MA Postcolonial Literatures and Cultures: The University of Manchester

Course description

This MA stresses the plurality of materials and perspectives as course options will touch on disciplines as varied as cultural theory, literary history, national and regional literatures, gender and sexuality as well as representation itself. The decision to use the plural forms of the key terms 'literature' and 'culture' also reflects their intention to signal the discursive and ideological diversity and openness of the debates to which students will be introduced. This broad programmatic scope will appeal to students as it leaves plenty of leeway for individual specialisation and whilst profoundly historical in its overall stance, the programme never looses sight of the present as its most immediate point of reference.

Module details

Typical compulsory course-units and optional course units include:

Postcolonial Cultures:

• Gender, Identity and Community

England, Identity and Writing:

• The Empire and After, 1918-1990
• Colonial Discouse and Postcolonial Theory
• The Irish and Scottish Migrant Imagination
• Art and Ethnography
• Gender and Postcolonial Theory
• Colonial Modernity and the Public Sphere
• South Asian and/or Middle Eastern Art and Architecture
• British Colonialism and its Legacy in Burma
• Is America Postcolonial

Career opportunities

Many English postgraduates on completion go (or return) to jobs as teachers or librarians, continue their research, or go to academic jobs. Career paths are extremely varied, however, and other English postgraduates go on or return to careers in law, publishing, retailing, and a range of other fields.

Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview: A First or Upper Second class honours degree or its overseas equivalent, in English or a closely related area.

English language: Students whose first language is not English are required to take either the IELTS or TOEFL test. On the IELTS test applicants are normally expected to score a minimum of 7.0 overall; on the TOEFL test a minimum score of 600 (paper test) or 250 (computer test) is expected.