Cultural Studies

Overview

Cultural Studies students are taught to use critical theory to understand cultural practices and activist politics in a variety of intellectual and practical settings. As a student in one of the oldest Cultural Studies programs nationwide, you’ll study with faculty-scholars active in such fields as American and hemispheric literary studies, African American and Black Diaspora studies, feminist and queer studies, comparative Latina/o studies, European history, media studies, and museum studies. Your study includes training in field- and text-based research, ethnography, textual analysis of film and media, archival studies, digital and visual research methods, curatorial methods, and oral history, spanning the humanities and allowing you to tailor your academic experience. 

The MA in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University (CGU) offers ideal circumstances for collaborating with colleagues in other CGU departments and schools as well as with other member colleges in the Claremont University Consortium. Our graduates gain expertise that lets them navigate political, cultural, and economic terrain using sophisticated discourse, inquiry, and research techniques.

Program Highlights

• The Cultural Studies program at Claremont Graduate University is a leader in the Applied Humanities: Our students frequently obtain curatorial internships at Los Angeles-area museums.
• Choose from interdisciplinary concentrations in American Studies, Early Modern Studies, Hemispheric & Transnational Studies, Media Studies, or Museum Studies.
• Program requirements include a three-course foundational sequence in cultural studies theories and methodologies as well as research methods courses in ethnographic field research, visual research, film theory and criticism, archival studies, oral history, and literary theory. We also offer an advanced writing workshop course to both our MA and PhD students.
• CGU is only 35 miles from Los Angeles, one of the most multicultural and diverse cities in the world, offering a wide array of internship and field opportunities.
• You can pursue elective coursework in other CGU departments and schools and across the colleges of the Claremont University Consortium.