English and Cultural Studies Program - Faculty of Humanities, McMaster University

English & Cultural Studies Studying English & Cultural Studies at McMaster will introduce you to the rich cultural store house that has been created over the centuries, from the earliest Old English manuscripts to the most modern examples of popular culture. It will equip you with the critical tools needed to analyze and interpret the diverse media used by writers and other creators of cultural products, as well as increasing your own powers of expression and critical thinking.

The Department of English & Cultural Studies also offers courses in creative writing and hosts a professional writerin-residence, with whom students and community members are encouraged to discuss their current creative works and manuscripts.

DEGREE OPTIONS • B.A. Honours English & Cultural Studies • B.A. Combined Honours English & Cultural Studies and Mathematics • B.A. Combined Honours English & Cultural Studies and another subject • B.A. English & Cultural Studies

Meet Two of Our Faculty

Dr. Sarah Brophy, the winner of 2 McMaster Student Union teaching awards, works on 20th and 21st-century life writing, fiction, and visual culture, with a critical focus on images and narratives of “the body.” Some of her recent research and teaching investigates selfie culture, especially how artists and gallery curators are using Instagram to incorporate the digital labour of the public into exhibitions.

Dr. Eugenia Zuroski specializes in literature of the “long 18th century”— Restoration through Romanticism—with a focus on orientalism, material culture, and empire and nationalism. Her book “A Taste for China: British Subjectivity and the Prehistory of Orientalism,” examines the British relationship to Chinese goods and aesthetics in the 18th century. She has also taught courses in critical theory, poetics, and ethnic studies.

Contact Us: Department of English & Cultural Studies Chester New Hall 321 905.525.9140 ext. 24491 engdept@mcmaster.ca | english.humanities.mcmaster.ca Fall 2020

ENGLISH & CULTURAL STUDIES

What to expect...

LEVEL I

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Make a difference EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Being a humanist means you are constantly challenged to explore, examine, and question all aspects of life – the value of this exploration and examination is at the heart of Humanities, particularly Humanities here at McMaster. Our Level I experience is an exploratory general first year that provides you the suitable foundation for upper years and beyond. To enter into the English program in Level II you will need to have completed 3 units of Level I English.

ENGLISH 1CS3 Studying Culture: A Critical Introduction

The course will introduce fundamental concepts and questions in the field of cultural studies, and will prepare students to use those tools in analyzing culture as a site of meaning, identities, power, and pleasure. The course aims to develop your ability to think critically about your own engagements with a broad range of manifestations of culture (e.g. popular culture, social institutions, everyday practices, digital culture, consumer culture). Considerable emphasis will be placed on the development of critical skills in reading and writing.

Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer in Residence Program Every year the Department of English and Cultural Studies partners with the McMaster Library and Hamilton Public Library to bring in a Writer in Residence, who divides their time between writing, working with individual writers on submissions in one-on-one meetings, and participating in literary events. Past writers include Lawrence Hill, Daphne Marlatt, Gary Barwin and M. NourbeSe Philip.

“As a young writer, I cannot imagine a program I would be more interested in than to sit down with some of the country’s top writers and have them engage with you and your work” – Ben Robinson

Nilofar Shidmehr is the 2019/20 Writer in Residence

ENGLISH 1F03 The Written World

What does the world look like when it takes a literary form? We will read and write about one or more literary genres or forms from various times and places, and reflect on the shape of literature, its place in the world, and the place of the world in it. The course functions as an introduction to the study of literature, equipping students with conceptual, analytical and writing tools that will help them become informed readers of the many modes and manners of imaginative expression. Considerable emphasis will be placed on the development of critical skills in reading and writing.

ENGLISH 2C03 Contemporary Canadian Fiction ENGLISH 2M03 Concepts of Culture

ENGLISH 3RW3: Experiential Practicum: Reading and Writing in the Community This course studies the theory and practice of community engagement in connection with literary and cultural studies. Students will integrate an experiential learning opportunity (normally requiring a four-hour a week volunteer placement with a departmental community partner) with academic research, discussion, and writing on relevant topics. Students take a volunteer placement in a local school. Students learn about Ontario education systems and pedagogical theories.

This could be you...

TEACHER

Teach students in all levels of education – elementary, secondary, and post-secondary

SCENARIO PLANNER

Understand narratives, speculate and see problems from different angles, be a planner—an art that is proving increasingly essential for businesses and organizations planning for uncertain futures “In the Salary Race, Engineers Sprint But English Majors Endure” – Headline for NYT story by David Deming, 20 September, 2019

Where you could go...

The Essential Skills that form the backbone of a Humanities education are the same qualities that make better leaders in our 21st century socioeconomic climate. No matter what discipline a Humanities student chooses to pursue, they will come away with a better understanding of themselves, others, and the world around them.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS: • ability to analyze and use language in imaginative and critical ways • ability to formulate and present arguments • ability to understand and assess ideas from multiple perspectives • skill in gathering, synthesizing and analyzing evidence • experience planning and executing projects • using imagination to understand and address complex problems

Learn all about studying English from our students

ENGLISH 2NH3 Narratives of Health

Other Experiential Opportunities:

ENGLISH 3VC3 Victorian Literature and Culture and Its Afterlives

ENGLISH 4Y03/4YY3: Capstone experiential education course – an independent study designed with a faculty supervisor.

ENGLISH 4IW3 21st Century Indigenous Writings and Film

ECS Undergraduate Society: Opportunities to participate in the Executive, attend and plan social events, and develop writing and workshop opportunities.

ENGLISH 3CW3: Creating Writing in/for/with Communities

“I think of ENGLISH 3RW3 so fondly because it felt very student-centred in its design, and critical in its orientation toward the fields of education, literacy, and community-engaged learning.”

– Graduate student, English