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SOAS University of London
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SOAS University of London

Cultural Studies

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Award Attendance Study Duration Start Domestic fees International fees
MA On-Campus Full-time, Part-time 1 - 3 years find out £11980 per year £23400 per year

About Cultural Studies, MA - at SOAS University of London

The MA Cultural Studies programme aims to offer grounding in the theories on Cultural Studies which draws on Marxism, Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, Post-Marxism, Feminism, and Post-Modernism and their use, application and adaption in the cross-cultural contexts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It provides an examination of the main historical concepts in Western culture such as ideology, power, class, identity, race, nation, subjectivity, representation, and memory and how these are challenged by scholars working in non-Western cultures of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The aim is to explore the different and plural cultural histories and memories of these contexts to which Cultural Studies must adapt.

Theoretical paradigms covered will reflect on issues of class, 'race', gender, sexuality, ethnicity, representation and religion. The course will investigate central questions of epistemology and methodology in relation to the application of Cultural Studies theories in non-Western contexts. The programme is theory and practice based and therefore, it draws on case studies from a diversity of cultural practices, genres and contexts to elucidate complex theoretical concepts and challenge their limitations and/or validity in the context of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The MA Cultural Studies programme aims to equip students with sufficient knowledge to understand and evaluate the way in which Cultural Studies theories and methods are used in cross-cultural contexts and hence develop analytic skills for undertaking their own research projects.

See School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics


Entry requirements

Contact SOAS University of London to find course entry requirements.


Why study at SOAS University of London

  • SOAS is in London, which is officially the best student city in the world - and has been for five years in a row (QS World Rankings 2024)
  • There are 5,630 students on campus, from 135+ countries 
  • 2nd in the UK for international faculty (QS World Rankings 2024)
  • Top 30 in the UK (The Times Good University Guide 2024)
  • Top 40 in the UK for research quality Complete University Guide 2024)
  • 6th in the UK for employment outcomes (QS World Rankings 2023)
  • Top 100 in the world for addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals for Peace, Justice, Poverty and Gender Equality (Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, 2023)
  • One of 35 National Research Libraries in the UK. We have over 1.5 million volumes, periodicals and audio-visual materials in 400 languages, focusing on Asia, Africa and the Middle East
  • 87% of research ranked 'world-leading or internationally excellent' (Research Excellence Framework 2021)