About Us
Modern Thought and Literature (MTL) is an interdisciplinary humanities graduate program advancing the study of critical issues in the modern world. Since 1971, MTL students have helped to redefine the cutting edge of many interdisciplinary fields and to reshape the ways in which disciplinary scholarship is understood and practiced. MTL graduates are leaders in fields such as American studies, ethnic studies, film studies, social and cultural studies, and women's studies, as well as English and comparative literature.
The program trains students to understand the histories and methods of disciplines and to test their assumptions. It considers how disciplines shape knowledge and, most importantly, how interdisciplinary methods reshape objects of study. MTL students produce innovative analyses of diverse texts, forms, and practices, including those of literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, law, and science; film, visual arts, popular culture, and performance; and material culture and technology.
Each student constructs a unique program of study suited to his or her research. Students have focused on such areas as gender and sexuality; race and ethnicity; science, technology, and medicine; media and performance; legal studies; and critical and social theory. The program's affiliated faculty is drawn from fields throughout the humanities and humanistic social sciences, as well as from education and law. As interdisciplinary study is impossible without an understanding of the disciplines under consideration, each student is expected to master the methods of literary analysis and to gain a foundation in a second field or discipline.
The program in Modern Thought and Literature admits students for the Ph.D. and a limited number for a coterminal B.A./M.A. Program. The Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature is an interdisciplinary program combining coursework in literary/cultural studies with coursework in at least one other discipline or field.
The Ph.D. program is designed specifically for students who have a strong interest in literature and culture, but whose topic or question requires an interdisciplinary approach–for example, students interested in anthropological or philosophical approaches to literature and culture; gender studies; ethnic studies; legal humanities, popular culture, and social or cultural theory.
Modern Thought and Literature is intended for students who plan to teach and write in literature departments or in interdisciplinary programs in the humanities, cultural studies, or humanistic social sciences, or for students intending to formulate cultural policy.
Course work in the program is divided about evenly between advanced courses in literature departments and advanced courses in non-literary departments.
People
Browse the people that work for Stanford's interdisciplinary program in Modern Thought and Literature (MTL).
Connect with Us
Use these channels to learn more about our program and reach out to us.
Visit our website: mtl.stanford.edu
Call our main office: (650) 725-8603
Find Us on Campus or Send Us Mail
Program in Modern Thought and Literature
450 Jane Stanford Way
Building 460, Rm. 216
Mail Code: 2022
Stanford, CA 94305