Overview

The Romance Languages and Literatures (RLL) interdepartmental PhD program is a joint venture by the Departments of French, Italian Studies, and Spanish and Portuguese, which offers students a unique opportunity to work with distinguished faculty in all three departments as they take advantage of Berkeley's unmatched resources for comparative study of the literatures and linguistics of the Romance language family.

The program is a doctorate in three Romance languages and literatures taught in the Departments of French, Italian Studies, and Spanish and Portuguese, and prepared with emphasis in one of the languages (referred to as the “Primary” language). 

While RLL is an independent program, students are normally affiliated with the department of their primary language, which is referred to as the “Host” department.  Students may opt for either the Literature track or the Linguistics track.

The mission of the RLL program is: (1) To take a multilingual approach to language and literature; (2) To combine literary and philological/linguistic study; (3) To offer flexibility in the design of students’ programs: the unity of a common heritage and common evolution of the Romance family allows diversity in topics and approaches; and (4) To train Romance scholars of linguistics, literature and culture who can take jobs in Romance-language departments, single-language departments, or Linguistics departments.

Undergraduate Program

There is no undergraduate program in Romance Languages and Literatures.

Graduate Programs

Romance Languages and Literatures : PhD, with emphases in French, Italian, or Spanish
 

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Faculty and Instructors

Faculty

Milton M. Azevedo, Professor. Linguistics, Spanish, Portuguese.
Research Profile

Emilie L. Bergmann, Professor. Early modern Spain, colonial Spanish America, Spanish literature, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, visual studies, gender and sexuality studies.
Research Profile

Natalia Brizuela, Associate Professor. Spanish, Portuguese.
Research Profile

Eglantine L. Colon, Assistant Professor.

Ivonne Del Valle, Associate Professor. Colonial period in México, internal colonialism in Mexico, Jesuits (Loyola, Acosta, Baegert), Baroque and Enlightenment from a colonial perspective, technology and environment, drainage of Mexico City lakes, Christianity and Pre-Hispanic religions.
Research Profile

Daylet Dominguez, Assistant Professor. Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Literatures and Cultures.
Research Profile

Suzanne Guerlac, Professor. Nationalism, literature, philosophy, 19th- and 20th-century literature, myths of literature and theory, contemporary cultural criticism.
Research Profile

Mairi Mclaughlin, Associate Professor. French linguistics, Italian linguistics, romance linguistics, translation studies, history of French, History of Italian, History of the Romance Languages, language contact, History of the Press, Speech Reporting.
Research Profile

Gavriel Moses, Associate Professor. Violence, body, comparative literature, Italian studies, film studies, English literatures, philology, film making, Italian cinema history & genres, auteur effects in Antonioni Kieslowski & Rohmer, cultural objects in cinema, novels on film, love.
Research Profile

Diego Pirillo, Assistant Professor. Renaissance Europe, History of Books and Reading, history of political thought, History of Historiography.
Research Profile

Alexandra Saum Pascual, Assistant Professor. Spain, electronic literature, contemporary literature, digital humanities, new media.
Research Profile

Candace Slater, Professor. Spanish, Portuguese.
Research Profile

Thoraya S. Tlatli, Associate Professor. Francophone literature, colonial and postcolonial studies, literature and psychoanalysis, twentieth-century continental philosophy.
Research Profile