Harry F. Dahms, Sociology, and Allen R. Dunn, English, Co-Chairs
The Interdisciplinary graduate certificate in Social Theory will enable students to develop rigorous interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary training in diverse areas of social theory, such as classical social theory, contemporary sociological theory, critical social theory, critical literary theory, critical race theory, feminist theory, poststructuralist theory, and postcolonial theory. The certificate will introduce students to a range both of modes of interpretation and of ways of framing research, and encourage them to adopt and refine the methods that best meet their needs. It will enhance students’ analytical and critical skills, expand their intellectual horizons (both spatially/geographically and temporally/historically), and promote their abilities to deconstruct and reconstruct representations of social, political, cultural, and economic reality along a spectrum ranging from individual experiences to national and global constructions of identity.
The certificate is designed to provide a supplementary perspective for students already enrolled in graduate programs.