What colleges offer a doctorate in comparative myth?
It’s not surprising that there are few PhD programs in such a small subfield. I don’t know of any in my subfield. I’m guessing that it’s like this: you wouldn’t get a PhD in comparative mythology, you would write a dissertation in comparative mythology. That’s the way it is with most graduate specializations. So you need to find an adviser whose interests match yours, not an entire program. Also, most of a PhD program isn’t about taking courses, though those help. (Typically they help to broaden you more than to focus you, in my experience.) It’s about doing your own independent research.
Surely that isn’t the only university out there! It very well may be. A PhD isn’t designed to promote the recipient’s personal intellectual development. It’s job training, and humanities PhD programs are job training for careers in academia. As a tool to get a job in academia, a PhD in comparative mythology would not be very helpful. Therefore, I don’t think you’re going to find too many programs that offer them.
A PhD isn’t designed to promote the recipient’s personal intellectual development. It’s job training. Well, I find something inherently wrong in this arrangement, if indeed you’re correct. I don’t seek a Ph.D. to get a certain job; I’m quite happy doing what I’m doing. But the more I read about myths, metaphors, and comparative religion, the more it fascinates me. I want to take the courses because they stimulate me intellectually, not because I want to get a job as a university professor. Alas, what’s happened to education for education’s sake?
I agree with what others say about the utility of doctorates and about the nature of getting one. Having said that, if you want to pursue it for its own sake, then I would say, the key thing in your situation is not the university per se (since the “brand recognition” of your degree may not matter) and likewise the department or program that you enter into may not matter (since you won’t be looking for jobs in, say, History with a degree in Mythology. Rather what matters is something that matters hugely for any Ph.D. student, but which in their case may be constrained by those other considerations: who your supervisor is. Therefore, I would suggest, if you want to go this route, then consider finding out who is doing the most interesting and stimulating research in the areas most close to your interests and seeing if he/she/they are able to take students. For example, there are still some people doing comparative mythology in Anthropology departments, and while (because?) some of them
