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Birkbeck, University of London: Culture, Diaspora, Ethnicity

Institution Birkbeck, University of London View institution profile
Department School of Social Sciences
Web http://www.bbk.ac.uk/
Telephone 0203 907 0700
Study type Taught

Summary

This innovative, interdisciplinary culture, diaspora and ethnicity course stretches across the arts and humanities and social sciences. It offers the opportunity to explore important subjects such as histories of ‘race’ and racism; the connections between transcontinental histories of colonisation and contemporary social formations and inequalities; postcolonial political communities, social identities and cultures and how local debates on inequality are shaped by the global geopolitics of the twenty-first century.

Why choose this course?

  • Birkbeck is a global centre for research and teaching on ‘race’ and racism and histories and legacies of empire.

  • This course is taught by award-winning teachers and research-active scholars and consistently achieves very high levels of student satisfaction.

  • You will develop knowledge that will enable you to address the most urgent questions of our time and make an important impact.

What you will learn

The course examines the connections between intertwined colonial histories and our ordinary, local, everyday life. We focus on subjects such as modern colonial statecraft and histories of ‘race’ and other systems of categorisation; colonial cultures and nationalisms; histories of anticolonial, antifascist and antiracist resistance; migration and diaspora; theorising community and postcolonial belonging; histories of state and corporate negligence and violence; contemporary racial nationalisms and religious authoritarian movements; and race, gender, sexuality and desire.

How you will learn

Teaching involves interactive lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. You will choose from a broad, exciting array of specialist subject option modules.

If you choose to study the MA, you will undertake an empirical or theoretical dissertation, or a practice-based dissertation such as a film or an exhibition. If you choose to study the Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate, you will study fewer modules and will not complete a dissertation.

This course is available full- or part-time, with all classes taking place in the evening. It is part of our Birkbeck Flexible Master’s UK, which gives you the choice of studying on campus, online or via flexible learning.

If you require a Student visa to study in the UK, you will only be able to apply for the on-campus study option for this course. Online and flexible options will not be available to you because they may affect the conditions of your visa.

Highlights

  • This course consistently achieves high levels of satisfaction from Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey respondents. In 2019 and 2020, the student satisfaction rate was 100%; in 2021, 95%; in 2022, 85%; and in 2023, 100%.

  • Birkbeck is the first higher education institution in London to receive the title University of Sanctuary.

  • You will gain access to affiliated groups and research centres such as the Race Forum at Birkbeck, the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and the Birkbeck Institute on Gender and Sexuality.

  • You will be able to join specialist student reading groups that focus on particular subjects such as medicine, ‘race’ and empire and psychoanalysis and colonialism.

  • You may be eligible for a Bonnart Trust Master’s Studentship, Birkbeck Access to Postgraduate Study Scholarship or Aziz Foundation Scholarship.

Careers and employability

You will graduate from this course with a portfolio of skills including:

  • advanced critical writing, analysis and argumentation

  • research

  • the capacity to apply your expertise to contexts such as research and policy, community engagement and cultural practice

  • communication.

Graduates have pursued careers in local, national and international organisations and charities concerned with:

  • human rights

  • criminalisation and policing

  • sexual violence

  • migration, refugees and asylum

  • homelessness

  • imprisonment

  • addiction

  • youth and community work.

MA

Postgraduate Certificate - PgCert

Postgraduate Diploma - PgDip

Located in Bloomsbury, in the heart of London, everything the UK’s Capital city has to offer is on our doorstep.

We offer over 250 taught and research postgraduate programmes across the humanities and social sciences, business, law; and science and we’re a part of the prestigious University of London, one of the world’s best known and most highly regarded universities.

Birkbeck, University of London is built for the busy. We have over 200 years’ experience of providing exceptional learning experiences designed to fit in with students’ schedules. Our range of different study options allow our students to choose …

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