| Secondary Fields |
AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIESStudents enrolled in a PhD program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University may achieve formal recognition for completing a secondary field in African and African American Studies. Graduate students who choose African and African American Studies as a secondary field will benefit from learning how to do interdisciplinary work on the basis of the substantial body of scholarly writing on African and African American social, cultural, economic and political life and history. The Department also encourages comparative work on African, African American, and diasporic topics. Graduate students must meet the following requirements in order to have the secondary field officially recorded on their transcript.
Coursework• Completion of four graduate-level courses in African and African American Studies with honors grades of B+ or above.
Demonstrating Mastery in the Secondary Field • Successful completion of a research paper demonstrating mastery in the field of African and African American Studies is also required. Ordinarily this is the most successful graduate term paper written for one of the four African and African American Studies courses.
Record-keeping• Students interested in declaring a secondary field in African and African American Studies should submit to the Director of Graduate Studies evidence of their successful participation in four appropriate graduate courses in the Department of African and African American Studies as well as the research paper. Once they obtain the approval of the DGS they and the registrar will receive certification of successful completion of secondary field requirements.
CELTIC MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES AND LITERATURESThe Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures offers a secondary field in Celtic Medieval Languages and Literatures for PhD students enrolled in other departments at Harvard. The Celtic languages, once spoken over much of Europe and Asia Minor, are of great linguistic interest, and the splendid medieval literatures of Ireland and Wales constitute a hugely rewarding field of study. Students of comparative literature, of other medieval languages and literatures, of history, of historical linguistics, and of religion may wish to consider this secondary field. Students, for example of medieval epic and romance, and of genres such as prophecy and vision poetry may wish for comparative purposes to read texts in the Celtic languages. The Celtic material offers invaluable sources for medieval historians of the Western Church, and of secular institutions and customs as well. Students of historical linguistics will know that a thorough knowledge of Old Irish is important for the investigation of Indo-European. The Secondary Field affords an opportunity to achieve professional competence in one of the Celtic languages, the range of its literature, and the scholarship in the field.
RequirementsThe secondary field is organized in two separate tracks, Early and Medieval Irish, and Medieval Welsh. Each of them requires the student to take four half-courses in the department, the distribution of which is as follows:
Early and Medieval Irish:• Celtic 200: Introduction to Old Irish and Celtic 201: Continuing Old Irish • either Celtic 204r: Readings in Early Irish Poetry or Celtic 205r: Readings in Early Irish Prose • Celtic course with a medieval focus, to be chosen in consultation with the director of graduate studies. Celtic 204r or Celtic 205r, whichever has not been chosen under b), is among the courses from which a choice will be made. Medieval Welsh:• Celtic 225a: Introduction to Middle Welsh and Celtic 225b: Continuing Middle Welsh • Either Celtic 226r: Readings in Middle Welsh or Celtic 227: Seminar on Welsh Bardic Poetry • a Celtic course with a medieval focus, to be chosen in consultation with the director of graduate studies. Celtic 226f or Celtic 227, whichever has not been chosen under b), is among the courses from which a choice will be made. • Courses in the department are given in alternate years. Celtic 200, Celtic 201, Celtic 226r and Celtic 227 will be given in 2009-10. Celtic 204r, Celtic 205r, Celtic 225a and Celtic 225b will be given in 2010-11.
THE CLASSICSA student enrolled in a PhD program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, other than the programs offered in the Department of the Classics, may achieve formal recognition for completing a secondary field in one of the following programs offered in the Department: Classical Archaeology; Classical Philology; Greek and Roman History.
Classical ArchaeologyThe following requirements must be met to complete a secondary field in Classical Archaeology.
Coursework• Completion of four half-courses. Qualifying courses include those taught within the Departments of the Classics and History of Art and Architecture and accepted by the Department of the Classics towards the requirements of Classical Archaeology. • Two half-courses must be entitled, or officially cross-listed as, Classical Archaeology (prefixed ClArch). • Two of the four half-courses shall be graduate seminars. • At least one of the four half-courses shall be on a Greek topic and another on a Roman topic. • Students are encouraged to take Classical Archaeology 351: Classical Archaeology Proseminar, or Classics 350: Classical Philology Proseminar. • Students may petition the Director of Graduate Studies to be permitted to apply one course in Anthropology, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, or the Divinity School towards the requirements of the secondary field. • The archaeological summer programs offered by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the American Academy in Rome, and the Graduate Summer Seminar of the American Numismatic Society will normally be accepted in lieu of one half-course. • Students pursuing a secondary field in Classical Archaeology are also strongly encouraged to participate in an archaeological field school or to serve as a curatorial intern in a museum of art or archaeology.
AdvisingFor further information contact Professor Richard Thomas, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 204 Boylston Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Classical PhilologyThe following requirements must be met to complete a secondary field in Classical Philology.
Coursework• Completion of four half-courses from among the following categories: - all graduate seminars taught within Classics • Two of the half-courses shall be graduate seminars. • Courses taught primarily in translation are ineligible.
AdvisingFor further information contact Professor Richard Thomas, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 204 Boylston Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Greek and Roman HistoryThe following requirements must be met to complete a secondary field in Greek and Roman History.
Coursework• Completion of four half-courses from the following categories: - all graduate seminars taught within Classics • Two of the four half-courses shall be graduate seminars. • At least one of the four half-courses shall be on a Greek topic and another on a Roman topic. • Normally at least one course will involve close reading of historical texts in the original language, but this requirement may be waived at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies.
AdvisingFor further information contact Professor Richard Thomas, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 204 Boylston Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138.
COMPARATIVE LITERATUREThe Department of Comparative Literature offers “Comparative Literature” as a secondary field in GSAS to enrich the background of PhD students who seek to do research and teach across the institutional boundaries of national languages and literatures. Students in the various departments of literary studies may eventually be called upon to teach comparative courses or courses in general or world literature. The secondary field in comparative literature introduces students to basic issues in the field as well as providing a graduate literary theory course for students who have not already taken such a course in their primary department. While we recognize the degree to which literatures in a single language constitute a coherent tradition, the Department of Comparative Literature seeks to develop an awareness of how literary works move across language borders, both in the original language and in translation. We seek to call attention to theoretical issues shared across not only the boundaries of languages but across very different traditions.
Prerequisites• An ability to work in literatures in at least three languages. Normally this will be demonstrated by coursework in which at least some of the primary readings are in the language. In certain circumstances (for example, if one of the languages is the student’s native language) the DGS may waive the requirement that competence in a language be demonstrated by coursework. If English is used as one of the languages, the other two languages should show some breadth; that is, they may not be closely allied, either linguistically or by academic convention (e.g., Spanish and Portuguese, Urdu and Hindi, classical and modern Chinese, or Greek and Latin). The judgment regarding what can legitimately count for the set of three languages will be at the discretion of the DGS.
Requirements• Four courses, one of which may be the Comparative Literature proseminar and two of which must be Comparative Literature seminars at the 200 level. The remaining course requirements will be met by either seminars in Comparative Literature or 100level Literature courses (which normally count for graduate credit in Comparative Literature). • Successful completion of the common essay exam for students in Comparative Literature at the end of the second year. • A seminar paper on a comparative or theoretical topic, to be read by the examination committee of the Department of Literature and Comparative Literature.
FILM AND VISUAL STUDIESA student enrolled in a PhD program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University may achieve formal recognition for completing a secondary field in Film and Visual Studies. The following requirements must be met to complete this secondary field.
Coursework• Completion of four graduate-level courses in Film and Visual Studies with honors grades of B+ or above. • Two of these courses are required and should be taken in the first year of study: -Ves 270. Proseminar in Film and Visual Studies: History -Ves 271. Proseminar in Film and Visual Studies: Theory • Two other courses must be selected from among graduate courses taught by faculty of the Committee on Film and Visual Studies. The Director of Graduate Studies will make a list of approved graduate seminars available at the beginning of each academic year.
Examinations• Successful completion of an examination or alternative means of demonstrating mastery in the field of Film and Visual Studies is also required. The particular form of examination or alternative means of demonstrating mastery will be agreed upon by the Director of Graduate Studies in Film and Visual Studies and the Director of Graduate Studies in the student’s home PhD department. This demonstration of mastery might be part of a departmental general or field examination, or it might be combined with departmental requirements in some other way. One or more members of the Committee on Film and Visual Studies will conduct and adjudicate the portion of the preliminary examination devoted to Film and Visual Studies, and the results will be reported to both directors of graduate studies.
AdvisingStudents interested in declaring a secondary field in Film and Visual Studies should consult with the Director of Graduate Studies as early as possible in their studies, and ordinarily no later than the end of the first term of graduate coursework. At this time, a plan of study should be prepared and submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies, to be approved by the Committee on Film and Visual Studies as well as the student’s home department. For further information contact Tom Conley, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
HISTORICAL LINGUISTICSThe Department of Linguistics offers a secondary field in Historical Linguistics for PhD students enrolled in other departments at Harvard. Historical linguistics, the study of how languages change over time, subsumes both the general study of language change and the history of specific languages and language families. The intellectual spectrum thus defined bridges part of the gap between linguistic theory and the areas traditionally known as “philology.” At Harvard, the more theoretical aspects of historical linguistics are covered in courses offered by the Department of Linguistics, while courses dealing with the historical linguistics of specific languages are offered both by the Department of Linguistics and the relevant language departments. In practice, many graduate students in the Classics, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and other language-centered departments take courses in historical linguistics as part of their ordinary preparation for the PhD. The availability of a secondary field in Historical Linguistics allows such students to have their work in linguistics officially recognized.
CourseworkRequirement: four half-courses, to be distributed as follows: a) one of Linguistics 120 (Introduction to Historical Linguistics) or Linguistics 224 (Historical and Comparative Linguistics) b) three other courses in Linguistics or cross-listed with Linguistics, two of which must be chosen from the following: Linguistics 122 (Introduction to Indo-European)
Other courses with a historical linguistic focus may be added to this list at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies in Linguistics. Historical linguistics is one of the department’s traditional areas of strength. For courses offered in the 2009-2010 academic year, contact the department. AdvisingThe contact person is the Director of Graduate Studies in Linguistics.
LINGUISTIC THEORYThe Department of Linguistics offers a secondary field in Linguistic Theory for PhD students enrolled in other departments at Harvard. Linguistic theory, the core of the modern field of linguistics, seeks to characterize the linguistic knowledge that normal human beings acquire in the course of mastering their native language between the ages of one and five. Studied as an internalized formal system, language is a source of insight into a wide range of human pursuits and abilities, some of them traditionally approached through the humanities, others through the social sciences, and others through the behavioral and natural sciences. The major divisions of linguistic theory are syntax, the study of sentence structure; phonology, the study of sounds and sound systems; morphology, the study of word structure; and semantics; the study of meaning. Courses in these areas regularly draw students from other Harvard departments, especially Psychology, Philosophy, and other departments associated with the Mind, Brain, Behavior Initiative. The secondary field in Linguistic Theory allows such students to receive official recognition for their linguistics coursework.CourseworkRequirement: four half-courses, to be distributed as follows: a) at least one of the following: Linguistics 112a (Introduction to Syntactic Theory)b) three other courses in Linguistics, two of which must be chosen from the following: Linguistics 112b (Intermediate Syntax) Other courses with a theoretical focus, including courses in other departments cross-listed with Linguistics, may be added to this list at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies in Linguistics. Although Linguistics has no official “tracks” toward the PhD, linguistic theory is the department’s main intellectual focus. For courses offered in the 2009–2010 academic year, contact the department. AdvisingThe contact person is the Director of Graduate Studies in Linguistics.MEDIEVAL STUDIESA student enrolled in a PhD program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University may achieve formal recognition for completing a secondary field in Medieval Studies. The following requirements must be met to complete this secondary field.Coursework and Examinations• Completion of four graduate-level courses in a medieval subject with grades of B+ or above. • One of these courses must be in paleography and selected from the following courses:
• Each of the three further courses must be in a different department, one of which may be the student’s home department, and chosen from among the 200-level courses listed each year on the Medieval Studies page of the Registrar’s course website. • Fulfillment of one language requirement in Medieval Latin, Greek, Hebrew, or Arabic. • The language requirement must be fulfilled by passing an examination, administered by the Medieval Studies Committee. AdvisingEntering students interested in declaring a secondary field in Medieval Studies are encouraged to consult with the Chair of the Medieval Studies Committee as early as possible in their studies. Students already in the program who are well on their way to completing requirements for the field or who wish to arrange a language examination are also encouraged to consult with the Chair of the Medieval Studies Committee. Write to the Chair by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .MUSICA student enrolled in a PhD program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University may achieve formal recognition for completing a secondary field in Music. The following requirements must be met to complete this secondary field.
Coursework• Completion of a minimum of four half-course courses. • One of these courses must be an introductory course: Music 201a: Introduction to Historical Musicology, Music 201b: Introduction to Ethnomusicology, or Music 221: Current Issues in Theory. • The remaining three courses may be chosen from other graduate courses (200 level: “Primarily for Graduates”) or intermediate courses (100 level: “For Undergraduates and Graduates”). (No more than two courses may be chosen from the 100 level.) • Neither Pass/Fail nor audited courses will count towards a secondary Ph.D. field in this department. Record-keepingStudents interested in declaring a secondary field in music should submit to the Director of Graduate Studies evidence of their successful participation in four appropriate courses in the Music Department. Once they obtain the approval of the DGS they and the registrar will receive certification of successful completion of secondary field requirements.
AdvisingFor further information contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Harvard University Department of Music, Music Building, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, 617495-2791, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
ROMANCE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES(French, Italian, Portuguese, OR Spanish)In order to complete a secondary PhD field in Romance Languages and Literatures, a graduate student will take a minimum of FIVE courses, at least THREE of which will be graduate courses (200 level: “Primarily for Graduates”) and no more than TWO of which can be intermediate courses (100 level: “For Undergraduates and Graduates”). Neither P/F nor audited courses will count towards a secondary PhD field in this department. All courses expected to count towards the secondary PhD field will be taken in the department, in the section of the student’s choice; in compelling cases, ONE “related course” may be counted towards the secondary field, with permission of the DGS. On average, our larger sections (French and Spanish) offer every academic year about nine 100-level courses and five 200-level courses each. Of the smaller sections, Italian offers up to six 100-level courses and two 200-level courses; Portuguese, two 100-level courses and two 200-level courses. Any and all of the courses offered by a given section at the 100 and 200 levels are open to secondary PhD field students in that section. Graduate students interested in a Romance Languages and Literatures secondary PhD field should address their questions and requests to the director of graduate studies of the pertinent section.
PROGRAM IN STUDIES OF WOMEN, GENDER, AND SEXUALITYThe Program in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS) is pleased to announce its new graduate secondary field starting in spring 2009. The Secondary Field is open to all students, at any stage of graduate work, enrolled in doctoral programs at Harvard.
CourseworkThe secondary field requires completion of four graduate-level courses in the Studies of WGS. One of these must be the Graduate Proseminar (offered in the fall), and one must be the graduate section of a WGS theory (WGS 1210) course. Two others must be selected from among graduate courses (or upper-level seminars with a graduate section) taught by members of the Committee on Degrees in the Studies of WGS, or other graduate courses in the field, as deemed appropriate by the WGS Director of Graduate Studies in consultation with the student. These courses may be used to satisfy departmental requirements. Please consult our website for a list of faculty who teach WGS courses and a list of pre-approved courses (which will be updated each term). WGS also strongly encourages graduate students to enroll in courses offered by the interdisciplinary and inter-institutional Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies (GCWS courses are listed at the website.)
Demonstrating Mastery in the Secondary FieldThe secondary field also requires students to compose an article-length paper suitable for publication, to complete an oral examination indicating the mastery of the field, and to serve one term as a salaried Teaching Fellow in a course offered by WGS faculty. Students with specific questions about the secondary field should contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Alice Jardine at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . |