Gender, Sexuality and Culture (MA / PgDip / PgCert) / Gender, Sexuality and Society (MSc / PgDip / PgCert) - 2009/2010 entry

Aims

Our Masters programmes are built around the interdisciplinary study of gender and sexuality, bridging the divide betwen the social sciences and the arts and humanities. They address the latest debates, using cutting-edge research from this exciting and growing area of study.

These interdisciplinary degrees consider competing theories and approaches to gender and sexuality, and explore the ways in which these intersect with concepts of race, ethnicity, age and class. They are flexibly designed to maximise student choice and you may opt for either the MA Gender, Sexuality and Culture, or the MSc Gender, Sexuality and Society.

The MA Gender, Sexuality and Culture is designed for those with special interests in the humanities, including literature, history, media and film, visual art, philosophy and cultural theory.

The MSc Gender, Sexuality and Society focuses on political and social issues, including the diverse and changing nature of personal relationships, economics and the workforce, and development and legal studies.

Postgraduate Certificate/Postgraduate Diploma options are also available – please contact us for further details. 

Content

MA/MSc

The programme is made up of two core modules, a choice of special subjects and a dissertation.

All students take the core module, Theorising Gender, and either the core MA module, Masculinities/Femininities, or the core MSc module, Gender and Society. You then take two modules from a range of options that vary annually. One option is selected from a designated MA or MSc list and one option is a free choice from all option modules offered that year.

Options in previous years have included: 

• Gender and the Balance of Life
• Culture, Community, Identity
• Gender and Politics: Political Institutions
• Gender and Philosophy
• Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Japanese fiction
• Transformations in Gender and Sexuality – Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson
• Interpersonal Ethics in Islam
• Africa in the European Imagination
• Queer Theory
• Disciplining Sex – Sex, Sexuality, Society and Nineteenth-Century Culture
• Law and the Body
• Gender and Development
• Psychoanalysis and Difference.

Workshops on research methodology and presentations of students’ research take place throughout the year.

Postgraduate Diploma

Complete the same modules as for the MA/MSc, but without the dissertation.

Postgraduate Certificate

Take the core module, Theorising Gender, and one additional module.

Teaching

Seminars, lectures, workshops and presentations.

Assessment

Normally one essay per module; dissertation (15,000 words).

When to apply

• Early application recommended, but later applications also considered.
• Interviews throughout the year.

Study resources

These postgraduate degrees in gender and sexuality studies are linked to the Birkbeck Institute of Gender and Sexuality (BIGS), which hosts world-leading experts in the field, and organises a diverse range of events throughout the year. BIGS sponsors a lively student postgraduate forum, which runs reading groups, workshops and symposia, as well as the BIGS students' blog.

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