The Program in Culture, History, and Theory is interdisciplinary and comparative in method and cross-cultural in scope. Work in CHT integrates knowledge of culture with a grounding in social thought and critical theory. It crosses the conventional boundaries between the humanities and the social sciences and often combines the methods used for text-based research in studies of literature and the arts with field and archival methods drawn from the disciplines of context, such as anthropology and history.

In their teaching and research, faculty and students examine the constitution and representation of culture and history at the same time that they consider ways in which the disciplines themselves have shaped the understanding of culture and history. Students in CHT take coursework on both classical and contemporary theory and acquire the linguistic and cultural competence that will enable them to do systematic and comparative work on culture and society.

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