Program Overview

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BA Comparative Literatures and Cultures (Q200)

Overview

This degree considers the many ways in which Literatures and Cultures move through time and space, such as through individual forms of contact (reader reception, influence, and intertextuality), sociopolitics (trade, migration, colonization) and technologies that have shaped literary and visual culture.

Course Summary

Do you enjoy the adventurous and analytical work of interpreting texts? Are you keen to explore Literatures and Cultures in an unbordered way, so that national boundaries, disciplinary divisions, and linguistic know-how are no barrier to where your curiosity and intellectual ambition might lead? If so, you are a comparatist in the making!

Comparative Literatures and Cultures takes you on a journey across and between cultures that will sharpen your analytical skills and equip you with a cultural agility fit for our globalised world. The programme challenges narrow ideas of capital-L Literature or of ‘the canon' and knocks down false boundaries between ‘high' and ‘low' culture by exploring the diversity of literary and cultural production across the globe – from Italy to Russia, Morocco to China, Brazil to Senegal – and across the centuries.

Entry Requirements

We accept a wide variety of qualifications and welcome applications from students of all backgrounds. Below is a guide to the typical offers for this course.

• A-level standard offer: AAB
• A-level contextual offer: BBB
• BTEC: DDD in any Applied General BTEC National Level 3 Extended Diploma
• International Baccalaureate Diploma: 34 points overall with 17 at Higher Level
• International Baccalaureate Diploma contextual offer: 31 points overall with 15 at Higher Level
• European Baccalaureate: 80% overall
• Scottish Qualifications Authority: Advanced Higher: AB, and Standard Higher: AAABB
• Access to HE Diploma: Access to HE Diploma in Humanities, Social Sciences, Law or History (or similar titles). The 45 graded Level 3 credits must include at least 21 credits at Distinction and 24 at Merit or above.
• Welsh Baccalaureate: Requirements are as for A-levels, where you can substitute a non-subject specific grade for the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales or the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate at that grade.
• Cambridge Pre-U: Requirements for principal subjects are as for A-level, where D1/D2 is A*, D3 is A, M1/M2 is B, and M3 is C.

Programme Duration

• 3 year(s) full-time.
• Part-time study is not available for this course.

Application Method

• UCAS (Code: Q200)

Location

• Clifton campus

Fees

• £9,535 per year, home students
• £27400 per year, international students

Course Structure

In years one and two, core units introduce you to the practices and debates of comparative literature and the study of visual cultures (e.g. photography, street art and film). These units also show how insights and methods drawn from postcolonialism and decolonization, translation studies, multiculturalism, and multilingualism can throw new light on the comparative study of Literatures and Cultures.

All year three students do an independent research project. You will produce an extended essay on a comparative topic of your choice and supplement it with a knowledge-dissemination project that allows you to think creatively about how to communicate your research to non-specialists.

In all years, you will choose optional units based on the culture of a single language or a combination of cultures, or from other departments in Arts (e.g. Classics, Art History, English or Theology). While language study is not required for our Single Honours degree, both European and non-European language units are on offer. Summer Study Abroad schemes may also be available.

Selection Process

• Regulations and codes of conduct we abide by to create a positive environment for learning and achievement are found in the University admissions policies and procedures.
• If applying with extenuating circumstances please see our policy.
• Full information about our selection processes for Comparative Literatures and Cultures can be found in the Admissions Statement.

GCSE Profile Requirements

• No specific subjects required.
• Further information about GCSE requirements and profile levels.

English Language Requirements

• If English is not your first language, you need to have one of the following:
  • IELTS 7.0 overall with 7.0 in writing and 6.5 in all other skills
  • GCSE English Language grade B or 6
  • an alternative qualification outlined in our Profile level B.

Research Areas

The cutting-edge research interests and methods of our dedicated and dynamic staff inform our teaching, which takes place through lectures, seminars, workshops, and one-to-one project supervision. Single Honours students also benefit from small-group tutorials. Assessments combine rigour and creativity and may include presentations, essays, exams, collaborative projects, debates and video essays.