MA Comparative Literature
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 11,980 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* full-time fees: UK £11,980; Overseas £23,400. Part-time 2 years fees: UK £5,990/year; Overseas £11,700/year. Part-time 3 years fees: UK £3,955/year; Overseas £7,725/year
Introduction
Mode of Attendance: Full-time or part-time
The opportunity to move from the familiar Euro-American literary canons into the fresh but less well-known worlds of African and Asian literature is what attracts most students to this popular MA.
At SOAS, students benefit from the unique expertise in this vast field possessed by the school’s faculty.
This expertise is available to students interested in studying this literature through English - including both original English language literature of Africa and Asia and literature written in African and Asian languages presented through English translations.
While exploring new horizons and breaking out of the Euro-centric space in which comparative literature has developed so far, the programme covers the major theoretical contributions made by Western scholars.
In doing so, it constructs a unique multi-cultural domain for the study of literature and its location in culture and society.
Prior knowledge of an African or Asian language is not a requirement for admission to this degree.
Gallery
Admissions
Curriculum
Structure
Students take 180 credits, 60 of which are a dissertation and 120 from taught modules. You may take a 30 credit language acquisition module at an appropriate level as one of your modules.
- Dissertation in Cultural, Literary, and Postcolonial Studies
Core Module
- Comparative Literature: Methodology and Critique
- Comparative Literature: A New Era
- Intersecting Worlds: Race and Gender in the Contemporary Postcolonial Novel
- World Literature (PG)
and
Guided Options and Open Options
- Students can select 60 credits from the list of Guided Options below and 30 credits from the list of Postgraduate Open Options.
List of modules (subject to availability)
- Japanese Traditional Drama (PG)
- Translating Cultures 1
- Modern Japanese Literature (PG)
- Modern Chinese Film and Theatre (PG)
- Modern Film from Taiwan and the Chinese Diaspora (PG)
- Intersecting Worlds: Race and Gender in the Contemporary Postcolonial Novel
- World Literature (PG)
- The Story of African Film: Narrative Screen Media in Africa
- Contemporary African Literature (PG)
- African Philosophy (PG)
- Philosophy and Decolonisation (PG)
- Sci-fi and Afrofuturism in the African Novel (PG)
- Language, Identity and Society in Africa (PG)
- Trajectories of Modernity in Korean Literature (PG)
- Literatures of South Asia
- English Literatures of South East Asia
- Postcolonial Theory and Practice
- Post-crisis Thai Cinema (1997-2007)
- Under Western Eyes: European Writings on South East Asia (PG)
- War, Revolution and Independence in South East Asia Literatures in Translation (Masters)
- Genders and Sexualities in South East Asian Film
- Japanese Transnational Cinema: From Kurosawa to Asia Extreme and Studio Ghibli
- Japanese Post-War Film Genres and the Avant-Garde
- Indian Cinema: Its History and Social Context
- Indian Cinema: Key Issues
- African and Asian Diasporas in the Modern World
- Turkey: Continuity and Change
- Social And Political Trends In 19th Century Turkish Literature
- Selected Topics in 20th Century Turkish Literature
- Modern Palestinian Literature (PG)
- Sanskrit Literature
- Directed Readings in the Literature of a Modern South Asian Language
- Directed Readings in a South East Asian Language
- Literature & Colonialism in North India (Masters)
- Narratives of Mobility in Contemporary Hindi Literature (Masters)
- Jawi and the Malay Manuscript Tradition (Masters)
- Africa
- Amharic 1 A (PG)
- Amharic 1 B (PG)
- Amharic 2 (PG)
- Hausa 1 A (PG)
- Hausa 1 B (PG)
- Hausa 2 (PG)
- Somali 1 A (PG)
- Somali 1 B (PG)
- Somali 2 (PG)
- Advanced Somali: Literature (PG)
- Swahili 1 A (PG)
- Swahili 1 B (PG)
- Intermediate Swahili 2A (PG)
- Swahili 3 (PG)
- Practical Translation Swahili into English
- Yoruba 1 A (PG)
- Yoruba 1 B (PG)
- Yoruba 2 (PG)
- Zulu 1 A (PG)
- Zulu 1 B (PG)
- Zulu 2 (PG)
- China and Inner Asia
- Elementary Spoken Cantonese (PG)
- Elementary spoken Hokkien (Minnanyu, Taiwanese) (PG)
- Tibetan (Modern) 1 A (PG)
- Tibetan (Modern) 1 B (PG)
- Chinese 1 A (PG)
- Chinese 1 B (PG)
- Chinese 2 (PG)
- Chinese 3 (PG)
- Chinese 4 (PG)
- Japan and Korea
- Japanese 1 A (PG)
- Japanese 1 B (PG)
- Japanese 2 (PG)
- Korean 1 A (PG)
- Korean 1 B (PG)
- Korean 2 (PG)
- Korean Readings (PG)
- Japanese 3 (PG)
- Japanese 4 (PG)
- Near and Middle East
- Persian 1 A (PG)
- Persian 1 B (PG)
- Turkish 1 A (PG)
- Turkish 1B (PG)
- Hebrew 1 A (PG)
- Hebrew 1 B (PG)
- South Asia
- Bengali Language 1 A (PG)
- Bengali Language 1 B (PG)
- Bengali Language 2 (PG)
- Hindi Language 1 A (PG)
- Hindi Language 1 B (PG)
- Hindi Language 2 (PG)
- Hindi Language 3 (PG)
- Hindi Language 4 (PG)
- Nepali Language 1 A (PG)
- Nepali Language 1 B (PG)
- Nepali Language 2 (PG)
- Punjabi Language 1 A (PG)
- Punjabi Language 1 B (PG)
- Sanskrit Language 1 A (PG)
- Sanskrit Language 1 B (PG)
- Sanskrit Language 2 (PG)
- Prakrit Language 1 (PG)
- Urdu Language 1 A (PG)
- Urdu Language 1 B (PG)
- Urdu Language 2 (PG)
- South East Asia
- Burmese Language 1 A (PG)
- Burmese Language 1 B (PG)
- Burmese Language 2 (PG)
- Indonesian Language 1 A (PG)
- Indonesian Language 1 B (PG)
- Indonesian Language 2 (PG)
- Thai Language 1 A (PG)
- Thai Language 1 B (PG)
- Thai Language 2 (PG)
- Thai Language 3 (PG)
- Vietnamese Language 1 A (PG)
- Vietnamese Language 1 B (PG)
- Vietnamese Language 2 (PG)
Important notice
The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session.
Career Opportunities
Employment
A postgraduate degree in Comparative Literature provides students with competency in language skills and intercultural awareness and understanding. Familiarity with the selected region will have been developed through a combination of the study of its literature and exploration of contemporary literary theories. Some graduates leave SOAS to pursue careers directly related to their study area, while others have made use of the intellectual training for involvement in analysing and solving many of the problems that contemporary societies now face.
Postgraduate students gain linguistic and cultural expertise enabling them to continue in the field of research or to seek professional and management careers in the business, public and charity sectors. They leave SOAS with a portfolio of widely transferable skills which employers seek, including written and oral communication skills; attention to detail; analytical and problem-solving skills; and the ability to research, amass and order information from a variety of sources. A postgraduate degree is a valuable experience that provides students with a body of work and a diverse range of skills that they can use to market themselves with when they graduate.