From the English Department:

This area is committed to the study of literatures emerging from populations and communities that traverse national boundaries, as well as geographical areas that have been shaped in formative ways by the historical experiences of imperialism/colonialism. We offer courses in the areas of empire and imperialism, Black Atlantic, transatlantic, inter-American, Asia Pacific Rim, South Asian, African, Caribbean, Chicana/o-Latina/o, and first peoples literatures and cultures.

Faculty who teach these courses are concerned to explore issues such as: cultural flows and migrations, exile and diaspora, nationalisms and sexualities, the relationship of minorities to national culture, the emergence of national and transnational religious fundamentalisms, women's struggles against fundamentalism, and various forms of creolizations, secularisms, syncretisms, and cosmopolitanisms.