Comparative Literature (Bi-Co)
Department Website:
https://www.haverford.edu/comparative-literature
Comparative Literature is a joint Bryn Mawr and Haverford program that draws on the diverse teaching and research interests of the faculty at the two colleges, especially but not exclusively those in our many departments of language and literature.
The study of Comparative Literature situates literature in an international perspective; examines transnational cultural connections through literary history, literary criticism, critical theory, and poetics; and works toward a nuanced understanding of the socio-cultural functions of literature. The close reading of literary texts and other works from different cultures and periods is fundamental to our enterprise.
Interpretive methods from other disciplines that interrogate cultural discourses also play a role in the comparative study of literature; among these are anthropology, philosophy, religion, history, music, the history of art, visual studies, film studies, gender studies, and area studies (including Africana studies, Latin American and Iberian studies, and East Asian studies).
Our students have gone on to do graduate work in comparative literature and related fields; pursued advanced degrees in business, law, medicine, and journalism; and undertaken careers in translation, publishing, international business, diplomacy, and non-governmental organizations.
Learning Goals
- Students should attain advanced skills in a language other than English and show the capacity to analyze and interpret literary and cultural texts in the original language.
- Students should attain advanced skills in the interpretation or translation of the literary texts of two distinct national cultures, in the comparative analysis of these texts across national and/or linguistic boundaries, and in addressing, considering, evaluating, and applying specific methodological or theoretical paradigms.
- Students should make use of these skills in the senior thesis and oral exam, which should also demonstrate the capacity to:
- evaluate and discuss the merits of a critical or methodological approach.
- complete an independent scholarly project.
- bring together and analyze critically, in light of certain central issues and themes, a selection of works of literature and criticism read over the four years.
Haverford’s Institutional Learning Goals are available on the President’s website, at http://hav.to/learninggoals.
Curriculum
The resources at Bryn Mawr and Haverford permit the Comparative Literature program to offer an extensive variety of courses, including:
- literature courses in English and the other languages offered at the two Colleges (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Latin, ancient Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and Hebrew).
- crosslisted comparative electives taught in English.
- courses in criticism and theory.
Major
We require comparative literature students to have a reading knowledge of at least one language other than English, adequate to the advanced study of literature in that language. Some comparative literature courses may require reading knowledge in the language as a prerequisite for admission.
Students interested in pursuing a comparative literature major should discuss their preparation and program of courses with the comparative literature chair early in their first or second year at the College.
We recommend (but do not require) that:
- majors study abroad during one or two semesters of the junior year.
- students with a possible interest in graduate school begin a second foreign language before they graduate.
Major Requirements
- COML H200 or COML B200 (Introduction to Comparative Literature), normally taken by the spring of the sophomore year.
- Six advanced literature courses in the original languages (normally at the 200 level or above), balanced between two literature departments (of which English may be one): at least two (one in each literature) must be at the 300 level or above, or its equivalent, as approved in advance by the advisor.
- One course in critical theory, approved by advisor.
- COML H398 or COML B398 (Theories and Methods in Comparative Literature).
- COML H399 or COML B399 (Senior Seminar in Comparative Literature).
- Two additional courses identified as Comparative Literature (COML); these will be courses that move between two languages/literary traditions and/or two cultures.
Senior Project
Each senior major in comparative literature defines their thesis topic in consultation with the faculty members who teach the capstone seminars, COML 398 and COML 399. In the fall semester, as they near completion of COML 398, students produce a viable prospectus in the form of an essay with bibliography. During the spring semester, students enrolled in the Senior Seminar (COMLL 399) complete a senior thesis of 35-40 pages, under the joint guidance of one of the instructors in COML 399 and a faculty member with expertise in the topic of the thesis.
The thesis should build on languages, literary and cultural interests, and competencies cultivated in coursework at Bryn Mawr and Haverford or abroad, should be broadly comparative in nature, and should normally deal with works in both of the student’s major languages. Possible models include: a study of a critical issue as exemplified in authors or works from two different literary or linguistic traditions; an exploration of transnational issues in different media; a critical examination of a problem in literary or cultural theory or literary history; a critical examination of different translations of a literary work.
Students may also choose to present a research-based translation project as a senior thesis. Such a project will engage substantial reading in translation theory, literary/historical context, previous translations, etc. It should be limited in scope: please do not translate an epic poem or a novel, but instead choose to translate a couple of books of an epic, a few chapters of a novel, a selection of lyric poems, etc. The translation itself should be 20-30 pages (depending on genre—we acknowledge that poetry is much more difficult to translate than prose) and be accompanied by a 10-15 page essay (introduction or afterword) engaging translation theory, cultural context, etc.
At the end of the spring semester, during the senior exam period, all seniors are required to participate in senior oral exams before a panel of three faculty examiners—the two thesis co-advisors plus a member of the Comparative Literature Steering Committee or other relevant faculty member. Students respond to questions about the senior thesis during the first half of the exam (approximately 20 minutes); during the second half (another 25 minutes or so) they answer questions about a list of texts and topics they have submitted in advance. (These texts, which may include films and works of art, are chosen by each student from primary and secondary sources that they have studied in courses that count toward the major, with no more than two texts from a single class.)
To get a sense of the kinds of projects our majors elect to pursue, please visit the Senior Thesis archive linked on our homepage.
Senior Project Learning Goals
In the process of writing the senior thesis and preparing for the oral exam, students should develop and demonstrate the capacity to:
- Complete an independent scholarly project in the form of a senior thesis (35-40 pages) that has a logical and clear overall structure and that expresses complex ideas and argues these convincingly, with clarity and precision.
- Familiarize themselves with their chosen texts in the original languages and offer interpretations grounded in close reading of these texts.
- Evaluate and discuss the merits of a critical or methodological approach, identify relevant and generative theoretical frameworks, understand the tradition from which they derive, and competently incorporate them in the service of a critical question.
- Critique and evaluate scholarship relevant to their own scholarly project.
- Comment on or critique the research projects of fellow senior seminar participants.
- Bring together and analyze critically, in light of certain central issues and themes, a selection of works of literature and criticism read over the past four years.
- Make responsible use of both primary and secondary sources.
- Make effective use of library resources, including subject-specific databases and indices online and in print
Senior Project Assessment
Faculty in the Comparative Literature Steering Committee (CLSC) evaluate the viability of the thesis prospectus, submitted in COML 398. Student performance evaluations in all the assessment categories mentioned below inform the final grades awarded in COML 399 as well as the awarding of honors in the major and of the departmental prize for the most accomplished senior essay. The examiners are drawn from faculty members teaching COML 399, members of the CLSC, and other colleagues in other relevant disciplines. Examiners (three per student) participate in the required senior oral examination and make the final evaluations of the second semester senior capstone experience. Separate grades are given for the senior essay, seminar performance, and oral exam; the final grade in COML 399 reflects the totality of the senior experience in all categories stated, with the most important element being the senior thesis.
The thesis is evaluated on the following criteria:
- Conceptualization of an original research question
- Familiarity with and well-grounded interpretation of primary texts in the original languages.
- Engagement with chosen theoretical framework or frameworks and with relevant secondary literature.
- Successful revision in response to criticism.
- Crafting of a clearly structured and clearly expressed argument.
Requirements for Honors
Students who, in the judgment of the Comparative Literature Steering Committee, have done distinguished work in their comparative literature courses and in the Senior Seminar will be considered for departmental honors.
Minor Requirements
Requirements for the minor are COML 200 and COML 398, plus four additional courses—two each in the literature of two languages. At least one of these four courses must be at the 300 level. Students who minor in comparative literature are encouraged to choose their national literature courses from those with a comparative component.
NOTE: Both majors and minors should work closely with the co-chairs of the program and with members of the steering committee in shaping their programs.
Faculty
Two co-chairs, one at each college, and a bi-college steering committee administer the program. The committee generally includes those faculty members most often involved in teaching the introductory course and the senior seminar.
Many other faculty at both institutions contribute courses to the program; see the Courses section for more information.
At Haverford
Imke Brust
Associate Professor and Chair of German
Roberto Castillo Sandoval
Professor of Spanish
Matthew Farmer
Associate Professor and Chair of Classics
Maud McInerney
Professor of English; Chair of Comparative Literature
Luis Rodriguez-Rincon
Assistant Professor of Spanish
David Sedley
The Laurie Ann Levin Professor of Comparative Literature; Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Ava Shirazi
Assistant Professor of Classics; Director of VCAM
At Bryn Mawr
Catherine Conybeare
Leslie Clark Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies
Edwige Crucifix
Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Pardis Dabashi
Assistant Professor of Literatures in English
Radcliffe Edmonds
Paul Shorey Professor of Greek and Professor and Chair of Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies
Martín L. Gaspar
Associate Professor of Spanish and Co-Director of Comparative Literature
Timothy Harte
Professor of Russian
Shiamin Kwa
Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Eugenia Chase Guild Chair in the Humanities
Rudy Le Menthéour
Eunice Morgan Schenck 1907 Chair of French, Chair of French and Francophone Studies, and Co- Director of Health Studies
Roberta Ricci
Associate Provost for Faculty and Research Development and Professor of Transnational Italian Studies on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Chair in the Humanities
Qinna Shen
Associate Professor and Chair of German and German Studies
Jamie K. Taylor
Mary E. Garrett Alumnae Professor of Literatures in English
Jose Vergara
Associate Professor and Chair of Russian on the Myra T. Cooley Lectureship in Russian Studies
Luca Zipoli
Assistant Professor of Transnational Italian Studies
Emeritus Faculty
Israel Burshatin
Professor Emeritus of Spanish and Comparative Literature
Deborah Roberts
Professor Emeritus of Classics
Ulrich Schönherr
Professor Emeritus of German and German Studies
Courses at Haverford
COML H100 INTRODUCTORY PERSIAN (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Introduction to Persian/Farsi language. This course is designed for beginners and will combine the study of grammar with listening, writing, reading and speaking.
COML H111 INTRODUCTION TO POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE (1.0 Credit)
Hannah Schultz
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An introductory survey of English literature from regions that used to be part of the British Empire, focusing on topics such as the representation of first contact, the influence of western education and the English language, the effects of colonial violence, displacement, migration, and exile. Also considered will be the specific aesthetic strategies that have come to be associated with this body of literature.
COML H120 THE EPIC IN ENGLISH (1.0 Credit)
Nat Rivkin
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An exploration of the long, narrative poems that shape the epic tradition in Anglophone literature from Ancient Greece to Medieval England to Africa and the Caribbean. Crosslisted: English, Comparative Literature
(Offered: Spring 2027)
COML H142 INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL STUDIES (1.0 Credit)
Erin Schoneveld
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An introduction to the trans-disciplinary field of Visual Studies, its methods of analysis and topical concerns. Traditional media and artifacts of art history and film theory, and also an examination of the ubiquity of images of all kinds, their systems of transmission, their points of consumption, and the very limits of visuality itself. Crosslisted: Visual Studies, Fine Arts, Comparative Literature
(Offered: Fall 2026)
COML H200 INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE LITERATURE, FEATURING THE SUBLIME (1.0 Credit)
David Sedley
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course introduces the study of literature across geographical, linguistic, cultural, disciplinary, and chronological barriers. In order to do so, it explores an idea that transcends such barriers: the idea that literature may and perhaps even ought to blow one's mind. This idea, often called "the sublime" or "sublimity," raises a series of questions: —Why should a person have, or avoid, mind-blowing experiences? —How does literature compare to other cognitive challenges? —What is "literature" in the first place? —How is it possible to "compare" things, especially very different things, without doing injustice to one, the other, or all of them? The course materials consist mainly of texts and films by Jane Austen, Italo Calvino, Miguel de Cervantes, Aimé Césaire, Daniel Kwan/Daniel Scheinert, Michel de Montaigne, Raoul Peck, William Shakespeare, and Lina Wertmuller, among others.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
COML H203 WRITING THE JEWISH TRAJECTORIES IN LATIN AMERICA (1.0 Credit)
Ariana Huberman
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course focuses on the trajectories of time, space, and gender in the Latin American Jewish experience. We will concentrate mainly on representations of Jewishness but will also explore the historical and contemporary relationships between Jews and non-Jews in Latin America. Our materials will include literary texts, films, and essays, approaching the topic through history, literary criticism, and cultural studies. We will discuss identity, immigration, memory, assimilation, diaspora, and nationalism. We will also analyze transnational experiences, language use, and gender issues. This course is conducted in English (with the option of taking it for Spanish credit if students do the readings and writing in Spanish). Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature Prerequisite(s): SPAN 102, placement, or instructor consent
COML H205 LEGENDS OF ARTHUR (1.0 Credit)
Maud McInerney
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An exploration of the Arthurian legend, from its earliest versions to most recent retellings. The tradition of Arthurian tales is complex and various, combining Celtic and Christian mythologies. Sometimes called the "matter of Britain" the Arthurian narrative has been critical in establishing national and ethnic identities ever since the Middle Ages. Medival notions of chivalry and courtly love also raise fascinating questions about the conflict between personal and private morality, and about the construction of both identity and gender.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
COML H210 SPANISH AND SPANISH AMERICAN FILM STUDIES (1.0 Credit)
Raquel Parrine Sant'Ana
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Exploration of Latin American film. The course will discuss approximately one movie per week. The class will focus on the analysis of cinematic discourses as well as the films’ cultural and historic background. The course will also provide advanced language training with particular emphasis in refining oral and writing skills. This course is conducted in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 102, or placement, or instructor consent.
COML H212 UNLEARNING CLASSICS (1.0 Credit)
Ava Shirazi
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course explores how contemporary writers and artists can help us re-learn the way we understand the ancient world. Each week students will examine a contemporary creative practice (e.g. creative writing, installation and multi-media art, music, photography, and performance) alongside a selection from ancient Greek literature or art. We will focus on both the works themselves and the practices of writers and artists—we’ll talk about how one gives us a way into the other. We will pay particular attention to how research, archives, and “interdisciplinarity” are an inherent part of the creative process. Our goal is twofold: to explore 21st century responses to the ancient world, and to examine how 21st century practices challenge and question notions of the “classics” and how we study them. Crosslisted: Classical Studies, Comparative Literature
COML H223 VISUALIZING NATIONS: AFRICA AND EUROPE (1.0 Credit)
Imke Brust
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course will explore ideas of nation-building in regard to the transnational relations between Europe and Africa. We will discuss African and European experiences of nation-creation to distinguish between exclusionary and inclusionary visions of nation states, and focus in particular on literary texts from Great Britain, Germany, and France in comparison with literary texts from Nigeria, South Africa, and Algeria.
COML H233 TOPICS IN CARIBBEAN LITERATURE: A NEW WAVE (1.0 Credit)
Keishla Rivera-López
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course will focus on authors of the Caribbean and its diaspora, engaging fiction, theory, memoir, poetry and drama from the mid-twentieth century through the present. Core themes will include migration, class, colonialism, racial identity, gender and sexuality. Crosslisted: English, Africana Studies
(Offered: Fall 2026)
COML H237 GENOCIDE, EXILE AND RESISTANCE: DARI PERSIAN AND HAZARA POETRY FROM AFGHANISTAN (1.0 Credit)
GT H, Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course combines language instruction with hands-on collaborative work of literary translation. Students enrolled will be involved in intensive studies of the Persian language, in particular its Dari variant. This will be coupled with course readings on the history and literature of the Persophone Hazara community in Afghanistan and translation practices using contemporary Persian Hazara poems collected from Hazara poets in exile across the world. COML 100 Intro to Persian is recommended. Crosslisted: RELG, COML.
COML H250 QUIXOTIC NARRATIVES (1.0 Credit)
Luis Rodriguez-Rincon
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course proposes a bilingual reading of Miguel de Cervantes’ famous novel, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha. The adventures of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza force readers to probe the fraught and circular relationship between life and art. How do we know when something is true? What happens when fictions, dreams, or outright lies become confused with the truth? What role does art play in catalyzing this desire to transform the world? Course readings and discussion will be largely in Spanish with the option of reading the novel in translation and participating in course discussion in either Spanish, English or Spanglish. Please be advised: Students who wish to receive credit towards a SPAN major or minor must complete course readings and assignments in Spanish. This course fulfills the “pre 1898” requirement. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature.
COML H253 HISPANIC CARIBBEAN MIGRATION TALES (1.0 Credit)
Lina Martinez Hernandez
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Students will learn about different Hispanic Caribbean migratory experiences through a selection of short stories, novels, memoirs, and essays, as well as in film, and performative production. The tales featured in this course will consider how gender and sexuality shape migration experiences. The texts that will be analyzed are mostly originally written in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature Prerequisite(s): SPAN H102 or 200-300 level in the placement test
COML H254 FRENCH IN ENGLISH: COLONIALISM THROUGH FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE FILMS (1.0 Credit)
Koffi Anyinefa
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course is an introduction to the history of French colonization through some popular films released, most of them, in the 80s and 90s (Camp de Thiaroye, Chocolat, Fort Saganne, Indochine, La victoire en chantant, Outremer, to name a few). We will begin with an overview of the history and critique of French imperialism, talk about economic, political, ideological and psychological foundations of the colonial enterprise, and then study the films. These materials offer complex and sometimes divergent views on colonization but from their confrontation should arise not only a general but also a critical understanding of colonization and its repercussions. Crosslisted: COML. Pre-requisite(s): First-year writing course
(Offered: Fall 2026)
COML H256 ART AND THE MEANING OF LIFE (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
You must change your life. This line of poetry written by Rainer Maria Rilke has always had an enormous impact on readers. But can a poem actually change our lives or our thinking? What about other artforms like film or painting? These questions will be central to the journey undertaken in this course, which examines how philosophers, writers, and filmmakers have sought to give forms of meaning to the world through diverse kinds of expression. Crosslisted: COML. Lottery Preference: None
COML H257 ANTIGONE’S ECHOES: ACTIVISM AND THE LAW FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO TODAY (1.0 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Where should the law come from, the individual or the state? How can you protest an unjust system, and how can an ancient story help you do it? Who owns a “Classic”? These are just a few questions that Sophocles’ Antigone has raised for philosophers and playwrights from the Enlightenment to today. We'll read several versions of the Antigone myth and explore this character’s enduring relevance to theories of gender, performance, world literature, and politics. Crosslisted: COML,PEAC.
COML H262 TOP GERMAN CINEMA: #METOO WOMEN AND FILM (1.0 Credit)
Imke Brust
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course meets twice a week and will either be taught in English with an extra-session in German or in German if all registered students speak German. It is the aim of this course to contextualize the #MeToo Movement in a transnational U.S. - European context. We will read a variety of texts and watch selected European/U.S. films that impacted the historical relationship between and representation of women in film. While this course focuses primarily on female directors, our discussion will also include the works of some male directors. Crosslisted: German, Comparative Literature
(Offered: Fall 2026)
COML H267 GLOBAL SF SINCE 1945 (1.0 Credit)
Maud McInerney
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
SF—science fiction, speculative fiction—is the primary allegorical mode of the contemporary world and permits reflections upon and critiques of the world we inhabit today. This course explores the explosion of the genre in the decades since the WWII and the advent of atomic weapons. We will read classics of post-apocalyptic fiction from the ‘50s and ‘60s before turning to stories that engage queer identities, Afrofuturism and African Futurism, and the global threat of climate change. Crosslisted: ENGL. Pre-requisite(s): None
COML H270 THE ART OF SPORTS: ANCIENT AND MODERN (1.0 Credit)
Ava Shirazi
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course explores the visual and poetic life of sports, ancient and modern. It brings together cultural criticism, visual analysis, and historical study to theorize the beauty of athletics. Concepts of the body, gender, race and performance, and tropes such as "for the love of the game," "feel for the game" and "poetry in motion" will organize our work on the sensory and aesthetic dimensions of sports. No prior expertise in classics, art or sports necessary. Crosslisted: COML,VIST.
(Offered: Spring 2027)
COML H271 FRENCH IN COMMON: ALLOCHTHONOUS AND INDIGENOUS VOICES IN QUEBEC (1.0 Credit)
Christophe Corbin
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
What sets Quebecois society apart from the rest of Canada’s provinces? And what about the First Peoples, colonized twice over? How has French paradoxically become, for them, a tool of resistance against cultural erasure and colonization? The semester is divided into two parts: allochthonous communities and Indigenous communities. Themes explored through literary and cinematic works include: memory, loss of territory, community resilience, linguistic assimilation and cultural reclamation, identity issues, and postcolonial perspectives. Crosslisted: FREN, COML. Pre-requisite(s): FREN 102
COML H272 GLOBAL VIENNA: THE IMPERIAL CITY AS ARTWORK, THE MODERN CITY AS URBAN EXPERIMENT (1.0 Credit)
Michael Burri
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course investigates the clash between imperial artwork and the modern urban experiment that is a central dynamic of the Viennese experience. Drawing upon Viennese writers, artists, and intellectuals, course texts by Freud, Joseph Roth, Ingeborg Bachmann and others establish the discursive tradition of the city as artwork, while readings by Adolf Loos, Arthur Schnitzler, Veza Canetti bring into focus the modernist critique of aestheticization of the urban landscape. Crosslisted: COML.
COML H301 TOPICS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH: RACING ROMANCE (1.0 Credit)
Maud McInerney
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Considers the construction of genders and sexualities in the medieval period. Crosslisted: English, Comparative Literature
COML H302 TOPICS IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE: READING TOWARDS BEOWULF (1.0 Credit)
Maud McInerney
Division: Humanities
COML H311 QUEERING THE SHORT FORM (1.0 Credit)
Swetha Regunathan
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
In this course students will watch short films that center queer identity and experience and put them in conversation with theory (Jack Halberstam, Jose Esteban Munoz, Sara Ahmed, Sianne Ngai, et. al) We will ask: what constitutes the canon? What are queer affects? What does the short form offer visual storytellers? Conversely, how might queerness reimagine the short form? All students will write two short papers and produce a final essay video project. Crosslisted: VIST,COML,GSST Pre-requisite(s): VIST 142 - Intro to Visual Studies
COML H312 ADVANCED TOPICS IN FRENCH LITERATURE: MACHINES PENSANTES DE DESCARTES À NOUS-MÊMES (1.0 Credit)
David Sedley
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Have you ever wondered whether machines can think? This course explores the question by uncovering the contested origins of mechanical culture in early modernity. We will study the inventions of calculating and thinking machines by Descartes and Pascal, as well as their appropriations and critiques by Madame de Lafayette and La Fontaine. We will then use our findings to reassess: 1) democratic constitutions as self-adjusting mechanisms; mechanical dimensions of constitutional democracy, and 2) the impacts of artificially intelligent chatbots on democratic educations, including at liberal arts colleges such as Haverford. Readings (as well as those mentioned above) will include works by Alan Turing ("Computing Machinery and Intelligence"), Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), Michael Kammen (A Machine That Would Go of Itself), and others. The course will also feature experimental imitation games using Chatgpt. Taught in French. Crosslisted: FREN and COML Pre-requisite : 1 course FREN 2xx
(Offered: Fall 2026)
COML H318 THE WESTERN DRAMATIC TRADITION (1.0 Credit)
Kimberly Benston
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An investigation of Western drama through close study of major representative plays from Aeschylus and Sophocles to Beckett and Shange. Differing notions of the dramatic event, from classical to modern and "post-modern" theaters, will be examined in relation to evolving ideas of character, consciousness, destiny, social structure, linguistic power, and theatricality itself. Emphasis placed on both thematic and structural problems of "play" and on the relation of the text to consequences of performance (e.g., acting, stagecraft, and audience response). Prerequisite: 1 course in English, Comparative Literature, or Theater Studies..
COML H324 MEDIA WORLDS (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
It’s no secret that media shape the world around us. Cell phones use GPS to help us navigate through traffic and platforms like Instagram connect us to millions of people. Have things always been this way? How did people react to new technologies like film or television in the past? How do modern media impact us now? For German credit there will be an extra 60-minute session in German. Crosslisted: GERM,COML,VIST.
(Offered: Spring 2027)
COML H336 HUMANIMALS IN SPANISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE FROM PREHISTORY TO THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD (1.0 Credit)
Luis Rodriguez-Rincon
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Humans are animals and yet most people consider animals to be something other than humans. This course sets out to understand from a specifically Iberian perspective how humans have come to define themselves in relation to animals and vice versa how animals have come to be defined in relation to humans. Readings in this course will approach animals as both living and literary figures with an emphasis on the medieval and early modern periods as well as key theories in Animal Studies. Crosslisted: COML. Pre-requisite(s): A 200 level-course; or permission of the instructor Lottery Preference: Spanish majors; Spanish minors; Comparative Literature majors; LAILS concentrators
(Offered: Fall 2026)
COML H337 ANTHROPOLOGY OF WRITING AND THE POLITICS/POETICS OF INTERTEXTUALITY (1.0 Credit)
Zolani Ngwane
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
An interdisciplinary exploration of writing as a social institution, personal ritual, cultural artifact and a technology, this course theorizes the interface between tradition and innovation as a way to think about intertextuality using Jewish American fiction as a case study Crosslisted: COML
(Offered: Spring 2027)
COML H377 PROBLEMS IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE: IMPERIAL INTIMACIES (1.0 Credit)
Hannah Schultz
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course mobilizes the concept of “imperial intimacies” to theorize the rich historical, imaginative, and political horizons of imperialism. Taking our cue from Hazel Carby’s book of the same name—and from what Lisa Lowe has influentially described as The Intimacies of Four Continents—this interdisciplinary class will study literary works (novels, memoir, poetry, film) that bring into critical focus the lasting contradictions and critical challenges of colonial and postcolonial literature and culture. Crosslisted: English, Comparative Literature Prerequisite(s): Two 200-level English courses or instructor consent
COML H398 THEORIES AND METHODS IN COMPARATIVE LITERATURE (1.0 Credit)
Maud McInerney
Division: Humanities
This course is both a seminar on theory and method and a workshop on the deveopment of the senior thesis. It introduces students to a variety of critical approaches and their application, and assists them in developing conceptual frameworks for the senior thesis projects they are in the process of formulating. Prerequisite(s): Open to comparative literature senior majors and minors
COML H399 SENIOR SEMINAR (1.0 Credit)
Imke Brust
Division: Humanities
Oral and written presentations of work in progress, culminating in a senior thesis and comprehensive oral examination. Prerequisite(s): students must be senior majors in Comparative Literature
(Offered: Spring 2027)
Courses at Bryn Mawr
COML B200 INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE LITERATURE (1.0 Credit)
Martín Gaspar
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course explores a variety of approaches to the comparative or transnational study of literature through readings of several kinds: texts from different cultural traditions that raise questions about the nature and function of storytelling and literature; texts that comment on, respond to, and rewrite other texts from different historical periods and nations; translations; and readings in critical theory.
(Offered: Spring 2027)
EALC B315 SPIRITS, SAINTS, SNAKES, SWORDS: WOMEN IN EAST ASIAN LITERATURE & FILM (1.0 Credit)
Shiamin Kwa
This interdisciplinary course focuses on a critical survey of literary and visual texts by and about Chinese women. We will begin by focusing on the cultural norms that defined women's lives beginning in early China, and consider how those tropes are reflected and rejected over time and geographical borders (in Japan, Hong Kong and the United States). No prior knowledge of Chinese culture or language necessary.
EALC B345 TOPICS IN EAST ASIAN CULTURE (1.0 Credit)
Shiamin Kwa
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This is a topics course. Course contents vary.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
HART B235 CRITICAL APPROACHES TO VISUAL REPRESENTATION: IDENTIFICATION IN THE CINEMA (1.0 Credit)
Matthew Feliz
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course is writing intensive. An introduction to the analysis of film and other lensed, time-based media through particular attention to the role of the spectator. Why do moving images compel our fascination? How exactly do spectators relate to the people, objects, and places that appear on the screen? Wherein lies the power of images to move, attract, repel, persuade, or transform their viewers? Students will be introduced to film theory through the rich and complex topic of identification. We will explore how points of view are framed by the camera in still photography, film, television, video games, and other media. Prerequisite: one course in History of Art at the 100-level or permission of the instructor. Enrollment preference given to majors and minors in History of Art and Film Studies. Fulfills Film Studies Introductory or Theory course requirement. This course was formerly numbered HART B110; students who previously completed HART B110 may not repeat this course.
(Offered: Fall 2026)