About Us

Welcome to the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong.

Mission statements and teaching objectives

If we do not study other cultures, we cannot even understand our own. Texts and cultures, in other words, must be understood relationally. In Comparative Literature, we study culture and literature in their broadest senses, and from international and interdisciplinary perspectives. In both our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, we reach beyond any single national culture to explore relations between various texts, cultures and contexts. We aim to cultivate students' critical thinking by introducing different theoretical and philosophical approaches, as well as by examining the complex interactions between different forms of texts within and between different cultures and societies. We are also engaged in fostering new directions in the field of comparative literary and cultural studies.

Our courses study a wide range of texts in terms of form, content and context. Students learn to read culture by analyzing literary texts and other forms of writing, films, and other socio-cultural phenomena, from the city and its multiple spaces and communities to the media and popular culture, and in a range of national and international contexts. Specific emphasis will be placed on the significance of historical knowledge to the analysis of culture. Texts are studied in English, though texts in Chinese are used in cross-cultural studies and Hong Kong/Chinese cultural studies.

Prospect

All the courses provide students with interdisciplinary study skills in the Humanities and rigorous training in thinking about the nature of the relationship between culture and society. Through this, students will be trained to develop their analytical and communication skills, and to nurture their sense of responsibility to the world we all live in. Our major provides a strong Liberal Arts education and a basis for professional and graduate study as well as employment across the spectrum of opportunity in the public and private spheres. Many of our graduates have taken up jobs in fields such as civil service, teaching, journalism, arts management, as well as culture and media industry. Some have continued to pursue an advanced degree in Hong Kong while others have sought further academic studies overseas, for example, pursing Master of Arts degrees in the U.K. and the United States. Our outstanding postgraduate students have successfully obtained admissions to read doctoral degrees in prestigious institutions abroad, for example, Stanford University, UCLA, UC Berkeley and the New School in the U.S. as well as University of London in the U.K. and ANU in Australia.

You can find further information about our alumni through this link.

Research strengths and orientations of department members

With an important role to play in the study of literary and cultural texts, we use contemporary critical and cultural theory in the Euro-American traditions to dialogue with emergent forms of culture and discourse in Hong Kong, China, and Asian studies. At present, the research strengths and directions of our current faculty members and research students can be defined in the following ways. Specific details about our faculty members' achievements can be obtained from their own individual websites and short biographies at here.

1. Methodology: With rigorous and substantive training in contemporary literary, cultural and critical theory, we focus on the articulation of the relation between theory and contemporary cultures.

2. Scope and Language: With bilingual proficiency and particularly the ability to research on Chinese-language materials, we do historically informed studies in contemporary cultural topics related to Hong Kong and China.

3. Objects of Study: Our research strengths lie in critical textual analysis of film and literature with outstanding outputs in Chinese-language films. We also participate in the critical inquiry of contemporary forms of culture in connection with Hong Kong, China, Asia and the global world.