Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies

The SOAS Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies (CCLPS) exists to promote the disciplines of Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies and Postcolonial Studies in relation to Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The centre is housed in and administered by the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, but as a centre dedicated to interdisciplinary study it draws its membership and intellectual diversity from across the SOAS community. The centre provides an administrative and intellectual home for the School’s MA Comparative Literature, MA Cultural Studies and MA Postcolonial Studies, as well as the MPhil/PhD programmes in these three disciplines, and our seminar series and other events draw in scholars from across and beyond these fields.

Membership of the SOAS Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies is open to all academic staff and students at SOAS with an academic interest in the disciplines of Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies and Postcolonial Studies.

• Meet the members

"The CCLPS has been leading cutting-edge research on Asian, African and Middle Eastern cultures, literatures and languages through various projects that interest a large number of staff in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics and other SOAS Departments.

"Such discussions have been facilitated through seminars, workshops and international conferences organised regularly at the CCLPS and through joint PhD supervision and joint funding applications.

"These projects include for example among others, the question of non-European epistemology and knowledge production and consumption in Asia, Africa and the Middle East; the formation of literary history, genres and canonicity in contexts beyond the West; the roles of popular cultures and the CCLPS flagship project on World Literature, which has placed SOAS on the map of world-leading institutions with its innovative and non-Eurocentric focus on Asian, African and Middle Eastern literatures.

"The CCLPS has benefited from its members’ valuable expertise in the languages and cultures of Asia, Africa and the Middle East; an expertise that attracts high calibre PhD applicants, visiting fellows and researchers.

"CCLPS PhD students gain fantastic professional experience every year as they organise our CCLPS Postgraduate Annual conference which attracts large Postgraduate communities within and outside SOAS. They also benefit from attending and participating in our wide range of regular seminars, lectures and conferences."

- Dr Keya Anjaria

Members of the Centre for Cultural, Literary, and Postcolonial Studies conduct research on a diverse array of topics relating to the centre's mission. These are best explored through the pages of individual centre members.

The centre hosts the European Research Council-funded project Multilingual Locals and Significant Geographies: for a New Approach to World Literature (2016–2021), led by Professor Francesca Orsini.

The centre is also associated with the London Intercollegiate Network for Comparative Studies. To join the mailing list for events, please send us an email.