The Program in Comparative Studies (PEC) is a unit of the larger area of LAC – Literature, Arts and Cultures, of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon and is characterized for its courses at offer at Masters and PhD level (2^nd and 3^rd cycles) concerned with offering advanced studies in the area of Comparative Studies, stimulating research on the relations between different texts, art forms, media, cultural contexts and modes of knowledge. PEC’s goal is to stimulate and innovate the study of the Humanities through the surpassing of borders between both subjects and countries and involve students in the practice of discussion and problem solving, critical participation, rigorous and autonomous thought when meeting with diversity.

The Program in Comparative Studies is the result of the development of the Masters Program in Compared Literature, created in 1991, as part of the first experiences in interdepartmental graduate studies in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon. Since its creation, faculty from the Departments of English and American Studies, Classical Studies, Germanistics and Romance Languages have taken part in the building of the curricula and thesis orientation, both at master and doctorate levels, in Comparative Studies.

At the same time, relations with international institutions and consortiums have deserved privileged attention, namely the network LACE: Literature and Change in Europe (Universities of Aarhus, Bologna, Granada, Groningen, Leuven, Lisbon and Tartu) and The HERMES Consortium for Literary and Cultural Studies (Universities of Aarhus, Giessen, Helsinki, Leiden, Leuven, Lisbon, UCL-London, Prague, Santiago de Compostela, Utrecht and Wisconsin Madison). Since 1994, PEC benefits from a faculty exchange protocol with the Department of Comparative Literature at Indiana University – Bloomington which allows, every two years, the teaching of a nuclear subject within the program by a faculty member of this institution.

With the goal of integrating master and PhD students in the dynamics and methodologies of advanced research in Comparative Studies, PEC maintains a very close articulation with research conducted at the Center for Comparative Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon, allowing students to actively take part in national and international research projects. Under this provision researchers who intend to undergo individual post-grad projects may also be hosted by the PEC.

Director of the Programme: Prof. Dr. Ângela Fernandes
Contact: pec@letras.ulisboa.pt

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