The bachelor's degree in English: Literature Track has an emphasis on multicultural approaches to literature within and beyond South Florida. Our definition of "literature" is vast: it includes not only novels, poems, and plays, but also comic books, films, oral traditions, and much else. This flexible definition allows us to study diverse authors. Our faculty are experts on classic figures such as Shakespeare, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Herman Melville, Virginia Woolf, and Toni Morrison. We also highlight marginalized authors such as Olaudah Equiano, an enslaved African writer, traveler, and abolitionist; indigenous groups dating from time immemorial; various immigrant, exile, or diasporic figures such as Jewish-American writer Anzia Yezierska; and queer artists of diverse sexual and gender identities. Overall, our students are respected as learners whose own diverse backgrounds and varied professional aspirations guide the program's aims and offerings.
Those who enjoy reading, discussing, and writing about literature will learn much in the literature track, available as a major or minor. Students study multiple time periods and genres, deeply engage with creative works, and learn to think theoretically about literature, language, and society. Our faculty harness online learning's strengths– including accessible course designs, flexible course schedules, and digital discussion tools– to maintain literature's humanistic spirit. Our majors build virtual communities alongside their peers as well as faculty dedicated to online learning. Our majors also craft their own varied texts, including research papers, multimedia presentations, and group projects that foster their understanding of global cultural traditions and diverse lived experiences. Undergraduate Certificate Programs in Exile Studies and Film Studies are housed in Literature, while our courses regularly satisfy requirements in Queer Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, Health Humanities, Environmental Studies, Law, Ethics, and Society, and many other FIU Certificate Programs. This specialized course of study provides the means to discover how literature offers a conduit for contemporary thought, historical narratives, and cultural movements.
Our students develop the language, communication, and cultural competency to work in a variety of fields. Employers across the country and around the world are looking for grads who can think critically, communicate effectively, understand diverse cultures, and write clearly–exactly the skills you learn from within the literature track.
