About Us
The Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies promotes the critical study of social and cultural processes and products, texts, and interaction. We offer BA degrees in Communication Studies and Literatures in English; a Minor in Cultural Studies; MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in Communication Studies, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies; and an MFA in Creative Writing. Our multidisciplinary department is committed to advancing theory and methodology in and across these fields and creating a student-centred learning environment where students and faculty engage in teaching and learning as an academic community.
We develop strategies for interaction between creative processes and academic research particularly in our Practice-Based degrees in Cultural Studies and MFA in Creative Writing. All programmes in LCCS serve local, Caribbean communities through research and outreach while contributing to global debates and paradigms, and we seek to equip our students with critical thinking skills, confidence in independent research, fluency in academic and creative expression, and a growing sense of social responsibility.
Mission, aims, and objectives of the Department:
The mission of the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies is to offer invigorating, creative and academically sound programmes designed to produce students who can think critically, communicate effectively, solve problems and interpret human experience with strong analytical, interpretive and expressive skills. We are committed to advancing theory and methods in Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies through the decolonisation of knowledge, social development and applied research.
Our aims are:
• To deliver sound academic programmes that emphasise the competent and creative delivery of material.
• To foster the development of critical thinking, analytical and expressive skills. • To provide learner-centred teaching environments that encourage independent thought and research.
• To encourage the appreciation of Caribbean, ancestral, diasporic cultures and other cultural heritages, through an engagement with local and global literatures and other cultural expressions.
• To foreground Caribbean perspectives on global literature, cultural expression and cultural practices.
• To analyses structures of power and the ways in which they intersect with identities to produce ways of life.
• To encourage the development of cross disciplinary thought, teaching and research. • To nurture an awareness of critical social issues and a commitment to social responsibility
Our objectives are:
• To have students who have a solid academic background in their respective disciplines (Literatures in English, Cultural Studies, Communication Studies)
• Have well-developed skills in oral and written communication.
• Produce sound academic arguments, applying interpretive and analytical skills. • Can engage in independent
• Can function effectively in a range of professions, including teaching, media, journalism, law, business, and creative writing.
• Are socially aware individuals and critical thinkers
Communications Studies
The Communication Studies Programme offers a unique opportunity to study the theory and practice of human communication. It offers an opportunity to apply communication approaches in studying new and emerging communication technologies and their social interactions. On the theoretical and practical front, students are exposed to the core theories and activities that colour the field, thus being provided with a complex and in-depth understanding of communication. The undergraduate experience promotes an inter-disciplinary approach to learning a wide array of theoretical and practical skills. The postgraduate experience draws on different branches of knowledge to allow students to make the climb to a higher plane of understanding and abilities. It allows students to interrogate the cultural landscape where various media and communication fields are utilised and develop a theoretical framework.
Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies is an emerging discipline that seeks to understand the complexity of culture and its political uses. The central aim of the postgraduate programme in Cultural Studies is to promote the discipline at UWI as an important area of study and research. We aim to stimulate academic discourse and promote understanding of Caribbean culture and identity. The contemporary force and relevance of Cultural Studies is that it has a wide vocabulary for the accommodation of the comparative understanding of different societies.
Literatures in English
The aim of the Literatures in English section is to provide a creative and academically sound programme of teaching and research designed to produce students who are capable of critical thinking as well as analysis and production of literary expressions. We offer stimulating courses on literary expressions from all over the world. Our real strength, however, is Anglophone Caribbean Literature in which our research and scholarship is regionally and internationally recognised. Our teaching system is based on lectures by highly qualified scholars, providing an academic framework for further study, and tutorials which allow more intimate discussions about the things we love most - books! Our outreach activities and programmes aim to promote awareness of literary and social issues within the University community and in relation to the general public.
Creative Writing
The MFA in Creative Writing at the University of The West Indies is an opportunity for writers to dive deeper into their craft. On a journey of practice based research and reflection, our students expand their knowledge, gain extra skills, take their writing, practice and teaching to new levels. With a concentration on craft along with reading and research our writers emerge with a better understanding of their own practice and what they are capable of producing. The MFA is open to those who are writing prose fiction - short story, novel, novella, in any genre - and poetry.
