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 the appropriate level as one of your modules.

Core

• Dissertation in Cultural, Literary, and Postcolonial Studies

Compulsory

• Cultural Studies: Origins, Ideas and New Approaches
• Cultural Studies: New Practices and Widening Horizons

Guided Options

Students must take a minimum of 60 credits from List A and up to a maximum of 90 credits

• Core Themes and Debates in African Philosophy
• Intersecting Worlds: Race and Gender in the Contemporary Postcolonial Novel
• 750A Ethnographic Locations: Sub-Saharan Africa
• Islam and the West: Artistic and Cultural Contacts
• Art and Politics in Africa
• New Taiwan Cinema and Beyond (PG)
• World Literature (PG)
• Comparative Literature: Methodology and Critique
• Comparative Literature: A New Era
• Gender Theory and the Study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East
• Race, Segregation, and Apartheid in Twentieth-century South Africa (PG)
• Nationhood and Competing Identities in Modern China
• Gender and Empire in Early Modern China
• Mediated Culture in the Middle East: Politics and Communications
• Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media: Networking, Connectivity, Identity
• International Political Communication
• Modern Palestinian Literature (PG)
• Film and Society in the Middle East and North Africa
• Politics of Culture in Contemporary South Asia - A
• Literature of Resistance in South Asia (PG)
• Genders and Sexualities in South East Asian Film
• Religion in Global Politics: Theories and Themes

Knowledge

• How to analyze and interpret cultural practices critically
• How to apply a variety of critical theories to Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultural productions including film, media, literature, art, etc
• How to explore a research topic and locate materials, use research sources (particularly research library catalogs and electronic databases) and other relevant traditional sources
• How to develop a critical approach to Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures in which students question the tenets of Western-derived theories and their applicability to non-Western contexts, and through a variety of approaches gain an understanding of the social and political role and function of culture in Asian, African, and Middle Eastern societies.
• The specificity of cultural paradigms of a region or regions of Asia/Africa and the Middle East
• A thorough grounding in the theories and methodologies of Cultural Studies.

Intellectual (Thinking) Skills

• Students are introduced to several theoretical approaches to cultural productions such as literature, film, and media
• Students are taught the importance of how theories raise questions about cultural products
• Having completed the program, students will be able to:
  • Analyze cultural products systematically and creatively from a variety of perspectives
  • Research the data necessary for making cultural analytical judgments
  • Evaluate and apply independent research methods
  • Demonstrate originality in dealing with cultural studies issues
  • Successfully conduct an advanced independent research project
  • Formulate and test interpretations
  • Understand cultural studies practice and critically examine the social and political contexts of cultural production
• Students will become aware of and think through the problems involved when applying a mainly ‘Western’ body of literary theory to Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures.

Subject-Based Practical Skills

• Communicate effectively and analytically in writing on subjects related to cultural studies theories and their application in the contexts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East
• Retrieve, sift, and select information from a variety of sources
• Listen and discuss critical ideas introduced during seminars
• Practice research techniques in a variety of specialized research libraries and institutes
• Gain knowledge of Asian or African cultures.

Transferrable Skills

• Write good essays and dissertations
• Structure and communicate ideas effectively both orally and in writing
• Question the assumptions or theories and methodologies
• Study a variety of written and digital materials, in libraries and research institutes of a kind they will not have used as undergraduates
• Present assessed and non-assessed material orally.

Graduates of the School of Languages, Cultures, and Linguistics leave SOAS not only with linguistic and cultural expertise but also with skills in written and oral communication, analysis, and problem-solving.

Recent graduates have been hired by:

• Africa Matters
• Amnesty International
• Arab British Chamber of Commerce
• BBC World Service
• British High Commission
• Council for British Research in the Levant
• Department for International Development
• Edelman
• Embassy of Jordan
• Ernst & Young
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• Google
• Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
• Middle East Eye
• Saïd Foundation
• TalkAbout Speech Therapy
• The Black Curriculum
• The Telegraph
• United Nations Development Programme
• UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
• Wall Street Journal

One-year master's programs consist of 180 credits. 120 credits are taught in modules of 30 credits (taught over 20 weeks) or 15 credits (taught over 10 weeks); the dissertation makes up the remaining 60 units. The program structure shows which modules are compulsory and which are optional.