the Humanities (DLCL 321, DLCL 322, DLCL 323, DLCL 324, and DLCL 325) are often eligible to count as courses of special relevance.
• Courses of special relevance taken to fulfill requirement 3 that are owned or crosslisted by the student’s home department may be counted toward area or distribution requirements of the major Ph.D. program in addition to the minor requirement, as long as the student either a) completes at least 20 other unduplicated units toward the minor, or b) does not count the course in question toward the unit requirement for the admitting Ph.D. major department, so that the course itself is unduplicated in the sense of the general University 20 unit requirement for Ph.D. minors.

Certificate in Language Program Management

Faculty Director: Elizabeth Bernhardt

Programs in contemporary foreign language teaching preparation entail a knowledge base that has grown over the past 30 years, rooted in data from an explosion of linguistic as well as applied linguistic research.

In tandem with the Language Center's primary focus on learning research and theory, which graduate students explore in the teaching preparation program, the Language Program Management certificate focuses on developing the professional leadership and academic skills necessary for a career that includes the coordination and management of language learning.

The program funds summer internships which enable the completion of a certificate in Language Program Management and are intended to help Stanford graduate students prepare themselves for such work in complement to their literary studies. The certificate program is not declared on Axess and does not appear on the transcript or diploma.

Prerequisites

1. Foreign language acquisition: Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) rating of at least advanced mid
2. Academic and professional development:

• DLCL 301 The Learning and Teaching of Second Languages
• Modified Oral Proficiency Interview (MOPI) Assessment workshop (2 days)
• Limited OPI Tester Certification (average 6 months)
• Teaching of three first-year language courses through the Language Center

These are generally met by the end of a graduate student's second year in the PhD program. Once meeting these criteria, the student may be admitted to the Program.

Requirements

Upon admission to the program, students must complete the following:

1. DLCL 302 The Learning and Teaching of Second-Language Literatures: a course designed to focus student attention on the development of oral language proficiency through the upper levels and emphasize the need for upper register speaking and writing for literature learning and teaching.
2. OPI workshop (additional 2 days of training at the Advanced and Superior levels): this workshop is the extension of the MOPI. It focuses on upper register performance on the FSI-ACTFL scale. Hosted by either the Language Center, regional workshop, or at the national meeting of the ACTFL.
3. Completion of Writing Proficiency Familiarization workshop (Winter Quarter): Workshop conducted by a certified writing tester and structured in parallel to the MOPI/OPI assessment paradigm.
4. DLCL 303 Language Program Management (Summer Quarter): an administrative internship including, but not limited to, experiences with the following:

• Shadow faculty and staff in select areas of administration and supervision within the Language Center and DLCL
• Placement testing and student advisement
• Technology in teaching and learning
• Processes for teacher observation and feedback
• Procedures in staff supervision and human resources
• Course scheduling, budgeting, staffing, and searches
• Interface with external programs (e.g., BOSP, Bechtel, VPTL)

Division Chair: Dan Edelstein

DLCL Senior Lecturer: Cintia Santana