Philosophy-related Lit. Programs ?

[todamascus]

Guys,

I am an international student wishing to apply for literature programs in U.S.

Problem is... i don't want to study in schools with an inclination for the scientific/ feminist/ethnological approaches, while it seems most schools prefer female/asian students to pick feminist lit. as area of interest?!

I am particularly fascinated by works related to existentialism/ religion: Musil, Camus, F. Pessoa, Paul Celan, Rilke, Augustine,Meister Eckhart... and i find Lit. professors in this area hard to locate.

Any suggestions?

Thanks to all & have a lovely day.

h.

[harpyemma]

On what exactly are you basing your assertion?

I'm truly interested to know your evidence for the position that "most schools" (or even some, even one) "prefer female or asian students to pick feminist lit".

[todamascus]

Do forgive me if i am wrong...

i checked the faculty list of the top 50 universities in comp. lit. w/ reference to their areas of interests ----> am under the impression that asian professors --> asian literature, female professors ---> feminist studies?

I have only been to u.s. once, for the apsa conference where i was the only female in the room of 50ish people & was asked to address the topic from an Asian perspective...also heard about how you are most likely to have to deal with some female-related subjects if you wish to pursue teaching career in philosophy/lit. departments.

???

Regards,

h.

[harpyemma]

I can't.

That's preposterous.

I mean, god forbid one might have to deal with a "female-related" subject even once in a Literature department!

[truckbasket]

I suspect that there may be some cultural differences and ill-formed perceptions informing the OPs assumptions.

Simply put, h.s., you'll have a very difficult time finding any US school that forces you to approach your work from any angle that doesn't interest you such as "scientific/ feminist/ethnological approaches" while confining your interests in existentialism and religion. Grad lit programs allow for a great deal of autonomy, and very few restrictions aside from gaining certain overviews within the field. It's sounds like the apsa (?) convention was either an anomaly or your perception of what happened created this odd (and frankly, way out) assumption.

I'd wager that 99.9% of US schools would provide the faculty and experience in some capacity for a student to work in either existentialism/religion or scientific/ feminist/ethnological (these are bizarre categorical clumpings, BTW)-- that choice would be yours. But I'm baffled as to how you're having difficulty locating professors that work with the authors you listed!

Take a look at some secondary work on those writers/subjects and find out where their authors are located. If nothing else, that will open up the network of academics for you to research and discover who you'd be interested in working with as opposed to a particular school. It'd be wise to approach your search not from which school to attend, but what scholars you admire.

But as harpyemma stated, if you think you're going to be able to work in this field without somehow addressing gender concerns, you should probably do a little more research about what a graduate degree in literature entails. No one would demand that you specialize in, say, feminist philosophy, but it's something you can't simply ignore. I mean, if you're into existentialist work, then how on earth are you going to be able to write about a thinker as important to that field as, say, Simone de Beauvoir without addressing gender?

Good luck on your searches!

[0000000000AAA]

Something to always think about is the state of the field. Are there young, currently publishing scholars doing the type of work you want to do? If so, then great and you should relax. If not, then you need to think about the efficacy of getting a PhD. I had a (grad) prof once say that no matter how great you play, if you can't fit in (at least a little) with the band, no one will listen.

Also, to echo truckbasket...how do you imagine studying religion or existentialism without discussing feminism or ethnography? Ideas don't happen in the abstract and they can't be studied that way.

Good luck!

[lolopixie]

i checked the faculty list of the top 50 universities in comp. lit. w/ reference to their areas of interests ----> am under the impression that asian professors --> asian literature, female professors ---> feminist studies?

I have only been to u.s. once, for the apsa conference where i was the only female in the room of 50ish people & was asked to address the topic from an Asian perspective...also heard about how you are most likely to have to deal with some female-related subjects if you wish to pursue teaching career in philosophy/lit. departments.

Addressing your first concern that, from your research on top 50 schools, Asian female professors typically are more interested in feminist studies tells me that you need to look at professors that aren't Asian females to see who in those programs reflects your area of study. While I can see the draw to study under an Asian female given your heritage, you are probably going to have to step outside of your comfort zone and look at other professors. I'm 100% sure that in the top 50 programs there are professors that work in your area of interest. I'm concerned that you limited your research based on the ethnicity and gender of professors.

The second concern of being the only female on a panel (or in the room) at a conference and asked to give an opinion from the Asian perspective do not necessarily line up to one another. Being the only female in the room at a conference is odd, but it could happen given the circumstance. It does not reflect that women do not study the humanities...at all. For the panel to ask you to approach something from an Asian perspective was the panel asking for your view because you are from another culture, and panels more often than not do not have scholars from abroad. It is a great way to gain perspective that we (Americans) may not immediately jump to because we are trained differently/have different cultural and historical aspects we consider. I do not see, however, how this impacts finding a professor that is a fit for you.

You will 100% have to deal with feminism if you wish to pursue a career in literature. No one is saying you have to be a feminist scholar, but you will have to understand the concepts, importance, and impact of feminism (let alone other schools of theory) in order to advance in this atmosphere. Pardon me for being blunt, but I find it ignorant to think you can obtain an advanced degree and not do a single thing related to "female studies" as you put it. If you do not want to study anything relating to female studies then you may want to consider a different field.

Also, no school will ever tell you what you want to study. You tell them. Then they review your qualifications and see if you will be a fit for the department and if there will be a need for that area of study in the department as well. You may want to do more research on what graduate level English programs require, and understand the importance of all areas....especially "female related subjects".

[Sparky]

OP, I'm curious if your background is in literature, or in philosophy/religion. I know in religion depts (yes, in the U.S.), there is sort of an underlying assumption of "female ergo feminist/womanist theology." No matter what you actually work on, people just expect you to be interested in Women's Issues. There is apparently also a sense of "Hispanic ergo liberation theology," according to some of my Hispanic friends. (Female and Hispanic tend to be the most marked identities in theo discourse, at least at the departments I've been in.) So if the OP's background is in theo or philo, it's really not a bad guess that the same phenomenon would be widespread in lit departments.

OP, I'm sorry they singled you out to provide "an Asian perspective." Instead of, you know, your perspective. (Hands up, everyone on this thread who's been the only minority in a room and everyone else automatically assumes that you speak for everyone of that particular subgroup? Hands up, everyone who's either witnessed or been the only black kid in your middle school class and the day the textbook hits slavery, the teacher calls on her/you for the first time in a month and says, "So, Lakshmi, what did you think of the reading?") That's ignorant and obnoxious on their part, even if they think they had only the best of intentions.

(With the above in mind, I'd like to add that this pressure is refreshingly not present in my current history and literature departments. So OP, if you are indeed switching disciplines, lit may be a nicer fit for you than philo.)

Edited September 14, 2011 by Sparky

[todamascus]

@Harpyemma@truckbasket @lolopixie @WellSpring@Sparky

Thanks to all for clarifying the situation, that was indeed a somewhat preposterous way to interpret things.

Also pardon me for my ignorance r/ feminist literature --- i have read very little about it and frankly had a very hard time emotionally relating to typical authors in that genre-- I found it impossible to concentrate, say, when i was reading Doris Lessing.

My reading in general is by no means adequate -- our campus library's foreign lit. section pretty much is a combo of Fitzgerald, Dickens,Twain,and feminist studies & philo section is just the big brother himself. Thus i could only feed on free sites like Gutenberg project plus book scannings from some friends via emails who are--alas, either in math or philo. departments.

I take back my guess on lit. department --- maybe i should just stick to what i like and forget about all else.

@sparky: now that i think of it, it was indeed more of a seminar on literature in philosophy/theology.

@WellSpring: guess that's my biggest problem -- i find it really hard to relate to concrete realities yet my barely adequate literature background provides little chance if i apply for philo/ theo programs. sign*.

What bothers me about that only "abroad" experience is that i am asked my opinions on things --- because i am weird enough among my country folks to be even interested in these things, ---to sit in a room of 50ish people where i am the only female/asian and probably only one under 30 --- yet i know that i can only speak from my point of view, knowing that it says nothing about my country. Tricky. And all the more difficult if you feel like you are lying when you are talking about "your" truth.

Anyway, one thing i come to feel certain about is that i am very very ignorant, that i truly know nothing. Hopefully i could get into a program to start learning from nothing but my self.

again thanks and hope you all sleep tight tonight.

h.

Edited September 14, 2011 by h.s.