One of the ILA’s core institutional missions is innovation. Since 1952, it has provided a challenging, interdisciplinary environment where both faculty and students can do what they couldn’t do elsewhere.

Over the past five decades, the Institute has been a place that fostered emergent fields of study and encouraged the practice of new modes of inquiry. Departments at Emory that began or found early homes as concentrations in the ILA include African American Studies, Comparative Literature, Film Studies, and Women’s Studies.

ILA faculty members are currently participating in a wide range of both established and emerging interdisciplinary initiatives including African Studies, European Studies, Health, Science, and Humanities, Medieval Studies, Southern Studies, and Studies in Sexualities.

We also have a long tradition of dedication to public scholarship. Many alumni have put their interdisciplinary degrees to work in museums, foundations, and other public institutions. The ILA has a special relationship with the Center for the Study of Public Scholarship, with the Journalism Program, and with the Office of University-Community Partnerships.

The ILA is also home to the unique Psychoanalytic Studies Program.