Duke Graduate School

The program features the benefits of individual attention in small seminars and a close connection to the broader community of literature, arts, cultural studies, and cultural history. The department offers degrees in French, Italian, Spanish, and Romance Studies as well as advanced study in Lusophone Studies. Areas of specialization in French include all historical fields in Europe as well as Africa and the Caribbean. Areas of specialization in Spanish include all peninsular and Latin American/Caribbean historical fields as well as Amerindian, and Latino/Chicano thought. Critical methodologies include the relation of literature to society, history, philosophy, semiotics, feminism, Marxism, visual and cultural studies, psychoanalysis, post- and de-colonial theories, linguistics, and science and the humanities. We encourage students to look at cultures from interdisciplinary and global perspectives, and to collaborate with programs such as African and African American Studies, Art, Art History, and Visual Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Literature, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, History, and Women's Studies.  Opportunities are also provided to work with visiting writers and translators.

Other Requirements

The submission of a writing sample of 10-15 pages in the field of proposed study is required in the foreign language you are applying. The writing sample should be uploaded to the Departmental Requirements section of the application.