Romance Studies PhD
Program Code: G-ROM-PHD
Degree Designation: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Romance Studies Department
Website: romancestudies.duke.edu/graduate
Program Summary
The Department of Romance Studies at Duke University offers doctoral programs in French and Francophone, Italian, Spanish and Latin American literatures and cultures, and an innovative PhD track in comparative Romance Studies. We invite rigorous historical and theoretical approaches to the diverse sites across the globe where these languages are spoken. Our community of scholars studies diasporas and migration as much as nations; visual, media, and sonic cultures along with literary texts; and intellectual genealogies involving philosophy, critique, philology, and decolonial and postcolonial thought. We value and support the diversity of languages, epistemologies, methodologies, and histories as the core of our academic mission.
Flexible by design, our students’ courses of study in French and Francophone, Italian, Spanish and Latin American literatures and cultures are developed in close and regular consultation with faculty advisors. Working collaboratively, they craft a meaningful curriculum of coursework, develop innovative dissertation topics, and prepare students to contribute to core fields and disciplines within the academy and beyond. Our multilingual and international faculty frequently work with students across the department. For students who substantively engage two or more of these linguistic and cultural traditions, the comparative Romance Studies track provides coursework divided evenly between the two areas of specialization, teaching opportunities in both languages, and a dissertation committee that guides students in both fields. Students may apply directly to this track, or may transfer into it by the beginning of their second year in the program.
Academic Requirements
The PhD requires fourteen graduate courses for students entering with a BA. Eight of those must be taken within the department. The remaining six may be taken in other departments. Students may take up to two independent study courses; additional independent studies may be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). Students who enter with the MA only need to complete ten graduate courses provided that four of their previous graduate courses are in the field of study or a closely related field. Of those ten courses, at least six must be taken within the Romance Studies Department; the others can be taken in other departments. Students who wish to pursue this accelerated option need the approval of the DGS. Required courses for all doctoral tracks include ROMST 501S: Methods and Theories of Romance Studies and ROMST 700: Theories and Techniques of Teaching World Languages.
In order to complete the PhD, reading proficiency in a language other than the major one (and other than English) is required by the time the student takes the Dissertation Prospectus Workshop. For students in the Romance Studies PhD track, a high level of scholarly competency is required in two Romance languages. The faculty believe strongly in the utility, beauty, and importance of linguistic competences beyond English and the language(s) of specialization. Other departments at Duke offer opportunities to learn or improve languages through credited or audited courses, which we encourage students to explore.
Students must pass The Graduate School’s Preliminary Exam, which takes the form of a Portfolio: a dossier of written work, bibliographies in major and minor fields, and an oral examination. The purpose of the exam is to allow students to establish their competencies in those fields for teaching and other professions, and to demonstrate their readiness to undertake independent dissertation research. Students are also required to complete a Dissertation Prospectus Workshop, including a document of approximately 15-20 pages outlining the topic, approach, and implications of the dissertation project. During a 2-hour workshop, the student’s committee responds to the prospectus in order to refine the project, and assess its scope and contributions. The prospectus must be approved by the committee before full-time research and writing on the dissertation can begin. The dissertation committee meets one final time for a defense of the completed thesis. This vigorous engagement of the research helps students identify future directions of study. The committee may request some edits to the thesis prior to final submission to The Graduate School.