Malmö, Sweden
DURATION
2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
01 Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
SEK 195,000 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* full tuition fee
Key Summary
Introduction
Culture and change: Critical Studies in the Humanities is a two-year master’s program aimed at students interested in better understanding various cultural phenomena, both past and present. The program will encourage you to think expansively and creatively about how culture is produced and reproduced, and why it is still a contested terrain. We explore and ask questions about issues of power, representation, memory, silence, and place. The program will help you to bridge theory and practice and to develop research interests in collaboration with external stakeholders. If you have ever considered working in the arts, policy-making, cultural administration, or even pursuing a Ph.D., this might be the ideal program for you.
Culture is not just a set of texts, images, artifacts, and compositions that we experience or analyze. It is also a living medium through which we interact with the world and each other, as well as understand ourselves and the societies that we inhabit. Culture is constantly shifting and affects the way power is negotiated. In the post-truth, post-memory 21st century, it is still not clear how different perspectives and expressions of culture will continue to coexist. Questions that we need to face and tackle are: Who gets to speak and act, and who listens? Why do we produce knowledge, and what is it used for? And how can we ethically engage and participate in the work of making/doing “culture”?
What makes the program unique?
This is a two-year master’s program in Cultural Studies which is based in the humanities but also uses methods, theories, and approaches from other fields, such as participatory design, critical museology, and artistic research. A distinguishing feature of this program is the bridging of theory and practice. You will study culture in a broad sense and practically engage with different forms of cultural production as it takes place within institutions such as museums, theatres, and arts venues, and in dialogue with stakeholders such as artists, curators, activists, collectives, and small enterprises. An important part of this multidisciplinary program is to provide opportunities for you as a student to collaborate with cultural stakeholders and co-create your productions, as well as build a community of peers.
Admissions
Curriculum
The structure of the program
This program starts with new students every autumn semester. The first year focuses on getting to grips with key theoretical concepts and concerns in the field. We will draw on a wide range of materials from film and visual art to performances and public monuments. This year also includes a course with multidisciplinary approaches to research design and methods, as well as a socially engaged research course carried out in collaboration with external stakeholders. The program progresses by gradually building student confidence and independence, both in terms of scholarship and by creating wider cultural networks. In the second year, we offer elective courses in more specialized subjects, and the program concludes with students writing a 30-credit master’s thesis.
Contents
Autumn 2024 - Semester 1
- Critical Humanities - Ideas on the Move (KK680A), 15 credits, compulsory
- Locations of Culture - History, and Place (KK681A), 7.5 credits, compulsory
- Representation and Power (KK682A), 7.5 credits, compulsory
Spring 2025 - Semester 2
- Integrated Methodologies for Research Design (KK683A), 15 credits, compulsory
- Socially Engaged Research (KK684B), 15 credits, compulsory
Autumn 2025 - Semester 3
- Biosocial Ethics: Limits of the Human (KK488A), 15 credits, elective
- Cultural Politics in the Anthropocene: Global and Local Perspectives (KK489A), 15 credits, elective
Spring 2026 - Semester 4
- Cultural Studies: Master's (Two-Year) Thesis (KK690A), 30 credits, compulsory
Program Outcome
General goals for second-cycle courses and study programs (Högskolelagen 1:8-9)
Second-cycle courses and study programs shall involve the acquisition of specialist knowledge, competence, and skills about first-cycle courses and study programmes, and in addition to the requirements for first-cycle courses and study programmes shall:
- A further develop the ability of students to integrate and make autonomous use of their knowledge
- Develop the student's ability to deal with complex phenomena, issues, and situations
- Develop the students' potential for professional activities that demand considerable autonomy or for research and development work. Higher Education Ordinance (2006:173)
Qualification outcomes for a Master’s degree (Higher Education Ordinance)
Knowledge and understanding
For a Degree of Master's (120 credits), the student shall:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the subject area of Cultural Studies, including broad knowledge of the field and significantly deeper knowledge of specific parts of the field, as well as insight into current research and practice
- Demonstrate specialized methodological knowledge in the subject area of Cultural Studies
Competence and skills
For a Degree of Master's (120 credits), the student shall:
- Demonstrate the ability to critically and systematically integrate knowledge and to analyze, assess, and deal with complex phenomena, issues, and situations even with limited information
- Demonstrate the ability to identify and formulate issues critically, autonomously, and creatively as well as to plan and, using appropriate methods, undertake advanced tasks within predetermined time frames and so contribute to the formation of knowledge as well as the ability to evaluate this work
- Demonstrate the ability in speech and writing both nationally and internationally to report and discuss his or her conclusions and the knowledge and arguments on which they are based in dialogue with different audiences
- Demonstrate the skills required for participation in research or autonomous employment in some other qualified occupation
Judgment and approach
For a Degree of Master's (120 credits), the student shall:
- Demonstrate the ability to make assessments in the main field of study informed by relevant disciplinary, social, and ethical issues and also to demonstrate awareness of ethical aspects of research and practice
- Demonstrate insight into the possibilities and limitations of research, its role in society, and the responsibility of the individual for how it is used
- Demonstrate the ability to identify the personal need for further knowledge and take responsibility for his or her ongoing learning
Career Opportunities
This program is specifically designed to provide you with the skills, confidence, and qualifications to work in cultural production, cultural administration, and enterprise, particularly in ways that are aware and ethically responsible. Working with a range of local stakeholders, and alongside peers, you will also get the opportunity to build a strong professional network. At the same time, the program provides the necessary rigor to prepare students for doctoral studies within an interdisciplinary and international academic context.