Comparative Cultural Studies
Interrogate the past. Understand the present. Influence the future.
The department of Comparative Cultural Studies is committed to excellence in undergraduate education that serves our majors, the Liberal Studies curriculum, and the community at large. We embody this excellence by sustaining an environment in which faculty and students engage in rigorous critical inquiry into the ways people create and express cultural values. The department also cultivates rich learning contexts and meaningful faculty-student relationships that enhance the intellectual development of each student. We provide students with a comparative and integrative approach to the study of human culture in its diversity and interconnections.
Think. Create. Practice.
In the department of Comparative Cultural Studies, dynamic faculty create innovative learning opportunities for students who seek a critical edge in cultural analysis, interpretation, and real-world application.
Bringing together studies of art history, comparative religions, humanities (including public and environmental), museum studies, and Asian studies, Comparative Cultural Studies is a multidisciplinary experience in which students earn a degree that foregrounds critical thinking, analysis, and deep cultural context. In CCS classes students learn how we arrived at the present moment by studying the transmission of ideas through time and across cultures. The ancient world, the modern world, and the contemporary world come to life in the hands of award-winning teachers and scholars who ask questions about the ideas we think, the objects we create, and the practices we embed in our lives that give meaning and value to the everyday. Our students master skills of cultural criticism, understand historical contexts, and apply diverse cultural values and meaning to a variety of texts. Classes ranging from the environmental humanities, ancient and contemporary religions, visual culture, technology and the arts to the digital humanities provide students with the facts and skills necessary to compete in the cultural marketplace of ideas.
Think about culture in an evidence-rich environment; create meaningful cultural analysis and interpretation; practice these skills through experiential learning opportunities, local and national internship opportunities, study abroad, and undergraduate research.