Comparative Courses

Course Info on SIS Archives

Course Descriptions

The list below includes descriptions of all comparative courses offered by the Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies.

Review specific course requirements for the Comparative Track or the Single Language/Culture Track. For up-to-date information on course offerings, schedules, room locations and registration, please visit the Student Information System (SIS).

Comparative Courses

ILCS 60 Reading the World. Introduction to seminal literary works from diverse cultures that have shaped our world in profound ways.  Including, but not limited to, Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese, Jewish and Russian cultures with an emphasis on societal impacts and influences and how fiction can serve as an essential vehicle to access and better understand other peoples and perspectives across the globe.  Format includes guest lecturers with attention given to writing and public speaking skills.  No prerequisites.

ILCS 61 Translating the World. Translation as an approach for understanding and communicating the world around us and our purpose in it. Focus on a range of literary and cinematic materials while tackling theoretical questions relevant to familiarity, politics of intercultural transactions, and alignment of cultural frameworks. Cross-listed as ILVS 62.

ILCS 62 Laughing and Crying. Theories and portrayals of laughter and crying. How philosophers and theorists have conceptualized humor, jokes, and wit. Investigation of how, why, at what, and at whom we laugh. Theories of weeping and crying. Literary depictions of what neuroscientists call “dimorphous expression”—the combination of laughter and tears, the proximity of comedy and tragedy. Particular attention paid to works of philosophy, literature, poetry, comedic stand-up, film, and television. No prerequisites.

ILCS 64 Being Human. The meaning of existence, life, and humanity through the lens of existentialism. Emphasis on themes of freedom and responsibility, choice, authenticity, absurdity, finitude, faith, death, ambiguity, and despair. Extensive examination of Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov and its influence on existential and existentialist authors such as Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Richard Wright, Simone de Beauvoir, and Frantz Fanon. Exploration through literary, philosophical, and theological texts. 

ILCS 65 Animals Crossing: East Asian Literature and Media. Perceptions, imaginations, and utilizations of nonhuman animals in East Asian literature and media from the turn of the 20th century to the present. Realist and fantastic fiction, installation arts, animations, video and mobile games, blockbusters, and independent films by global East Asian creators, examined both in their diverse historical contexts and in comparative perspectives. Interrogation of familiar topics such as modernity and enlightenment, imperialism and colonialism, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, globalization and environmental crises, through the lens of the nonhuman animal. No prerequisites. Cross-listed as ILVS 67.

ILCS 66 A Page in Modern East Asian Literature. Welcome to twentieth- and twenty-first-century Japan, Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Literary works that transverse historical, geopolitical, linguistic, and gender boundaries. Modernization, imperialism, the invention of romantic love, familial relationships, racialized violence, and the environment. With the Digital Design Studio at Tufts, we will create a public-facing podcast to promote the creative works we love. No previous knowledge of East Asian languages or cultures required. All readings and films in English or with English subtitles. Cross-listed as ILVS 58.

ILCS 67 Forgiveness & Revenge. Literary depictions of forgiveness, apology, revenge, and reconciliation and their evolution over time and across cultures. Contemporary conceptions of reconciliation in a world where apologies are disseminated through social media, often garnering attention and debate. Readings may include Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and works from authors including Plato, Aeschylus, Søren Kierkegaard, Anton Chekhov, Rainer Maria Rilke, Franz Kafka, Flannery O’Connor, Elie Wiesel, and Haruki Murakami. Cross-listed as ILVS 67.

ILCS 68 Arabian Nights. A survey of the composition, structure, history, and importance of the Arabian Nights, the famous tales narrated by Shahrazad during 1001 nights, with selected reading of the most important tales. The dissemination of the tales and their transmission to other regions of the world including their impact on other cultures as reflected in writing, art, and film. Cross-listed as ARB 63 and ILVS 63. 

ILCS 70 Introduction to Literary & Cultural Studies. An introduction to the major critical and theoretical approaches for the study of literatures and cultures, especially of foreign cultures. Issues studied include: How do we analyze cultural productions, whether our own or those of other societies? What do we learn in comparing texts from different cultures with each other? What is the value of literature, and how do we define it? How do cultural productions allow us to understand social issues, and to what extent does it contribute to social change? How can we be critical yet ethical producers and consumers of literature and other cultural productions in an world that is increasingly global? Cross-listed as ILVS 60.

ILCS 71 Posthuman East Asia. Robots? Cyborgs? Climatic catastrophes? The Last of Us? East Asian literature and media through a “posthuman” lens. What do we mean when we call ourselves “human,” and what makes us less or more human in an age of virtual reality and pressing environmental crises? 1990s popular films to recent arthouse cinema, poetry to science fiction, the established canon to internet literature. Relevant theoretical and historical readings. Bring your own theoretical inquiries, social concerns, and creative texts. No previous knowledge of East Asian languages or cultures required. All readings and films in English or with English subtitles. Cross-listed as ILVS 76.

ILCS 72 The Eerie: An Exploration Across Time and Space. Explores the iterations of the eerie and uncanny in literature, art, cinema, landscape, and history and its relevance to present-day global culture. The development of the uncanny as a major concept in early 20th-century European psychology and how awareness of the eerie contributes to understanding trauma, ambiguous loss, sexism, racism, and xenophobia in our current society. Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach with an emphasis on texts from East Asia and the Middle East with some consideration of other cultures. Co-taught by faculty members in the department. No prerequisites.

ILCS 75 War Stories. Examination of how war has been represented in fiction, non-fiction, memoir, film, and documentary. Priority given to Russian and East European materials, supplemented by other European, Asian, and American texts of the 19th and (mainly) 20th and 21st centuries. Focus on strategies employed by writers, journalists, historians, and film makers in depicting war in different cultures and from differing points of view. Operative questions include: challenges of representing war in a text or onscreen; commonalities and differences in how war is rendered; and how these questions impact the understanding of conflicts. The course goal is to develop sophisticated skills for understanding, deciphering, critiquing and dissecting the ways in which war and conflict are presented, and to recognize the ideological and aesthetic strategies behind these representations. All texts and discussion in English. Cross-listed as ILVS 83 and RUS 75. 

ILCS 76 Border Crossings. Explores themes of border crossing, exile, deterritorialization, smuggling, trespass, perilous boat journeys, the contact zone of the refugee camp. Focus on literary and filmic works that redefine the meanings of home, visibility and identity, as well as on narratives that revise the concept of the border through the lenses of gender (women’s and trans literature), discourses of dis/ability, stories of crossing the human/animal divide, as well as violating the border between human and machine. Cross-listed as ARB 66 and ILVS 66.

ILCS 80 Classics of World Cinema. Worldwide survey of major films from the silent era to the present. Trends in filmmaking styles and genres; the impact of modern history on cinematic art; cultural, theoretical, and philosophical issues related to the study of film. Filmmakers covered may include Eisenstein, Chaplin, Renoir, Welles, DeSica, Ray, Ozu, Bergman, Fassbinder, Sembene, and Zhang Yimou. Cross-listed as ILVS 100 and FMS 86.

ILCS 81 Russian & East European Film. From its inception to current production, the cinema of “the other Europe” has played a central role both in terms of its artistic achievements and as social commentary. In its early stages in Soviet Union it was instrumental in the transition to the new order, while in the later era it commented on the challenges of socialism. Due to censorship, it sought alternative means of expression opening up new narrative and cinematic models. In the more recent period, film has often served as a corrective tool in the fragile new democracies and a voice of protest fighting against new forms of oppression. We will examine a series of masterpiece by filmmakers from the Soviet Union/Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and the former Yugoslav territories. Cross-listed as ILVS 86, FMS 57 and RUS 81.

ILCS 83 From Beijing to Bollywood. Comparative perspective on China and India via their cinematic traditions, related historical contexts, modern cultural production, and social transformations using selected films and critical essays. Nationalism, revolution, globalization as film expression. Cross-listed as ENG 48, CHNS 83, FMS 68 and ILVS 85.

ILCS 85 World War II on Film. Examination of key films on the war from Britain, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United States. Emphasis on post-Cold War productions that propagate myths of national identity and their consequences for today, whether as odes to triumphalism or trauma. Analysis of the codes and conventions of cinematic myth-making, especially in blockbuster format, as well as cross-cultural, cross-national comparisons. In English. Cross-listed as FMS 59.

ILCS 161 Monsters in Literature and Film. Monsters embody collective cultural anxieties and fears, mark and overstep the boundaries of social normativity, and offer narrative and metaphorical avenues of literary and filmic revolt. Mermaids, Frankenstein’s monsters, and Jinn as monsters that probe rapidly-shifting artistic, political, and social realities. The meaning of monstrosity engages the themes of modernity; war; dictatorship; revolution; decolonization; Islamic and secular feminisms; and questions of gender. The current resurgence of monsters in contemporary cultural production raises questions of queer body politics; literature of disability; and the meaning of citizenship in an age of global migration. Literature and film as parts of a transnational network, without sacrificing cultural specificity. Cross-listed as ILVS 130 and ARB 130.

ILCS 163 War and Cultural Memory in Literature and Cinema. Formation of cultural memory and/or memorialization of socially traumatic experiences such as war, viewed through literature and cinema. May include focus on: the Algerian war of independence, the Lebanese civil war, the Iran-Iraq war, the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, among others. Primary texts from these conflicts along with secondary texts on theories of social trauma and cultural memory. In English. Cross-listed as ARB 157, FMS 178 and ILVS 157. 

ILCS 173 Nothingness. Nothingness as nihilism and fullness (mu). Topics may include Animism, Buddhism (especially Zen), the Romantic symbol, phenomenology and existentialism. Works by Nagarjuna, Nishitani Keiji, Mishima Yukio. Kojeve, Hegel, Sartre, Paul Schrader, Bresson, and Ozu. Cross-listed as PHIL 119, ILVS 119 and JPN 119.

ILCS 175 Visualizing Colonialism. An overview of the intersection between visual culture and the conditions of colonialism and postcoloniality. Readings and viewings on representations of the non-Western world in colonial-era painting and photography, leading to an examination of the history of colonial cinema, and to later postcolonial visualizations of the colonial period. The development of cinemas of anti colonial resistance, and persisting effects of colonialism and empire in contemporary global visual cultures, including contemporary arts and new media. Materials drawn from a variety of regional contexts, with special emphasis on the Arab world. Secondary readings drawn from anti-colonial theorists and postcolonial studies. In English. Cross-listed as CST 10, ILVS 101, ARB 155 and FMS 175.

ILCS 197 Thinking Beyond Frontiers: ILCS Senior Colloquium. How a theme of global significance is portrayed in the literary and cultural imaginations represented in ILCS. Emphasis on developing students’ public writing and speaking skills, working with formats such as podcasting and digital exhibitions, among others. Themes investigated may include ecological challenges, humanity in the digital age, and migration, among others. No prerequisites. Open to students outside of ILCS with instructor permission.

ILCS 198 / ILCS 199 Senior Honors Thesis. See Thesis Honors Program for details.

Special Topics and Directed Studies

ILCS 91 Special Topics. Special topics in the humanities.

ILCS 92 Special Topics. Special topics in the arts.

ILCS 93 / ILCS 94 Directed Study.

ILCS 191 Advanced Special Topics. Advanced special topics in the humanities. 

ILCS 192 Advanced Special Topics. Advanced special topics in the arts. 

ILCS 193 / ILCS 194 Advanced Directed Study.