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Let your curiosity lead to new connections in Penn’s Master of Philosophy in Liberal Arts
Designed for inquisitive and creative students who already hold a master’s degree, the Master of Philosophy in Liberal Arts (MPhil) at the University of Pennsylvania is your opportunity to dive into a unique and interdisciplinary topic of your choosing. The degree can be completed in just five courses (up to four in a single discipline) and an independent study dedicated to your final thesis.
This flexible, customizable program allows you to dive deep into an intellectual question or perfect a creative project you’re passionate about through an academic journey unique to you. Choose from over 50 academic disciplines across the University to tailor a curriculum that feeds your curiosity and builds toward your thesis. You might consider exploring where academic disciplines converge with the following course pairings.
Curious about what our visual culture says about us?
Pair ARTH 5050 Picturing Humanity: The Body in Western Art, 1400-Today with CIMS 5000 MLA Proseminar: Food and Film.
If you are pursuing a thesis project focused on how culture is reflected through art, you may be interested in Picturing Humanity: The Body in Western Art, 1400-Today. The course covers representations of the human figure through the ages, across the globe, and in various media. You will examine how the human condition and identity are represented through the human form within different historical contexts while addressing powerful issues such as race, gender, class, beauty, political power, censorship, and control.
To add to your study of the visual arts, culture, and expressions of social expectations, you can take Food and Film. This Proseminar—a small, intensive course that strengthens your research, writing, and critical thinking skills— is designed for more than just cinephiles and foodies. Through examinations of classic food films (such as Babette’s Feast and Tampopo), Hollywood hits, international films, and documentaries, you will sample a full menu of this cinema subgenre. Along the way, you will explore the symbolism of food on the big screen and uncover topics for discussion from climate change to moral and religious messages to the exploration of eating and the self and more.
Want to address global challenges in cultural communication and connection?
Pair ANTH 6859 Cultural Diversity and Global Connections with ENGL 5030 Transnational TV
As our world becomes a closer-knit global community, we encounter differences that can be a challenge to navigate—or that change our perceptions and opinions. If you want to explore how cultural differences shape our interconnected world, this pairing of Proseminar courses could be a good challenge for you.
Cultural Diversity and Global Connections takes an ethnographic approach to the “zones of awkward engagement” that come with multinational cooperation. Efforts to address contemporary global problems, like climate change and refugee welfare, require diverse stakeholders to work together—despite coming from different countries and specialties while holding different concerns, opinions, and degrees of power. Through assessing qualitative data, you will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that can arise during global engagement.
Taking a different perspective on global communication, Transnational TV explores how global television culture has transformed along with changes in communication technology. While some content, like BBC News and telenovelas, has long been consumed by viewers across national borders, more recently, the internet and streaming services have changed how, when, and what we watch. In this course, you will learn how the consumption of television programming inside and outside a nation can impact global issues and discourses.
Your ambition is the curriculum
Course offerings vary from term to term; the above courses illustrate creative pairings to spark your curiosity and represent only a fraction of the interdisciplinary opportunities offered each term through Penn’s Master of Philosophy in Liberal Arts. Available on a full- or part-time basis, with evening and online courses to suit your schedule, this advanced graduate degree opens doors across the University.
Contact our program director, Dr. Christopher Pastore, to schedule an appointment to review your current research and explore your options for pursuing a Master of Philosophy in Liberal Arts at Penn.
(215) 898-7326
lps@sas.upenn.edu
www.upenn.edu/mla-mphil
