Institute of English Studies
PhD in English
The Doctor of Philosophy in English is one of the oldest PhD English programmes offered anywhere in Pakistan, and stands second to none. Providing the researchers with an unrivalled academic experience, our PhD English programme is designed to include in-depth research training and original contribution in the selected field of study. The candidates are expected to have expertise in their areas of interest and come up with innovative research ideas, which either significantly add to the existing scholarship, or bring forward debates of global concern.
With a vibrant faculty- a mix of experience and youth, the Institute launched a full-fledged PhD programme in 2004. The Institute offers an array of choices in emerging interdisciplinary fields of research ranging among Cultural Studies, American Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Feminist Theory, and South-Asian Studies. Keeping in context the history of the Global South, of which Pakistan is a part, we are particularly fostering research pertaining to Pakistan’s geopolitical and cultural imagery; and in the recent past, have produced theses on Partition Literature, Chinese Literature, and Indigenous Poetics. However, we equally welcome research in European canonical and modern literature and offer a variegated assemblage of coursework on European philosophical aesthetics, literary history, and critical theory. Altogether, our PhD programme promotes diversity, indignity, and eclecticism.
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Research Methods for English Studies
Course Instructor: Dr. Khurshid Alam
This course aims to introduce advanced methods of inquiry in literary studies. Human beings think about the world through narratives. The world, the story and the human mind are all connected in a confirmation loop. The world makes sense through the narrative structure and stories structure the way the mind orders time. The same narrative arc is then used in the way people and characters tell their life stories. The contents of this course will help the students to engage with the literary and cultural narratives to see how stories help the researcher unpack human experiences and their social realities.
Citation Styles and Library
Course Instructor: Dr. Shamaila Dodhy
The course introduces a range of Citation styles and softwares used in libraries to facilitate researchers. The students are taught to apply varied Citation Styles in short research papers which are minutely examined by the course instructor. They are made to practice in-text citations, as well as, documentation of the Bibliography. The course also focuses on the use and application of knowledge in literary works. The course emphasizes every aspect of research writing, from selecting a topic to submitting a complete paper. It is a comprehensive, up-to-date practice of research and writing.
Critical Theory II
Course Instructor: Dr. Aamir Aziz
This course will introduce you to the field of literary theory, a central component of contemporary studies in English and world literature. As you progress through this course, you will gain knowledge of the various premises and methods available to you as a critical reader of literature. You will identify and engage with key questions that have animated - and continue to animate - theoretical discussions among literary scholars and critics, including issues pertaining to ideology, cultural value, the patriarchal and colonial biases of Western culture and literature, and more. The structure of this course is historically based, arranged as a genealogy of theoretical paradigms, beginning in the early 20th century - when literary theory first developed as a formal discipline - and following the evolution of literary theory into the present day. From text-centric Russian formalism to contemporary gynocriticism and trauma theory, you will explore the basic principles and preeminent texts that have defined many of the major critical debates surrounding literature over the past hundred years.
Critical Theory I
Course Instructor: Dr. Khurshid Alam
This course aims at developing a broader understanding of philosophical, cultural, and literary narratives that have shaped the world around us. The qualitative research paradigms in the contemporary world draw their strength from a multidisciplinary approach towards the analysis of literary and cultural narratives. Thus, the course has been designed to familiarize the students with complex academic debates taking place in global academia. Through this course, the students will be able to problematize the literary and cultural debates taking place in society; they will be able to produce knowledge, which would be helpful to articulate Pakistani voices in global academics. Furthermore, the course will develop a multidisciplinary outlook on indigenous literary narratives produced in English and local languages.
Qualitative Research Writing Skills
Course Instructor: Dr. Rizwan Akhtar
The title of the course betrays its titular rubrics since the course will use certain reading contents which are chosen to enhance analytical/critical/theorizing skills apart from engaging with modern contemporary texts both literary, and non-fictional, and filmic. The rationale behind this readjustment is to open a dialogue on/through texts involving ideological and critical discursiveness thanks to the rhetoric of globalization and a counter- insistence seeking a return to indigenous. The new wave of racial tensions in North America/ Global North has repercussions for all therefore there is a dire need to foster an argument on recent events of history. 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.
Research methods, dimensions and paradigms
Course Instructor: Dr. Aamir Aziz
This course will provide insight into central methodological issues within the field of literature studies. A primary goal is to give students an understanding of the diversity of methods that characterizes literary criticism. The course aims to train students in developing research questions and to assess the applicability and relevance of different research methods, thus providing them with the foundation for developing individual projects. The course will provide students with an understanding of the connections between critical perspectives and methodological approaches.