Areas of Research

Aesthetics and Media Studies

Aesthetics & Media Studies is one of the core strengths of Romance Studies at Cornell. Research and teaching in media studies concern the various forms of artistic practice and communication in contemporary society, including verbal, aural, visual, and multimedia practice

Critical Studies of Race, Gender and Sexuality

Race, gender, and sexuality figure as both critical modes of analysis and historical objects of inquiry.

Critical Theory

Romance Studies participates in a longstanding tradition at Cornell of scholarship that bridges literary theory and criticism with philosophical approaches to literature, language and culture.

Early Modern Studies

Early Modern Studies brings together some of Cornell’s foremost scholars working on a generalized crisis of European civilization that arose in a long historical period (1550-1700) with particular repercussions in Spain, France and Italy.

Literary Cartographies

Literary Cartographies trace and analyze the ebbs and flows of people, cultures, languages, and ideas that span colonial contexts, cosmopolitan routes, and so-called ‘peripheral’ spaces around the globe.

Medieval Studies

Medieval Studies in the Department of Romance Studies encompass the interdisciplinary investigation of a diverse set of cultures of Western Europe spanning from the 7th or 8th centuries through the 15th in dialogue with Mediterranean cultures, such as those of Byzantium, Sicily, and Al-Andalus.

Political Thought

A number of scholars in the department explore how the political is thought about today.