MA Film and History at SOAS, University of London

Overview

Featured events

06 Jun Postgraduate Open Evening

Marie Rodet

Convenor

Minimum Entry Requirements: 2-1 (2-2 may be considered along with strong letters of recommendations)

Start of programme: September intake only

Mode of Attendance: Full Time or Part Time

This MA programme provides students with the opportunity to acquire expert knowledge of film in historical context as a means of mastering transferable analytical skills and so prepare students for a variety of professional or research careers. The program can be adapted to meet a wide range of interests. Its bi-directional focus on the disciplines of film and history also provides students with a flexible series of modular units from which to choose. The core course examines the representation of history in film, and film in history by placing filmic representations of the societies and diasporas of/from/between Asia and Africa into historical context. Students will critically evaluate a range of issues relating to the reliability of film as the grounds for making inferences about the national and transnational histories of Asia and Africa, and the criteria for the critical evaluation of film as a source for, and product of, the historian’s accounts of the past.

Email: mr28@soas.ac.uk

English language requirements: Those whose mother tongue is not English must take the English test run by the British Council (IELTS) and obtain a score acceptable to the School.

Structure

Students must take taught courses totalling three units and one unit dissertation.

Core course Film as History (one unit).
Dissertation in Film and History (one unit).
One course (or two half courses) from the list of "Approved Courses in Media & Film Studies" below.
One course (or two half courses) from the list of "Approved Courses in History" below.

Programme Specification

Programme currently subject to approval.

Option Courses

Approved Courses in Media & Film Studies

Africa

Aspects of African film and video 1 - 15PAFH006 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1

Near and Middle East

Iranian Cinema - 15PMSH010 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
Arab Cinemas - 15PMSH013 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2
Film and Society in the Middle East - 15PNMC230 (1 Unit) - Full Year

South Asia

Colonialism and Nationalism in South Asia - 15PHIC071 (1 Unit) - Full Year
Indian Cinema: Its History and Social Context - 15PSAH001 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
Indian Cinema: Key Issues - 15PSAH002 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
The Body and the Making of Colonial Difference in British India - 15PHIH033 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2

East Asia

Japanese Post-war Film Genres and the Avant-garde - 15PMSH001 (0.5 Unit)
Japanese Television since 1953 - 15PJKC006 (1 Unit) - Full Year
Modern Film from Taiwan and the Chinese Diaspora - 15PCHH002 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
Modern Chinese Film and Theatre (MA) - 15PCHH001 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2
Japanese Transnational Cinema: from Kurosawa to Asia Extreme and Studio Ghibli - 15PMSH017 (0.5 Unit)

South East Asia

(Post) Colonialism and Otherness in South East Asia on Screen - 15PSEH010 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2 - Not Running 2013/2014
Genders and Sexualities in South East Asian Film - 15PSEH011 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2 - Not Running 2013/2014
Post-crisis Thai Cinema (1997-2007) - 15PSEH008 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2

Methodology

Approaches to the Other in Horror and Science Fiction Films - 15PANH043 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1 - Not Running 2013/2014
Issues in the Anthropology of Film - 15PANH022 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2
Theoretical Issues in Media and Cultural Studies - 15PMSH005 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
Rethinking Audiences - 15PMSH011 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2
Studies in Global Media and Post-National Communication - 15PMSH007 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1

Approved Courses in History

South Asia

Islam in South Asia - 15PHIC042 (1 Unit) - Full Year

East Asia

Japanese Modernity I - 15PHIH013 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
Japanese Modernity II - 15PHIH014 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2
Knowledge and Power in Early Modern China - 15PHIH024 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2
Nationhood and Competing Identities in Modern China - 15PHIH022 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1

South East Asia

Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia I - Making States and Building Nations - 15PHIH011 (0.5 Unit) - Term 1
Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia II - Non-National Perspectives - 15PHIH012 (0.5 Unit) - Term 2

Methodology

Research Methods in History With Special Reference to Asia and Africa - 15PHIC033 (1 Unit) - Full Year

Programme Specification

Teaching & Learning

Destinations

An MA in Film and History from SOAS provides students with a diverse range of skills that they can use to market themselves with when they graduate, including analytical skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, team work, flexibility and dedication. Department graduates have gone into a wide range of careers and to complete research degrees.

A postgraduate degree is a valuable experience that provides students with a body of work and a diverse range of skills that they can use to market themselves with when they graduate.

For more information about Graduate Destinations from this department, please visit the Careers Service website.

How to apply

Scholarships

For further information visit the Scholarships section

SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Department of History