The Experience
Cultural Studies at Trent
Founded in 1978, Cultural Studies at Trent was the first department of its kind in North America. Today, we occupy an original and leading position in the field, offering a theoretical and experiential approach to thinking through the significance of our own culture - the often invisible, taken-for-granted culture in which we are embedded. With our own faculty, courses, and pathways, as well as a distinctive academic practice, we provide students with an opportunity for a more intensive, integrated, and wide-ranging way of studying culture than is available at other institutions.
We study culture by reading, thinking, talking, and doing. Our commitment to practice and production means that we offer workshop courses in the visual arts, theatre, music, film and video production, and creative writing. Our students not only study the works of challenging artists; they also actively engage in creating culture themselves.
We feature wide variety of approaches to cultural theory. This means that we ask difficult questions about what culture in its various forms is, about how culture functions, and about why and how culture so significantly shapes our lives: What is a medium? How does narrative work? How does form affect content? How do we formulate the relation between creativity and society? Does culture reflect or produce the society we live in?
For Undergraduates
Students in the Cultural Studies undergraduate program take courses in one of four areas of concentration: Integrated Arts, Literature & Narrative, Film & Media, and Culture & Theory. For more detail on our curriculum, see Programs. For a quick look at a few courses, see First Year in Cultural Studies and Popular Courses.
For Graduates
Why Trent?
- Collaborate and work closely with highly-regarded faculty members on original research.
- Enjoy Peterborough’s vibrant arts and culture community – a stimulating environment for the study and development of culture.
- Past dissertations have engaged a wide variety of fields, such as Memory Studies, Tourism Studies, Cinema Studies, Science Fiction, Media Studies and Research Creation
Program Options
- Full- or part-time studies