Central & East European Studies/Scottish Literature

Central and East European studies combined with Scottish literature is a degree that ranges across some of the most culturally fertile and politically turbulent territories in European literary and political life. Scottish literature is a rich and distinctive tradition, encompassing Gaelic and Scots-language writing alongside work in English, spanning mediaeval poetry, Enlightenment thought, Romantic verse, nineteenth-century fiction, the Scottish Literary Renaissance and contemporary writing that has engaged powerfully with questions of national identity, class and landscape. Central and East European studies brings a complementary focus on the political and cultural transformations of a region that has experienced war, revolution, the collapse of communism and the subsequent upheavals of populism, the Russo-Ukrainian war and ongoing instability across the post-Soviet space.

At the University of Glasgow you will study across four years of full-time study, including a year abroad that deepens your engagement with both a Central or East European cultural context and the comparative literary and political perspectives the degree develops. You will work across a wide geographical and linguistic range, from the Baltic to the Balkans and from Central Europe to the former Soviet Union, while also developing deep expertise in the specifically Scottish literary tradition that Glasgow is particularly well placed to teach.

Graduates work in journalism, broadcasting, education, arts administration, cultural organisations, government, policy research, international organisations, publishing and the heritage sector. The combination of literary expertise and area studies knowledge is particularly valued in contexts dealing with Scottish or East European culture, politics or identity, and the analytical and communication skills the degree develops transfer across a wide range of professional environments. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in literature, Scottish studies, East European studies, cultural policy or translation.