Research and teaching in the humanities is increasingly inter- or cross-disciplinary, and students are encouraged to make themselves aware of the courses and opportunities offered by these programs in the College. One sign of the centrality of the Department of English to the liberal arts mission of Miami University is the extent to which its faculty and students are engaged with the affiliated programs in the College of Arts and Science. A number of faculty have affiliate status in one or more of these programs:

American Studies

Traditionally, the field of American Studies has been closely linked with Departments of English. Early scholars of American Studies embraced Lionel Trilling’s notion that culture was best expressed through great ideas and literature. Although the field has long since abandoned this focus on highbrow culture, it still relies heavily on the methods and theories associated with literary analysis. English students interested in American Studies will thus find themselves on familiar ground. Because of overlapping courses and content areas, English majors interested in American literature and its offsets, African American literature, Asian American literature, and Latino/a literature, would have little difficulty adding a minor or second major in American Studies.

Asian/Asian American Studies

The Asian/Asian American Studies Program at Miami prepares students to become informed and engaged global citizens of the twenty-first century by offering transnational and transcultural perspectives on important issues affecting and connecting Asians and Asian Americans. Through interdisciplinary curriculum as well as campus and community advocacy, it investigates the political, socio-cultural, historical, ethno-linguistic, artistic, and religious practices that Asian nations and Asian American communities in the United States and in the diaspora engage and embody. Joining with cognate programs, centers, and departments on campus, Asian/Asian American Studies promotes innovative modes of thinking and acting that re-imagine the existing relationships regarding “Asia” and “Asian American” and provides a course of study that turns divisions and conflicts into productive ways of engaging with sameness and difference in our increasingly interdependent world.

Black World Studies

Black World Studies is concerned with people of African descent in a global context, both in Africa and its Diaspora. It is especially concerned with both historical and contemporary production of Black Experience(s). It deals with the geographical, cultural, political, economic, psychological, literary and communicative aspects of the Black experience, globally. The Program stresses the changing construction of race and its implications in global relations of power and inequality. BWS is interdisciplinary in its approach to understanding the Black World experience. The emphasis of BWS is on Africa and its Diaspora. The critical perspective of the program prepares students for the diversity of the global community in which we live.

Emerging Technology in Business + Design

The Department of Emerging Technology in Business + Design (formerly AIMS) allows students to supplement traditional disciplinary learning at Miami University with interdisciplinary coursework in digital media. For example, when you take a degree in Professional Writing in the English Department, you can also take courses in the IMS minor, the IMS co-major, or just IMS’s interdisciplinary capstone. Combining Professional Writing and IMS courses gives you a solid background in interactive media technology, writing, design, and team-based learning.

Film Studies

The Film Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary co-major that teaches students to critically examine cinema as an art form shaped by cultural forces. Within a specific context, students gain knowledge of national film cultures, film history, aesthetics, and theory (including auteur, feminist, psychoanalytic, queer, and critical race theories). Specializing in small classes from departments across the campus, our program stresses developing critical reasoning skills, student-driven discussion, research, and critical writing.

Latin American Studies

The minor in Latin American Studies is an interdisciplinary program open to all majors at Miami University. It aims to introduce students to Latin America from the different but mutually enriching perspectives of the humanities, social sciences and physical sciences in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the region’s cultures, economies, social and political systems, literature, history, and geography. Service learning with Latino/a and Latin American communities in Ohio and diverse study abroad opportunities promote the active application of interdisciplinary and international knowledge to issues relevant to students’ lives and vital to today’s changing world.

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program (WGS) at Miami University is a dynamic, interdisciplinary program that investigates how our lives are affected by gender race, class, age, sexuality, religion, (dis)ability, gender identity, and nationality. WGS emphasizes the importance of understanding gender and sexuality as elements of wider social and political structures of power, knowledge, experience, culture, embodiedness, intimacy, and labor.

In WGS, students find an active and supportive community, close interaction with faculty, opportunities to take on leadership roles, and an academic program that allows them to cross the traditional disciplinary boundaries. With 10 core faculty members and around 50 affiliates, the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at Miami University integrates expertise in virtually every field of human endeavor.