Institute of English Studies
MPhil in English
The MPhil in English programme has a long-standing history. It was launched in January 1993 as a two-year research degree, which would produce a remarkable number of researchers in the following decades, with expertise in English, American, Continental and Post-Colonial Literatures. Our programme allows students to study in a competitive, and intellectually stimulating environment that focuses on nurturing the critical thinking of our students. Additionally, the Institute holds various seminars and international conferences that provide students with numerous opportunities to interact with literary scholars and writers from different parts of the globe. Our MPhil in English programme is divided into two teaching semesters, followed by a research dissertation of 40,000 words, with ample scope for the enrolled candidates to manifest their research skills. At IES, MPhil students enjoy the freedom to conduct research in their choicest areas, which, in turn, encourages them to exhaust their potential skills. It is especially a unique opportunity for candidates who aspire to pursue their doctoral research.
The Institute of English Studies takes pride in the fact that its MPhil English programme is one of the finest in the country, and has widely contributed to the local pedagogy and andragogy by producing outstanding teachers and researchers for the education sector of Pakistan.
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Contemporary Postcolonial Studies
Course Instructor: Dr. Aamir Aziz
This course introduces important concepts of postcolonial theory along with a study of leading postcolonial literary texts (selected poetry, drama and fiction). Postcolonialism as a field in literary scholarship has emerged and developed new theoretical dimensions in relation to the changing contemporary global environment. This introduces the postcolonial scholar to a series of interdisciplinary trends which are important to an understanding of the current conditions of the world and its conflicts. Literature from different phases of production in the postcolonial world is reflective of the debates and issues of its time and, consequently, introduces the scholar to a wide range of debates as they have developed over time. A study of selected texts can help Pakistani scholars negotiate their own position in the neo-imperial globalized world.
World Literatures in Translation
Course Instructor: Dr. Khurshid Alam
T.S.Eliot argued that progress in the modern world was made possible only through translations. It provided the dialogic possibility between different languages, cultures, and traditions. He further argues that for any Poet who happens to write poetry in European languages, it is imperative to inculcate the poetic tradition from Homer to the present day in his bones. In other words, to become a good poet, one needs to develop a poetic sensibility nurtured through readings of translated works. The present course surveys the classics in world literature to understand how people in other parts of the world tell their stories, and how could there be a dialogic possibility in cultural terms through World literatures in Translation.
Pakistani Writings in English
Course Instructor: Dr. Rizwan Akhtar
Colonization brought European literature(s) to the native colonies, which in turn laid the foundation of counter-narratives of hegemonic eurocentrism. After decolonization, a continual process, regional literatures and literatures in mainstream or national languages embarked on retrieval and reclamation of their histories and cultures lost to colonial rewriting of history as a privilege of the west. Post-1947 Pakistani English-language literature largely is a re-reading and re-visioning of its nationalist, historical, and ideological roots anticipating recognition of Pakistan as a geopolitical and a South Asian geoliterary constituency reaching out to a global audience. One of the main objectives of the course is prepare students to analyze literary texts by Pakistani writers hosting a convergence of history, culture, and aesthetics comprising Pakistani indigenous, cross-cultural, and global. This would enable students to comprehend that how and to what extent “contextualization, immediacy and situatedness” inform Pakistani literature in English. Another objective, by that very fact, is to see the nuances of literary osmosis engendered by juxtaposition of Eastern and Western literary sensibility.
Advanced Literary-Cultural Research Methodology (ALCRM)
Course Instructor: Dr. Shahzeb Khan
This course is divided into three sections: (1) issues and approaches in literary research; (2) methods and methodology; (3) mechanics, formatting, and documentation. After addressing the most significant approaches in literary research, the course participants should be able to identify and use the most effective of these. To test the efficacy of these issues and approaches, participants will work on a research paper as a project. Along the way, they should learn about textual analysis, discourse analysis, literary research and translation, literary research, and interdisciplinarity. They should be able to incorporate these in their respective research projects. By the time the participants will complete their papers, they will also familiarize themselves with the correct mechanics of research writing, formatting, and documentation based on the latest MLA guidelines.
Critical Theory
Course Instructor: Dr. Khurshid Alam
The course aims at familiarizing the students with the philosophical and cultural debates that question the genesis and utility of literary narratives in any society. A detailed survey of these debates would capacitate the students to make independent critical judgements on any work of art. An interdisciplinary approach is to be followed as in modern times; it is all the more important to judge a work of art in a holistic cultural perspective. This course will enable students to apply sociological and literary theory independently on the literary texts; develop an interdisciplinary approach to understand cultural realities in modern/postmodern times; write research papers in the area pf their interests keeping in mind the international standards and demands; revisit canonized notions on some cultural and political issues that the critical theory seeks to challenge.
Shakespearean Studies
Course Instructor: Dr. Amna Umer Cheema
William Shakespeare is the greatest dramatist of all time. His plays exist in a present continuous world; they narrate history, but they constantly engage with contemporaneity. Shakespeare’s impact on civilizations across the globe is tremendous, and his experimentation with language brings his plays in proximity to the here and now. Therefore, his works have been widely read and performed to translate the gamut of human emotions in different cultures. This course analyzes and reviews the nature and function of Shakespeare’s drama through its theatrical, historical, and social context. It deliberates on the philosophical and critical approaches to the genres of tragedy, comedy, tragi-comedy, tragi-romance, and history. Through close and distant readings, special emphasis is given to Shakespeare’s early modern experimentation in drama and its implications in contemporary contexts. Furthermore, this course takes the freedom to evaluate Shakespeare’s dramatic genius through an achronological and asymmetrical method of reading his texts.
Introduction to Digital Humanities
Course Instructor: Dr. Amna Umer Cheema
This course introduces Digital Humanities (DH) as a computational method to revisit traditional research in humanities. DH can be understood both as a field and as a way of identifying digital research, and project development efforts in specific humanities fields. More broadly, it also refers to any digital activity that furthers research in the humanities, or assists in the scholarly activities of its practitioners. DH can make English studies more relevant and useful for this day and age, through communication with humanities disciplines and discovery sciences. Doing English studies digitally could lead one toward a discussion of digital technology from a humanities point of view. With more computers, digital libraries are getting colossal. Through DH, changes in the data sets and their expansion can allow English studies to encompass big data and its significance through its numerical discourse, and visual representation. It will make way for an emerging digital and scholarly network in English studies in Pakistan. Through the contents of this course, students will become familiar and conversant with various concepts and methods in the digital humanities. It will develop the critical thinking skills necessary to evaluate digital scholarship and encourage students to do collaborative research.
Postmodern American Literature
Course Instructor: Dr. Aamir Aziz
In this course, you will study U.S. history, literature, and culture, as part of an integrated approach to American Studies and with a special (though not exclusive) focus on themes such as immigration, race, ethnicity, and civil rights. This approach enables you to discover connections between historical events and cultural and literary developments. We’ll read a number of both classic and recently-published works on topics such as the American Revolution, transatlantic slavery, American multiculturalism, and immigration that will familiarize students with theories and debates about, for example, American exceptionalism and constructions of race, class, and gender. In addition to providing an overview of American history, the course enables students to critically read and discuss important literary texts in depth, and to examine the methodological, theoretical, and ideological approaches of leading scholars in American Studies, and ultimately familiarize them with techniques of postmodernism such as fragmentation, paradox, unreliable narrators, unrealistic plots, plurality, parody, pastiche, intertextuality, and magical realism.