Culture, Diaspora, Ethnicity

This innovative, interdisciplinary postgraduate culture, diaspora and ethnicity course stretches across the arts and humanities and social sciences. It offers you the opportunity to explore important subjects in this broad field of study, 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. You will join a multidisciplinary community of scholars, students and research centres committed to the study of this subject area.
• This course is taught by award-winning teachers and research-active scholars and consistently achieves very high levels of student satisfaction.
• You will be able to pursue your own interests and develop knowledge on this course 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 a broad range of 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 on this course involves a combination of interactive lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. You will choose from a broad, exciting array of specialist subject option modules as you are guided through the course by a personal tutor and expert in this subject area.

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. On completion of the Diploma you can progress to the MA, while completion of the Certificate allows you to progress either to the Diploma or the MA.

This course is available to study 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 how you want to study - on campus, online or via flexible learning, which combines both.

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 the rate was 95%; in 2022 it was 85%; and in the most recent report, generated in 2023, it was 100%.
• Birkbeck is the first higher education institution in London to receive the title University of Sanctuary.
• On studying this course you will join a vibrant, stimulating and highly diverse intellectual environment and 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 also be able to join specialist student reading groups that focus on particular subject areas such as medicine, ‘race’ and empire and psychoanalysis and colonialism and attend talks across Birkbeck and the University of London that illuminate the importance of histories of ‘race’ and racism across different social and political contexts.
• Birkbeck Library has an extensive teaching collection of books, journals and learning resources in relevant disciplines. You will also be able to use the rich research resources nearby including Senate House Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science (the LSE Library), the SOAS Library and the British Library.
• If you are taking this course part-time, you may be eligible for a Bonnart Trust Master’s Studentship which will cover the cost of your tuition fees. You may also be eligible for a Birkbeck Access to Postgraduate Study Scholarship or an Aziz Foundation Scholarship.