Certificate Literature and Culture

The graduate certificate in literature and culture offers an education in the intersection between literature written in English—either originally or in translation—with human culture broadly considered. The certificate will give high school teachers the credential to teach preparatory coursework worthy of college credit at UNO and other universities. And it is also designed as a continuing education option for anyone wishing to study literature at a post-baccalaureate level for personal enrichment. The certificate can be earned as part of the larger MA in English at UNO, and it can also be applied toward completion of that larger program retroactively.

The certificate will teach:

• literature of every period, from ancient to modern, in a variety of thematic and historical contexts;
• cultural encounters captured imaginatively on the pages of the literary text;
• the relationship of a culture to the literature produced within it, both harmonious and discordant;
• theories of literary effects on the course of human culture and history; and
• literature as a celebrated artifact of human hope, critique, and beauty.

Although applicants need no formal training in literature to enroll, they should expect to be immersed in a professional discipline of literary study with a research component. One especially designated course required for the certificate will provide training for students in the methodology of literary research.