Bachelor of Arts in European Cultural Studies
Ever wonder what constitutes “culture?” Would you like to study both European literature and the artistic, social, political and historical contexts in which it was created? If so, the European Cultural Studies (ECS) degree program is for you. Our program focuses on the study of European literature across time and boundaries while encouraging you to delve into its interrelationship with music, painting, philosophy and other arts.
As an ECS major, you will customize your major to suit your academic interests, whether they lie in Greek tragedy or German Romanticism, French Postmodernism, or the Holocaust. At the same time, you will supplement your area of focus with other cultural humanities courses. Our course offerings range from ancient Greek mythology to Jewish theory, so you can really tailor your degree to the region and period you choose while gaining exposure to a wide range of movements in European thought and culture.
In the end, you will understand how literature and the arts express and preserve the ways in which a culture interprets the world. More specifically, you will have gained an understanding of European civilization and its place in the global context.
Our graduates have gone on to pursue research in the humanities, enter the legal and public service fields, and join global companies.
Academics and Research
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The ECS program is designed to offer you broad exposure to different modes of cultural production, including literature, film, theatre, and visual art. You will take comparative literature seminars and European literature courses. You will also be encouraged to select electives in other art forms and in a range of departments and programs across Brandeis’ thriving Division of Humanities. You will shape your major based on your own interests and goals in consultation with faculty from many departments and within ECS.
The Center for German and European Studies (CGES)
A frequent collaborator with ECS, CGES supports interdisciplinary teaching and research on contemporary Germany and Europe and the social, political, and cultural issues facing them today. The center hosts lectures from visiting scholars and offers a variety of opportunities for you to enrich your study, including travel and research grants.
Given the flexibility of the ECS program, many of our students double-major, most commonly in German studies.
The Mandel Center for the Humanities
This exciting center offers interdisciplinary undergraduate courses that attract students from all majors in the humanities and beyond. The center also hosts conferences lectures, films and other events that explore major themes of human experience.
Beyond the Classroom
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Each semester, we invite a renowned scholar to campus to present their work to students and faculty during our Dessert Lecture Series. Recent topics have ranged from the American Civil War to Dostoevsky’s Concept of Unity.
ECS majors are encouraged to seek learning beyond Brandeis. You can spend a summer or semester studying in another country. Barcelona, Edinburgh, Freie Universität Berlin, Oxford, and the University of Freiburg have been frequent study abroad hot-spots for ECS students in the past.
Faculty and Student Excellence
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Our highly productive yet accessible faculty are dedicated teachers from across the spectrum of disciplines in the liberal arts:
- Eugene Sheppard: Expertise includes modern Jewish history and thought.
- Govind Sreenivasan: Expertise includes early modern European history, especially Germany, and world history.
- John Burt: Expertise includes American literature, romanticism, composition, philosophy of education, literature of the American South, literature of the Civil War and poetry.
- Jytte Klausen: Expertise includes domestic and international terrorism, Islam in the West, immigration and social cohesion.
- Laura Quinney: Expertise includes romanticism, poetry, literature and philosophy, subjectivity and self-conflict.
- Michael Randall: Expertise includes late medieval and Renaissance poetry, prose and philosophy, Italian and comparative literature, modern politics and literature and detective novels.
- Palle Yourgrau: Expertise includes philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of space and time, Simone Weil, Plato and Aristotle.
- Robin Feuer Miller: Expertise includes the novel in Russia and Europe of the 19th century, the short story in Russia, and the literature of childhood and children's literature.
- Stephen Dowden: Expertise includes modern German literature and culture, European modernism, comparative literature (esp. comparing literature with other art forms), the novel as form, literature and philosophy and the avant-garde.
As an ECS major, you may choose to pursue honors by writing a thesis in your senior year.
Graduate Study and Careers
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With a major in European Cultural Studies, you’ll be well prepared to pursue graduate fields in many European language literatures, philosophy, art history and criticism, or film studies.
Our alumni have gone on to pursue graduate work in history, politics, English, international studies, and other fields. Others have pursued careers in law, business, and the arts.
