Politics, Culture, and Identity Specialization

The Department of English, in collaboration with the Department of Political Science, offers a graduate specialization in Politics, Culture, and Identity (PCI). This specialization, which is open to any currently matriculated PhD student at the University of Oregon, builds on a series of existing courses, faculty research and teaching expertise, and student interest in the interdisciplinary study of politics through theories and methods that attend to interpretation, identity, and discourse.

The program is defined by three (3) core commitments:

1. Interdisciplinary: The incorporation of research methods, theories and forms of evidence from multiple disciplines within the humanities and social sciences
2. Identity and difference: Examining race, gender, sexuality, disability, indigeneity, colonialism, and other forms of difference as foundational and constitutive themes
3. Power, domination, and social justice: An emphasis on forms of exploitation, domination, and resistance

The PCI specialization trains PhD students through cross-disciplinary seminars, dissertation advising, dissertation workshops, and colloquia to develop methodological and theoretical tools to analyze political phenomena through culture, narrative, and identity.

Any currently matriculated PhD student at the University of Oregon may apply to the PCI specialization.