phd modern thought and literature stanford

MTL (Modern Thought & Literature)

The Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature is an interdisciplinary program combining coursework in literary/cultural studies with coursework in at least one other discipline or field.

The Ph.D. program is designed specifically for students who have a strong interest in literature and culture, but whose topic or question requires an interdisciplinary approach–for example, students interested in anthropological or philosophical approaches to literature and culture; gender studies; ethnic studies; legal humanities, popular culture, and social or cultural theory.

Modern Thought and Literature is intended for students who plan to teach and write in literature departments or in interdisciplinary programs in the humanities, cultural studies, or humanistic social sciences, or for students intending to formulate cultural policy.

Course work in the program is divided about evenly between advanced courses in literature departments and advanced courses in non-literary departments.

Faculty PIs

Shane Denson

Adrian Daub

Roanne Kantor

Matthew Wilson Smith

Office: Building 460, Room 216 Mail Code: 94305-2022 Phone: (650) 723-3413 Web Site: mtl.stanford.edu

Courses offered by the Program in Modern Thought and Literature are listed under the subject code MTL on the Stanford ExploreCourses web site .

The program in Modern Thought and Literature admits students for the Ph.D. and a limited number for a coterminal B.A./M.A. Program.

Graduate Programs in Modern Thought and Literature

Modern Thought and Literature (MTL) is an interdisciplinary humanities graduate program advancing the study of critical issues in the modern world. Since 1971, MTL students have helped to redefine the cutting edge of many interdisciplinary fields and to reshape the ways in which disciplinary scholarship is understood and practiced. MTL graduates are leaders in fields such as American studies, ethnic studies, film studies, social and cultural studies, and women's studies, as well as English and comparative literature.

The program trains students to understand the histories and methods of disciplines and to test their assumptions. It considers how disciplines shape knowledge and, most importantly, how interdisciplinary methods reshape objects of study. MTL students produce innovative analyses of diverse texts, forms, and practices, including those of literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, law, and science; film, visual arts, popular culture, and performance; and material culture and technology.

Each student constructs a unique program of study suited to his or her research. Students have focused on such areas as gender and sexuality; race and ethnicity; science, technology, and medicine; media and performance; legal studies; and critical and social theory. The program's affiliated faculty is drawn from fields throughout the humanities and humanistic social sciences, as well as from education and law. As interdisciplinary study is impossible without an understanding of the disciplines under consideration, each student is expected to master the methods of literary analysis and to gain a foundation in a second field or discipline.

Director:  Shane Denson

Director of Graduate Studies:  Adrian Daub

Committee in Charge:  Michaela Bronstein, Angèle Christin, Shane Denson (Director), Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Roanne Kantor, Elizabeth Kessler, Charles Kronengold, Marci Kwon, Xiaochang Li, Bernadette Meyler, Ana Minian, Tom Mullaney, Vaughn Rasberry, José David Saldívar, Matthew Smith, Dafna Zur

Affiliated Faculty:    Lanier Anderson  (Philosophy) , Russell Berman  (German Studies) , Jennifer Brody  (Theater & Performance Studies),  Michaela Bronstein  (English) , Scott Bukatman  (Art & Art History) , Gordon Chang  (History) , Adrian Daub  (German Studies) , Jean-Pierre Dupuy  (French & Italian) , Paulla Ebron  (Anthropology) , Michele Elam  (English) , Amir Eshel  (German Studies, Comparative Literature),  Shelley Fisher Fishkin  (English) , Zephyr Frank  (History) , Duana Fullwiley ( Anthropology),  Thomas Hansen  (Anthropology) , David Hills  (Philosophy),  Héctor Hoyos  (Iberian & Latin American Cultures) ,    Lochlain Jain ( Anthropology ), Tomas Jimenez  (Sociology) , Roanne Kantor  (English) , Elizabeth Kessler  (American Studies) , Matthew Kohrman  (Anthropology) , Charles Kronengold ( Music ), Marci Kwon  (Art & Art History) , Joshua Landy  (French & Italian, Comparative Literature) , Pavle Levi  (Art & Art History) , Helen Longino  (Philosophy) , Douglas McAdam  (Sociology) , Mark McGurl  (English) , Alison McQueen  (Political Science) , Jisha Menon  (Theater & Performance Studies) , Lynn Meskell  (Anthropology) , Ana Minian  (History) , Paula Moya  (English) , Tom Mullaney  (History) , Alex Nemerov ( Art & Art History ), David Palumbo-Liu  (Comparative Literature),  Peggy Phelan  (Theater & Performance Studies) , Robert Proctor  (History) , Vaughn Rasberry  (English) , Robert Reich  (Political Science),  Jessica Riskin  (History),   José David Saldívar  (Comparative Literature) , Ramón Saldívar  (English, Comparative Literature),  Londa Schiebinger  (History) , Matthew Smith  (German Studies, Theater and Performance Studies) , Sharika Thiranagama ( Anthropology ), Fred Turner  (Communication) , Ban Wang  (East Asian Languages and Cultures),   Gail Wight  (Art & Art History) ,  Alex Woloch  (English)

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Courses offered by the Program in Modern Thought and Literature are listed under the subject code MTL on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses web site .

The program in Modern Thought and Literature admits students for the Ph.D. and a limited number for a coterminal B.A./M.A. Program.

• Graduate Programs in Modern Thought and Literature

Modern Thought and Literature (MTL) is an interdisciplinary humanities graduate program advancing the study of critical issues in the modern world. Since 1971, MTL students have helped to redefine the cutting edge of many interdisciplinary fields and to reshape the ways in which disciplinary scholarship is understood and practiced. MTL graduates are leaders in fields such as American studies, ethnic studies, film studies, social and cultural studies, and women's studies, as well as English and comparative literature.

The program trains students to understand the histories and methods of disciplines and to test their assumptions. It considers how disciplines shape knowledge and, most importantly, how interdisciplinary methods reshape objects of study. MTL students produce innovative analyses of diverse texts, forms, and practices, including those of literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, law, and science; film, visual arts, popular culture, and performance; and material culture and technology.

Each student constructs a unique program of study suited to his or her research. Students have focused on such areas as gender and sexuality; race and ethnicity; science, technology, and medicine; media and performance; legal studies; and critical and social theory. The program's affiliated faculty is drawn from fields throughout the humanities and humanistic social sciences, as well as from education and law. As interdisciplinary study is impossible without an understanding of the disciplines under consideration, each student is expected to master the methods of literary analysis and to gain a foundation in a second field or discipline. 

• Learning Outcomes (Graduate)

The purpose of the master's program is to further develop knowledge and skills in interdisciplinary literary studies and to prepare students for a professional career or doctoral studies. This is achieved through completion of courses, in the primary field as well as related areas, and experience with independent work and specialization.

The Ph.D. is conferred upon candidates who have demonstrated substantial scholarship and the ability to conduct independent research and analysis in interdisciplinary literary studies. Through completion of advanced course work and rigorous skills training, the doctoral program prepares students to make original contributions to the knowledge of interdisciplinary literary studies and to interpret and present the results of such research.

Master of Arts

The Master of Arts is available to students who are admitted to the doctoral program and have not been awarded an M.A. previously. Students are not admitted into the program for the purpose of earning a terminal Master of Arts degree. Candidates for the Ph.D. who satisfy the committee of their progress and satisfactorily complete 45 units of course work forming a coherent program of study, may apply for an M.A. in Modern Thought and Literature.

Coterminal Master's Program in Modern Thought and Literature

Each year, one or two undergraduates who are exceptionally well prepared in literature and whose undergraduate course work includes a strong interdisciplinary component, may petition to be admitted to the program for the purpose of completing a coterminal M.A. degree. Admission to this program is granted only on condition that in the course of working on their master's degrees they do not apply to enter the Ph.D. program in Modern Thought and Literature. The deadline for application is February 15 or the first business day following, if the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday.

To apply, applicants submit:

• An unofficial grade transcript from Axess.
• An Application for Admission to Coterminal Masters’ Program .
• A statement giving the reasons the student wishes to pursue this program and its place in his or her future plans. This statement should pay particular attention to the reasons why the student could not pursue the studies he or she desires in some other way.
• An initial plan of study listing, quarter by quarter, each course by name, units, and instructor, to be taken in order to fulfill the requirements for the degree for a total of 45 units, including at least 20 units of advanced work in one literature, and at least 20 units of advanced work in a coherent interdisciplinary program of courses taken in non-literature departments. Students may include appropriate coursework taken during the two quarters prior to the quarter of expected matriculation in the program.  Except in unusual cases, this will mean courses taken in the autumn and winter quarters of the year of application for admission.  (Changes in the course list are to be expected.)
• A writing sample of critical or analytical prose, 20 pages maximum.
• Two letters of recommendation from members of the faculty who know the applicant well and who can speak directly to the question of his or her ability to do graduate-level work.
• A designated adviser from among the Stanford faculty; normally one letter of recommendation will be from this faculty member.
• University Coterminal Requirements

Coterminal master’s degree candidates are expected to complete all master’s degree requirements as described in this bulletin. University requirements for the coterminal master’s degree are described in the “ Coterminal Master’s Program ” section. University requirements for the master’s degree are described in the " Graduate Degrees " section of this bulletin.

After accepting admission to this coterminal master’s degree program, students may request transfer of courses from the undergraduate to the graduate career to satisfy requirements for the master’s degree. Transfer of courses to the graduate career requires review and approval of both the undergraduate and graduate programs on a case by case basis.

In this master’s program, courses taken two quarters prior to the first graduate quarter, or later, are eligible for consideration for transfer to the graduate career. No courses taken prior to the first quarter of the sophomore year may be used to meet master’s degree requirements.

Course transfers are not possible after the bachelor’s degree has been conferred.

The University requires that the graduate advisor be assigned in the student’s first graduate quarter even though the undergraduate career may still be open. The University also requires that the Master’s Degree Program Proposal be completed by the student and approved by the department by the end of the student’s first graduate quarter.

• Degree Requirements

The candidate for the M.A. must complete at least 45 units of graduate work, to be divided in the following manner:

• The introductory seminar, MTL 334A Concepts of Modernity I: Philosophical Foundations , 5 units; in the event of a scheduling conflict students may substitute MTL 334B Concepts of Modernity II: Culture, Aesthetics, and Society in the Age of Globalization , with the director's prior permission.
• At least 20 units of advanced course work in literature, to be approved by the director.
• At least 20 units of advanced course work in a coherent and individually arranged interdisciplinary program, to be approved by the director.
• Doctor of Philosophy in Modern Thought and Literature

University requirements for the Ph.D. are discussed in the " Graduate Degrees " section of this bulletin.

Applicants for the Ph.D. program can visit the program's website for additional information. Online graduate applications are available at the  Office of Graduate Admissions  web site. The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is not required for application to the program.  All applicants must submit the following as part of their application: statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation, and a writing sample of a maximum of about 7000 words, or two shorter papers of a similar combined length. Graduate students in Modern Thought and Literature begin study in Autumn Quarter of each academic year; there are no mid-year admissions.

A candidate for the Ph.D. degree in Modern Thought and Literature must complete three years (nine quarters) of full-time work, or the equivalent, in graduate study beyond the B.A. degree. He or she is expected to complete at least 18 courses of graduate work in addition to the dissertation. Students may spend one year of graduate study abroad.

Requirements for the Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature are:

• A coherent program of eight courses of advanced work in literary studies to be worked out with the adviser, of which at least six must be regularly scheduled courses in literature. Courses in the teaching of composition, independent study, or thesis registration may not be counted among these six courses;  ENGLISH 396L Pedagogy Seminar I , MTL 399 Reading for Orals , MTL 802 TGR Dissertation may not be counted toward these requirements under any circumstances. Petitions to modify this requirement to substitute a course from a non-literature department for one or more of the required eight literature courses must be approved by the MTL Committee in Charge.
• Eight courses of advanced work in non-literature departments, the core of which is completion of either a departmental minor or an interdepartmental concentration, typically consisting of six courses. Departmental minors are available from a number of departments in the humanities and social sciences, including the departments of Anthropology, Art and Art History, Communication, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Theater and Performance Studies (see the relevant information in those sections of this bulletin). Alternatively, students may opt to join interdisciplinary Ph.D. minors in either Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity or in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Individually designed concentrations may be approved by petition to the director. In addition to the required six courses in a minor or a concentration, two additional courses from non-literature departments are chosen in consultation with the student's academic adviser. At the end of the first year, each student must submit to the director a preliminary statement of approximately 1500 words outlining the scope and coherence of the interdisciplinary focus, either as it relates to the departmental minor or to the interdepartmental concentration. In either case, the student should note the relevance of any proposed coursework to the overall program (see #7 below). Course restrictions noted above in # 2 also apply.
• Qualifying Paper: This certifies that students are likely to be able to undertake the quality of research, sustained argumentation, and cogent writing demanded in a doctoral dissertation. The qualifying paper must be a substantial revision of a seminar paper written at Stanford during the first year and should embody a substantial amount of independent research, develop an intellectual argument with significant elements of original thinking, and demonstrate the ability to do interdisciplinary work. Each paper is evaluated by two or three readers (designated before the end of the first year of graduate study), one of whom must be a member of the Committee in Charge or have been a member within the previous five years. Qualifying papers must be submitted to the program office no later than the end of the third week of the fifth quarter of enrollment, normally, Winter Quarter of the second year.
• Teaching is an essential part of the program. One quarter is normally undertaken in conjunction with the Department of English. The second quarter may be undertaken in conjunction with any department or program within the university. Although students have some flexibility in arranging for teaching appointments, program approval is required in order to assure that each experience provides appropriate and useful training.
• Students must demonstrate, before the beginning of the second year of study, a reading knowledge of one foreign language and, by Spring Quarter of the third year, a reading knowledge of one other foreign language. Reading knowledge means the ability to make a genuine scholarly use of the language: that is, to read prose of ordinary difficulty. Students may not take the University oral examination before completion of the foreign language requirement.
• the earlier submission of a satisfactory qualifying paper;
• demonstration of a reading knowledge of one foreign language;
• satisfactory progress in course work;
• a list of courses applicable to the degree, distinguishing between courses appropriate to the literary component and courses appropriate to the non-literary component;
• designation of a departmental minor or an interdisciplinary concentration; and,
• the submission of a statement outlining the scope and coherence of the interdisciplinary component of the program in relation to the literary component, and noting the relevance of the course work to that program.
• Annual Review: The program and progress of each student must be approved by the Committee in Charge at the end of each academic year. First-year students will submit the preliminary interdisciplinary statement along with the first year-end report (see #3 above).
• University Oral Examination: This examination, covering the student's areas of concentration, is normally taken in the third year of graduate study. It is a two-hour oral examination administered by four faculty members specializing in the student's areas of concentration, and a chair from another department. The exam is based on a substantial reading list prepared by the student in conjunction with the faculty committee and designed to cover the areas of expertise pertinent to the student's dissertation project.
• Dissertation Proposal and Colloquium: Within one quarter after the University oral examination, the student writes up the dissertation proposal.  The recommended length for the dissertation proposal is 5 pages double-spaced (with a maximum length of 8 pages).  It should contain (additionally) a full bibliography. The proposal is submitted to the program director and the dissertation committee for approval. After completion of one chapter of the dissertation, the student sets up a meeting with the dissertation committee for one hour to discuss the work accomplished in the first chapter and plans for completing the rest of the dissertation.
• Dissertation: The fourth and fifth years are devoted to the dissertation, which should be a substantial and original contribution acceptable to the Committee in Charge of Modern Thought and Literature. The subject is drawn from the literature of specialization and the area of nonliterary studies. The dissertation project will conclude with a two-hour defense. The first hour is open to the public and includes a brief presentation of the dissertation project on the part of the Ph.D. candidate. The second hour is reserved to the candidate and his/her Dissertation Committee.
• Ph.D. Minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The Program in Modern Thought and Literature sponsors a Ph.D. minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The Ph.D. minor is administered by the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

• Ph.D. Minor in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity

The Program in Modern Thought and Literature sponsors a Ph.D. minor in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. The Ph.D. minor is administered by the Program in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.

On July 30, the Academic Senate adopted grading policies effective for all undergraduate and graduate programs, excepting the professional Graduate School of Business, School of Law, and the School of Medicine M.D. Program. For a complete list of those and other academic policies relating to the pandemic, see the " COVID-19 and Academic Continuity " section of this bulletin.

The Senate decided that all undergraduate and graduate courses offered for a letter grade must also offer students the option of taking the course for a “credit” or “no credit” grade and recommended that deans, departments, and programs consider adopting local policies to count courses taken for a “credit” or “satisfactory” grade toward the fulfillment of degree-program requirements and/or alter program requirements as appropriate.

Graduate Degree Requirements

The Program in Modern Thought and Literature counts all courses taken in academic year 2020-21 with a grade of 'CR' (credit) or 'S' (satisfactory) towards satisfaction of graduate degree requirements that otherwise require a letter grade provided that the instructor affirms that the work was done at a 'B-' or better level.

• Other Graduate Policies

The Program in Modern Thought and Literature will provide extensions to program milestones during the 2020-21 academic year, as needed. The Program Director, Director of Graduate Studies, advisors and Academic Services Administrator will work with individual students to determine what flexibility is needed.

• Graduate Advising Expectations

The Program in Modern Thought and Literature is committed to providing academic advising in support of graduate student scholarly and professional development. When most effective, this advising relationship entails collaborative and sustained engagement by both the adviser and the advisee.

Faculty advisers guide students in key areas such as selecting courses, designing and conducting research, developing of teaching pedagogy, navigating policies and degree requirements, and exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways. 

Upon arrival, incoming MTL Ph.D. students are assigned first-year faculty advisers who help students select classes with the student’s academic interests as well as the program requirements in mind. Advising arrangements are made for coterminal M.A. students at the time of their admission to the program.

Prior to advancement to TGR status, all Ph.D. students should also meet with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) each quarter to discuss overall progress. After reaching TGR status, students should check in with the DGS at least once a year.

As a best practice, advising expectations should be periodically discussed and reviewed to ensure mutual understanding. For both Ph..D and M.A. students, at least two consultations per quarter with the DGS and the primary adviser are highly recommended to foster an effective advising relationship. Both the adviser and the advisee are expected to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Graduate students are active contributors to the advising relationship, proactively seeking academic and professional guidance and taking responsibility for informing themselves of policies and degree requirements for their graduate program.

After the first year of study, when Ph.D. students have a better sense of their academic trajectories, they may choose to change advisers with the approval of the director and the DGS.

For a statement of University policy on graduate advising, see the " Graduate Advising " section of this bulletin.

Director: Héctor Hoyos

Director of Graduate Studies: Tom Mullaney

Committee in Charge: Michaela Bronstein, Shelley Fisher Fishkin (on leave autumn, winter), Héctor Hoyos (Chair), Roanne Kantor, Elizabeth Kessler, Charles Kronengold, Marci Kwon, Bernadette Meyler, Ana Minian, Tom Mullaney, Karla Oeler , Vaughn Rasberry, José David Saldívar, Matthew Smith

Affiliated Faculty:    Lanier Anderson (Philosophy) , Russell Berman (German Studies) , Jennifer Brody (Theater & Performance Studies), Michaela Bronstein (English) , Scott Bukatman (Art & Art History) , Gordon Chang (History) , Adrian Daub (German Studies) , Jean-Pierre Dupuy (French & Italian) , Paulla Ebron (Anthropology) , Harry Elam (Theater & Performance Studies) , Michele Elam (English) , Amir Eshel (German Studies, Comparative Literature), Shelley Fisher Fishkin (English) , Zephyr Frank (History) , Estelle Freedman (History) , Duana Fullwiley ( Anthropology), Thomas Hansen (Anthropology) , David Hills (Philosophy), Héctor Hoyos (Iberian & Latin American Cultures) ,  Lochlain Jain ( Anthropology ), Tomas Jimenez (Sociology) , Roanne Kantor (English) , Elizabeth Kessler (American Studies) , Matthew Kohrman (Anthropology) , Charles Kronengold ( Music ), Marci Kwon (Art & Art History) , Joshua Landy (French & Italian, Comparative Literature) , Pavle Levi (Art & Art History) , Helen Longino (Philosophy) , Douglas McAdam (Sociology) , Mark McGurl (English) , Alison McQueen (Political Science) , Jisha Menon (Theater & Performance Studies) , Lynn Meskell (Anthropology) , Ana Minian (History) , Paula Moya (English) , Tom Mullaney (History) , Alex Nemerov ( Art & Art History ), David Palumbo-Liu (Comparative Literature), Peggy Phelan (Theater & Performance Studies) , Robert Proctor (History) , Vaughn Rasberry (English) , Robert Reich (Political Science), Jessica Riskin (History),  José David Saldívar (Comparative Literature) , Ramón Saldívar (English, Comparative Literature), Londa Schiebinger (History) , Matthew Smith (German Studies, Theater and Performance Studies) , Sharika Thiranagama ( Anthropology ), Fred Turner (Communication) , Ban Wang (East Asian Languages and Cultures),  Gail Wight (Art & Art History) ,  Alex Woloch (English)

MTL 200. Curricular Practical Training. 1-3 Unit.

MTL 299. Edgework: New Directions in the Study of Culture. 1-3 Unit.

Workshop. Required of first-year students in the doctoral program. Methodologies of different disciplines, the possibility and difficulty of interdisciplinary work within these disciplines, and their connection with the individual projects of students in Modern Thought and Literature. May be repeated for credit.

MTL 334A. Concepts of Modernity I: Philosophical Foundations. 5 Units.

In the late eighteenth century, Immanuel Kant proclaimed his epoch to be "the genuine age of criticism." He went on to develop the critique of reason, which set the stage for many of the themes and problems that have preoccupied Western thinkers for the last two centuries. This fall quarter survey is intended as an introduction to these themes and problems. The general course layout draws equal parts on Koselleck's practice of "conceptual history" (Begriffsgeschichte) and on Jameson's "cognitive mapping." After consideration of an important, if often under-appreciated precedent (the baroque), we turn our attention to the conceptual triad of subject, reason and critique, followed by that of revolution, utopia and sovereignty. Authors may include Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Freud, Lukács, and others. This course is the first of a two-course sequence. Priority to graduate students in MTL, ILAC, and English. Same as: COMPLIT 334A , ILAC 334A

MTL 334B. Concepts of Modernity II: Culture, Aesthetics, and Society in the Age of Globalization. 5 Units.

Emphasis on world-system theory, theories of coloniality and power, and aesthetic modernity/postmodernity in their relation to culture broadly understood. Same as: COMPLIT 334B , ENGLISH 334B

MTL 334C. Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies. 3 Units.

Our course serves both as an introduction to graduate studies and as an introduction to interdisciplinary practice for entering PhD students in MTL at Stanford. Required for first-year graduate students, our course examines major historical and theoretical approaches to the interdisciplinary humanities via engagement with the living application of these approaches on campus. Additionally, we attend to contemporary debates about PhD study, higher education, and issues of professional development. At the end of the class you will have a clearer sense of the scholar you want to become and on concrete ways to develop your interests, navigate faculty mentor-grad relations, department cultures, and life-work balance. Non MTL graduate students will be accepted only with permission from the instructors.

MTL 390. Qualifying Paper. 1-5 Unit.

Preparation and writing of the qualifying paper for the Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature. nn (Staff).

MTL 398. Graduate Independent Study. 1-15 Unit.

Students pursue a special subject of investigation under supervision of a member of the committee or another faculty member. May be repeated for credit.

MTL 399. Reading for Orals. 1-15 Unit.

Reading in preparation for the University Oral Examination. May be repeated for credit.

MTL 801. TGR Project. 0 Units.

MTL 802. TGR Dissertation. 0 Units.

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• Modern Thought and Literature

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School of Humanities and Sciences

Students who have a background in literature and/or cultural studies can apply for this individualized co-term.

What You'll Study

The Program assumes serious interest in one or more areas of modern thought: history, psychology, philosophy, arts, contemporary culture generally. The term modern is construed to mean roughly from the Enlightenment to the present. Each student proposes an individualized academic program at the time of application. Only one or two students are admitted each year. Students entering the Program may come from any undergraduate discipline, but should have sufficient background in literature and/or cultural studies to be able to participate fully in graduate level courses.

Degrees Offered

More information.

Learn more about Modern Thought and Literature in the Stanford Bulletin

• School of Humanities & Sciences

Taking Care of Ourselves & Each Other

Health & Well-Being

Jennifer Lee

Pronouns: She/They

Ethnicity: Korean American

Department: Ph.D., Modern Thought and Literature

Hometown: New York City, NY

Jennifer Lee (she/they) is a PhD student in Modern Thought and Literature studying comparative and computational approaches to Asian American and Korean literature and culture. She comes to Stanford from New York City, where she grew up and attended Columbia University. She earned her BA in computer science and comparative literature and society, and her research has been published in Journal of Asian American Studies.

J. Rubén Diaz Vasquez

Research Interests

Neurosyphilis in the modern era: Literature review and case series

Affiliations.

• 1 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Fundamental Medicine, Moscow, Russia; Bujanov Moscow City Clinical Hospital, Moscow, Russia.
• 2 Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Moscow, Russia; Bujanov Moscow City Clinical Hospital, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 3 Bujanov Moscow City Clinical Hospital, Moscow, Russia.
• 4 Moscow Scientific and Practical Center for Dermatology, Venerology and Cosmetology, Moscow Healthcare Department, Russia.
• 5 Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Moscow, Russia; Bujanov Moscow City Clinical Hospital, Moscow, Russia; Moscow Research and Clinical Center for Neuropsychiatry, Moscow Healthcare Department, Russia.
• 6 Moscow Research and Clinical Center for Neuropsychiatry, Moscow Healthcare Department, Russia; Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
• PMID: 31427238
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2019.08.033

The term of neurosyphilis (NS) refers to infection of central nervous system by Treponema pallidum. Classically, it has been divided into early (meningitis, meningovascular) and late forms (general paresis and tabes dorsalis). The availability of penicillin and high sensitivity of Treponema pallidum to this antibiotic has led to a widely held perception about rarity of syphilitic forms with central nervous system involvement. However, patient can exhibit atypical clinical presentation. Recently different clinical cases with autoimmune encephalitis-mimicking presentation or atypical movement disorders were described. In this article we presented clinical case series with different clinical and MRI presentation and discuss diagnostic and treatment challenges. During our screening period at neurological department we revealed 6 NS cases. Three of them have an atypical presentation. The first patient was misdiagnosed as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, the second patient had hippocampal sclerosis and epileptic seizures. Another patient had cognitive decline and autoimmune encephalitis-like MRI lesions. We put an emphasis on widening of indication for lumbar puncture and NS tests in patients with syphilitic anamnesis and neurological manifestations.

Keywords: Atypical cases; CSF tests; MRI; Neurosyphilis.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication types

• Case Reports
• Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
• Middle Aged
• Neurosyphilis / complications
• Neurosyphilis / diagnosis*
• Neurosyphilis / drug therapy
• Treponema pallidum
• Anti-Bacterial Agents

ExploreDegrees Archive, 2011-12

Explore courses, alphabetical index, bulletin archive.

This archived information is dated to the 2011-12 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin .

Modern Thought and Literature

Director: Paula M. L. Moya

Steering Committee: Paula M.L. Moya (Chair), Joshua Cohen, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Zephyr Frank, Sean Hanretta, Pavle Levi, Andrea A. Lunsford, Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz , Jisha Menon, José David Saldívar, Alex Woloch

Affiliated Faculty: Lanier Anderson (Philosophy), Eamonn Callan (Education), Russell Berman (German Studies), Joshua Cohen (Political Science, Philosophy, Law), Jean-Pierre Dupuy (French and Italian), Paulla Ebron (Anthropology), Harry Elam (Drama), Michele Elam (English), Shelley Fisher Fishkin (English), James Ferguson (Anthropology), Zephyr Frank (History), Gregory Freidin (Slavic Languages and Literatures), Hans U. Gumbrecht (French and Italian, Comparative Literature), Sean Hanretta (History), Ursula K. Heise (English), Matthew Kohrman (Anthropology), Aishwary Kumar (History), Pam Lee (Art and Art History), Pavle Levi (Art and Art History), Helen Longino (Philosophy), Andrea A. Lunsford (English), Saikat Majumdar (English), Liisa Malkki (Anthropology), Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz (Art and Art History), Dourlas McAdam (Sociology), Robert McGinn (Management Science and Engineering; Science, Technology, and Society), Jisha Menon (Drama), Franco Moretti (English, Comparative Literature), Paula Moya (English), Elisabeth Mudimbe-Boyi (French and Italian), Josiah Ober (Political Science), David Palumbo-Liu (Comparative Literature), Peggy Phelan (Drama), Richard Roberts (History), José David Saldívar (Comparative Literature), Ramón Saldívar (English, Comparative Literature), Priya Satia (History), Debra Satz (Philosophy), Londa Schiebinger (History), Stephen Sohn (English), Helen Stacy (Law), Elizabeth Tallent (English), Fred Turner (Communication), Richard White (History), Bryan Wolf (Art and Art History), Alex Woloch (English), Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano (Iberian and Latin American Cultures)

Program Offices: Building 460, Room 219

Mail Code: 94305-2022

Phone: (650) 723-3413

Email: monica [email protected]

Web Site: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/MTL

Courses offered by the Program in Modern Thought and Literature are listed under the subject code MTL on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses web site .

The program in Modern Thought and Literature admits students for the Ph.D. and a limited number for a coterminal B.A./M.A. Program.

Undergraduate Programs in Modern Thought and Literature

Although Modern Thought and Literature has no formal undergraduate degree granting program, undergraduates interested in completing a major in this field may apply to the Individually Designed Majors Program in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Students interested in this option should consult the Director of the Program in Modern Thought and Literature and the Dean's Office in the School of Humanities and Sciences, which administers the IDM Programs.

Graduate Programs in Modern Thought and Literature

Modern Thought and Literature (MTL) is an interdisciplinary graduate program advancing the study of critical issues in the modern world. Since 1971, MTL students have helped to redefine the cutting edge of many interdisciplinary fields and to reshape the ways in which disciplinary scholarship is understood and practiced. MTL graduates are leaders in fields such as American studies, ethnic studies, film studies, social and cultural studies, and women's studies, as well as disciplines such as English, cultural anthropology, and comparative literature.

The program trains students to understand the histories and methods of disciplines and to test their assumptions. It considers how disciplines shape knowledge and, most importantly, how interdisciplinary methods reshape objects of study. MTL students produce innovative analyses of diverse texts, forms, and practices, including those of literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, law, and science; film, visual arts, popular culture, and performance; and material culture and technology.

Each student constructs a unique program of study suited to his or her research. Students have focused on such areas as gender and sexuality; race and ethnicity; science, technology, and medicine; media and performance; legal studies; and critical and social theory. The program's faculty is drawn from fields in the humanities and social sciences, as well as from education, law, and medicine. As interdisciplinary study is impossible without an understanding of the disciplines under consideration, each student is expected to master the methods of one discipline and to gain a foundation in a second field.

MASTER OF ARTS

The Master of Arts is available to students who are admitted to the doctoral program. Students are not admitted into the program for the purpose of earning a terminal Master of Arts degree. Candidates for the Ph.D. who satisfy the committee of their progress and satisfactorily complete 45 units of course work forming a coherent program of study, may apply for an M.A. in Modern Thought and Literature.

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Current post-doctoral fellows.

Christy Monet (Brandly), September 2023 – August 2024 Dr. Monet Brandly is a political scientist and Slavicist specializing in intellectual history as viewed from the perspectives of the history of political thought and literary studies. She conducts research and teaches in the fields of political theory, literature, and history, with a focus on Russophone political thought and its engagements with empire, liberalism, and American culture over the last two centuries. She earned her Ph.D. in both Political Science and Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Chicago in 2023. She also holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago, as well as a B.A. in Political Science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Her current book project on the family novel in Imperial Russia explores the ways in which the development of liberal thought in 19th-century Russia created space for the reimagining of both the form of the family and its role in the political—a reimagining in stark contrast to the eventual removal of the family from the political in Western liberal thought. This research is based, in part, on research undertaken in both Moscow and St. Petersburg in the archives of the Russian State Library and the Pushkin House, respectively. Her doctoral dissertation and current book project have been supported by an Alfa Fellowship, a University of Chicago Harper Dissertation-Year Fellowship, an Institute for Humane Studies Publication Accelerator Grant, and a Princeton University Press Book Proposal Grant. This is her first post-doctoral academic appointment, although she previously worked for the Moscow-based publishing house Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie (NLO) as an editorial assistant and translator during her graduate studies.

Mina Magda, September 2023 – August 2024 Dr. Magda is a scholar of Russian literature, visual art, and performance spanning the long nineteenth century and early Soviet period. Her interdisciplinary research centers politics of racial representation, gendered labor, and colonial culture. Becoming Modern: Negrophilia, Russophilia, and the Making of Modernist Paris, her current book project, examines the aesthetic interplay among modernists of the Russian and Black diasporas in Paris—namely, Josephine Baker and the Ballets Russes—the visual technologies of race-making that framed their careers, and their shared imbrication in the histories of celebrity and coloniality. She demonstrates how the comparison between Baker and the Ballets Russes helps us think of racial formation as a network of political, aesthetic, and commercial negotiations through which we can examine the limits and relational contingencies of racial self-determination, and ask at what cost conceptions of modern subjecthood were afforded. Magda received her PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University in 2023 and holds an MA in Russian and Slavic Studies from New York University. Her doctoral dissertation was supported by fellowships at the Houghton Library and Beinecke Library and the MacMillan International Dissertation Research Fellowship.

Anastasiia Vlasenko, September 2022-August 2023 Dr. Vlasenko is a postdoctoral fellow who studies electoral politics and democratization with specialization in politics of Ukraine and Russia. Her monograph project, ‘The Electoral Effects of Decentralization: Evidence from Ukraine’ investigates how decentralization reform affects electoral mobilization and diversity in a weakly institutionalized democracy. Vlasenko is particularly interested in transitional period reforms, propaganda, legislative politics, and forecasting. Her research has been published in the Journal of Politics.  She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Florida State University in 2022, M.A. in Political Science from Florida State University in 2018, M.A. in International Relations from New York University in 2016, and M.Sc. in European Affairs from Lund University in 2013, and B.A. in Political Science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 2011. In 2020-2021, she worked at Hertie School in Berlin as a visiting researcher. In 2014-2016, Vlasenko was a Fulbright scholar at New York University. At Florida State University, she taught courses on comparative politics and post-Soviet studies.

Margarita Kuleva, December 2022-November 2023 Dr. Kuleva is a sociologist of culture, interested in exploring social inequalities in the art world and cultural industries in Russia and the UK. Primarily, she works as an ethnographer to discover the ‘behind the scenes’ of cultural institutions to give greater visibility to the invisible workers of culture. Kuleva received her PhD in art sociology from the National Research University Higher School of Economics in collaboration with Bielefeld University in 2019. The dissertation entailed a comparative study of the careers and professional identities of young cultural workers in visual art sectors in Moscow, St Petersburg and London. Based on more than 70 in-depth interviews, it was one of the first systematic studies of post-Soviet creative labour. Some findings from these studies were recently presented in journal publications including  Cultural Studies  (2018) and  International Journal of Cultural Studies  (2019), as well as  European Journal of Cultural Studies  (2022). Her current research project,  The Right to Be Creative , focuses on hidden political struggles at contemporary Russian cultural institutions. Dr. Kuleva previously worked at National Research University Higher School of Economics as an Associate Professor and held the position of Chair of the Department of Design and Contemporary Art in St Petersburg. In 2019-2020, Kuleva was a fellow of the Center for Art, Design and Social Research (Boston, Massachusetts). As a researcher, artist, and curator, she has collaborated with a number of Russian and international cultural institutions, including Manifesta Biennale, Pushkin House in London, Boston Center for the Arts, Garage MoCA, Goethe Institute, Helsinki Art Museum, Street Art Museum, Ural Industrial Biennale and New Holland St. Petersburg.

Past Post-Doctoral Fellows

Nikolay Erofeev, March 2022-May 2022

Dr. Erofeev is an architectural historian whose work focuses on socialist architecture and urban planning. His monograph project, ‘Architecture and housing in the Comecon’ looks at architecture and urbanisation patterns produced by global socialism. Combining in-depth scrutiny of the design of the built environment with an analysis of the everyday processes of subject-making that shaped the socialist project in Mongolia, the project aims to provide a new understanding of the urban and domestic spaces produced in the Global South. Erofeev received his D.Phil (PhD) in History from the University of Oxford in 2020 where he was a Hill Foundation Scholar and his specialist degree (M.A.) in the History of Art from the Moscow State University in 2014. His doctoral project discussed the design and production of prefabricated mass housing in the Soviet Union and argued the architectural story of this understudied ‘bureaucratic modernism’ represents a much more creative and influential development in the history of modern architecture as a whole. Erofeev had academic appointments at Manchester Metropolitan University where he was teaching Master of Architecture dissertations. Erofeev is currently conducting research at the University of Basel as a postdoctoral fellow supported by the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship.

Jennifer Flaherty, September 2020-August 2021

Dr. Flaherty is a postdoctoral fellow specializing in nineteenth- and twentieth- century Russian literature, culture and intellectual history, with current research interests in Hegel’s influence on Russian thought as well as labor theory. Her book project on representations of peasants investigates how the stylistic innovations of nineteenth-century Russian literature express the tensions of modernity that lie at the heart of its agrarian myth. She received her Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of California at Berkeley in 2019, her M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago in 2010, and her B.A. in Philosophy from Appalachian State University in North Carolina. She’s had academic appointments as a visiting assistant professor in the department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the College of William of Mary, and as a lecturer at in the Slavic department at UC Berkeley. Flaherty has conducted research as an American Councils Fellow in Moscow and with Harvard’s Institute for World Literature. Her doctoral dissertation received support from UC Berkeley’s Townsend Center for Humanities. She has a forthcoming article in The Russian Review and has published in Tolstoy Studies Journal and PMLA.

Nataliia Laas, September 2022-August 2023 Dr. Laas specializes in political economy, consumer society, gender, the history of the social sciences, and environmental history in the Soviet Union. She currently works on a book manuscript, provisionally titled A Soviet Consumer Republic: Economic Citizenship and the Economy of Waste in the Post-WWII Soviet Union. This project departs from the standard economy-of-shortages narrative and offers a different dimension, an “economy of waste,” to describe Soviet consumption. It argues that after World War II and especially with the onset of Cold War competition with the West, in addition to periodic shortages the Soviet state regularly confronted a new challenge: glutted markets, overproducing factories, and excess commodities. Unlike shortages that were often vindicated by the official Bolshevik ideology as the people’s sacrifice on the road to the country’s industrialization and economic growth, excess and waste were endemic to the malfunctioning of a command economy but far more difficult for authorities to explain and justify. By focusing on the emergence of socialist market research and consumer studies, the book explores how the economy of waste reshaped relationships between the state and its citizens. Laas received her PhD in History from Brandeis University in 2022. Her doctoral dissertation was supported by a Harriman Institute Carnegie Research Grant and a Mellon Dissertation Completion Fellowship from Brandeis, among others.

Emily Laskin, September 2022-August 2023

Dr. Laskin specializes in the literature of Central Asia, working extensively in Russian and Persian. Her current book project,  No Man’s Land: The Geopoetics of Modern Central Asia , focuses on the literature of the so-called Great Game, the Russo-British rivalry for influence in Central Asia, putting Russian and British imperial writing on Central Asia in dialogue with contemporaneous Persian literature published across the region, from Kabul, to Bukhara, to Istanbul. Laskin’s recent work on the literature of the Great Game appears in  Novel: A Forum on Fiction , and she is an editor of the forthcoming volume  Tulips in Bloom: An Anthology of Modern Central Asian Literature . She received her Ph.D. in 2021 in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and also holds an M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from Columbia University. Her doctoral dissertation was supported by a Mellon/ACLS fellowship and a Berkeley Dean’s Fund grant for archival research in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Vladimir Ryzhkovskyi, November 2020-October 2021

Dr. Ryzhkovskyi studied Russian, Soviet and East European history in Ukraine, Russia, and the US, where he recently earned a PhD from Georgetown University. By foregrounding the link between empire, culture, and knowledge, Ryzhkovskyi’s research probes the place of Russia and the Soviet Union within global history, particularly in relation to forms of Western imperialism and colonialism. His current book project, Soviet Occidentalism: Medieval Studies and the Restructuring of Imperial Knowledge in Twentieth-Century Russia, explores the twentieth-century history of medieval studies in late imperial and Soviet Russia as a model for demonstrating the crucial importance of Soviet appropriation of Western culture and knowledge in the post-revolutionary reconstituting and maintaining the empire following 1917. In addition to pursuing the imperial and postcolonial theme in the history of Soviet modernity, Ryzhkovskyi has published articles and essays on the history of late imperial and Soviet education, the history of late Soviet intelligentsia, and Soviet philosophy. A volume of unpublished writings by the Soviet historian and philosopher Boris Porshnev, co-edited with Artemy Magun, is forthcoming from the European University Press in 2021.

Delgerjargal Uvsh, November 2020-October 2021

Dr. Uvsh received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2020. She conducts research and teaches primarily in the field of comparative politics, with a focus on post-Soviet politics, the political economy of natural-resource dependence, institutional and regime change, and research methods. Using Russia as a critical case, Delgerjargal’s book project, “Reversal of the Resource Curse? Negative Revenue Shocks and Development in Russia and Beyond,” develops a theory of when and how declines in natural-resource revenue (negative revenue shocks) incentivize political elites to support private business activity and reverse the “resource curse.” Delgerjargal expanded her interest in the relationship between natural resources and institutional changes in a forthcoming book chapter, where she explores the short-term effects of negative revenue shocks on political regimes. Another extension, published in Land Use Policy , analyzes novel satellite data on forest-cover change in western Russian regions and shows that the dynamics of forest growth and deforestation have been different in the first versus the second decade of Russia’s transition. You can read more about Delgerjargal’s work at www.delgerjargaluvsh.com .

Sasha de Vogel, September 2021-August 2022

Dr. de Vogel studies the politics of authoritarian regimes and collective action, particularly in Russia and the post-Soviet region. Her research examines when and why autocratic regimes promise concessions to protestors, how these promises affect mobilization and their impact on policies. Her research underscores that reneging, or deliberately failing to implement concessions as promised, is a fundamental strategic dimension of concessions. Her book project focuses on protest campaigns against the Moscow City government about policy-related grievances in the mid-2010s. During this period, more protest campaigns were promised a concession than experienced a detention, yet these concessions rarely resolved protesters’ grievances. Other research interests include comparative politics, authoritarian institutions, repression, authoritarian responsiveness and urban politics. Sasha received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2021, and also holds an MA in Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Regional Studies and a BA in Slavic Studies from Columbia University. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation/Harriman Institute, among others.