Translation Studies
Since the 1980s, translation as practice and as theory has become central to Comparative Literature. Traditionally, this was not the case: the discipline, founded largely in the United States by post-war European émigrés, devoted itself almost exclusively to the European languages and demanded that all texts be read in the original language. But as the canon has expanded to include many non-European literatures, including various creole and hybrid literatures and oratures, scholars have acknowledged the necessity of using translations in research as well as in teaching. Whereas it used to be the case that most major African literary works could be read in either French or English, such is not the case of writers such as Ngugi wa’Thiongo, whose African languages also require translation. Along with the practical turn to translation in Comparative Literature has come, not surprisingly, the critical and theoretical assessment of translation in the context of globalization, multiculturalism, cultural hybridity, post-colonial theory, and an emphasis on interdisciplinarity. With its interest in crossing the borders between languages, cultures, and national literatures, Comparative Literature is implicitly committed to performing and also to assessing theoretically the function and value of “translation” in the widest sense of the term.
In addition to individual courses, another means of interdisciplinary study for current Arts & Sciences PhD students is the addition of a graduate certificate. PhD students may pursue only one certificate. Tuition remission will be granted for required units for a program of study to which a student has been admitted, including an approved Arts & Sciences graduate certificate program. Earning a certificate should not increase a student's expected time to degree or the amount of support from the School of Arts & Sciences.
Graduate students interested in a Graduate Certificate should first apply for admission to the Washington University PhD program in which they wish to obtain an advanced degree. Once admitted to a PhD program, students should notify their primary advisor, the Director of Graduate Studies for their PhD program, and the Certificate Program director of plans to obtain the Certificate. Students must fill out an application for admission to a certificate program on the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, Forms page and receive the approval of their PhD program, the certificate program's director, and the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.
contact: complit@wustl.edu
