MA Creative and Cultural Industries

This course will introduce students to key themes, methods, and movements in the history of contemporary art through the lens of the global, with sustained attention to the transition from modernism, the spectres of colonialism and communism, transnational and diasporic subjectivities, the role of expanding markets, and the assertion of the self and the collective. To this end, recurring questions will include how contemporary art both embraces and critiques the effects of globalization, and how contemporary art has influenced the presumption of a global(ising) art history. By using case studies that include West Africa, Iran, Pakistan, India, China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and their diasporas, this course will push students to critically question the binaries of local/global, centre/periphery, modern/primitive, East/West, and North/South.

This module is designed as an overview of Global Film Industries for MA Global Creative and Cultural Industries students who may or may not have a background in Film Studies. The module will focus on approaching film languages and film industries from a decolonised perspective, paying particular attention to important films, filmmakers, and film industries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, and to moments of radical rupture within mainstream film culture (particularly in relation to gender).

The Dissertation will normally follow the ‘pathway’ chosen by the student in their second core course but may alternatively be based on a theoretical issue in the study of global creative and cultural industries. The Dissertation can also be linked to optional courses, including the skills courses (Digital and Traditional Broadcasting Communication, Sound Recording and Production, and Media Production Skills) and the course Directed Studies in Industry, thereby allowing students to focus on their personal disciplinary, geographic, skills-based or thematic interests.

?This module focuses on the music business as an aspect of the contemporary Creative Industries. Using a range of theoretical perspectives combining political economy, cultural studies, media sociology, ethnomusicology and popular music studies, this module will consider issues such as ownership and control, production and consumption, music and technology, the future of genres, music journalism and careers in the music industry.

This module will complement the aims and objectives of the MA Curating Cultures degree by providing teaching which focuses on the physical spaces for works of art/artefacts across cultures. It will also be object based, providing students studying any region with transferable skills. It will further use a wide range of displayed objects, including those in SOAS collections and the Brunei Gallery as the primary teaching resource. It will thus provide students of the MA Curating Cultures programme with direct experience of diverse contemporary and historical display practices in museums, galleries and commercial spaces, as well as digital modes of display.

Curating Cultures is designed to equip students with a range of critical, theoretical and practical approaches to curating. Themes and issues addressed on the course will include: histories and ideologies of curating; theories of collecting, interpreting objects and writing exhibition texts; contemporary issues and critical debates; exhibition programming and design; collections management and conservation. In particular, the course will provide an in-depth knowledge of the practical, intellectual and ethical issues involved in the interpretation and display of the SOAS teaching collections, and will culminate in student-led, group exhibitions of these collections in the Lady David Gallery. By providing practical, hands-on experiences of curating, the course will develop students’ knowledge and understanding of aspects of the exhibition development process, as well as team-working, organisational and communication skills. The course will appeal to students wishing to pursue careers as curators in museums or galleries in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

This course will introduce students to key themes, methods, and movements in the history of contemporary art through the lens of the global, with sustained attention to the transition from modernism, the spectres of colonialism and communism, transnational and diasporic subjectivities, the role of expanding markets, and the assertion of the self and the collective. To this end, recurring questions will include how contemporary art both embraces and critiques the effects of globalization, and how contemporary art has influenced the presumption of a global(ising) art history. By using case studies that include West Africa, Iran, Pakistan, India, China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and their diasporas, this course will push students to critically question the binaries of local/global, centre/periphery, modern/primitive, East/West, and North/South.

This module will introduce the history, theory, contexts and ethics of documentary filmmaking (particularly in the ‘Global South’) and will equip students with an understanding of how to direct micro-budget documentaries. It will involve: learning about film language and vocabulary so as to understand how film works and how to direct films and communicate with crew members; watching and analysing documentaries to consider how they have been directed and made; organising bespoke masterclasses for students with documentary filmmakers; and teaching students how to envision, plan for, develop a treatment for, budget and undertake their own micro-budget documentary from pre-production through to production, post-production and dissemination.

The course is designed to develop practical skills in ?digital media, informed by media scholarship. ?The principle of the module is that one of the best ways to study digital media is by making it. Students will learn about the emergence of podcasting ?as a new form of digital production, consider its relationship to traditional forms of broadcasting like radio, and work in groups to produce and publish a podcast. Students will learn a range of media production techniques; including idea management tools like Affinity Diagrams, consider a range of podcasts and the different genres they use to present information, scripting and presentation and editing (Audacity).

This module provides an overview of the main theoretical debates around the impact of digital media in different arenas, and aims at understanding the nature of the changes we see around us.

This module will complement the aims and objectives of the MA Curating Cultures degree by providing teaching which focuses on the physical spaces for works of art/artefacts across cultures. It will also be object based, providing students studying any region with transferable skills. It will further use a wide range of displayed objects, including those in SOAS collections and the Brunei Gallery as the primary teaching resource. It will thus provide students of the MA Curating Cultures programme with direct experience of diverse contemporary and historical display practices in museums, galleries and commercial spaces, as well as digital modes of display.

Arts of Modern and Contemporary China (since 1800)

This module addresses the development of Korean art and visual culture in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Curating Cultures is designed to equip students with a range of critical, theoretical and practical approaches to curating. Themes and issues addressed on the course will include: histories and ideologies of curating; theories of collecting, interpreting objects and writing exhibition texts; contemporary issues and critical debates; exhibition programming and design; collections management and conservation. In particular, the course will provide an in-depth knowledge of the practical, intellectual and ethical issues involved in the interpretation and display of the SOAS teaching collections, and will culminate in student-led, group exhibitions of these collections in the Lady David Gallery. By providing practical, hands-on experiences of curating, the course will develop students’ knowledge and understanding of aspects of the exhibition development process, as well as team-working, organisational and communication skills. The course will appeal to students wishing to pursue careers as curators in museums or galleries in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

This course will introduce students to key themes, methods, and movements in the history of contemporary art through the lens of the global, with sustained attention to the transition from modernism, the spectres of colonialism and communism, transnational and diasporic subjectivities, the role of expanding markets, and the assertion of the self and the collective. To this end, recurring questions will include how contemporary art both embraces and critiques the effects of globalization, and how contemporary art has influenced the presumption of a global(ising) art history. By using case studies that include West Africa, Iran, Pakistan, India, China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and their diasporas, this course will push students to critically question the binaries of local/global, centre/periphery, modern/primitive, East/West, and North/South.

This module introduces postgraduate students to prevalent theories and methods used by art historians to analyse and interpret works of art and objects of visual study. Engaging with the deep impact of 20th-21st-century debates surrounding race, gender, postmodernism, postcolonialism and decoloniality, we will consider the historical development of the discipline and its increasing inclusion of forms of knowledge salient to understanding artistic production and reception in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and their diasporas.

This module is designed as an overview of Global Film Industries for MA Global Creative and Cultural Industries students who may or may not have a background in Film Studies. The module will focus on approaching film languages and film industries from a decolonised perspective, paying particular attention to important films, filmmakers, and film industries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, and to moments of radical rupture within mainstream film culture (particularly in relation to gender).

In this module we review the principles which underpin the UNESCO treaty, the shift from cultural preservation to cultural sustainability, questions of ownership, authenticity, economics, and rights. We take a case study approach to intangible cultural heritage across East and Central Asia, exploring the gaps between the principles enshrined in the convention, the priorities of the nation states which are signatories to the convention, and the management of heritage on the ground.

This module introduces history, theory and methodology in the study of Taiwan cinema through examining key works by major filmmakers from Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora as well as the socio-cultural condition of their production, distribution, exhibition and consumption. Special attention will be paid to issues such as the construction of local and national identities through film, national film historiography, as well as mainstream and alternative film practices.

The module is designed to offer a critical overview of Chinese cinema, and its progression from the beginning to the present day. It will be looking at how actors and directors are involved in the industry.

The module is designed to offer a critical overview of East Asian cinema, and its interregional flows from the beginning to the present day. It will be looking at how actors and directors travel across the region.

The module is designed to offer a critical overview of Japanese cinema, and its progression from the beginning to the present day. It will look at how actors and directors are involved in the industry.

The module is designed to offer a critical overview of Korean cinema, and its progression from the beginning to the present day. It will be looking at how actors and directors are involved in the industry.

Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media:Networking, Connectivity, Identity.

This module provides an overview of the main theoretical debates around the impact of digital media in different arenas, and aims at understanding the nature of the changes we see around us.

Students in this class will be introduced to the key issues in the emerging field of Hip Hop Studies, getting to know the repertoire (beats and rhymes) and the social problems that facilitate its spread (urban poverty and gentrification, de-industrialization, generational injustice). Studying an interdisciplinary topic from the perspective of music, we will work outside the framework of lyrics are everything," analyzing musical style and reading the literature critically."

Morocco is unique in its religious, cultural and musical diversity. With a Jewish population that dates back over a thousand years, a Berber population that has its own languages, and former slaves who were brought from sub-Saharan Africa over centuries, Morocco’s official culture is a diverse array of ethnic minorities who are often invisible in other parts of the Middle East and North Africa. This module delves into the musical genres that make Morocco unique, from Andalusi to Gnawa, including contemporary Judeo-Arabic pop, hip hop post-Arab spring, and the religious practices of Jews and Muslims.