MA CRITICAL STUDIES

TAKING AN EXPANSIVE 21ST CENTURY VIEW OF CRITICAL THEORY TO INCLUDE CRITICAL RACE THEORY, FEMINIST THEORY, POST-COLONIAL THEORY, QUEER THEORY, AND OTHER EMANCIPATORY PROJECTS.

The two-year MA in Critical Studies program combines critical theory with the practice of creative research, so students learn not only to critique but also to intervene, reimagine, and remake. The program is designed to help students develop modes of thinking, writing, and creating that cross disciplinary boundaries.

Critical Studies investigates the role critical theory and critical pedagogy can play in transforming institutions and ideologies. Faculty fields of expertise include queer, feminist, and transgender studies, critical race theory, cultural studies, contemporary art criticism, disability studies, environmental criticism, performance studies, film studies, literary criticism, and creative writing.

DR. SHAWNA LIPTON

Chairwomen

DR. SHAWNA LIPTON

Shawna Lipton received her Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Theory from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has been an invited scholar at the Time-Based Art Festival, and collaborated with the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art on events for World AIDS Day and the Sex Worker’s Art Show. Shawna produced the short film A Normal Girl, which screened in the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 and won Best Short Documentary at the United Nations Association Film Festival in 2020. Her critical writing has been published in New Cinemas and QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. Her scholarly interests include critical pedagogy, close reading, and gender and sexuality studies.

Studies program have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees, Fulbright fellowships, nonprofit work, arts administration, curatorial careers, teaching, and public scholarship.

The required course sequence builds from identifying key questions and issues in critical theory and cultural studies to providing students with the methodological, research, and writing skills they need to ask good questions and to investigate their self-selected areas of inquiry in a thesis project of their own design. The thesis writing occurs during the second year, resulting in both academic research and opportunities for public scholarship based on the student’s professional interests.

Students are supported by faculty and mentors to present research at academic conferences and symposia, facilitate public talks and workshops, publish writing, and develop plans to continue their intellectual and cultural work upon graduation. Graduates of the Critical

PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP AND PUBLISHING

Public-facing work is a priority forthe Critical Studies program. Theprogram prepares students forpublishing art writing and criticismin local publications such as VariableWest, Art and About PDX, Oregon ArtsWatch, and national publications suchas Hyperallergic and the LA Reviewof Books. Through professionalpractice coursework, internships,and mentorships, students pursuea range of publishing and publicscholarship opportunities.

THESIS WRITING RETREAT

The Critical Studies cohortwill have the opportunity toattend artist residencies suchas the collective Thesis WritingRetreat—a five-day intensive ofstudy, dialogue, and community- in the beauty and solitude ofSisters, Oregon, surrounded byDeschutes National Forest.

STUDY ABROAD

Spend a semester studying abroad through our Office of International Education while earning credits toward your degree.