Culture and Theory, Ph.D.
Keith Topper, Director
https://www.humanities.uci.edu/cultureandtheory/
The Ph.D. Program in Culture and Theory is dedicated to theory-driven research on race, gender, and sexuality. The Program is shared by the Departments of African American Studies and Asian American Studies, and works closely with faculty across the School of Humanities with expertise in critical theory. It is home to leading scholars of Africana and African American thought, postcolonial theories from all geopolitical regions, Marxist and psychoanalytic criticism, and continental philosophy in the critical tradition. At the same time, our expanded course of study offers students freedom to take full advantage of the combined expertise of the internationally renowned faculty at UCI whose work exemplifies the best in contemporary theory and criticism across the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
The Culture and Theory Program is designed for students to develop their own unique style of thinking as they assemble theoretical frameworks, objects of analysis, and social historical practices into transdisciplinary projects that seek to transform the modern political imagination. Students with interests in the legacies of racial slavery and (settler) colonialism; diasporic and postcolonial cultural production; and the politics of identity formation will receive wide interdisciplinary engagement to create new ideas, arguments, and methods in order to lead ongoing conversations about what it means to do critical theory today.
Faculty
Affiliate Faculty
Courses
CLT&THY 200A. Political Economy: Methods and Critique. 4 Units.
Introduction to canonical texts in Marxism coupled with an examination of the questions of race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality that distend the calculus of the canon’s assumptive logic. May be taken after CLT&THY 200B.
Same as CRITISM 200A.
Restriction: Graduate students only.
CLT&THY 200B. Libidinal Economy: Methods and Critique. 4 Units.
Introduction to canonical texts in psychoanalysis coupled with an examination of the questions of race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality that distend the calculus of the canon’s assumptive logic. May be taken before CLT&THY 200A.
Restriction: Graduate students only.
CLT&THY 200C. Theory from Below. 4 Units.
Introduction to systems of thought understudied or undervalued in academic canons; for instance, systems constituted in communities' practices or theories that do not seek permanence or generality.
Restriction: Graduate students only.
CLT&THY 241. Ethics, Erotics, and Will: Gendered Black Politics, Sexualized Racisms, and the Humanities. 4 Units.
Introduces doctoral students to an interdisciplinary conversation about black queer sexuality and black heteropatriarchy. Uses disciplinary formations as a tool for understanding knowledge formations about the shifting relations that constitute sexuality, gender, and racial blackness.
Restriction: Graduate students only.
CLT&THY 242. Afro-Pessimism and the Status of the Subject. 4 Units.
Afro-Pessimism theorizes the Black as a being against which all other beings become legible as human subjects. Focuses on either the subject of psychoanalysis or the subject of capital accumulation in their explorations of the antagonism between Blackness.
Restriction: Graduate students only.
CLT&THY 280. Independent Study. 4 Units.
Limited to students who have not yet received the M.A. degree.
Repeatability: May be repeated for credit unlimited times.
CLT&THY 289. Topics in Culture and Theory. 4 Units.
Seminars on various topics in Culture and Theory.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
CLT&THY 298. Directed Reading. 4-12 Units.
Directed readings on a specific topic agreed upon by students and their instructors. Limited to students who have completed their M.A. degree and are preparing for their qualifying exam.
Prerequisite: Completion of the M.A. degree.
Repeatability: May be repeated for credit unlimited times.
CLT&THY 299. Dissertation Research. 1-12 Units.
Dissertation research in Culture and Theory.
Grading Option: Satisfactory/unsatisfactory only.
Repeatability: May be repeated for credit unlimited times.
Applicants must have earned a bachelor’s, master’s, or equivalent degree in any discipline in the humanities, arts, or social sciences.
Applicants submit unofficial transcripts, statement of purpose, personal history, three letters of recommendation, and a sample of written work. Incoming students are admitted for fall quarter only.
A. CLT&THY 200A, CLT&THY 200B, CLT&THY 200C. Core sequence in critical and cultural theories. | |
B. Two sections of CLT&THY 280. In these independent study courses taken during their second year, students expand and develop a seminar paper into the master's paper, with the guidance of their faculty advisor. | |
C. Two sections of CLT&THY 298. In these directed study courses taken during their third year, students prepare their reading lists and the dissertation prospectus in preparation of their qualifying examination, with the guidance of their faculty advisor. | |
D. Ten elective courses (4 units each), upon approval by faculty advisor, to cover methodological, theoretical, and topical areas of study as necessary for developing the student's broader research interests. The electives may be CLT&THY courses, HUMAN 260C and HUMAN 270; courses from Culture and Theory's supporting interdisciplinary units; and courses offered by core and affiliate faculty across campus. Independent studies and directed readings may be taken as elective courses with approval by Graduate Division. Of the 10 courses: | |
1. Five courses must be focused on philosophical and theoretical approaches relevant to race, gender, and sexuality (e.g. Hegel, feminist theory, critical theory, Foucault, Derrida, queer theory, themes in philosophy, political theory, etc.) | |
2. Five courses must be focused on objects of analysis relevant to race, gender, and sexuality studies (e.g. global capital, immigrant experience, environmental justice, transatlantic slavery, photography, criminalization, diasporic literature, technologies of surveillance, etc.) |
Master’s Paper and M.A.: During their second year, students work with their faculty advisor on a master’s paper. A master’s paper expands a seminar paper to a version that is of near-publishable quality.
Qualifying Examination: Students work with their committee to draw up reading lists and head notes on four topics, as well as a dissertation prospectus. Three of these topics should relate to the major areas of study outlined in the 200A, B, C core course sequence, and one should relate to the student’s area of disciplinary or focused study. The examination itself will be comprised of a written and oral exam. A student shall advance to candidacy upon successful passing of the Qualifying Exam.
Dissertation: The dissertation topic should be drawn from a focused area of study, chosen in consultation with the dissertation advisor and other committee members.
Time to Degree: The normative time for advancement to candidacy is four years. The normative time for completion of the Ph.D. is seven years, and the maximum time permitted is eight years.