Field Requirements

Part 2 - Field Requirements

End of Second Year, Third Year

In addition to completing the core requirements, students concentrate their study in two fields of specialization. At the end of this process of specialization, students produce and then orally defend two field statements. This section of the Handbook will outline the general process students will follow to meet the field requirements.

What is a Field?

A field is a substantial, recognizable area of scholarship; for our purposes, it is an area of cultural studies scholarship. Under the guidance of a faculty advisory committee, you will define your two fields in such a way that they point topically and theoretically toward your expected dissertation research, while at the same time signaling your areas of expertise to, for example, hiring committees. A good field statement will also be a useful resource for generating syllabi, for framing new research proposals, and for supporting related forms of professional development.

A field cannot be as broad as "culture" or "politics"; it cannot be as narrow as "Facebook" or "Siegfried Kracauer." Some viable fields are expressly introduced by program breadth offerings: "Culture and Political Economy," "Gender/Sexuality," "Visual Culture," and so on. Others are sometimes offered as special topics courses, for example, "Popular Culture" or Digital Media." In any case, your fields should pass the CV test: Would, say, an informed reader on a hiring committee recognize them as durable, substantial areas of scholarship?

Keep in mind: The two fields will be complementary; yet they should be distinct with minimal bibliographical overlap. Fields are expected to be interdisciplinary in nature and should overtly reflect their relationship to Cultural Studies, either through their titles or by connection to the Core courses. One may be theoretical in orientation; if so, the other should be topical.

What is a Field Statement?

Field statements and the field examination serve in lieu of the proficiency exams that are used in some other doctoral programs; the principal purpose of both exercises is to demonstrate professional competence in broad areas of knowledge. A field statement is just that: a statement describing a field; a comprehensive review of the scholarship that defines the field. It should explore the major issues, debates, and texts in the field and be accompanied by a bibliography of the relevant texts. Sample bibliographies can be made available by request from the Director and Program Manager.

Minimal Coursework Requirements for the Fields

Over the long term, field specialization will involve a minimum of 9 credit hours of study in each field (18 credit hours total). At the initial stages of preparation, you should lay the groundwork for your fields by selecting relevant courses from theory or topic offerings (not used to fulfill other program requirements), or from special topics courses (CULT 860). If relevant coursework is lacking, and if you have advanced beyond the first couple of years in your course of study, you may take a section of CULT 870 (Independent Study) to fulfill a portion of the 9-credit minimal requirement. CULT 870 is to be used only in exceptional circumstances when no other course options are viable. For each field you will take the 3-credit Field Preparation course (CULT 880); during your registration in CULT 880, you will write and finalize each field statement.

Note: The program imposes credit hour prerequisites on CULT 870; it also requires students to submit a detailed syllabus to the faculty supervisor (containing weekly readings, writing requirements, periodic meeting times with that supervisor, and so on); the syllabus must be approved by the faculty supervisor by the first day of the term.

Step 1: Conceptualizing the Fields

Many of you will come to the program with a general idea of your field interests and thus will be conceptualizing your fields from the beginning. However, students are encouraged to keep their minds open about fields in order to learn about the range and extent of Cultural Studies, and to maintain an open dialogue about fields in routine advising meetings with the Director. Although much of the reading for and work on your fields will take place outside of formal courses, Cultural Studies courses are designed to offer a broad grounding in material that can be incorporated into your fields. Regardless of how the detailed content of your fields takes shape, you should be able to explain how key texts in foundation courses are relevant to your fields.

Accumulated syllabi from a given set of courses will not, in themselves, constitute an adequate bibliography for a given field. Coursework will not in itself constitute the fields. In the end, the content of fields will be shaped by formal coursework, discussion with and input from faculty advisors, and careful and wide reading of the texts that form a given field.

Step 2: Forming a Field Advisory Committee

Your field advisory committee will be comprised of two cultural studies faculty members; each will serve as primary advisor for one field. Take the initiative from the start of your studies: You are encouraged to meet with potential faculty mentors to discuss the intersections between their research and your interests. Some of these meetings will grow out of coursework, guest lectures, or colloquium presentations. Others will result from your own investigation.

As you begin to form your committee, remember some important points. Each committee member will be an expert in one or the other field. But to serve as effective mentors, both committee members will need to understand the picture in the round: What is the conception, shape, and content of the other field? How does one field relate to the other and to the general direction of the dissertation research?

The choice of a field director should be based upon students’ experience in courses with that faculty member. Field advisors should be carefully considered (perhaps in dialogue with the Director) and chosen from Core and Affiliate faculty. Field advisors should be from different areas of specialization. The norm is to choose at least one Core faculty member as a field advisor. If a preferred advisor is not already a Core or Affiliate faculty in CULT, a request to work with that faculty must be made to the Director, who will then consult with the Core faculty (Executive Committee). The norm is for students to consider and choose field advisors only from among tenured faculty. Once you have two willing mentors and two viable fields, you should also generate a DISSERTATION title, a general dissertation question and a paragraph-length description. The connection between the dissertation and the two fields should be legible in the title, question and description. Please note that you will be able to change the question/title as you progress.

Please note that the titles of your Fields, your Field Advisors’ signatures, your provisional dissertation title, and your central dissertation question and description must all be registered on the Request to Form Fields Committee form here: Fields Committee Request Form and sent to the Director, who will then solicit input from the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee may approve your request, or it may ask for more information. The director may communicate advice on revisions to titles and frames, or, in some cases, ask for resubmission.

The timing of the formation of your field advisory committee will depend on your progress through the program and the speed with which your specific field interests take shape. Full-time students should be in position to form their committees by the end of their second year in the program.

Step 3: Preparation and Approval of Field Proposals

After you have received approval of your field advisory committee, and after you have conducted some preliminary studies of the proposed fields, you will prepare a formal proposal for each field. Please use the following form to make your formal proposal: Field Statement Proposal Form. Field proposals are to be reviewed and approved by signature by both field advisors prior to being submitted for formal approval to the Cultural Studies Program Director.

Once you've gotten the go ahead from your field advisory committee to begin the formal approval process for your field proposals, you'll need to make sure that your proposal is formatted properly for submission. A standard form is available to serve as a cover sheet. (See "Field Proposal Form") Two Field statement proposals will accompany the cover sheet. Each proposal will include: a narrative (one to two pages) outlining the subject to be treated, its significance, and its relationship with the student's research, teaching, and other professional plans, and a sample bibliography. Proposals will typically outline coverage of the development of the field over time: its origins; three or four key debates, issues, topics, or nodal moments tracking the history of the field (this set of problems will constitute the bulk of treatment); a brief overview of the state of the field today. Each bibliography ought to consist of 20-30 references. Field proposals should be one to two pages (300-400 words), not including bibliography. Field proposals will be considered ready for submission to the program for approval when both members of the field advisory committee have signed the Field Proposal form.

The Director will review the student's field statement proposals and attached bibliographies and will sometimes convey additional advice. Copies of your formally approved field proposals will be kept on record in your program file in the Cultural Studies office.

Research interests change, of course. Minor shifts of content consistent with the overall framing of approved fields require no administrative action. Substantive changes in content or any change in the composition of your committee require a second review by the Executive Committee. (See the above procedures for either forming a field advisory committee, or for approval of field proposals.) Please bear in mind, however, that once your fields are completed, they should define the parameters of your dissertation focus.

Step 4: Preparation of Field Statements

Once your field proposals have been approved and you are prepared to write your field statements you should plan to take CULT 880 under the supervision of the advisor for each field. Keep in mind that work in CULT 880 will complete, not inaugurate, your work in a particular field. Students should expect to complete their fields serially: that is, one field in one semester and the second in the succeeding semester. In exceptional circumstances, a student may petition the Director to complete two fields in one semester; the Director will then consult with the student’s field advisors on the feasibility of the petition.

General guidelines for field statements

A field statement should encompass the following for each of your fields; 1) the title of your field; 2) the relevance of your field to Cultural Studies; 3) the relation of your field to the existing scholarly literature; 4) the development of your field across three or four debates (or controversies or nodal moments); and 5) the state of your field today.

The field statement itself should be 7,500-12,500 words (approximately 30-50 double-space pages), not including the bibliography (approximately 50-75 references). The style sheet to be used for preparation of the bibliography and for citation within the field statements should be agreed upon by the student and his or her committee.

Until fields have been defended, students will be given the temporary grade of IP. A professor may sign the cover sheet of the field statement to indicate his or her approval of the document. Note, however, that successful completion of the field requirements is not accomplished until a successful defense examination with both members of the committee has been undertaken.

Final Step: Submission and Oral Defense of Field Statements

A single one-hour defense of the two field statements should take place within a month of submission of both field statements to your field advisory committee. Only you and your committee members will be present for the oral defense. The two advisors will establish the format for the conduct of the defense. Students should expect the defense to be composed of an overview of each field and discussion of their dissertation project and proposal. Field advisory committee members will reach a consensus on the evaluation of the field statements (based on both the written field statement and its oral defense) and share this consensus with the student at the end of the oral defense.

Upon the completion of a successful oral defense, each field advisor will co-sign this form: Field Statement Completion Form, which will indicate that you have passed your field requirements and oral examination on such date. The signed field statements and record of the oral defense will be kept in the program files.

If you receive a failing grade on either field statement, with either the written field statements or the oral defense being deemed inadequate, you may resubmit the unacceptable field statement(s) and repeat the defense one more time only, no sooner than 3 months and no later than 6 months after failing. A student submitting field statements and undertaking the oral defense for the first time will be questioned on both fields concurrently, but if s/he fails one part, then only that field must be examined a second time.