Comp. Lit. Programs: Minorities Literature - Literary History - Orality?

[Baloch]

Dear all,

 

I kept wondering and looking around for graduate programs in Comp. Lit. with a focus on these themes and fields of study, but without much of success. Here is a mini bio: 

 

From the UAE - Double majoring in International Studies and English teaching (My uni doesn't offer any degrees in lit. or related fields! these are the closest things I could study unfortunately, but the pro is that it's fully accredited in the U.S.) - Top student with GPA 3.90+ and achieved with record of publications, in Arabic though. Languages: Classical Arabic and dialects - English - Persian - Urdu - Balochi - some Kurdish and French. 

 

Here is my interest: I want to study the development of minorities literature in the Middle East and South Asia (Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan),and  to compare between Kurdish and Balochi (Iranian languages) emerging literatures from orality to written, their literary history, the construction of the national-ethnic identity through their literature, and the influence of other regional dominant literature (Urdu and Persian) on both of the literatures. 

 

I'm looking for the internationally top 30 Comp. Lit. programs (or any other that would enable me to study the above) in the USA and UK only (ambitious here), please any suggestions, advices, and ideas where I can pursue my interests with my qualifications?

 

 

Thank you truly in advance ..

[smellybug]

Your background makes you ideal for a comp lit program. And your area of study is really interesting. I think most top 10-15 programs will be able to accommodate you. (Top 30 is really pretty encompassing: there are very few comp. lit. programs, so top 30 doesn't mean what it does for, say, English.) A lot of smaller programs only work in French, German, and Spanish, so I would just look at what universities offer your languages. If they do, I think you'll be able to argue for a good fit. I work in a language that isn't widely studied, so I sought programs that had specialists in this language. And when I reached out to the professors, they were excited; they don't get many people approaching them about this particular language. Off the top of my head, other than the obvious Ivies, Berkeley and Michigan have solid Arabic programs. Rather than looking at the comp lit people, you might want to check out who you’d want to work with in Arabic at a particular university, whether or not they’re affiliated with comp lit. My advice would be to do your research and reach out to people.

Edited June 2, 2013 by smellybug

[Marie-Luise]

I also have a general question about Comp Lit programmes. If I want to work with a professor who works on concepts of the epic hero in Greek, do I have to do Greek to be a fit or can I do something interdisciplinary in Greek and other languages.

Or another professor who works on medieval Spain but I dont know Spanish? Will the programme in general give me the opportunity to learn more languages or improve them before I start work with a professor or do I have to come in with a perfect fit?

 

This is important to me because of the 'fit question' which seems to be crucial in terms of admission.

 

Can you also go by professor's teaching interests?

[ghijklmn]

Absolutely look at UT. They have the most comprehensive Persian language and literature program in the country, and their Arabic program is arguably one of the best.