English
The English MA program in the School of English and Theatre Studies is designed to provide students with an intensive introduction to graduate-level work in English studies, within a flexible program. Students can draw on the program's strengths in the following fields:
- Studies in Canadian Literatures
- Colonial, Postcolonial and Diasporic Studies
- Early Modern Studies
- Sexuality and Gender Studies
- Transnational Nineteenth-Century Studies.
Students can also pursue a wide range of research topics in consultation with faculty members actively engaged with the literatures of different historical periods and geographical locations, and with current debates in such areas as critical theory, cultural studies, gender studies, and queer theory.
Administrative Staff
Director
Sally Hickson (425 MacKinnon, Ext. 53881)
shickson@uoguelph.ca
Graduate Program Coordinator
Paul Barrett (447 MKMN, Ext. 53135)
barrettp@uoguelph.ca
Graduate Program Assistant
Pamela Keegan (427 MacKinnon, Ext. 56315)
setsgrad@uoguelph.ca
Graduate Faculty
This list may include Regular Graduate Faculty, Associated Graduate Faculty and/or Graduate Faculty from other universities.
Paul Barrett
B.Sc. Toronto (Scarborough), MA McMaster, PhD Queen's - Assistant Professor
Graduate Faculty
Dionne Brand
BA, MA OISE (Toronto) - Professor
Associated Graduate Faculty
Susan Brown
BA King's College and Dalhousie, MA Dalhousie, PhD Alberta - Professor
Graduate Faculty
Julie Cairnie
BA Brock, MA, PhD York - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
Gregor Campbell
BA, MA, PhD Toronto - Assistant Professor
Graduate Faculty
Elaine Chang
BA British Columbia, MA, PhD Stanford - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
Michelle Elleray
BA Victoria (Wellington), MA Auckland, MA, PhD Cornell - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
Jade Ferguson
BA British Columbia, MA, PhD Cornell - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
Alan Filewod
BA York, MA Alberta, PhD Toronto - Professor
Graduate Faculty
Daniel Fischlin
BFA, MA Concordia, PhD York - Professor
Graduate Faculty
Mark Fortier
BA Windsor, MA Toronto, PhD York, LLB Toronto - Professor
Graduate Faculty
Ajay Heble
BA Toronto, MA Dalhousie, PhD Toronto - Professor
Graduate Faculty
Troy Hourie
BID Manitoba, MFA Massachusetts, MA Royal Central School of Speech and Drama - Assistant Professor
Graduate Faculty
Peter Kuling
BFA York, MA Toronto, PhD New Brunswick - Assistant Professor
Graduate Faculty
Mark Lipton
BA Concordia, MA, PhD New York - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
Kimberley McLeod
BA Queen's, MA Alberta, PhD York - Assistant Professor
Graduate Faculty
Daniel O'Quinn
B.Sc., MA Western, PhD York - Professor
Graduate Faculty
Pablo Ramirez
BA Yale, MFA Miami, MA, PhD Michigan - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
Paul W. Salmon
BA Western, MA Toronto, PhD Western - Assistant Professor
Graduate Faculty
Jennifer Schacker
BA McGill, MA, PhD Indiana - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
Sandra Singer
BA Trent, MA Queen's, PhD Cambridge - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
Ann Wilson
BA, MA, PhD York - Associate Professor
Graduate Faculty
MA Program
Admission Requirements
The normal requirement for admission to the English MA program is the equivalent of an Honours degree in English studies from a recognized institution with at least 78% or higher in the last two years of study. Students with degrees with excellent academic records in other disciplines will also be considered. Successful applicants will be admitted in the Fall Semester, the Program’s only entry point. Program offices should be consulted for admission deadlines. If the applicant's first degree was completed in a country where English is not the first language, English-language proficiency must be documented at the time of application.
Program Requirements
Students enrol in one of two study options:
- course work and major research project, or
- thesis.
Thesis
Students complete four courses (4 x 0.50 credit); plus a thesis of 20,000 to 25,000 words (80-100 pages).
Course Work and Major Resarch Project (MRP)
Students complete six courses (6 x 0.50 credit); plus ENGL*6803 Major Research Project.
Collaborative Specializations
International Development Studies
English participates in the International Development Studies (IDS) collaborative specialization. Applicants for this collaborative specialization enter through one of the participating departments; course selections are based, in part, on the applicant's primary discipline. Please consult the International Development Studies listing for a detailed description of the collaborative specialization including the special additional requirements for each of the participating departments.
Courses
The content of the courses listed will vary according to the research interests of the faculty involved in offering the course. Specific course descriptions for a particular offering of the course will be available from the Graduate Program Coordinator one year in advance of the course being offered.
This course deals with various aspects of criticism and theory related to literature, film/media studies and digital humanities, focusing on specific questions each time offered. Content will come from various temporal periods and geographical locations. Topics may include the investigation of a specific critical debate and its treatment.
Variable in content and practical in orientation this course seeks to familiarize the student with particular critical techniques and approaches by applying specific examples of those approaches and methods to particular topics (e.g., cultural studies and renaissance literature, discourse analysis and the Victorian novel, computer-mediated analysis and the theatre of the absurd).
This course draws from different forms of representation concerned with the biosphere and ecological thinking and practice. Theoretical approaches can problematize 'nature,' the Anthropocene, environmental humanities and post-humanism. While critical methodologies will be earth-centred and focused on environmental and eco-criticism, these may be combined with other theoretical approaches. Examples of topics include environmental racism, resource extraction, waste disposal and climate change.
How do contemporary digital humanities engage in representation? This course looks at intersecting concepts, politics, and practices of representation using digital humanities methods and tools. Content may include digital editing; semantic technologies; digital interfaces and platforms; and/or long-form digital argumentation. These technological tools may be considered within the context of big data and their impact on social identities.
This course involves the study of Canadian literature with an emphasis on understanding works within their social context and exploring the complex sets of relations that shape them. Possible topics can include literary and cultural production of a time-period, specific region or environment, race and diaspora, Indigenous writing or performance, archives and literature and literary history.
This course focuses on postcolonial literatures and forms of representation in response to colonization, including decolonization. Texts can be selected from diverse genres, locations or historical periods, and engage a range of approaches to the study of postcolonial literatures.
An examination of the literature of Britain in the medieval and/or early modern periods. Topics may focus on a single author, a specific genre, or relationships between the literary and the cultural.
A examination of the literature of Britain between the 17th century and the latter part of the 18th century. Topics may focus on a single author, a specific genre, or relationships between the literary and the cultural.
This course is a study of the literature of Britain, Canada, the United States, or another region from the late 18th century until the start of the First World War. Topics may focus on a single author, a specific genre, or a central critical question.
A study of the literature of Britain in the twentieth century. This course includes a consideration of the interaction between literature and culture in the period - sometimes through the examination of a specific author, sometimes through the study of a particular genre or issue.
Topics may include a focus on a single region, such as the American West, on a single time period, such as the Civil War, on a specific genre, such as the novels of frontier women, or other issues in American literary studies.
This course considers representations of genders/sexualities to contextualize their force within literature and/or performance. A range of critical and theoretical approaches will investigate aspects of sex, gender, sexual orientation, race and class.
This course examines cultural materials that target children and young adults - whether books, comics, film, animation, theatre, video games, clothing or toys. It may focus on cultural or historical context. Topics include colonial, postcolonial and anti-colonial literature for children; gender, race and the coming-of-age.
Courses under this rubric are concerned with the various literatures produced by Scots both within and beyond the boundaries of Scotland. The course could involve the study of a specific genre, the investigation of a specific theme, or the examination of a particular author over the course of her/his career.
Designed to provide the opportunity to explore alternative fields and modes of critical inquiry, this course tackles various topics emerging from bringing literary studies into dialogue with other forms of intellectual inquiry such as sociology, biology, psychology, history, environmental studies, computer science or geography.
An independent study course, the nature and content of which is agreed upon between the individual student and the person offering the course. Subject to the approval of the student's advisory committee and the graduate program committee.
An independent study course, the nature and content of which is agreed upon between the individual student and the person offering the course. Subject to the approval of the student's advisory committee and the graduate program committee.
The Major Research Project (MRP) is an independent study course, the content of which is agreed upon between student and supervisor, subject to the approval of the Advisory and Graduate Program Committees. The MRP provides an opportunity to conduct research that provides training in methodologies and development of complex arguments.
This course explores topics in the study of literature and culture that fall outside the scope of regular graduate courses. Offerings may focus on aspects of literary, textual or cultural study from any temporal or geographical location, and may deal with emergent as well as established approaches.