Master of Arts in Visual Anthropology

at Goldsmiths, University of London United Kingdom

This programme is an innovative and interdisciplinary exploration into how social, cultural, and political institutions, decisions, and events have shaped societies and nations around the world.

There is much cross-over to explore between the disciplines of History and Politics. The BA History with Politics at Goldsmiths combines and synthesises methods and concepts from both disciplines to inform and stimulate study. Many History modules, such as those dealing with revolutions, ideas, and social movements, are, of course, centrally connected to politics. Meanwhile, Politics modules on feminism and anarchism are strongly informed by the historical precedents of modern movements and ideologies.

Combine the study of History and Politics

• Rather than focusing on chronology or strict historical periods, combining History and Politics encourages and facilitates explorations and analyses of key issues, controversies, themes, and debates. The study, analysis, and understanding of the past are as important today as they have ever been. Understanding past societies fosters emotional intelligence and allows us to appreciate the diversity and adaptability of human life. Understanding our pasts can help us to shape our futures in more intelligent, insightful, and compassionate ways.
• By combining the two disciplines, you will be able to peel back the formal veneer of political parties and institutions to reveal the major ideological, economic, social, and cultural conflicts which must be investigated to understand our world. This programme crosses boundaries between the traditional and the more radical understandings of political phenomena. Politics is much more than simply what happens in parliaments, it pervades the whole of society, domestically and internationally.

The MA Art & Ecology is a fifteen-month studio-based post-graduate programme for emerging artists who want to engage in meaningful and transformative ways with the most pressing ecological questions of our time.

This is a unique programme located in the urban environment of South East London that seeks to develop new ways in which contemporary art practice can make interventions in a wide range of ecological contexts and extend the ways in which ecology is understood. During this MA we support artists to develop art practices in diverse sites and scales dedicated to imagining and shaping liveable futures.

The MA invites artists to develop innovative art projects grounded in rigorous artistic research and a profound understanding of how ecological challenges such as climate breakdown, pollution, and biodiversity loss are inseparable from questions of social justice. Alongside media including painting, sculpture, printmaking, installation, performance, art writing, textiles, digital media and video, this course supports artists who engage with forms of practice such as food production, sustainable data, citizen and expert science, re-wilding, inter-species care and co-dependence, somatic work, and ritual.

You will also have access to workshops on how to develop your artistic practice after graduation, including on topics such as the ethical and legal dimensions of working in particular situations and environments, which will give you real-world insights into the kinds of negotiations and realisations that are part of having an expanded practice.

There is a growth in the number of entrepreneurs starting businesses with social and environmental purposes. This exciting MA will enable you to develop a critical understanding of and practical insights into modes of social enterprise.

There is an urgent need for talented individuals who can design novel solutions to our most profound societal challenges.

This international MA provides practical and sociological tools to individuals motivated to develop alternative economic practices and frameworks to meet such challenges. These might include (but are not limited to) social enterprises, collaborative innovation networks, hubs, digital platforms, support intermediaries and/or policy proposals.

Benefitting from the MA’s timely educational content as well as from its firm roots in London’s rich networks, our students go on to become thought leaders in the burgeoning social innovation field, advancing it in a creative fashion from their chosen angle. Past graduates have gone on to create their own social enterprises or to work for prestigious organisations such as the Yunus Institute and Social Enterprise UK, while some have elected to carry out advanced research into social innovation.

The programme is not about learning how to be a writer; it’s about developing and pushing forward your own writing projects as far and as fast as you can in 12 months. You’ll be developing your own voice, learning how to critique the work of others, and getting to grips with marketing your projects. You’ll also be making industry contacts so you can pitch for employment in an extremely competitive industry.

You’ll cover every aspect of the writing process from getting ideas, maintaining productive writing practices and developing characters and storylines, to presenting your work to an industry standard and pitching your ideas. Writing is a lonely business – that’s why the community of writers that the programme gives you is such a creative advantage.

Why study MA Script Writing at Goldsmiths

• Focus on further developing your own feature film or TV project in a workshop-based environment limited to twelve students, ensuring intensive engagement.
• Study on one of the few MA Scriptwriting programmes accredited by ScreenSkills.
• Gain industry exposure from multiple angles. Attend lectures given by industry professionals, and have your scripts read by professional actors at a Script Showcase, attended by agents and other industry professionals.
• Be supported in finding industry contacts and mentors who can encourage and support your development as a scriptwriter.
• Develop script editing and script development skills.
• Study within Goldsmiths’ Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, and hone your craft in a critical, stimulating, and interdisciplinary creative environment.

This Masters, a pathway of the MA Filmmaking, will encourage your understanding of the politics, aesthetics and ethics of documentary production, and the nature and diversity of documentary practice in contemporary society.

What we offer

• The programme is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the-art teaching spaces including a range of digital cameras, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Film Editing suites, Animation, Digital Special Effects, Pro Tools Audio Postproduction suites.
• You will be able to make your own documentaries, learning and refining research, interviewing, self-shooting and editing techniques – but also have the unique opportunity to be part of a programme that includes specialised producers, cinematographers, editors, sound recordists and sound designers, so that you can develop the scope and range of your filmmaking by collaborating with them.
• You work on at least two films during the year, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. In addition you can attend classes in related disciplines such as Cinematography and Editing and may collaborate with students across other specialisations on film projects. This framework is designed to provide you with a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise in your chosen filmmaking discipline.

The MA encourages you to develop

• An awareness of documentary production techniques, ethics and aesthetics
• Specific filmmaking and production management skills
• Technical skills (including camera, lighting and sound editing)
• An understanding of the workings of the media and their broad cultural and social impacts

This is a pathway of the MA Applied Anthropology & Community and Youth Work, aimed both at international applicants who may not need a British National Youth Agency qualification and those who want to become specialists in community development.
This MA is a second pathway to the MA Applied Anthropology and Community and Youth Work. It was launched in 2012 as an option for international or home students who do not need an National Youth Agency qualification and for those who want to specialise in community development. A third pathway, the MA Applied Anthropology and Community Arts started in 2015.

The three pathways entail different placements but are taught together, providing much opportunity for exchange of ideas and collaboration amongst students.

This programme engages with the newest military history research, addressing conflict, communities and identities to take military history beyond ’great men, great horses, great battles’.

The BA History with Military History will, of course, allow you to study aspects of national armies, world wars, and major battles. But our cutting-edge approach to the discipline also means expanding the way you think about militaries and learning to make links between military history and politics, society, gender, race, and culture.

Study military history from many different angles
Our military history places armed forces in broad contexts, examining how they are influenced by the societies from which they are drawn, and how they have influenced those societies. Central to this is an understanding of the politics of the military, analysing the causes for which people fight and the interplay between national identities and the military. Gender, (homo)sexuality, race, non-combatants, and ‘home fronts’ all figure here. National armies are still part of our approach to military history, as are those labelled ‘freedom fighters’ by some and ‘terrorists’ by others. Consequently, this programme analyses militaries in a broad sense, including those who took part in revolutions through arms, and those who resisted occupations and conquest by military means.

The MA Sociology provides an advanced introduction to key debates about society, culture, and the world we live in. It combines a broad base of knowledge and theory, with a sharp focus on specific areas of expertise (methodological and theoretical) within the social sciences. You will also be able to build your core knowledge and skills for sociological research alongside a uniquely creative approach that enables you to focus on specialist areas.

You’ll be able to build on your core sociological knowledge and methodological skills by selecting from a range of option modules that enable you to tailor the degree to match your individual interests. You’ll join a community of students from around the world who have a range of backgrounds and interests, and who bring these unique perspectives to the study environment. We welcome graduates from fields such as social science, humanities and philosophy, as well as more creative and artistic pursuits.

Economists study how markets function. Marketing is about how to operate in markets. The Goldsmiths BA Economics with Marketing will help you develop crucial skills in both disciplines.

Why study BA Economics with Marketing at Goldsmiths?

• This unique course combines a rigorous training in economic theory and applications with cutting-edge insights and techniques from marketing practice.
• Our economics teaching is pluralist and interdisciplinary, so you'll be able to understand which tools are useful when tackling different problems in the real world. Our marketing teaching uses perspectives from psychology, sociology and management to keep you at the frontier of marketing practice.
• This degree will give you great flexibility in today’s competitive labour market: you can work in traditional economics jobs and in a range of management and marketing jobs that are looking for this unique set of skills. For example, you will be uniquely positioned for marketing jobs with a quantitative angle.
• To prepare for your future career, you'll have the opportunity to apply for a limited number of competitive placements. Placements take place at the end of your second year; they count as a 15-credit option towards your degree. Placements enhance your CV, bring theory and practical experience together, and help you develop industry contacts.
• Through the Erasmus programme, you can spend half of your third year at a university in Europe. You'll attend modules, experience a different culture and academic environment, and you'll have the option of learning or improving a foreign language.

The BA in Drama and Theatre Arts is designed to foster creative, radical theatre-makers and thinkers. It is adventurous in form, international in scope and hands-on in practice.

The Complete Theatre Maker

• This degree supports you to become the complete theatre maker. At the heart of the programme is a balanced integration of theory and practice. Knowledge gained through making and doing adds to your conceptual understanding, while the insights gained in writing about theatre and society inform the choices you make in your practice-based work.
• Tutored by our diverse and talented team, you will develop technical skills in acting, directing, writing, sound, lighting, scenography, and costume. Bringing these skills together, you will learn how to collaborate and operate in companies, ready to take your own show on the road.
• You will be introduced to a wide range of theatre thinkers, and explore the history and cultural diversity of performance. You will develop a complex understanding of what it means to make theatre in an increasingly global 21st-century society. And with London’s rich theatre culture on your doorstep, you can draw on an exciting range of contemporary practice to inform your thinking and making.

The BA Drama and Theatre Arts is a radical and innovative degree. The curriculum is responsive to the global reach of our teaching staff, including expertise in African, American, Francophone, Japanese, and South Asian performance, as well as British, European, and Russian theatre traditions. We prepare theatre-makers who are socially, culturally, and politically engaged.

The degree explores what it means to perform in contemporary culture, mobilising a range of theatre and performance practices from the interpretation of play texts to devised ensemble work and the possibilities opened up by political protest, live art, and the avant-garde.