The Department of English Studies, the first among the departments to be instituted at the Central University of Tamil Nadu in 2009, started its journey with the introduction of the M.A. English programme. From a modest beginning with just 2 teachers and 8 students, the Department has evolved significantly over the following decade and now offers post-graduate (M.A.) as well as full-time research programmes (M.Phil. and Ph.D.) in English. The Department extends academic support to other departments by offering general language courses to students enrolled for Integrated M.Sc. /MA and B.Ed. programmes in various subjects. Besides, the Department offers a certificate course in French language.

The Department of English Studies sets out to fashion a platform for radical and revolutionary thinking which would ultimately ring in a more liberated and holistic world where all its stakeholders derive their optimal happiness.

This will come to pass through a critical understanding of the texts, authors, themes, and genres that constitute the constantly evolving idea of the “literary” within the specific domain of English Studies as well as the broader arena of the Humanities. By fostering an awareness of the increasingly inter-disciplinary and inter-cultural nature of academic scholarship, in terms of both subject and method, the Department aims to promote and hone in the students a spirit of debate and inquiry necessary for understanding the strengths and the challenges of “doing” English Studies in our times.

M.A. English

The M.A. English programme is designed to give students a necessary grounding in the traditionally recognized canon of English literature as well as to introduce them to newer, allied domains of study that now fall within the ambit of English Studies. Under the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), mandated by the UGC and followed by CUTN, the M.A. English programme offers a combination of core and elective courses over four semesters. While students earn a majority of their credits from the compulsory (core) courses, they are also given the freedom to choose from a variety of electives to earn their remaining credits in each semester. The core courses include subjects like British literature from the 14th to the 20th century, American literature, Indian Writing in English, New Literatures, Literary Criticism and Theory, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, Dalit Literature and English Language Teaching. The elective courses deal with an array of subjects that cater to more specific areas of academic interest and thereby help students explore the many possible directions that they can pursue within the broad discipline of English Studies. Among the many courses that the students can choose from are English Linguistics, Sanskrit Poetics, Academic Reading and Writing, Translation Studies, Language and Media, Philosophical Concepts, Postcolonial Theory and Literature, Subaltern Studies, Dravidian Literatures, European Classics, Gender Studies and Science Fiction. A unique feature of the M.A. English programme is that students are offered the choice to undertake a brief project in the final semester, in which they select to work intensively on a topic of their own interest and acquire the basic skills of conducting academic research.

Syllabus

M. Phil. English

The Department of English Studies offers a full-time M.Phil. Programme which strictly adheres to the UGC guidelines and CUTN ordinances is for a duration of one year during which all students are required to undertake mandatory course work (over two semesters) under the Choice Based Credit System. The courses are designed to equip students with theories and methods of conducting research, both in the general domain of the Humanities and in the specific area(s) of their interest; additionally, students are offered a range of common elective courses to choose from to suit their own research interests. Concurrently with the course work, each student will be required to write a dissertation under the guidance of his/her assigned supervisor and submit it for evaluation at the end of the programme.

Ph.D. English

The Department of English Studies offers a full-time Ph.D. programme for a minimum duration of three years. As a mandatory requirement, each doctoral scholar is required to undergo two semesters of course work in the first year of the programme. The courses, offered as per the rules of CBCS, are tailor-made to suit the particular requirements of the scholar’s doctoral work. This includes core courses on the broad field and the specific area of research designed by the supervisor concerned, as well as elective courses on subjects like academic writing, contemporary literary theory, literature and media, aesthetics and Sanskrit poetics. Each Ph.D. scholar must compulsorily pass these courses in order to be eligible to proceed with his/her doctoral research and submit his/her thesis upon the completion of the programme.

Syllabus

OBE Syllabus