Building Your Own Major: MacKay ’26 Combines Poetry and Critical Theory

After arriving at Emerson as a Theatre and Performance major, Camilla MacKay ’26 realized her academic interests stretched beyond the stage. Through Emerson’s Interdisciplinary Studies program, she created a major in Poetry and Critical Theory, combining her passions for poetry, philosophy, sociology, and language into a course of study uniquely her own.

What’s the official title of your major?

MacKay: My major was called Poetry and Critical Theory.

How did you land on that title?

MacKay: I actually came to Emerson as a Theatre and Performance major, and then about halfway through sophomore year I heard about IDS. I decided that if I could do theater as an extracurricular I wanted to focus on my academic passions: poetry, philosophy, and sociology. So I wanted to dive deeper into that because I didn’t get the opportunity to at my previous schools.

How did you learn about the IDS program?

MacKay: I think it was one of my friends. She knew an IDS major and we were discussing what it was like. I realized that a lot of the teachers who I’d been taking philosophy classes with were already part of the department.

What was the process of designing your major like?

MacKay: It was definitely difficult at first because I was a person who came to college thinking I was going to do theater since I was 12. So when I switched my major, I felt like I really needed to be dedicated. I really wanted to do what I found the most interesting in terms of classes, so for me that was writing poetry, studying philosophy and critical theory, and that’s what I merged. I didn’t really know how the two worked together until around the end of junior year when I had to start fleshing out my capstone.

What classes were required for your major?

MacKay: I loved the major because what was required is what we wanted to do essentially. [As IDS majors,] we picked what classes we wanted to take in alignment with the major that we created, and then we spoke with the [IDS Curriculum Committee] for our classes to get approved. So it was pretty accessible in terms of classes that we maybe don’t have standing in [because we didn’t have an official major in that class]. We get to have waivers around that because our projects are going to involve different areas of study.

When building your major, what types of courses were most important to include?

MacKay: I was looking for poetry classes, both workshop and literature-based. And then I was also looking for philosophy and sociology classes that were talking about pop culture and media. I’m also interested in herd mentality.

What extracurricular activities at Emerson have complemented your major or field of study?

MacKay: I still did theater as an extracurricular, which [was] good to keep the presentational aspect of my career alive. Public speaking is a big part of the IDS major. Other than that, I was part of the Derbyn Comedy troupe. That’s just a really fun creative outlet.

What comes next for you after Emerson, and how has your major prepared you for it?

MacKay: I would like to go to grad school. I’ll stay in Boston and build my writing resume. I’m glad that I have the capstone to advertise myself to whoever I’m talking to. IDS is a different major because it allows me to maneuver myself into certain positions I want to be in. I would love to be a writer-in-residence somewhere or teach a class on poetry. I think talking about the poets who came before us is really important, so I wouldn’t mind teaching a class on the literature of poetry or something like that. 

What is your capstone focused on?

MacKay: My capstone centers around a term that I created called “liberatorial linguistic choice.” Basically, I analyzed artistry that I think disrupts or reinterprets the sociopolitical constraints that inform identity. How does what we label and categorize the world inform how we categorize and label ourselves? I analyzed different writers and how they reinvent the wheel of linguistics in order to refamiliarize how we see people and how we categorize them.

What helped you develop your capstone project?

MacKay: Something that really helped me were my other classes that I was taking, because I was getting more resources. I had the freedom to take things and run with them and then use them in class. 

How did Emerson support you in your studies?

MacKay: I’m eternally grateful for the teachers at Emerson. I think that was really the best thing about it, because as long as I communicated with them, they were very open and accommodating. As long as there is open communication and I explained what was going on and when I needed help, they supported me.

What specific skills or strengths did you develop through your IDS major?

MacKay: You know when you’re in middle school and you take that steady skills class that teaches you how to write a paper or research things? I feel like it’s like a 2.0 of that. I feel very prepared to turn my ideas and passions into projects that I can market and get out into the world. I feel like if I truly have the desire to do something I can do it, because I know what needs to be done and I know the steps to take. Another thing about that autonomy and freedom that I was talking about is that nothing gets done unless you do it, so you learn to take accountability. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself, your major, Emerson, etc?

MacKay: I will say that the IDS major was the most familial vibe I experienced at Emerson. I’m very grateful that I graduated with this intimate group of people and honor what we’ve all worked on.