Literature PhD

Program Code: G-LIT-PHD
Degree Designation: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Global Cultural Studies in the Literature Program
Website: literature.duke.edu/graduate

Program Summary

The PhD Program in Literature offers qualified students the opportunity to develop individual courses of study—markedly  interdisciplinary and often interdepartmental—which focus on understanding and appreciating how culture produces experience, value, and meaning. Drawing from disciplines across the humanities, Literature graduate students are trained in modes of interpretation aimed at analyzing and historicizing the social, ethical, and political problems of our time. Our students work comparatively in and across different cultural contexts, diverse geographical and geopolitical locations, and distinct media forms to develop their research projects in several disciplinary areas, amongst which:

• critical and social theory and the history of philosophy

• modern literature and contemporary theories and philosophies of language and literature 

• visual culture, global cinema, and film theory, the internet and media studies in the digital age

• political and decolonial theory, Marxism, poststructuralism, and postcolonial studies

• psychoanalysis, science studies, cognitive neuroscience, and the history of psychiatry

• comparative race studies in a transnational frame

• feminism, gender, queer and trans theory, and sexuality studies.

The program offers courses in these areas, both introductory courses (at the 500 level), more specialized seminars (at the 600-800 level), as well as seminars and tutorials in specific research projects or problems (890S and 890T). For additional information, visit literature.duke.edu/graduate.

Dual Degree – JD/PhD in Literature

A JD/PhD in Literature is offered by the department in cooperation with Duke’s Law School. JD/PhD students must apply for admission to Duke’s Law School and the Graduate School and must combine relevant coursework in Literature with full-time work toward a law degree. The Duke University Graduate School and the School of Law are revising the joint degree JD/PhD program. New applications are not being accepted until further notice.

Dual Degree – JD/MA in Literature

A JD/MA degree is offered by the department in cooperation with Duke’s Law School. JD/MA students must apply for admission to Duke’s Law School and must combine relevant coursework in Literature with full-time work toward a law degree. The Duke University Graduate School and the School of Law are revising the joint degree JD/MA and JD/MS degree programs.

Academic Requirements

All Literature graduate students are required to complete the following requirements:

• a total of 12 graduate courses (500-level or above):

  • 7 of these courses must be offered by primary faculty in Literature (one of which will be a “cohort” course offered in the fall semester, assigned for the entering cohort each year; and another a Doctoral Exam Preparation independent study to be completed in the spring semester of the second year)

  • and 5 of these must create a coherent teaching field of the student’s choice

• a preliminary examination in two major fields of study to be conducted in year three, which includes the following:

  • a dossier comprised of a Teaching Field Reading List, a Dissertation Field Reading List, two fully developed syllabi (an introductory survey of the teaching field and an advanced undergraduate course on current debates in the teaching field), as well as a list of sample exam prompts

  • two 48h written exams (one a Teaching Field Exam, and another a Dissertation Field Exam)

  • and a 2-hour oral exam on all the aforementioned materials conducted with the student’s Preliminary Exam Committee

• a chapter workshop in year four, which focuses on a concrete piece of writing representing a substantial chapter students will have written, in conjunction with an outline and prospectus for the rest of the dissertation project

• and a final dissertation project, and its defense (usually by year six), which is expected to be a mature and competent piece of the student’s writing, embodying the results of significant and original research. In Literature, the general expectation is for the dissertation to be composed of 3 or 4 main chapters, plus an introduction and conclusion, with a total page count (including a bibliography) of around 270 pages (plus or minus 70 pages). 

Students entering the program are strongly advised to have a reading knowledge of one language other than English and to acquire reading competence in a second language relevant to their field of study before taking their preliminary examination.

All matriculating PhD students at Duke University are required to complete 12 hours in Responsible Conduct of Research training in research ethics. Six of these are taken care of by the six-hour RCR orientation at the start of the first year—the remaining six are taken care of by attending three two-hour seminars. Students must complete their RCR training to graduate with the PhD.

Students entering Literature’s PhD program with a Master’s degree are also required to take a minimum of twelve courses as outlined above, and to satisfy all the other aforementioned requirements.