The Program for Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary program concerned with the dynamics of culture on a global scale. It provides an institutional forum for responding to the increasing need to comprehend the role and formation of culture beyond national boundaries and disciplinary divisions. Starting from the early 1960s, centers, programs and journals have attempted to address new questions imposed by changing relations and communications among nations since World War II. In the 1980s, programs and institutions in cultural studies began to be formally established in this country. The Program for Cultural Studies at the University of Pittsburgh was created in the mid-1980s; it incorporates faculty from most departments in the humanities and the social sciences, and from some professional schools in the University. The program attracts students at the University of Pittsburgh who wish to work beyond the confines of the existing departmental structures.

The program addresses debates concerning the theory of texts and their production; the relationship between culture and politics; the formation of disciplines and institutions; and the nature of cultural antagonisms and crises. It features a variety of recent methodologies of historical and textual interpretation, and offers students opportunities to work with faculty and other students from the following departments, programs, and schools: Anthropology, Classics, Communication, East Asian Languages and Literatures, English, Film Studies, French and Italian Languages and Literatures, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Hispanic Languages and Literatures, History, History and Philosophy of Science, History of Art and Architecture, Law, Medicine, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Public and International Affairs, Religious Studies, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Sociology, and Theatre Arts.

Each term the program offers a series of core and designated courses open to any interested graduate student. In order to fulfill its interdisciplinary commitment, the program presents:

• A Common Seminar to encourage ongoing interaction between students and faculty
  
  
• Courses team-taught by scholars from various departments throughout the University
  
  
• One- or two-day colloquia, workshops, or seminars with faculty both inside and outside the University
  
  
• A series of lectures by well-known scholars, followed by seminars for students with the speaker. Invited speakers have included Stanley Aronowitz, Homi Bhabha, Peter Brooks, Jacques Derrida, Stuart Hall, Fredric Jameson, Richard Rorty, and Alan Sokal.

Publications
Cultural Studies faculty edit journals of international renown, including boundary 2 and Critical Quarterly, leading publications in the study of culture.

The master's certificate in Cultural Studies is granted only after the completion of all degree requirements for the MA (or corresponding degree) in the student's home department, school, or program. The PhD certificate can be awarded only after the student has been admitted to candidacy for the PhD (or corresponding degree). A student may earn either a master's certificate or a PhD certificate, but not both.

Graduate Student Support
One-year fellowships are awarded annually to outstanding resident students.

Students from departments without foreign language requirements are expected to demonstrate the ability to use primary and secondary texts in one language other than English. Courses are regularly offered in the language departments toward the achievement of this level of reading proficiency.

Core Courses
(Group A) Text and Theory: Courses in this group provide training in the study of textual practices and literary theories. They review contemporary critical approaches, identify the rhetorical elements in a variety of textual practices (including film), examine the work of recent criticism and theory, and evaluate the reception of texts and their ideological implications. Included in this group are such courses as:

(Group B) Disciplines and Intellectual Movements: Courses in this group focus on the relationship between the cultural, the social, and the political; the relationship between interpretation and explanation; the history of intellectual movements beyond national borders; the formation of fields of knowledge, disciplines, and genres; and the historical conditions in which disciplines are institutionalized, as well as the intellectual modes of their assessment. Included in this group are such courses as:

(Group C) Cultural Antagonisms and Cultural Crises: Courses in this group explore, compare, and contrast the nature and consequences of historical moments and intellectual debates particularly rife with cultural and social upheavals. Such crucial confrontations may be geographical (north-south, east-west); they may involve issues of individuality versus collectivity (revolutions, nationalism, ethnicity); or they may explore distinct cultural oppositions (pop culture and high culture, scientific models of knowledge and humanistic models of knowledge). These courses have included:

Designated Courses
Each term the program cross-lists several designated courses offered in various departments, programs, and schools. Included in this group have been such courses as:

Further information may be obtained from: The Program for Cultural Studies; University of Pittsburgh; 1301 Cathedral of Learning; Pittsburgh, PA 15260; phone: (412) 624-7232; fax: (412) 624- 4575; E-mail: cultural+@pitt.edu; Web site: http://www.pitt.edu/~cultural.

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