Department of Gender Studies
Program Objectives
The rationale and design of the Ph.D. Program in Comparative Gender Studies are theoretical, methodological and practical. They are based on the department’s overarching scholarly and educational goals as elaborated in the Statement of Purpose.The program aims to combine when appropriate a theoretical and empirical inquiry into gender. Its activities and courses facilitate the examination of diversified patterns of social and cultural change and allow interested students the opportunity to focus on Central-Eastern Europe in particular. Whatever the regional or textual focus students choose, the program helps them understand gender in terms of local, national, and transnational influences and articulations. Additionally, the program’s courses and activities are structured to investigate gender as it intersects with other significant social categories such as race, nationalism, ethnicity, class and sexuality. In general, the Ph.D. program at CEU helps students analyze gender in an historically and culturallycontextualized manner with consideration of institutions, social processes, and other salient material conditions.
Understanding the way gender functions in the symbolic and social order requires new epistemologies and methodologies. The Ph.D. Program in Comparative Gender Studies aims to empower students to combine competence in traditional disciplinary skills with the formulation of new questions arising from hitherto marginalized perspectives and areas of study. Students receive methodological and epistemological training that encourages them to broaden the range of materials and information they consider and the scope of questions they ask, while maintaining the highest standard of scholarly quality. Students may and do choose a variety of epistemological and methodological approaches for their research. However, the department introduces them to comparative and integrative research strategies in the required course, “Uses of Comparative and Integrative Perspectives for Women’s and Gender Studies” in the first year of coursework. Students may also choose from a variety of elective courses that provide models for and training in interdisciplinary research approaches.
For inquiries about the content of the Ph.D. programs, please contact the Director of the Doctoral Program.
Elissa Helms - Director of Doctoral Studies
Eva Fodor - acting Director of Doctoral Studies
Questions concerning applying to the program can be answered by visiting the Ph.D. Admissions page on this website (see below) or by contacting the staff person who oversees the Ph.D. program:
Natalia Versegi
External Programs and Ph.D. Coordinator
View the Ph.D. application requirements.
Master Program(s)