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CUST 802/902 Cultural Studies Colloquium (6.0 Units) Required Course.

This course is designed to acquaint graduate students with both current work in the field and various forms of professionalization, through a combination of research presentations and participatory workshops. Students are expected to attend regularly and complete some reflective writing activities. Grading is on a Pass/Fail basis.

CUST 800 Cultural Studies Theory (3.0 Units)

Keywords are a core theoretical concept in Cultural Studies. A keyword is a word that ‘unlocks’ cultural meaning. It can be a common word like Fashion or Book, a weighty word like Gender or Race, a politically-charged word like Freedom or Genocide, or an overtly theoretical word like Neoliberalism or Heteropatriarchy. It can even be a word that one does not immediately associate with ‘high theory,’ but opens up layers of cultural meaning upon reflection, such as Blue. In this course, we will trace the genesis of a few keywords, studying both their current usage and their emergence through longer conversations that cross disciplines, institutions, and political contexts. Only the first few weeks of the syllabus are mapped out; for the rest of the semester, we will co-create the itinerary based on student interests and needs.  

CUST 801 Critical Methodologies in Cultural Studies (3.0 Units)

The field of Cultural Studies is characterized by a refusal to endorse a singular method or to conceive of and apply methodological tools as rigid, formal templates. This course explores how scholars choose, mobilize, and combine methods, including field research, archival research, research-creation, and textual analysis.

CUST 803 Cultural Studies Past & Present (3.0 Units)

This graduate seminar explores the global and interdisciplinary development of Cultural Studies, with particular attention to its evolving practice on Turtle Island and beyond. We begin with foundational theorists such as Stuart Hall, Hazel Carby, and Carol Boyce Davies, and move toward contemporary critiques and interventions by scholars like Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Following Hall’s now famous question, we ponder what is at stake in doing Cultural Studies today.

Topics include canon formation, decolonization, race, gender, sexuality, political economy, performance, land, and artistic praxis. Students will engage theoretical, narrative, and creative texts as they explore how cultural analysis intersects with artmaking, activism, and knowledge production. Readings and seminar activities are designed to help students locate their research—whether scholarly or practice-based—within critical genealogies of the field. Anchored in dialogue and relational inquiry, this course emphasizes both historical depth and contemporary relevance, inviting students to rethink culture as a site of struggle, imagination, and transformation.

CUST 802/902 Cultural Studies Colloquium (6.0 Units) Required Course.

This course is designed to acquaint graduate students with both current work in the field and various forms of professionalization, through a combination of research presentations and participatory workshops. Students are expected to attend regularly and complete some reflective writing activities. Grading is on a Pass/Fail basis.

CUST 805 Research Creation (3.0 Units)

This course is designed to support students whose intellectual approach combines creative and academic research practices. The course will value the development of knowledge and innovation through artistic practice, scholarly investigation, and experimentation. Please note that this course is offered primarily as a methods course for Research-Creation practitioners, and the main method of evaluation is the production of Research-Creation work.

Research-Creation is a “mode of inquiry” and active engagement within experimental processes, “an event of doing research from inside a speculative middle” (Springgay). In contrast to working toward a finished research product, for example, a monograph or an art object, Research-Creation produces multiple varied outputs with each component carrying equal weight. It is grounded in creative approaches, exploration, and diverse methodologies that experientially emerge through the doing of “theory/thinking” (Springgay).

This course investigates Research-Creation from decolonial, feminist, anti-racist, critical disability, queer, and Indigenous perspectives.

For course time and location, please log into SOLUS. 

CUST 850 Capstone Project (6.0 units)

In this workshop course, MA students will substantially revise or transform work from a previous ���ϳԹ���Դ graduate course with the goal of publication or other dissemination, and produce a reflection on professional development activities pursued throughout the year.

CUST 894 Community-Based Practicum

This course is intended to support a student's MA or PhD research through organizational and social experience gained from involvement with relevant off-campus institutions, organizations, and community groups. A CS faculty member will oversee each placement in collaboration with a member of the relevant organization or group. (Equal to other one-term course offerings, the internships are expected to be the equivalent of 1.5 – 2.0 days of work per week for 12 weeks.) 

Further notes:

Practicum “matches” must be arranged well in advance: students should contact CUST staff by June or July if they wish to do a practicum to confirm availability of supervisor, to consider suitable organizations or groups and liaisons within them, discuss appropriate ways to approach them, etc. We also generally advise a practicum take place in the winter or spring term, rather than fall, the student's first term in the program. 

In some cases students may be able to work with an organization they already know or participate in. In other cases they may need to locate a partner organization/group. In identifying potential matches, students should keep in mind that there is a risk that despite best intentions a practicum can be extractive and overly demanding for the host organization/group. In other situations a practicum may not offer much to the student – if, for example, the organization/group is too small or no liaison is available to mentor the student. A good match will provide rewards to and be manageable for both the student and the organization/group. Any preliminary conversation with a potential match should cover such issues as:

• What would the student’s presence offer the organization/group?
• Is there a person in the organization/group who has the capacity and desire to be the liaison or guide for the student?
• Are there specific tasks or roles in the organization/group that a student could usefully do in a 12 week period?
• What is the student likely to gain from working with this organization? 
• What are likely scholarly frameworks or outputs for this practicum? 

Once an organization/group, a specific liaison within it, and a faculty supervisor are identified, both liaison & supervisor must indicate their agreement in writing before the student can be enrolled in the course. 

The student should meet with the supervisor and the community liaison no later than the first week of classes, ideally together. By the end of the third week of classes, the student must submit a syllabus to the Cultural Studies office, with indication of agreement from supervisor and community liaison.

The syllabus should include (not necessarily under these headings):

• Name and contact information for both supervisor and community liaison
• Mission statement, objectives, or nature of the organization/group
• learning objective(s) of course 
• an account of how they will be attained
• plans or expectations on the part of the organization/group for the student’s roles, responsibilities, or outcomes, and how they will be facilitated and documented
• a proposed reading list if appropriate 
• a statement about how the course will be graded. Ordinarily the course would be evaluated partly on documentation of productive engagement with or contribution to the organization, and partly on a graduate-level reflection on the student’s learning that draws on relevant scholarly literature. It is highly recommended that the student journal throughout the practicum on activities, thoughts, and readings.

CUST 895 Agnes Etherington Practicum

This applied research internship in a professional art museum cultivates understanding of the capacity and disciplinary protocols surrounding research and public presentation of critical cultures within an institutional framework. The focus of the course is a defined research project developed in consultation with the supervising curator and contributing to the Art Centre’s exhibition program or collection development. Practicum students work on-site at the Art Centre 10 hours per week, with additional research hours required. For information on the curatorial direction of our contemporary art program, please refer to . Graduate students with relevant education and/or experience in visual and media art or art history in the Cultural Studies Programs at a Masters or Doctoral level are eligible to apply. Those interested should submit a letter of intent describing their goals and areas of interest, a CV and a transcript of their academic record. Admission will be based on interviews, and is contingent on identification of a research project aligned with student research interests and evolving gallery needs. Applications should be submitted well in advance of the desired semester, usually at the beginning of the previous semester to allow for planning. Practica may take place in the fall, winter or spring/summer semester.​  Please note that practicum courses must be arranged well in advance: do not wait until September.

The possibility exists for students to arrange an individualized Directed Studies course with a faculty member in order to conduct study of a research area not represented in seminars on offer. 

Please note that students should not assume that an instructor will be available to supervise a Directed Studies course, which is additional to required teaching. One scenario that may be workable in the absence of graduate courses in a particular area is for a student to enrol in a Directed Studies course with the instructor of a 400-level undergraduate seminar, which they would attend while completing graduate-level assignments as specified. 

Course codes are as follows:

CUST 990 Directed Studies I
CUST 991 Directed Studies II
CUST 890 Directed Studies I
CUST 891 Directed Studies II

Directed Study learning objectives and materials are often proposed by the student but must be reviewed and developed with the instructor. Like a graduate seminar, a Directed Study course proceeds via a series of meetings throughout the term, with expectations for assignments similar or analogous to those in graduate seminars.

A syllabus must be submitted to custgrad@queensu.ca by Week 3 of term at the latest. It must include

• learning objectives of the course in the context of the student's research background and future plans
• a proposed list of materials to be studied
• a schedule for meetings (could be 12 as per regular course, but might be as few as 4 depending on rationale)
• description of assignments/student responsibilities with weighting and deadlines
• confirmation that both student and instructor agree to the terms presented.