The Cultural and Critical Studies MA is part of the Cultural and Literary Studies Suite, a cluster of four MAs that bring together academics, curators and practitioners who share a commitment to investigating modern and contemporary culture from aesthetic, critical, literary and experiential perspectives. You will share classes with students from the Art and Visual Culture MA, the English Literature: Modern and Contemporary Fictions MA and the Museum, Galleries and Contemporary Culture MA, joining a fruitful and intellectually rigorous environment designed to facilitate interdisciplinary thinking. As part of our Suite, you may also choose an option module from the other three MA programmes (what is referred to as an ‘elective’ module), a fantastic opportunity to explore a facet of culture outside of your chosen MA programme.

The Cultural and Critical Studies MA offers you the rare opportunity to study contemporary critical and cultural debates across a wide range of fields. Exploring a variety of different visual, textual and popular forms of culture, the course will particularly appeal to those with wide-ranging interests in the arts and humanities, as well as those interested in cutting-edge theoretical debates. 

We also draw upon a long tradition of practical engagement with the applied arts and culture. Our location in the cultural heart of London offers a unique educational experience and as one of the most internationally diverse universities in the UK, you’ll also be studying alongside students from a wide range of different cultural backgrounds. Students are supported on the course through a series of academic skills workshops, on subjects such as improving academic writing and undertaking research projects, which are designed to support you in your progression to essay and dissertation writing at postgraduate level.

Modules are taught by expert staff from a number of different disciplines, giving you the flexibility to follow particular themes in the areas that most interest you. The published work of our staff is at the forefront of radical and experimental interdisciplinary areas such as memory studies, urban culture, digital culture, migration studies and contemporary critical theory. As postgraduate students, you will also become members of the Institute of Modern and Contemporary Culture and enjoy the opportunity to engage with a rich and diverse program of research events.

Graduates from the MA in Cultural and Critical Studies have gone on to pursue a wide variety of careers both within the educational, cultural and creative sectors and beyond.

Recent graduates from the course have gone on to become archivists in cultural institutions such as museums, galleries and universities, as community and educational programme co-ordinators for museums, as art gallery directors, theatre managers and a range of other roles within the creative industries, including public relations, marketing and recruitment.

Others have become language teachers and translators, while many have undertaken doctoral research and gone on to pursue careers in higher education or become teachers in secondary and primary schools.