JOINT PHD IN FRENCH STUDIES AND FRENCH
The Institute of French Studies (IFS) at NYU is an interdisciplinary program devoted to the study of modern and contemporary France and francophone countries. The Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture and the IFS offer a joint Ph.D. in French Studies and French that is designed for students interested in developing research expertise in the history and analysis of literary texts closely linked to their social, cultural, and political contexts. It prepares students to teach both literature and civilization in French departments, and gives them the scholarly expertise to integrate the two. The Joint program combines strong training in literary analysis with substantial exposure to the study of France, Europe, and the Francophone world, offered by historians and social scientists. The program covers 19th and 20th-Century France and French literature, although students ordinarily develop a narrower research specialty within this time period.
The specific focus--and challenge--of the joint degree is the marrying of a social science research approach with a literary one. Students applying to the program should have a background both in French literature and in history and the social sciences. Admission to the joint Ph.D. program must be granted by both the IFS and the Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture.