Welcome to UCSB’s Comparative Literature program

Our program is committed to the broadest geographic and disciplinary scope, situating the study of literature and culture within a transnational intellectual framework. Reflecting the ongoing paradigm shift of the discipline from an almost exclusive focus on European perspectives to a more properly global awareness, our curriculum encompasses a worldwide range of languages and cultures. As a program, Comparative Literature draws on more than 70 affiliated faculty from across the Humanities and Social Sciences, providing our students with access to courses in a variety of departments and fields, as well as connections with like-minded colleagues across campus and the UC system. Students have considerable freedom to devise their own itineraries. Working closely with our faculty, they are encouraged to construct diverse, ambitious programs of study that reach across linguistic, cultural and disciplinary boundaries. In support of this mission, the program is affiliated with a variety of centers, institutes, and research groups within UCSB and beyond, which play a vital role in enriching the intellectual and professional life of our Comparative Literature community.