Literatures of the West Coast • University of Victoria
Graduate Program, Department of EnglishOverview of the Literatures of the West Coast Program
The M.A. concentration in Literatures of the West Coast brings into productive dialogue the several traditions that have constituted the literary on the West Coast: Indigenous, British, American, Asian and Canadian. Rather than following the historical and geographical contours that typically define “English” as a discipline, Literatures of the West Coast examines the history of boundaries and the boundaries of history. The concept of the “literary” comes under scrutiny, as does the division between oral and written, the notion of tradition, and the cultural work performed by Literature when conceived of as the expression of regions, nations, peoples, environments, and other complex forms of social space. The concentration is interdisciplinary and offers students the opportunity to pursue their research interests in one of several directions, including indigenous literatures; transnational writing; literature, space, and the environment; or a comparative study of any of the constitutive traditions of the West Coast.
