MCM Undergraduate Program

 

MCM-Track I

Track I concentrators may choose to study a particular historical moment, a medium, or a mode of textual production, in combination with theoretical studies that examine the categories of cultural analysis: for example, the distinction between high and low culture. Possible focus areas include but are not limited to film, post-coloniality, the novel, and theories of ideology. Productive work in some modern medium or textual mode is encouraged for all concentrators. MCM’s approach to production recognizes the inextricable link between theory and practice, and the possibility of a fruitful complicity between them. Production, in the sense defined here, is a theoretically informed sphere or practice, one within which acknowledged forms of cultural creation are tested and extended in close complementarity with the analyses conducted elsewhere in MCM.

Track I consists of 11 MCM courses. Courses from other departments may count toward the fulfillment of a focus area, but they cannot substitute for the 11 required MCM courses.

Track I Concentration Requirements

1.       MCM0150

2.       Two of the following: MCM0100, MCM0230, MCM0240, MCM0250, MCM0260, MCM1110. Only one additional course from this list may count for concentration credit.

3.       Five additional courses in MCM, of which
     a. two may be at any level in MCM above MCM0260
     b. one must be an upper level course numbered MCM1200
     c. two must be senior seminars (MCM1500 or MCM1700)

4.       Three additional MCM courses.

Other Requirements

1.       Focus Area: The student's plan of study must include at least 3 courses in a focus area approved by a concentration advisor. These courses may be MCM courses, related courses, or a combination or the two, and they must represent a concentration on some aspect of modern literature, theory, media, art or culture. Examples of possible focus areas are: mass/popular culture, gender/sexuality, language/ representation/subjectivity, narrative, the novel, film, modern thought, the modern arts, modern Europe, Colonialism and Post-Colonialism. This is not an exhaustive list. Production courses may be in the focus area but must be in addition to the minimum 3 courses.

2.        Production: Work in production related to the student’s focus area (as defined above) is not required but encouraged for all Track I concentrators. Of the 11 courses required for concentration, as many as 3 may be in production. These may be in the production courses offered by MCM (film, video, digital media) or in creative writing, painting, photography, journalism, etc., provided they do not bring the total number of concentration courses taken outside MCM to more than 3.

Honors: Students who qualify for Honors in Track I are eligible to apply to do an Honors project or thesis. Applications will be screened by the MCM Honors Committee. (Application forms should be obtained by prospective honors students in their 7th semester. They are available in the MCM office.) If approved, a student must then register for MCM1990, a one-credit thesis course in which they complete their Honors project.