International Studies - Literature

International Studies majors are required to demonstrate basic proficiency in a modern foreign language.  This can be accomplished in one of the following ways:

• Completion of the fourth quarter college-level foreign language course
• Proficiency Exam
• AP Language or Literature Exam
• IB Language Exam
• SAT II Language Exam
• Graduation from high school outside of the United States

All courses are 4-units, upper-division and must be taken for a letter grade of C- or better.

• INTL 101. Culture and Society in International Perspective
• INTL 102. Economics, Politics, and International Change
• INTL 190. Seminar in International Studies (Prerequisites: INTL 101 and INTL 102)

INTL 102 may be taken before INTL 101. Both INTL 101 and INTL 102 must be completed before INTL 190. The INTL core courses must be taken at UC San Diego. 

Disclaimer: For IS-Literature majors whose first quarter at UCSD was prior to Fall 2023, please refer to the archived Fall 2018 - Summer 2023 Disciplinary Focus course list (see below) in addition to the following list. Courses accepted for the major on the archived list and the current list will be accepted for majors whose first quarter was before Fall 2023. 

All eight (8) courses must be 4 units, upper-division and taken for a letter grade of C- or better.

Eight (8) upper-division courses must be selected from the following:

• LTEN. Literatures in English
  • LTEN 142. British Novel: 1830-1890*
  • LTEN 144. British Novel: 1890-present*
  • LTEN 189. Twentieth-Century Postcolonial Literatures
• LTWL. Literatures of the World
  • LTWL 140. Novel and History in the Third World
  • LTWL 150. Modernity and Literature
  • LTWL 157. Iranian Film
  • LTWL 160. Women and Literature* (Rotating topic – by Petition)
• LTAM. Literatures of the Americas
  • LTAM 110. Latin American Literature in Translation
  • LTAM 111. Comparative Caribbean Discourse
  • LTAM 130. Reading North by South
• LTCS. Literature/Cultural Studies
  • LTCS 130. Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Class, and Culture* (Rotating topic – by Petition)
  • LTCS 131. Topics in Queer Cultures/Queer Subcultures* (Rotating topic – by Petition)
  • LTCS 133. Globalization and Culture
  • LTCS 134. Culture and Revolution
  • LTCS 141. Special Topics: Race and Empire
  • LTCS 165. Special Topics: Politics of Food* (Rotating topic – by Petition)
• All course listed under:
  • LTAF. African Literatures
  • LTCH. Chinese Literature
  • LTEA. East Asian Literatures
  • LTEU. European and Eurasian Literatures
  • LTGK. Greek Literature
  • LTFR. Literatures in French
  • LTGM. Literatures in German
  • LTIT. Literatures in Italian
  • LTKO. Korean Literature
  • LTLA. Latin Literature
  • LTRU. Russian Literature
    • With exception of LTRU 104A, B, C
  • LTSP. Literatures in Spanish
    • With exception of LTSP 151,154,160,162,166

A maximum of two (2) courses selected from the following with approval from the International Studies Program

• LTTH. Literature/Theory courses selected from
  • LTTH 110. History of Criticism
  • LTTH 115. Introduction to Critical Theory
  • LTTH 150. Topics in Critical Theory
• LTCS. Literature/Cultural Studies
  • LTCS 100. Theories and Methods in Cultural Studies
  • LTCS 102. Practicing Cultural Studies
  • LTCS 120. Historical Perspectives on Culture

* Newly added course. Please send VAC message to ISP for degree audit update

All three (3) courses must be upper-division, 4 units and taken for a letter grade of C- or better.

• Courses must be selected from the approved Interdisciplinary Elective Course List 
  • Note: All courses must be selected from departments outside of the disciplinary focus department.

Course Pre-requisites: Students are responsible for meeting all departmental pre-requisite courses.  Please refer to the General Catalog for additional information.

At least three (3) of the eleven (11) Disciplinary Focus and Interdisciplinary Elective courses must focus on one region.

• Note: This requirement is an overlap requirement comprised of courses that count for both the Disciplinary Focus or Interdisciplinary Elective courses and the Regional Requirement.
• Regional Requirement courses may come all from within the Disciplinary Focus, Interdisciplinary Electives, or a combination of the two.
• Possible regions include: Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America or the Middle East.