Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory
The Program in Critical Theory’s three core-course requirements are intended to establish an historical and normative framework for understanding critical theory in its current breadth. DE students’ evaluations confirm that these courses have been overwhelmingly successful. This three core-course sequence (a) explores the concept of critique in German Idealism and in related philosophical work (Critical Theory 200), (b) provides intensive exposure to the Frankfurt School and its legacies (Critical Theory 205); and (c) robustly engages contemporary forms of critical theory and their relations to historical, sociopolitical, and cultural studies, as well as to debates on social norms (Critical Theory 240). In addition to requiring the three core courses, The Program in Critical Theory also requires DE students to take two elective courses. As with the core courses, various elective courses are offered each semester by Critical Theory faculty in Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Education, English, Ethnic Studies, Film and Media Studies, French, Gender and Women’s Studies, Geography, German, History, History of Art, Interdisciplinary Studies, Italian, Law, Music, Performance Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Public Health, Rhetoric, Spanish and Portuguese, Sociology, and South and Southeast Asian Studies, among others. The Program in Critical Theory and its DE offer graduate fellowships, host international scholars, and present lectures, seminars, and other events for the wider campus and San Francisco Bay Area communities. The Program also maintains important collaborative relations with other critical theory institutes and programs nationally and internationally.
Petitions for admission to the DE are accepted each spring for admission to the program the following fall. There are approximately 15 new students admitted each year to the DE in Critical Theory. For information on admissions and programs, please attend the annual Designated Emphasis Open House and Information Session. You may also view a recording of last year’s Virtual Open House here. Questions may also be sent to critical_theory@berkeley.edu.
DE Admissions and Requirements
Eligibility
Only students enrolled in Ph.D. programs at the University of California, Berkeley are eligible to apply for the DE in Critical Theory. Students must apply in the first or second year of graduate study in order to fulfill the requirements of the DE in addition to those of their home department.
Application Process
Petitions for admission to the DE are accepted each Spring for admission to the program the following Fall. The DE in Critical Theory admits approximately 15 new students each year. We currently have nearly 100 students in the program drawn from a wide number of departments across the humanities and social sciences.
Applications are due Friday, March, 17, 2023 at 4 pm. Please submit applications and supporting materials via email to critical_theory@berkeley.edu. Note that the required letter of recommendation should be sent under separate cover to critical_theory@berkeley.edu.
Please submit this form with DE applications.
Curriculum and Requirements
The requirements of the DE include completion of the course curriculum and appropriate representation of DE faculty on the student’s qualifying exam and dissertation committees.
Course Requirements
DE students are required to take five courses. Three of these comprise the core curriculum (CT 200, 205, and 240), and two are electives (CT 290) selected from a list of courses offered by the DE faculty. When possible, it is preferable for students to take core courses in sequence. Courses should be taken for a letter grade and should be completed prior to the Qualifying Exam.
Representation on Doctoral Committees
One of the members of the student’s qualifying examination committee and dissertation committee must represent the DE in Critical Theory and be a member of the DE’s designated faculty. These faculty members may be outside or inside members of the student’s committees.
Advising
Every student admitted to the program will have an advisor selected from the members of the Critical Theory faculty. This advisor is responsible for mentoring the student through the DE and works in consultation with a departmental advisor from the student’s home department to assure appropriate representation of the DE on the student’s qualifying examination and dissertation committees.
Degree Designation
Upon successful completion of the dissertation, the student’s transcript will include the designation: “Ph.D. in [major] with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory.” This designation certifies that she or he has participated in, and successfully completed, a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory in addition to all departmental requirements for the doctorate.
Forms for Current Students
DE in Critical Theory Requirements Checklist
Please download and fill out this form upon completing all required coursework and paperwork for the obtainment of the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory.
Petition for Credit for DE Elective
Please use this form to petition for elective course credit in the DE for any course that was not explicitly offered as a Critical Theory Elective.
Fellowships
Application deadline: Friday, April 28, 2023 at 4 pm.
The Critical Theory
Applications for the 2023-2024 Critical Theory Dissertation Fellowship are due Friday, April 28, 2023 by 4 pm. Eligible students must be enrolled in the Critical Theory DE and not receive significant (non-teaching) financial support from their home departments during the period of the award. Applicants must have completed their Qualifying Exams and have an approved dissertation prospectus.
Application Guidelines
Applicants must submit:
- a cover letter;
- a 2-3 page abstract of the dissertation;
- an academic CV;
- a letter from the dissertation adviser evaluating the project’s promise.
Applicants planning on having the prospectus approved by the end of May 2024 should explain this in the application cover letter and should have the dissertation director, in their letter, evaluate the draft or proposed prospectus and the likelihood of its approval.
Applicants should specify in the cover letter whether they would prefer to have the award in the fall or spring semester.
Completed applications, including all supporting materials, must be received by Friday, April 28, 2023, at 4 pm.
Please submit applications to critical_theory@berkeley.edu.
Deadline for applications: April 28, 2023 by 4 pm
Award Announced: May 2023
Award Period: July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024
Award Amount: Varies according to the applicant pool and funds available.
The Dissertation Fellowship is open to Critical Theory students in UC Berkeley Departments including African American Studies, Anthropology, Berkeley Law, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, English, Ethnic Studies, Film & Media, French, Gender & Women’s Studies, German, Geography, History, History of Art, Italian, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Rhetoric, School of Education, School of Public Health, Slavic Languages and Cultures, Social Welfare, Sociology, South & Southeast Asian Studies, Spanish & Portuguese, and Theater, Dance and Performance Studies.
Past Recipients
2021–2022 Dissertation Fellowships were awarded to Brent Eng (Anthropology) and Pedro Javier Rolón Machado (Comparative Literature). Brent Eng’s dissertation explores the nexus of individual and collective vicissitudes in the contemporary Levant through an ethnography of a bakery in Tripoli, Lebanon, at once at the margins of and central to ongoing destruction. Pedro Javier Rolón Machado’s dissertation “Waves in Time: The Otherwise Poetry of Being Puerto Rican,” constellates artworks, literature, and other aesthetic materials from the Puerto Rican archipelago between the 19th century and the end of the 20th in order to track the development of radical imaginings of space, time, and sensuous experience emerging from maritime and oceanic figures.
Support for this year’s awardees is generously provided by the Magistretti Graduate Fellowship Fund through the Division of Arts and Humanities, the Class of 1936 First Professor of Political Science, and the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs.
Previous recipients:
2021–22 – Brent Eng (Anthropology), Pedro Javier Rolón Machado (Comparative Literature), and Wendi Bootes (Comparative Literature), Alfonso Fierro (Spanish and Portuguese), Thiti Jamkajornkeiat (South and Southeast Asian Studies), Lubna Safi (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures), Camila YaDeau (Rhetoric)
2020–21 – Jessica Ruffin (Film & Media), Elisa Russian (Italian Studies), Phillip Campanile (Geography), Aaron Eldridge (Anthropology), Donna Honarpisheh (Comparative Literature), Jaeyoon Park (Political Science)
2019–20 – Veronica Jacome (Energy and Resources Group), Ryan Rhadigan (Rhetoric), and Taylor Johnston (Comparative Literature)
2018–19 – Molly Borowitz (Spanish & Portuguese), Basit Iqbal (Anthropology), and Philip Gerard (Comparative Literature)
2017–18 – William Callison (Political Science) and Stephen McIsaac (Anthropology)
2016–17 – Paul Martorelli (Political Science) and Milad Odabaei (Anthropology)
2015–16 – Chiara Ricciardone (Rhetoric)
2014–15 – Joshua Williams (Performance Studies)
2013–14 – Ramsey McGlazer (Comparative Literature)
2012–13 – Mareike Winchell (Anthropology)
Additional fellowship opportunities are posted as they become available.