The following programs are chosen to illustrate the range of subjects students may choose to investigate for the M.A. degree. (Each is based on particular M.A. students’ programs, all or partially converted to semester equivalents.)
1. Gender, Power, and Corporate Discourse. This project investigates forms of symbolic change and strategies of counter-hegemonic discourse in the context of different strands of Buddhist discourse.
Comparative Studies:
6390 Approaches to Comparative Cultural Studies I
6391 Approaches to Comparative Cultural Studies II
5691 Topics: Religion and Media
7340 Theorizing Science and Technology
7630 Theorizing Culture
7888 Comparative Studies Methodologies
8872 Seminar in Religious Studies: Religion and Sexuality
English:
7864 Postcolonial/Transnational Literatures: Contemporary Indian English Novel
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies:
8800 Topics in Feminist Studies: Theories of Judith Butler
2. Foucauldian Perspectives on Biopolitics and War. The second sample program included here illustrates through its very different content the range of possible subjects open to Comparative Studies students. This program analyzes disciplinary effects of discourses about smart bombs and anti-war movements. It includes coursework in Comparative Studies, Geography, Political Science, and English. The coursework program is as follows:
Comparative Studies:
6390 Approaches to Comp Cultural Studies I
6391 Approaches to Comp Cultural Studies II
7360 Theorizing Culture
7256 Complex Ethnography
8892 Seminar in Performance and Politics
Geography:
8601 Theory of Political Geography
8602 Seminar: Problems in Political Geography
Political Science:
6194 Contemporary Comparative Political Problems
English:
6790 Contemporary Critical Theory
Thesis Title: “Producing Pacification: The Disciplinary Technologies of Smart Bombs and National Anti-war Organizing”