This programme focuses on the dynamic developments in media and communications within Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It examines the growing significance of these regions as the locations of new media players and new cultural genres, of complex audience involvements with mediated communication and as the sites of critical and creative responses to globalization processes. It challenges Eurocentric approaches to the study of media and provides a unique opportunity to study the media and communications environments of the non-Western world.

Students consider the dynamics of globalization and its critiques, the roles and nature of communications technologies and mediated content within these processes, and consequent changes in the nature of political, economic, financial, social and cultural activity. They develop advanced knowledge and understanding of the theoretical, methodological and empirical issues involved in the analysis of non-western media and communications within historical and contemporary contexts, and explore media dynamics in global civil society. A particular focus is the role that media have played in both defining and challenging processes of nation-building and providing spaces for the articulation of other forms of identity-formation, including those among minority ethnic, diasporic, exilic and refugee populations.

The programme suits anyone with an interest in non-Western media and communications; journalists who wish to take time out to analyse critically their profession; NGO and development practitioners who wish to better understand the role of media in political and social change; and students who wish to continue on to MPhil/PhD research in Media and Communications.

Please note that not all optional modules are available every year; more information can be found on the "Structure" tab and in the online module sign-up system.

Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

Start of programme: September intake only

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time

Introducing Global Media and Communications

Global communications and digital technologies are at the centre of intellectual and public debates around the role of media in society in the 21st century.  Dr Dina Matar, Chair of the Centre for Global Media and Communication underlines the relevance of the MA Global Media and Communications at SOAS University of London.

What does the course involve?

With the expansion of digital technologies and other changes in global media institutions, forms and content, there is a need to recognise and critically address the concomitant transformations in social, cultural and political lives, particularly in the Global South. The MA Global Media and Communications at SOAS engages with critical debates around these transformations, the political economy of the media, the digitalisation of the global and the relevant debates around nations, identities, representation, voice, empowerment and disenfranchisement, as well as protest movements in the digital age.  The degree offers a unique opportunity to consider these issues using critical theories and solid methodological approaches, while also opening options in international journalism, political communication, media and the Middle East, critical media, media and development, as well as other modules offered across the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and across SOAS.

What kind of students will the course appeal to?

Prospective students will typically be interested in pursuing careers as practitioners, managers, consultants, policy advisers and entrepreneurs in the creative and cultural industries.  Others are more concerned with developing academic research in the expanding field of global media, political communication, media and development and critical journalism studies.

What is special about the programme at SOAS?

The course allows students to pick modules that fit their interests while at the same time providing students with the theoretical and methodological skills to address some of the most pertinent questions in modern times, the increasing mediation of lives. The regional focus offers students the chance to meet leading experts on politics, development, international relations, culture and traditions of Africa, the Middle East and Asia.  Alongside critical analysis and regional expertise, students can choose from a number of practical hands-on modules, in sound recording, podcasting and broadcasting, that will enable them to enhance their skill-set.

What facilities are available?

SOAS offers strong interdisciplinary support for the study of media including the Centre for Media and Film Studies and the Department of Anthropology.  We offer off-site visits to media institutions, invite media and other speakers to our popular research seminars, and offer practical digital training workshops at the end of term two each year. Further, the Library houses a major collection of books and journals on world media, as well as extensive audio-visual materials.

What do students do after graduating?

The course provides a focused, knowledge-based approach to transformations in global media and digital technologies in a global context as well as expert knowledge in media in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.  It also provides students with the ability to read, write and assess critically in the fields of media and communication, film and the arts.

Students of Media Studies at SOAS have found employment in broadcasting and print, film and video production, international development, UN agencies such as UNDP and UNICEF, public relations, political marketing, human rights, as well as in education.

Recommended reading

Toby Miller and Marwan Kraidy, Global Media Studies, London: Polity, 2016.

David Singh Grewal, Network Power: The Social Dynamics of Globalization, Yale University Press, 2008.

Daya Thussu (ed.) Internationalizing Media Studies, London: Routledge, 2009.

Philip Howard, The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam. Oxford University Press, 2010.

John Thompson. Media and Modernity, Polity, 1995

David Faris, Dissent and Revolution in the Digital Age, London: I.B. Tauris, 2014.

Students must take 180 credits comprised of 120 taught credits (including core/compulsory and optional modules) and a 60-credit dissertation as outlined below.

In choosing their modules, MA students are advised to pay careful attention to the balance of coursework across the two terms to ensure a manageable workload. A significant imbalance of modules - and therefore coursework - between terms is only possible with the written permission of the convenor of the degree.

Dissertation

Taught Component

Core modules

15PMSH036 Theoretical Issues in Global Media and Postnational Communication (15 credits) and 15PMSH037 Topics in Global Media and Postnational Communication (15 credits).

Compulsory Module

All students will take the following compulsory module:

Optional modules

All students will take modules to the value of 30 credits from List 3 below.

AND

All students will take modules to the value of 45 credits from List 3 and List 4 below.

List of modules (subject to availability)

List 3

Media Studies

List 4

Cinemas of Asia and Africa

Social Anthropology

Development Studies

Economics

Please check with the module convenors about prerequisites.

Politics

Religions and Philosophies

History of Art and Archaeology

Programme Specification

• MA Global Media and Communications Programme Specification 2020/21 (pdf; 298kb)

Important notice

Tuition Fees

Full details of postgraduate tuition fees can be found on the Registry's Postgraduate Tuition Fees page.

This is a Band 1 tuition fee.

Fees for 2020/21 entrants. The fees below are per academic year. Fees go up each year, therefore, your tuition fee in your second & subsequent years of study will be higher. Our continuing students, on the same degree programme, are protected from annual increases higher than 5%.

Scholarships

For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section

A postgraduate degree in Media from SOAS gives students expertise in media, communications and film production within a global framework.  It 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. Media and Film Studies students develop a portfolio of transferable skills which employers seek in many professional and creative capacities including communication skills, interpersonal skills, team work, flexibility and dedication.  Department graduates have gone into a wide range of careers and to complete research degrees.

Graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations including:

Types of roles that graduates have gone on to do include:

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

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