Areas of Study

Students in the MA and Ph.D. programs are admitted into divisions, which are broadly defined chronological/geographical/topical categories. Departmental divisions are:

More about these fields, and the faculty who supervise them, can be found by consulting the links above.

When applying, students indicate desired fields and proposed faculty to supervise each field. This helps the admissions committee understand the student's interest and expertise, but it is does not formally establish a committee, which is formed once the students are in the program.

All students preparing fields should consult closely with the relevant faculty to ensure a mutual understanding of how their fields are to be defined for the purposes of examination. Each of the student's two MA or four Ph.D. fields must be different in content. A single faculty member cannot supervise more than one field. At both the MA and Ph.D. level, adjunct faculty members do not normally supervise primary fields. 

MA students can choose either two fields from a single division, or a cross-divisional MA with two fields from two different divisions. Ph.D. students choose four fields drawn from at least two divisions. Ph.D. students should ensure that at least one of their four fields offers genuine diversity from their primary area of concentration. A Ph.D. student may choose to present one other field involving work in another department of the University, and supervised by faculty from that other department. An outside field should be of particular methodological and/or comparative value to the student's doctoral program and should contribute to the program's intellectual coherence.

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