Ph.D in French Studies

The Ph.D. in French Studies- Overview

The Ph.D. in French Studies is designed to provide students with extensive knowledge of French and Francophone literatures and cultures, and to train them to integrate into their research the methods of such disciplines as history, philosophy, religion, film studies, the history of ideas, architecture, art history and psychoanalysis. This second objective will presuppose close interaction between students and those faculty members whose interdisciplinary expertise corresponds to their interests. Given the interdisciplinary orientation of our Ph.D. program, our general examinations are not based exclusively on the traditional periods of French literature. Instead it balances the traditional areas of “Century” or “Literary Movement” with non-traditional areas such as “Critical Problem” and “Outside Areas.” The doctoral program is designed not only to be intellectually compelling, but also efficient: several of its features serve to shorten the amount of time required for completion of the degree. Moreover, to enhance the guidance given to students writing dissertations faculty and doctoral students engage in an annual Faculty-Graduate Colloquium.

 

Prior Training and Preparations for the Ph.D.

Applicants for the doctorate in French studies are normally required to present the M.A. degree in French or to demonstrate its equivalent for admission into the Ph.D. program. Students with a background in comparative literature or with a specialization in French within another national literature and language program will be admitted to the Ph.D. program on a case-by-case basis. All incoming doctoral students must have demonstrable, broad knowledge in French literature and culture as well as a general background in critical theory (i.e. course work in critical theory and/or course work that incorporates a strong component of critical theory).

Course Work Requirements

The program demands a total of 77 credits (beyond the 45 required for the French Studies’ M.A.), of which 25 should be taken in applicable 500-level courses (graduate seminars both inside and outside the Division) and 27 as dissertation credits (French 800). The other 25 credits - 400 level and above - should be chosen in collaboration with the Graduate Program Coordinator or a mentor.  10 of these credits can be 600-level independent studies.  Doctoral students work closely with the Graduate Program Coordinator in the selection of graduate seminars within French Studies and of courses outside French Studies that correspond to the students’ cross-disciplinary interests. The doctoral course work should normally be completed in 6 full-time academic quarters, after which the doctoral student advances to Ph.D. status and completes the minimum 27 dissertation credits. Upon completion of the requisite course credits and the other departmental requirements, the student proceeds, with the approval of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee, to the written general examinations and then to the oral general examinations.

Click here to see the French Ph.D. Summary Sheet

Foreign Language Requirement

Proof of high proficiency in a first auxiliary language (usually a romance language acquired during M.A. study through course work in the literature in the auxiliary language) is required.  If the proficiency established at the M.A. level is not satisfactory to perform research at the Ph.D. level in the language, further proof of advanced proficiency will be required.  If the student's area of interest has expanded such that she requires another language (e.g. a medievalist who has as yet no Latin), then the student will be expected to study that language to the satisfaction of the GPC.  The choice of auxiliary language(s) should be made in consultation with the Graduate Program Coordinator and/or the chair of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee.

Time Schedule

The suggested timetable for students enrolled in the doctoral program is as follows (please note that this schedule assumes that years 1 and 2 are devoted to the M.A. Program):

Year 3

- course work pertaining to the general examinations topics and general course work required to complete or supplement broad knowledge in French literature and culture
- course work in critical theory if needed
- Spring Quarter: coursework.  Consitution of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee in consultation with GPC and faculty (at least 3 members; one must be from outside the French department.  Comp Lit will do).  Student declares the three areas they intend to prepare for the general examination and present them to the chair of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee. Start working on descriptions of three areas, and reading lists.  

Year 4

- Fall Quarter: Student presents preliminary doctoral examination areas and reading lists (including both primary and secondary texts) to the chair of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee and to the Graduate Program Coordinator for approval.  Plan of Study Approval Form.
- Winter Quarter (or Fall): Student presents doctoral examination topics and lists to the chair of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee and to the Graduate Program Coordinator for finalization
- Spring Quarter: 10 credits of general examination reading hours; general examinations completed by week 8

Year 5

- 9 dissertation credit hours each quarter for a total of 27 (minimum)

The General Examination in French Studies

The general examinations are divided into three broad areas.  Each area corresponds to a “Plan of Study” that the doctoral candidate writes in collaboration with the Doctoral Supervisory Committee. It is the Doctoral Supervisory Committee’s responsibility to supervise the student's compilation of his or her reading lists.  Scroll down or click here for information on the Plan of Study.

I. Century or Literary Movement
II. Critical Problem
III. Outside Area or Constructed Area

I. Century or Literary Movement

This examination area provides the student with the scholarly focus necessary for (1) writing a dissertation that examines French or Francophone literature and culture in its historical contexts, (2) fulfilling the requirements and designations of the current academic job market for specialists in a given century or literary movement. In certain cases this examination area might provide instead the more general historical/literary historical background for an examination whose other areas are already specialized in a given century. The student who has designed a twentieth century examination (a Twentieth-Century author, a contemporary critical problem such as the Lacanian subject along with an outside area of film) would benefit from defining the “century” examination topic that completes and complements the historical breadth of the general literary topic that will eventually define the dissertation. In the example above the student would benefit from defining his or her century or literary movement historical between the nineteenth and twentieth century in order to account for the important historical events and disciplinary developments in psychoanalysis and in photography and film that are endemic to a discussion of the emergence of the modern subject.

II. Critical Problem

This topic requires the student to examine a critical or theoretical area of study (theatricality, monstrosity, trauma theory, psychoanalysis, feminism, Marxism, structuralism, deconstruction etc.) and to formulate an informed and original argument about it. It is designed to demonstrate the doctoral candidate’s background and expertise in current critical methods and to provide a forum in which the candidate takes active part in contemporary debates in literary theory and criticism. The reading list, however, is not limited to only critical and theoretical works but includes other disciplines (philosophy, anthropology, sociology, etc.) that inform the critical field of study as well. A student who chooses to develop a critical problem by focusing upon a school of thought or movement in literary studies, for instance structuralism, will formulate a list of readings from the disciplines that inform that school of thought or literary movement; for example readings from early twentieth century semiotics and linguistics. Conversely, a student who chooses to develop a critical problem by focusing upon a specific critical concept, for instance monstrosity, will be best served by formulating a list of readings from current criticism on that topic as well as from literary and philosophical works that elucidate and illustrate it.

III. Outside Area or Constructed Area

Disciplines and areas of study outside French Studies make up the substance of the “outside area” topic. If the student chooses a topic that corresponds to an academic discipline or program in which the student takes two seminars, the topic may be defined as an “outside area” (ex. history, art history). (The student must identify to the chair of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee the faculty member who has agreed to supervise his or her “outside area” examination.) The “constructed area” is an area of study custom designed by the student in consultation with the chair of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee (ex. 20^th century French poetry and visual arts; Medieval French romances and historiography). The “Plan of Study” and reading list for this area reflect cross-disciplinary or interdisciplinary research on the part of the doctoral candidate as that research has been informed by the student’s course work. Courses taken outside the Division or courses of an interdisciplinary nature taken within the division will inform the scope of the Outside Area or Constructed Area as well as that of the dissertation project. For this reason, emphasis will be placed on the pertinence of the Outside Area or Constructed Area to the literatures of France and Francophone countries. From a pragmatic stand point, students will profit most from developing a reading list for the Outside Area or Constructed Area that makes important intellectual, literary or philosophical connections with the plans of study formulated for the Century or Literary Movement and the Critical Problem.

Plan of Study

The Doctoral Supervisory Committee closely supervises the student's formulation of their “Plan of Study,” which provides the critical parameters for the lists of primary and secondary works. Each “Plan of Study” must be broad enough to justify the choice of titles in the list of primary and secondary works and focused enough to posit an original argument.

General Examination in French Studies- Plan of Study Approval Form

The “Plan of Study” takes the form of an introductory paragraph for the reading lists of each general examination area. Each plan articulates a general observation and develops a critical focus and serves three important functions:  

1.It summarizes the scope of each examination area for both the candidate and the examination committee;

2. It acts as a means of assessing if the student is ready to proceed to the writing of the examinations;

3. It provides the critical focus necessary for writing a successful examination and, eventually, an original dissertation.

Administration of the General Exam 

1. Please note that all incomplete course work (any "I" or "X" on a student's transcript) must be completed before advancing to the Ph.D. examination. 

2. Having finalized and prepared a “Plan of Study” for each of the general examination areas by the end of the Fall Quarter of their second year, the doctoral candidate schedules one weekend take-home written examination for each examination area.  Two of these essays will be written in English; the third will be written in French.  The candidate is responsible for distributing copies of the examinations to all the members of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee upon completion of each exam area.

3. The Doctoral Supervisory Committee reviews the three examinations and acknowledges to candidate that s/he may advance to the oral examination.

4. The doctoral candidate, in coordination with the Graduate Program Assistant, schedules the oral examination (conducted in English) to follow no more than two weeks after the written examination.

5. If the candidate fails the written examinations, s/he will be granted one additional opportunity to retake them. The oral examination may then be suspended or postponed. The written parts of the general examinations will be taken between weeks 2 and 8 of the final quarter of course work.

Oral Examination

During the oral examination the doctoral candidate will:

1. present his or her preliminary dissertation prospectus;

2. answer questions about his or her preliminary prospectus and his or her written examinations.

Dissertation Prospectus

The student prepares a preliminary dissertation prospectus to be presented during the oral examination (see below).  In the preliminary dissertation prospectus the students will outline a plan for the writing of the dissertation.   This statement of the dissertation subject should indicate

a) the problems to be investigated,
b) the sources and methods to be used, and
c) the tentative organization.

The Dissertation in French Studies

The program requires that each student produce a dissertation in English on a subject approved by the student’s Reading Committee, which will be formed immediately upon completion of the general examination. The preliminary dissertation prospectus will be presented at the oral examination, as discussed above. Once completed, the dissertation must meet the approval of the Reading Committee, after which the candidate will proceed to the oral dissertation defense or final examination. Doctoral candidates must be registered as part-time or full-time students at the University of Washington during the quarter in which the degree requirements are completed.

As a matter of pedagogical philosophy, the faculty encourages graduate students to pursue writing, research and class discussion topics in an increasingly in-depth manner over the course of their studies in order to facilitate the formulation of dissertation topics. In addition, the faculty, in conjunction with the Graduate Program Coordinator, assures that each student is familiar with the normative time constraints as well as his or her progress within those constraints. The suggested timetable for students enrolled in the doctoral program appears in the introductory text of this section detailing the Ph.D. program.

Graduate Student Evaluation Form and Summary Sheet

The faculty will evaluate student final essays and course work by completing and reviewing the Graduate Student Evaluation Form for each M.A. and doctoral student in the graduate program. The Graduate Student Evaluation Form is to be completed by each faculty member for each student in any upper division course or seminar. The Summary Sheet forms for the M.A. student and the Ph.D. student are formulated to track the student’s progress to the pertinent examination. In the case of the Ph.D. student, the Summary Sheet form works to track the development of individualized curriculum geared to form the necessary background and writing for the dissertation project. All course work forms will be held in the student’s file until the annual review of each graduate student to be conducted by the Graduate Program Coordinator and a review committee.

Faculty-Graduate Colloquium

The graduate faculty also provide guidance for dissertation development by sponsoring a Faculty-Graduate Colloquiua.   The aim of this colloquium is to allow faculty and graduate students to come together informally to listen to each others' work and provide feedback.  There will usually be one per quarter, during which one faculty member and one graduate student present a paper.  Students writng dissertations anre especially enouraged to volunteer, or who plan to give a conference paper and want a friendly forum on which to give it a trial run.  For details, contact Geoff Turnovsky (gt2@u.washington.edu). 

Follow this link to a webpage on resources for graduate students to find Fellowship Support.