Our PhD in English and Film Studies provides you with the unique opportunity to pursue rigorous, specialized research in either literary studies or film studies, or to take advantage of the rich intellectual and theoretical confluence between the two disciplines.
Engaging faculty with diverse research interests.
Small class sizes with one-on-one mentorship.
Focus on professionalization to prepare for dynamic job market.
The relatively small size of our program is an immense advantage to students who can expect one-on-one mentorship from faculty with respect to their research, pedagogical training, scholarship and professionalization. Our department is proud of its students’ excellent track record as holders of external scholarship and major award.
We are deeply committed to the academic development of our students and to their professionalization through teaching, presentations, colloquia, research assistantships, and the practical application of new technologies to pedagogy and scholarship. Our ambitious commitment to professionalization provides solid preparation for today’s dynamic job market, and has resulted in our graduates earning tenure-track positions as well as a competitive edge in important non-academic careers.
In their first year of study, PhD students are required to take four 0.5 credit courses, typically two in each term.
There are two PhD candidacy exams: the Comprehensive Area Exam and the Specialization Area Exam. Both exams are designed to prepare students in areas of specialization for teaching and research.
The Comprehensive Area Exam comprises canonical texts for a teachable area, while the Specialization Area Exam is orientated towards the dissertation and may cover, in-depth, both the canonical and the non-canonical texts necessary for the dissertation research.
The two exams complement and reinforce each other, but occur at separate stages of the program and are graded separately.
Doctoral students are required to meet the language requirement by demonstrating reading proficiency in at least one language other than modern English. (French is the recommended language though students may propose a language other than French if it has direct relevance to the student’s program of study.) The language exam must be completed in Year 3 of the student’s program, and consists of translation and interpretation; it is marked on a pass/fail basis.
Alternatively, students can take a language course at the appropriate level to satisfy this requirement.
A minimum standing of B+ in all prescribed graduate courses and seminars is required. Students are normally expected to maintain an A- average in the program. A student who twice fails the Comprehensive Area Exam, the Specialization Area Exam, or the language exam will normally be required to withdraw from the program.
On April 15 of each year of registration, students are required to complete an annual research progress report detailing the achievements of the previous year and the objectives for the next year. The report must demonstrate satisfactory progress, and must be signed with comments by the advisor and graduate coordinator, and filed with the graduate coordinator and the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies office. Failure to submit a satisfactory report may result in a suspension of the student’s funding or the student being required to withdraw from the program.
At least five terms of full-time study must be devoted to the doctoral program following the completion of a recognized master's degree.
These major fields of specialization reflect the ground-breaking scholarship of our graduate faculty who offer courses in both traditional and emerging areas, including period studies, memory studies, masculinity studies, transnational studies, Canadian studies, and Indigenous studies.
The specialization in gender and genre emerges from the intersection of two broad conceptual areas within literary and film studies. In the wake of feminist theory and criticism, performance theory, masculinity studies, cultural studies, and queer theory, gender is recognized as a crucial factor in the production, circulation, and consumption of literary, filmic, and other cultural discourses. Genres, recognized and defined by particular cultures or communities, serve to shape, identify and make legible social discourses and otherwise amorphous representations. Theorizing and exploring genre in literary, cinematic, historical, performative, psycho-social, and political contexts, the field incorporates a range of inquiries and methodologies that situate the cultural construction of gender and sexuality in relation to the genre in which these constructions appear.
Faculty working in gender and genre studies include: Andrea Austin, Kathryn Carter, Tamas Dobozy, Philippa Gates, Jenny Kerber, Russell Kilbourn, Tanis MacDonald, Mariam Pirbhai, Markus Poetzsch, Katherine Spring, Eleanor Ty, Robin Waugh, Lisa Wood.
Literary and filmic works, visual and oral narratives contribute to one's sense of belonging to an "imagined" community, whether to a domestic family, to a socio-cultural or religious group, or to a broader ideological and political system, such as a nation or empire. In addition to national literatures and films from Britain, Canada, and the United States, the field explores contemporary debates and theoretical developments in post-colonial, global, minority, indigenous, and diasporic studies (including Asian, Caribbean and African). Theoretical, cultural and historical concerns include those of war, imperialism, settlement, slavery, race, hybridity, mobility, globalization, human rights, and gender.
Faculty working in nation, diaspora, culture include: Sandra Annett, Kathryn Carter, Jing Jing Chang, Tamas Dobozy, Madelaine Hron, Tanis MacDonald, Ken Paradis, Mariam Pirbhai, Eleanor Ty.
Textuality is a discursive practice that valorizes text as context, and examines the modes of cultural production and consumption through which ideologies are disseminated, normalized or contested. Films and literary works are best read in awareness of their historical, cultural, and discursive milieus. In literary studies, these range from the Medieval, Early Modern to postmodern periods; in film studies, from early, classical to contemporary films. The field invokes the postmodernist principle that the meanings of a text or a film constitute themselves through reflexive processes of origin, configuration, response, interpretation, and reinterpretation. Scholarly activity in this area can include such varied approaches as aesthetics, translation, adaptation, intertextuality, structural codes and conventions, editing, performance analysis, transmission, circulation, and reception of manuscripts, scripts, and other kinds of texts, source study, stylistics, semantics, semiotics (verbal, visual, aural, gendered); and discourse analysis.
Faculty working in textuality, media, and print studies include: Sandra Annett, Andrea Austin, Maria DiCenzo, Philippa Gates, Madelaine Hron, Russell Kilbourn, Ken Paradis, Markus Poetzsch, Katherine Spring, Robin Waugh, Lisa Wood.
"I strongly believe my dissertation benefitted from the broad range of knowledge possessed by faculty in the department. The passion held by professors and the unyielding support from graduate students made completing my PhD an enjoyable and fulfilling experience."
J. Coplen Rose (2016)
Take the first step in your graduate education and apply to one of our graduate programs. Follow our three-step admission process — we’ll walk you through how to apply and prepare for your first day as a graduate student.
After you have submitted your OUAC application, paid the non-refundable application fee, and Laurier has received your application, you'll receive an email from gradadmissions@wlu.ca advising you to upload the additional required documentation to Laurier’s Online Registration and Information System (LORIS).
Please note, the application process and the uploading of supplemental documentation, which includes references, typically takes two weeks. To avoid disappointment, please apply early.
An application for admission to our PhD program in English and Film Studies must include:
Visit our Graduate Admissions Toolkit for more information about applying.
The Department of English and Film Studies welcomes international students to the PhD Program. International students who have confirmed funding from a third-party, such as their employer or a scholarship program in their home country, will be considered for admission.
Learn more about admission requirements for international applicants.Proficiency in written and spoken English is essential to graduate studies at Laurier. Applicants whose language of instruction during their previous postsecondary education was not in English must submit evidence of proficiency in English. If applicable, results from accepted testing services must be uploaded to LORIS.
Questions? Contact Tamas Dobozy, graduate coordinator, at tdobozy@wlu.ca. For general inquiries, contact Joanne Buchan at ENFSGradProgram@wlu.ca or 548.889.4879.
"I found connection and community with faculty and fellow graduate students throughout my time at Laurier, something that was critical is helping me stay on track and complete my degree."
Ada Sharpe (2014)
Regardless of the type of graduate degree program you intend to pursue, financial planning is important. At Laurier, we want to provide you with as much information as possible about a variety of scholarship and funding opportunities and equip you with the skills to manage your finances effectively in the years to come.
Our graduates have gone on to work in publishing, teaching, media and marketing. Examples of careers held by our graduates include:
ASPIRE is Laurier's professional skills development training program for graduate students. The program helps you craft an individualized, extracurricular learning plan tailored to your professional journey and entry to the workplace.
Learn about the interests and ongoing research of our faculty members. If their research interests you, email the professor directly to set up a meeting. Include information about yourself, your skills, your experience, and why you’re interested in their research.
Sandra Annett
Associate Professor
Undergraduate Advisor, Film Studies
Andrea Austin
Associate Professor
Katherine Bell
Associate Professor
Graduate Program Coordinator
Jing Jing Chang
Associate Professor
Maria DiCenzo
Professor
Tamas Dobozy
Professor
Philippa Gates
Professor
Madelaine Hron
Associate Professor
Jenny Kerber
Associate Professor
Undergraduate Advisor, English
Russell Kilbourn
Professor
Chair, Department of English and Film Studies
Tanis MacDonald
Professor
Richard Nemesvari
Professor
Mariam Pirbhai
Professor
Markus Poetzsch
Associate Professor
Lynn Shakinovsky
Associate Professor
Katherine Spring
Associate Professor
Eleanor Ty
Professor
Robin Waugh
Professor
Kathryn Carter
Professor
Dean: Faculty of Liberal Arts (acting)
Ian MacRae
Associate Professor
Kenneth Paradis
Associate Professor
Lisa Wood
Associate Professor
Program Coordinator, English
