The Graduate Program in Community Studies in Humanities is a graduate degree program offering M.A. and Ph.D. tracks at the Humanities Institute of Chonnam National University. The program provides advanced training for students who want to study community as a central humanistic question-how people live together, how relationships and communication shape collective life, and how communities respond to conflict, exclusion, and social change.

Rooted in the humanities and informed by interdisciplinary perspectives, the program integrates scholarship in literature, history, and philosophy with fields such as family studies, women's and gender studies, regional studies, peace studies, and ecology. Students build strong conceptual foundations while also developing practice-oriented competencies that can be applied across families, schools, neighborhoods, cities, and broader civic settings.

Graduates are prepared to conduct interdisciplinary research on community and to translate humanistic insight into applied work in both academic and public contexts.

To educate researchers and practitioners who can contribute to a humanities-oriented society by strengthening community life and developing responsible, creative approaches to living together.

• 人文(Humanities) : humanistic values and critical inquiry as foundations for living well
• 共同體(Community) : relational forms of collective life shaped through people, institutions, and everyday practices
• 學(Interdisciplinary study) : scholarship grounded in literature, history, and philosophy, in dialogue with fields such as gender studies, peace studies, and ecology

Graduates of the program are prepared to:

• conduct interdisciplinary research on community and communicate it to academic and public audiences
• translate humanistic insight into applied work across families, schools, neighborhoods, cities, and wider civic settings
• work with families and communities as organizers, activists, facilitators, and civic leaders, advancing humanities-based community discourse through field-based practice and cross-sector collaboration

Interdisciplinary foundation in community studies

Core coursework covers key concepts and frameworks in community theory, research methods, community organizing, and community-based practice.

Learning communities and active networking

The program supports student-led study groups and provides opportunities to connect campus learning with field-based networks and partners.

Thesis and dissertation supervision (M.A. and Ph.D.)

Students receive close supervision from an interdisciplinary faculty team, including affiliated professors and external faculty mentors across diverse areas of interdisciplinary research.

Flexible academic format

Courses are offered in day and evening formats, with intensive sessions and field-linked workshop-style classes.

Community-based practitioners, organizers, activists, and field leaders
(families, schools, local communities, and cities)

Graduates may work in the public sector and community organizations as educators, community coordinators, urban revitalization practitioners, and local community organizers. They may also serve as facilitators, mediators, moderators, and trainers supporting communication, participation, and conflict resolution in community settings.

Researchers and scholars in community studies

Graduates may pursue academic and research careers as professors and researchers conducting humanities-based, interdisciplinary community research.

Professionals in humanities education and cultural curation

Graduates may work as humanities educators and program designers, humanities-informed counselors, interpreters and guides for humanities-based programs, humanities content creators, cultural curators, and specialists in local cultural content, festivals, arts, and place-based public art initiatives.