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Welcome to Comparative Literature at UC Santa Barbara!

Our Comparative Literature Program provides undergraduates with the opportunity to work closely with faculty in their fields of study, explore the interactions of literary cultures across borders, and take courses in the literatures of the world and on such topics such as "Global Humanities," "World Literature and Cognitive Science," "Children’s Literature," "Fantasy and the Fantastic," and "the Jewish Graphic Novel." We also offer an innovative Minor in Translation Studies.

Our doctoral students carry research at the crossroads of disciplines and practice the methods and theories of Comparative Literature. We offer a graduate Emphasis in Translation Studies and our graduate students can also choose from six additional graduate emphases. Alumni from our graduate program have secured research positions, teaching appointments, and post-doctoral fellowships in humanities departments at Dartmouth, Harvard, Rutgers, CU Boulder, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt, Yale and at other outstanding colleges and universities.


Diversity Statement

The Comparative Literature program is proud to foster an inclusive and diverse environment for students and faculty alike, where scholars from a broad range of racial, ethnic, socio-economic, gender, disabled and neurodiverse groups can work together in a thriving scholarly community. Scholars from all different backgrounds and with all kinds of interests are encouraged and supported both intellectually and financially in their pursuit of scholarly excellence. Whether you are interested in Native American writers, anti-racist pedagogies, Disability Studies, Hispanic Students Outreach initiatives, Queer Studies or mentoring disadvantaged K-12 students, you will find a welcoming and supportive environment in our program.

This commitment to diversity is reflected in our efforts to recruit students with varied backgrounds and interests. Admission into the program is based on a combination of prior academic achievement, significant research interests, and evidence of the potential for success at the graduate level in spite of economic and social disadvantages.

University awards in support of these values include the multi-year Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship and the Doctoral Scholars Fellowship, which provide four- to five-year support packages that combine stipends of $24,000 for two years with two to three years of teaching assistantships and payment of fees, tuition and health insurance.

 

Announcements

GCLR Distinguished Visiting Scholar - Ursula K. Heise

Distinguished visiting lecturer, Professor Ursula Heise from UCLA, comes to UCSB on May 4th to give a talk entitled, "Beyond Realism: Narrative and Environmental Crisis." Join us in the Wallis Anneberg Conference Room (Social Science and Media Studies Building, Room 4315) at 5 PM on Thursday, May 4, 2023.

RFG Talk: Color: Additions, Subtractions, Signals

Dr. Ricardo Cedeño Montaña is giving a presentation Wednesday, May 10th, during which he will describe some of the particular principles, mechanisms, and techniques by which color film functioned in its formative years and the coding schemes for (re)producing, storing, and transmitting color information in electronic and digital media.

UCSB alumna, Marzia Milazzo, publishes her first book, Colorblind Tools: Global Technologies of Racial Power

Marzia Milazzo just published her first book: Colorblind Tools: Global Technologies of Racial Power (Northwestern University Press, 2022).

A talk by translator Michael Moore on the occasion of his recent translation of Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed

A talk by translator Michael Moore on the occasion of his recent translation of Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed, followed by a conversation with Professors Giancarlo Tursi and Claudio Fogu. 

 

Graduate Seminar on Artificial Intelligence, Spring 2023 Thurs. 2-5pm

Professor Fabian Offert is offering a graduate seminar on Artificial Intelligence in the Spring of 2023. This lecture offeres perspectives from Critical Therory, Media Studies, Visual Studies, and Art and History on Visual Artificial Intelligence.

UCLA Professor, Efrain Kristal, holds a lecture in Phelps Hall on March 13

Disguished UCLA Professor, Efrain Kistal, will be hosting a lecture, "War and Translation in...