Comparative Literature

Founded in the 1960s on the traditional philological and philosophical bases of the discipline, UT's Program in Comparative Literature has always displayed strengths in both European and non-European languages and literatures. Created by a group of innovative faculty from across the college who sought to create a rigorous interdisciplinary program of graduate study, it has embraced the challenge of theory inclusively.

Its fifty affiliated faculty members work in areas as varied as medieval pre-print culture, Persian cinema, Latin American Magic Realism, images of the African diaspora, sexual identity in the late nineteenth century and imperial aftermaths.  Our students come from more than a dozen countries.

Having been selected as the administrative home of the American Comparative Literature Association from 2002-2011, the Program embraced an ever more inclusive view of the field. With the resources of five federally-funded area studies centers and UT's nationally recognized foreign language programs, Comparative Literature at UT Austin is able to draw on a unique wealth of resources.

The Program in Comparative Literature has as its goal the cultivation of multilingual and multicultural critical understanding and literacy. (Read Our Mission Statement)