MASTER OF ARTS IN LITERARY, CULTURAL AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES
NOTE: This is a new program. The Office of Admissions and Scholarships will accept applications to MALCPS in Term 2, AY 2021-2022 for Term 1, AY 2022-2023 enrollment.
Program Overview
The Master of Arts in Literary, Cultural, and Performance Studies program is an innovative inter-disciplinary program that aims to equip scholars with the critical tools, perspectives, and methodologies necessary to the study of literature, cultural phenomena, and performance in their proper historical, aesthetic, and geopolitical contexts. As graduate students advance in the program, they will receive increasingly focused supervision from mentors who are active researchers.
The literary studies track prepares students to embark on a relevant program of research focused on the literary production of the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific by equipping them with a strong foundation in literary theory, historiographical inquiry, comparative methods, and interdisciplinary approaches. Recent faculty research initiatives that students may work on include contemporary Philippine literature, performance and protest, LGBTQI literature, translation studies, decoloniality and postcolonial theory, travel writing, and Philippine regional writing.
The cultural studies track draws from contemporary critical and cultural theories to examine the local and global in various cultural texts and practices and to demonstrate how their production, dissemination, reception, and consumption are informed by power and are inviolably linked with critical notions of aesthetics, representation, ideology, politics, ethics, and other key concepts. Students will critically engage with current problems and issues of cultural phenomena such as migration and diaspora, nationalism and transnationalism, and globalization.
The performance studies track examines various types of performances from the stage to the streets, from private to public spectacles, and examines not only what they mean but also how they signify, towards what ends, and for whose interests. Students may choose from a range of topics like forms of performance, sites of performance, performance as critical lens/methodology, and performance studies and its intersections with other disciplines.
The program aims to nurture scholars who will demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills and possess adequate knowledge of literary forms and traditions as well as critical or theoretical concepts and perspectives crucial to the study and appreciation of literature, culture, and performance. Overall, the program aims to upgrade the skills of scholars so that they may be able to contribute to the growth of scholarship in the humanities in the country and foster a critical understanding and appreciation of various literary texts, cultural practices, and performance traditions, especially those from the Philippines.
Given its focus on the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific, the program is the university’s commitment to the promotion and study of Philippine culture and its diverse ephemeral/enduring forms and spectacular incarnations.
Curriculum
Course Requirements
| Core Courses | 9 units |
| Cognates | 6 units |
| Specialization | 9 units |
| Thesis | 6 units |
| Total | 30 units |
Core Courses
| LCP221M | Research in Literary, Cultural and Performance Studies |
| LCP260M | Theory: Literature, Culture, Performance |
| LCP271M | Directed Readings in Literary, Cultural and Performance Studies |
Cognate Courses
| LCP272M | Literature, Culture and Performance in the Philippines |
| LCP280M | Translations: Texts, Sites, Media |
Specialization Courses
Note: The following are recommended courses, but students may take up other courses as needed for the trajectory of their thesis project, subject to approval by the GPC/Adviser.
Literary Studies
| LIT711M | Literary Masterpieces |
| LIT730M | Literary History of the Philippines |
| LIT660M | Literary Criticism |
Cultural Studies
| LIT781M | The Culture Concept |
| LIT217M | Visual and Screen Cultures |
| LIT336M | Writing Archipelagic Identity |
Performance Studies
| LCP222M | Issues and Methods in Performance Research |
| LCP232M | Performance History of the Philippines |
| LCP273M | Performance Analysis |
Thesis
| LCP851M (onwards) | Thesis Writing |
Course Description
CORE COURSES
Research in Literary, Cultural and Performance Studies (LCP221M)
3 units
An introduction to research methods useful in the study of literature, culture, and performance.
Theory: Literature, Culture, Performance (LCP260M)
3 units
A study of critical theories necessary to the study of literature, culture, and performance.
Directed Readings in Literary, Cultural and Performance Studies (LCP271M)
3 units
This is an independent study course that will enable the student to progress in his or her intended thesis project on literary, cultural, or performance studies by putting together a list of key texts or essential readings on the chosen topic and by writing a review essay identifying major themes, concepts, and issues.
COGNATE COURSES
Literature, Culture and Performance in the Philippines (LCP272M)
3 units
A reading course in the history of Philippine literature and the various forms and sites of cultural studies and performance studies in the Philippines, with emphasis on major authors, themes, movements, and periods.
Translations: Sites, Texts, Media (LCP280M)
3 units
A course on translation, its theories, its praxis in various forms, contexts, and media.
SPECIALIZATION COURSES (Sample Courses)
Literary Masterpieces (LIT711M)
3 units
A reading course on literary masterpieces, with emphasis on works that have significantly changed the course of literary history in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, and the States; a brief survey of major literary movements and themes will be given at the start of the course.
Literary History of the Philippines (LIT730M)
3 units
A reading course in the history of Philippine literature in the various vernacular and foreign languages, with emphasis on major authors, theme, movements periods.
Literary Theory (LIT660M)
3 units
A study of theories, principles, and techniques of literary criticism, from antiquity to the later twentieth century emphasis on major schools criticism Such as Romanticism New Criticism, Formalism, Structuralism, Marxism, Feminist Criticism, and Post-structuralism.
The Culture Concept (LIT781M)
3 units
Culture is one of the most contested concepts across the disciplines and foundational to Cultural Studies. This course acquaints the students with classical, anthropological, sociological, and literary definitions of culture.
Visual and Screen Cultures (LIT217M)
3 units
This course explores the field of visual and screen cultures through the critical examination of the various modes and media of the visual field, from celluloid to digital, from photography to film and the internet.
Archipelagic Identities (LIT336M)
3 units
This is a reading course exploring how the islands and seas, ports and ships, deep waters, and coastal zones in the Philippine archipelago have been imagined in Philippine literature and how they help shape how we imagine the Filipino nation.
Issues and Methods in Performance Research (LCP222M)
3 units
How can performance be researched and how does performance produce knowledge? Issues of ephemerality, trace, memory, documentation and archiving, and the ethics and politics of knowledge/discourse production in and through performance are taken up in this course.
Performance History of the Philippines (LCP232M)
3 units
A reading course on the history of performance in its varied forms in the Philippines: indigenous, colonial, and contemporary, paying attention to the emergence and endurance of performance traditions and the genres of performance in the traditions of theater, dance, and music.
Performance Analysis (LCP273M)
3 units
The course takes up approaches and methods in the close analysis of performance in its varied forms.
OTHER COURSES
Seminar in Literary, Cultural, & Performance Studies (LCP701M)
3 units
Special topics in the fields of literary studies, cultural studies, and performance studies.
Postcolonial Studies (LIT771M)
3 units
This course is a critical examination of the major works and trends in postcolonial studies.
Philippine Critical Tradition (LIT888M)
3 units
An advance course on the history and development of the Philippine critical tradition since its inception in the writings of Jose Rizal, and as it burgeoned and resulted in the institution of “Kritika” as an academic field of inquiry in the texts and contexts of, among others, Bienvenido L. Lumbera, Epifanio San Juan, Jr., Virgilio S. Almario, Isagani R. Cruz, and Soledad S. Reyes.
Popular Literature (LIT762M)
3 units
A study of the history of popular literature and the theoretical approaches to its study; reading of representative works in English and Filipino.
Contemporary Philippine and Southeast Asian Novel (LIT210M)
3 units
A critical study of representative Philippine and Southeast Asian novels from 1946 to the present.
Literature and Film (LIT707M)
3 units
A study of the relationship between literature and cinema, and the major theoretical and aesthetic problems this relationship has provoked; verbal and visual language; literary discourses and film discourses; film and fiction.
Teaching Literature (LIT611M)
3 units
This course explores a range of approaches and techniques in the teaching of literature.
Psychoanalytic Theory (LIT664M)
3 units
This course aims to critically engage with the important works of psychoanalytic theory. Close readings of Freud, Lacan and Zizek in particular will aid students in the exploration of the relationship of psychoanalytic thought with the study of cultural productions such as literature and film.
Women’s Literature (LIT331M)
3 units
Close reading of the fiction, poetry, and plays of selected women writers; examines their resolution to the question of the narrative voice, the image of women and women writing reflected in the works and the manner in which the self is presented.
Philippine Gay Culture (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
An interdisciplinary study of Philippine gay culture from various theoretical and critical perspectives. It is an examination of (male) gender and sexual identities in the Philippines from the pre-colonial era to the 20th century to the present.
Popular Culture (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
This course is a critical study of the forms and platforms of “the popular” in culture, from mass art, culture industry, celebrity studies, and television studies to blockbuster films, popular music, popular dance, public performances, and Asian pop.
Body (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
This course takes the “body” as critical locus for intersectional and interdisciplinary inquiries of identity and subjectivity from the optic lens of gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity.
Consumptions (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
This course critically engages with cultures of local and global consumptions by closely studying the cultural meanings, practices, performances, and spectacles of consumption from food, commodity, art, media to natural resources.
Philippine Theater (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
A survey of theatrical traditions and key dramatic texts in the Philippines from pre-colonial to the contemporary times.
Religion and Performance (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
A critical examination of the complex relationship between religion and performance in various parts of Asia and the Pacific.
Politics and Performance (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
An examination of the relationship between performance and politics in a transnational context. The course views politics from various signs of power like race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender and shows how performance challenges structures of power and reconfigures the private and public spheres of identity formation.
Theater Studies (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
Introduction to the field of theater studies as well as exploration of theoretical debates and issues concerning its complex relationship with performance studies.
Performance and the Post-Human (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
A course that critically engages with performance involving the non-human subjects like natural resources, commodities, animals, and artificial intelligence. Consequently the course engages with ethical questions of identity, subjectivity, and agency.
Disability and Performance (course code to be determined and approved by OUR)
3 units
A course exploring disability in various types and sites of performance and interrogates the intersections between disability studies and performance studies.
THESIS
Thesis (LCP851M onwards)
6 units
The application of the skills and knowledge gained in the program to a problem in the field of literary, cultural, or performance studies.
FACULTY MEMBERS AND AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
Marian Amor Romina T. Abuan, MA Creative Writing, De La Salle University
Poetry; Playwriting; Screenplay; Performance Studies; Women’s Literature
Vijae Alquisola, MFA Creative Writing, De La Salle University
Poetry; Children’s Literature; Literary Studies; Indigeneity
Mesandel V. Arguelles, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Contemporary Poetry; Contemporary Art; Conceptual Writing; Translation Studies
Genevieve L. Asenjo, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Creative Writing: Poetry and Fiction; Regional Literature (Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a); Ecocriticism
Eros Atalia, MA Philippine Studies, De La Salle University
Fiction; Creative Nonfiction
Anne Richie G. Balgos, PhD Applied Linguistics, De La Salle University
Educational Theatre; Drama Pedagogy; Applied Linguistics; Language and Literature Teaching
David Jonathan Y. Bayot, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Theory and Criticism; Philippine Kritika; Translation Studies; Art Studies; Literary Research: Critical Writing
Ronald Baytan, PhD English Studies (Creative Writing), University of the Philippines-Diliman
Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction and Poetry; LGBTQI Studies; Philippine Literature in English: Philippine Cinema
Ernesto V. Carandang II, DFA Creative Writing, De La Salle University
Creative Writing: Fiction, Poetry & Creative Nonfiction; Drama and Theatre Production; Arts Management; Philippine Arts and Heritage (focusing on Music, Architecture, Sacred Arts, Furniture, and Food)
Genaro Gojo R. Cruz, MA Philippine Studies, De La Salle University
Children’s Literature; Creative Writing: Nonfiction
Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr., Professor Emeritus, PhD Communication Studies (Film), University of Iowa
Media Studies; Philippine Cinema; Creative Writing: Screenwriting; Film Directing; Film Archiving
Noelle Leslie dela Cruz, PhD Philosophy, De La Salle University
Philosophy of Literature; Poetry and Philosophy; Science Fiction and Philosophy; Existential Phenomenology; Feminist Philosophy
Mary Jessel Duque, MA, University of the Philippines-Diliman
Popular Culture; Art Studies; Creative Writing: Fiction; TV Studies
Johann Vladimir Espiritu, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Queer Studies; Music and Popular Culture; Creative Writing: Fiction
Marjorie Evasco-Pernia, Professor Emeritus, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Creative Writing: Poetry and Nonfiction; Pathography; Cebuano Literature; Literary Translation; Ekphrasis; Women’s Literature; Ecocriticism
Ivar Nicholas-Fojas, PhD Music, Fred Fox School of Music, University of Arizona
Classical Guitar; Music Studies
Mark Adrian Ho, MFA Creative Writing, De La Salle University
Theater; Media Studies; Creative Writing: Drama, Poetry, and Nonfiction
Farida P. Kabayao, MA Language and Literature, De La Salle University
Music Studies; Theater; Art Studies
Jazmin B. Llana, PhD Performance Studies, University of Wales
Performance Studies; Philippine Drama; Theater and Theater Studies; Bikol Literature; Performance Research
Shirley O. Lua, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Philippine Critical Tradition; Film & Media Criticism; Diaspora Studies; Chinese-Philippine Literature; Literary and Cultural Research; Heritage Studies
Clarissa V. Militante, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Narrative Studies; Philippine Novel; Creative Writing: Fiction; Journalism
Timothy Montes, MA English (Creative Writing), Silliman University
Philippine Literature; Creative Writing: Fiction
Cris Barbra Pe, PhD Literature (candidate), De La Salle University
Biography and Creative Nonfiction; Teaching Literature
Carlos M. Piocos, III, PhD Comparative Literature, University of Hong Kong
Critical Theory; Migration and Diaspora Studies; Mobility Studies; Postcolonial Studies; Creative Writing: Poetry; Southeast Asian Studies; Cultural Research
Dinah Roma, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Diaspora Studies; Travel Writing/Theory; Creative Writing: Poetry; Southeast Asian Literary Studies
Josephine Roque, MFA Creative Writing, De La Salle University
Creative Nonfiction; Art Studies; Philippine Literature; Travel Writing
Anne Frances N. Sangil, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Popular Culture; Film Studies; Philippine Cinema
Tanya Sevilla Simon, MFA Creative Writing, De La Salle University
Creative Nonfiction; Children’s Literature; Graphic Literature
Antonette Talaue-Arogo, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Theory and Criticism; Postcolonialism and Cosmopolitanism; Decoloniality; Gender Studies
Neslie Carol C. Tan-Tolentino, PhD Arts (candidate), University of Melbourne
Performance Studies; Disability Studies; English Language Teaching
John Iremil E. Teodoro, PhD Literature, De La Salle University
Visayan Literature; Creative Writing: Fiction, Drama, Poetry, Nonfiction; Environmental Writing; Archipelagic Studies; Translations; Philippine Gay Culture
Jose Victor Torres, PhD History, University of Santo Tomas
Philippine History; Philippine Theater; Creative Writing: Drama; Heritage Studies