Bard’s Foreign Languages, Cultures, and Literatures Program (FLCL) is predicated upon the idea that the foreign languages currently taught at Bard constitute a distinct academic field of study not just within Bard but also in the context of Bard's increasing importance as a global liberal-arts institution.
What We Do
Our Mission
Teaching students a unique set of analytical tools, Bard's Foreign Languages, Cultures, and Literatures Program (FLCL) locates itself at the site where self- and other-understanding are thematized and analyzed in a unique and fundamental way, namely in and through a non–English language and its literary manifestations. Inseparably linked, the study of a foreign language and its literature engages the students in a cross-cultural dialogue and prepares them meaningfully to participate in the global community. Based on this shared mode of critical and creative inquiry, FLCL brings the existing language programs into a larger collaborative framework that strengthens their bond while recognizing each program's curricular particularities.