MA Culture and Dictatorship: The University of Manchester

MA in Culture and Dictatorship (Pathway of MA European Languages & Cultures)

Course description

The MA Culture and Dictatorship pathway offers students with a first degree in a modern European language or languages the opportunity to explore in detail the literature and culture associated with the experience of dictatorship in the twentieth century. This may take the form of examining the interface between culture and politics within a specifically German (Third Reich, GDR), Italian (Fascist), or Russian (Soviet Union) context, or, where appropriate, from an explicitly comparative, cross-cultural perspective.

Through the examination of a range of historically specific examples, the MA explores the following common core of theoretical concerns: the dynamics of cultural policy and artistic practice; shortfalls between regime claims and outcomes; mediated representations of official ideology, aesthetics, and discourse; patterns of cultural assent and dissent. It provides a thorough grounding in critical theoretical approaches common to literary and cultural studies, and makes students conversant with the methods of scholarly research in the humanities, and with the resources necessary for that research.

Course aims

The course aims to:

• make students fully conversant with the methods of scholarly research in a humanities discipline and the resources necessary for such research.
• equip students for further study and research.
• provide graduates holding a first degree in a modern European language or languages with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the literature and culture of one or more areas where these languages are spoken.
• provide a thorough grounding in modern critical theoretical approaches to literary and cultural studies.

Module details

The MA comprises:

• Research Methods I and II (30 credits)
• Optional course units (90 credits)
• a dissertation (60 credits)

Students on the MA in Culture and Dictatorship will normally include Critical Concepts I and Critical Concepts II among their options.

Optional course units typically include:

• Trauma and Memory in 20th Century French Life Writing
• Culture and Society in Fascist Italy
• Holocaust Representations in Visual Culture
• Cultural Politics and Artistic Practice in the GDR
• The Politics of Culture
• Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview: The normal requirement for admission to the MA is an Upper Second class Honours degree, or higher, or its overseas equivalent, in a suitable Humanities discipline.

English language: Students whose first language is not English require an overall IELTS score of 7.0 with 7.0 in the writing component or TOEFL 600 (paper-based test), 250 (computer-based test) or 100 (internet-based test).