Off-Campus Studies – English

The Carleton English Department offers off-campus study programs in London every year, in Ireland every other year, and in California occasionally. A recent addition is the program to Mumbai and Seoul. For a glance into the sights and sounds of one night of the program, read this blog post by Joanne Chung ’26.

Visit the program pages to learn more about these popular programs, including interviews with the faculty directors, information on upcoming programs, and archives from past programs. For a student perspective, visit The Second Laird Miscellany to see the past editors’ reflections on their off-campus study in London.

Recent and upcoming programs include:

Living London: Literature, Performance, Culture (Winter 2025)

London is a city of many worlds. Shaped by histories of empire and migration, London is a multiethnic metropolis and an international hub for literature and the arts. By engaging with literary works, an unparalleled theater scene, and London itself as living text, we will immerse ourselves in this dynamic global metropolis.

Ireland: Place in the Literary & Spiritual Imaginations (Summer 2025)

From Joyce’s Dublin to the holy mountains and islands of its West Coast, Ireland teems with storied places that inspire literary and spiritual imaginations even as they embody historical memory of colonization and resistance. This joint English and Religion program explores Irish placemaking through literature, walking ancient pilgrimage routes, attending performances, and immersing in local Irish culture and politics.

Living London: London Lives (Winter 2026)

London has been the vibrant nurturing ground of creative lives and communities for over two millennia. A multiethnic metropolis, it is a dynamic international hub for the arts. We will explore the city as home and inspiration for the creators of brilliant art, music, film, theater, and literature as we visit their studios, study and attend their works, and engage with their lives and creative processes.

Film, Literature, and Culture in Mumbai and Seoul (Spring 2026)

Mumbai and Seoul are both centers of global finance and industry and also two of the most culturally vibrant cities in the world. The Hindi cinema industry centered in Mumbai is massively popular both within India and outside. Korean cinema and popular culture in turn may have been a later to arrive on the global scene but is now arguably even more significant in its global reach, popularity and influence, not least in India. On this off-campus study program students will explore various cultural facets of both cities and study their representations in and contributions to film, popular culture and literature. We will examine the connections and differences between the globally popular productions of these two cities and the cultural and historical contexts they emerge from.