This pathway of the MA in Literary Studies aims to introduce you to a wide range of texts and issues in the literature of the Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora to highlight significant movements relative to the social, political and historical contexts impacting upon these new literatures.
In particular, the core module at the centre of this pathway (Literature of the Caribbean and its Diasporas), will trace the developments within the main forms of literary and artistic expression in the literature of the Caribbean to study how literary texts, forms and genres veered between consolidation and experimentation from beginnings marked by the slave narrative.
The preoccupation with history and memory and the close affinity of the literary with the aural/ oral will also be examined, alongside the influence and textual embodiment of intellectual and cultural developments in the region's literature and that of its diaspora, including the impacts of Colonialism, post-Colonialism, Negritude, and Globalisation.
These developments are studied through the analysis of representative texts either in English or in English translation.
Thanks to the flexible structure of the MA, you will have the opportunity to pursue your wider interests by studying three options from the large provision of the department, choosing at least one of these in an area that is relevant to Caribbean, diasporic, or post-colonial literature.
Both the core module and the options are taught by leading specialists of the subject.
You will be able to further develop your interest in the literature of the Caribbean and its diasporas through a 15,000-word dissertation to be submitted at the end of your programme of study.
In studying for this pathway, you will be able to rely on the expertise and materials available at Goldsmiths’ Caribbean Centre.
The convenor of this pathway is Professor Joan Anim-Addo who has recently been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award for ‘invaluable contributions to literature and to literary and cultural studies’ by leading US literary quarterly journal, Callaloo.
Core module
In addition to the core module and dissertation, you also choose three option modules. Please visit the website for more information
You'll develop transferable skills, including:
Graduates of this programme have gone on to pursue careers in:
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
This exciting, intellectually rigorous programme gives you the opportunity to develop the study of literature from a variety of perspectives through a number of flexible pathways.
The pathways you can take are:
These enable you to combine theoretical angles with the close reading of a wide range of texts, from different media (literary, filmic, visual), periods, and cultural, geographic and linguistic backgrounds – though all texts will be studied in English, in English translation, or with English subtitles.
Each of the seven pathways centres around a core module which will ground you in the specific features of the period/region/theoretical discipline covered.
Core Module
Pathway in Comparative Literature & Criticism - Studies in Comparative Literature & Criticism
Pathway in Modern Literary Theory - Theories of Literature & Culture
Pathway in Modern Literature - Modern Literary Movements
Pathway in Literature of the Caribbean & its Diasporas - Literature of the Caribbean & it Diasporas
Pathway in American Literature & Culture - American Literature & Culture: Critical & Theoretical Concepts
Pathway in Romantic and Victorian Literature & Culture - Nineteenth-Century Literature: Romanticisms
Pathway in Shakespeare: Early & Modern - Shakespeare and the Early Modern
A Study Support Workshop will run a number of sessions throughout the year, including sessions on, for example, resources, essay-writing at Master's level, planning and developing dissertation projects.
You will also be able to take part in GLITS, the department's weekly research seminar; in LINKS, the London Intercollegiate Network for Comparative Studies; and in the many activities organised by the Graduate School and other Goldsmiths departments.
Option modules
Around the core module you choose three option modules from the wide range of options taught in the Department to reflect your own particular interests. You may also take the core module of another pathway as one of your options.
In addition, you also undertake a dissertation.
For core and option module details, see the pathway pages.
Extended course essays; dissertation of 15,000 words.
You'll develop transferable skills, including:
Graduates of this programme have gone on to pursue careers in:
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
Explore your passion for contemporary literature and the way it can be used to help our understanding of society. You will examine current developments and critical issues in the past 30 years of literature on a course that provides an international and cross-cultural outlook.
Whether your interests lie in the postcolonial world or you have a fascination with women's writing or contemporary gothic literature, this challenging course will allow you to study recent volumes of poetry, research cultures and explore novels and films relating to current debates. You will use key theoretical models and concepts to gain a greater understanding of how we study literature and the motivations and historical events that have driven the authors you choose to read.
Taught by a team with an international reputation for their research in diverse areas, ranging from Caribbean culture, history and literature to cultural representations of the 2007-08 credit crunch across literature, stage and screen, this course will expose you to new ideas and will encourage you to question them.
Check out our twitter feed @BeckettEnglish for up-to-date information on staff and student events, short courses and fun happenings around the school.
Research Excellence Framework 2014
Research Excellence Framework 2014: 38% of our research was judged to be world leading or internationally excellent in the Communication, Culture and Media Studies, Library and Information Management unit.
You will learn how to use a range of cutting-edge theoretical approaches to texts, while you will be able to draw upon the course team's research and teaching strengths in contemporary women's writing, postcolonialism and popular fiction.
You will acquire a well-informed, critical understanding of current developments, questions and critical issues in the field of contemporary literatures and develop the transferable skills needed to undertake independent research into contemporary literatures and associated criticism and theory.
*These modules rotate on an annual basis. Not all modules listed may be available in your year of entry.
You will graduate with the expertise and confidence to add your voice to the latest literary criticism. You could decide to explore your chosen area further, get your findings published and work towards an MPhil or PhD, and then pursue a career in academia. Having built on and developed a range of transferable skills such as advanced planning and critical engagement, you will also be well prepared for a variety of careers in the civil service, teaching, journalism or publishing.
The MRes degree is a research programme with some provision for taught modules.
It is aimed at those who wish to move beyond undergraduate work and to engage in research in depth for a postgraduate thesis, but who also wish to take modules that help develop research and related skills.
The course aims to develop your critical and analytical skills in relation to current ideas in African politics, history and anthropology or African and Caribbean literature. It provides you with the opportunity to identify, investigate in depth, and write up a research topic of your own, including the use of archival, oral media and internet sources.
Times Higher Education ranked the Department of African Studies and Anthropology second among all Area Studies departments in the country for its performance in the latest Research Excellence Framework exercise.
You take three taught modules and write a thesis of 20,000 words in the final term on a topic of your choice.
There are two compulsory modules: Research Skills and Methods in African Studies and Advanced Perspectives on Africa. In addition you choose a third module from a wide range of topics in literature, history, politics, development and anthropology.
We are a friendly, well integrated community. Staff and postgraduate students work together closely and discuss their research interests at regular meetings.
There is also a regular programme of formal Department of African Studies and Anthropology (DASA) seminarsat which staff, postgraduate students and visiting scholars present papers and discuss their work-in-progress.
You will be assigned a personal tutor with whom you will meet to discuss your progress and seek help and advice when necessary. It is a University requirement that tutors meet with their tutees at least once a term, but you don't need to wait for a formal appointment: you are encouraged to contact your tutor whenever you need help or advice.
You will also have an academic supervisor once you are working on your dissertation and will have access to the expertise of other members of staff. As a graduate student at DASA you can expect to enjoy intensive, frequent and close interaction with your supervisor on a one-to-one basis as well as detailed, continuous supervision of written work.
You will also become part of, and contribute to, the lively international community of the College of Arts and Law Graduate School, which offers dedicated research resources and a supportive working environment. Our team of academic and operational staff are on hand to offer support and advice to all postgraduate students within the College.
Your degree will provide excellent preparation for employment and this will be further enhanced by a range of employability support services offered by the University.
The University's Careers Network provides advice and information specifically for postgraduates that will help you to develop an effective career and skills development strategy, and to make the most of your time with us at the University. The College of Arts and Law also has a dedicated careers and employability team to deliver tailored programmes of careers events and local support.
You will have opportunities to: meet employers face-to-face at on-campus recruitment fairs; attend employer presentations and skills workshops; receive individual guidance on your job applications, writing your CV and improving your interview technique; and access to comprehensive listings of hundreds of graduate jobs and work experience opportunities.
You will also be able to access our full range of careers support for up to two years after graduation.
Postgraduate employability: African Studies
Our African Studies graduates develop a range of skills including oral and written communication, analysis and evaluation, problem solving, independent working and research skills, which can be used in a variety of occupations. A snapshot of graduate destinations over a five-year period has identified a variety of career paths, including lecturing and paid research. Over the past three years, 100% of African Studies students have been in employment or further study within six months of graduating.
The MA African Studies is a multidisciplinary programme focusing on contemporary Africa.
It provides you with an understanding of major social, cultural, political and economic developments in Africa and the Diaspora. It also enables you to develop your critical and analytical powers in relation to current events in Africa, as well as your ability to approach contemporary African issues from interdisciplinary standpoints.
Times Higher Education ranked the Department of African Studies and Anthropology second among all Area Studies departments in the country for its performance in the latest Research Excellence Framework exercise.
The programme provides you with the research training necessary to undertake a broad-based, multidisciplinary study of contemporary Africa. It enhances your ability to prepare and present to an audience material you have researched.
You will study two core modules:
You will also choose four optional modules from a range offered within African Studies and Anthropology. Subject to availability, it is also possible to choose one of your options from another discipline.
Assessment
Modules are assessed by written assignment and/or presentation. While completing all six taught modules will lead to a Diploma-level qualification, MA students will also complete a 15,000-word dissertation.
The Department of African Studies and Anthropology is a friendly, well integrated community.
Staff and postgraduate students work together closely and discuss their research interests at regular meetings. There is also a regular programme of formal DASA seminars at which staff, postgraduate students and visiting scholars present papers and discuss their work-in-progress.
Support with academic writing
As a postgraduate student in the College of Arts and Law, you have access to the Academic Writing Advisory Service (AWAS) which aims to help your transition from undergraduate to taught Masters level, or back into academia after time away. The service offers guidance on writing assignments and dissertations for your MA/MSc programme with individual support from an academic writing advisor via tutorials, email and the provision of online materials.
International students can access support for English Language development and skills through the Birmingham International Academy (BIA).
Your degree will provide excellent preparation for employment and this will be further enhanced by a range of employability support services offered by the University.
The University's Careers Network provides advice and information specifically for postgraduates that will help you to develop an effective career and skills development strategy, and to make the most of your time with us at the University. The College of Arts and Law also has a dedicated careers and employability team to deliver tailored programmes of careers events and local support.
You will have opportunities to: meet employers face-to-face at on-campus recruitment fairs; attend employer presentations and skills workshops; receive individual guidance on your job applications, writing your CV and improving your interview technique; and access to comprehensive listings of hundreds of graduate jobs and work experience opportunities.
You will also be able to access our full range of careers support for up to two years after graduation.
Postgraduate employability: African Studies
Our African Studies graduates develop a range of skills including oral and written communication, analysis and evaluation, problem solving, independent working and research skills, which can be used in a variety of occupations. A snapshot of graduate destinations over a five-year period has identified a variety of career paths, including lecturing and paid research. Over the past three years, 100% of African Studies students have been in employment or further study within six months of graduating.
The suite of taught modules have been carefully constructed to take you on a series of journeys - from a discussion of American Studies itself as an approach, and then from the immediate localities, regions and borders of the United States, to the wider national and international settings. This will offer multi-perspective interpretations of the United States, internally, with its neighbours and with the rest of the world. You will engage in an inter-connected sequence of debates which will lead you to a greater understanding of the complexity of the United States as a cultural construct as well as a geographical and political entity.
The academic year is divided into three terms: term 1 (September –December); term 2 (January-March); term 3 (April to June). July and August is the period when you write up your dissertation.
All taught sessions take place in the evening, 4pm-7pm.
Full-time is two evenings per week / Part-time is one evening per week.
This degree offers a tightly integrated programme with a selection of modules that will enrich your research methods and approaches in the American Studies subject-area. Whilst concentrating on the core aspects of American Studies you will be encouraged to pursue your research through avenues of related subjects (History, Literature and Film) forming a holistic, yet inter-disciplinary, approach. The modules offered emphasise a cross-fertilisation of subject areas, promoting an international perspective towards America, such as global concerns and transnational considerations, thus shifting from the original constructs of America, ‘American uniqueness’ and ‘exceptionalism’ (Brian Edwards, Globalising American Studies, 2010).
This programme is, therefore, well-suited to those students who prefer diversity to the narrower focus of a single-subject Master’s degree.
The suite of taught modules have been carefully constructed to take you on a series of journeys - from a discussion of American Studies itself as an approach, and then from the immediate localities, regions and borders of the United States, to the wider national and international settings. This will offer multi-perspective interpretations of the United States, internally, with its neighbours and with the rest of the world.
You will engage in an inter-connected sequence of debates which will lead you to a greater understanding of the complexity of the United States as a cultural construct as well as a geographical and political entity.
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Each module is worth 30 credits; you will take two modules per term.
American Studies has a historical, literary, cultural and evidence-based approach which requires wide, critical reading and intelligent synthesis of ideas and information. It requires you to construct arguments in writing. You will receive critical and constructive comments on your progress as an integral part of teaching and learning, through individual meetings with tutors, feedback on written work or specific coursework tutorials.
We place importance on presentations so, as a transferable skill, you will present seminar papers extensively throughout the course of your modules. These will be used as a basis for feedback and will then feed into your written work. These exercises will develop your critical abilities as well as widen your familiarity with, and confidence in handling, a range of sources, preparing you for the modules’ summative assessment stage, and the final dissertation.
This programme places a strong emphasis on the development of independent research and writing. The programme’s assessment strategies are designed to develop independent research skills; the ability to structure and write a sophisticated critical essay and longer academic monographs, and the opportunity to pursue your own intellectual interests within each module’s thematic scope.
Teaching and learning at postgraduate level differs from what you may have experienced at undergraduate level. Each week, small presentation groups lead/initiate the discussion of the topic. You will therefore bring to the table your own interpretation of the given material, working independently as well as in a group. The sessions will provide you with the opportunity to discuss your ideas in a safe and supportive environment.
Workload: 30 contact hours per taught module / 124 supported open learning hours (e.g. online documentation) per taught module / 146 independent study hours per taught module
Our Academic Support Team provides help in the following areas: study skills, written English, and research skills. Details on where to get support will be provided at the beginning of the course. In addition, you will meet regularly with an academic tutor, who is there in a pastoral capacity.
Further information on this course is available in the programme specification. Please note that the programme specification relates to course content that is currently being studied by students at the University. For new programmes, the programme specification will be made available online prior to the start of the course.
York St John University works hard to create an inclusive environment for all our students. We offer a range of learning support services to assist students throughout their studies.
