Studies in Media and Culture | MA | University of Lincoln

Dr Thomas Sutherland - Programme Leader

Dr Thomas Sutherland is a Senior Lecturer in the University's Lincoln School of Media and specialises in the history and philosophy of media and communication, as well as critical and cultural theory more broadly.

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Welcome to MA Studies in Media and Culture

MA Studies in Media and Culture is a critical theory degree, designed to provide a thorough grounding in issues dominating contemporary thought on media, technology, and cultural practice. Students have the opportunity to investigate key debates reshaping this expanding and diverse field, examining various theoretical, philosophical, historical, and aesthetic approaches to better understand the complex, convergent, and entangled processes of mediation that characterise our contemporary networked culture.

The coherence of the programme is achieved through close connections between modules, reflecting the research interests of the teaching team. Students are encouraged to explore the various aspects of the ecological entanglements of media; analyse 21st-Century cultural processes and phenomena within a global context; and engage in reflexive, experimental research practice, building upon the knowledge and literacies that they already possess as result of their everyday experiences with media culture.

How You Study

Every student takes all nine modules as part of a single, coherent pathway.

Teaching and learning on the programme will be undertaken through lectures, seminars, presentations, reading groups, and personal tutorials. Students are able to develop their skills to work as both an individual and as a team member to produce solo and group presentations, essays, projects, and a dissertation.

Contact and Independent Study

Full-time weekly contact hours are typically around eight hours, however during the summer when the dissertation is being researched and written, you are expected to be largely engaged in independent study.

Postgraduate level study involves a significant proportion of independent study, exploring the material covered in lectures and seminars. As a general guide, for every hour spent in class, students are expected to spend two to three hours in independent study.

An Introduction to Your Modules

† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.

Cultural Analysis 2022-23MED9035MLevel 72022-23The analysis of culture has typically been strongly invested in theoretical engagement with questions of power and resistance. However, new and apparently intractable problems have been posed for the fields established political commitments as it confronts contemporary neoliberal forms of power. What use is theory today? What can it do? More reflexive approaches in the field have emerged to challenge the perception of theorys inefficacy and marginality and to begin mapping out new territories. This module sets out to explore these new territories.CoreDissertation (Media and Cultural Studies) 2022-23MED9022MLevel 72022-23This module aims to provide students with the opportunity to plan and complete an individual piece of research. The student is expected to carry out, by independent study, an individual research study/dissertation. It is intended that this work will contribute to the development of the student as someone capable of sustaining a major enquiry into aspects of the field. It will provide students with the opportunity to develop critical research skills.CoreMedia Ecologies 1 2022-23MED9028MLevel 72022-23This module is designed to tackle critically the current disintegration between discrete media forms. It recognises that long established boundaries between modes, practices and conventions of media have become diffuse. Where, in the past, individual media forms were comfortably self-contained and distinctive, today these forms are experienced as a type of informational content that we access on multiple devices and in multiple contexts. The module understands contemporary media to be a complex, entangled ecology, a dynamic system in which any one product, device or image is always multiply connected, and in which our use of such media is necessarily informed by such connections. It insists that media activity is informed by a pattern of relations between individuals, political and economic institutions, commercial brands, and technologies.CoreMedia Ecologies 2 2022-23MED9031MLevel 72022-23This module is designed to take the form of a reading group in which discussions revolve around close readings of selected texts. The module aims to identify a small number of new and recent texts of importance to emergent lines of inquiry in contemporary media and cultural scholarship. Specifically, these readings provide the opportunity to extend and deepen our understanding of ecological perspectives on media, which can provide points of entry into debates relevant to this focus.CoreResearch Practice 2022-23MED9036MLevel 72022-23This module aims to provide an understanding of the skills required to conduct research in media and culture across a variety of topics. Students are exposed to a range of relevant methods, including methods involving photography, video and digital media. They will be encouraged to critically evaluate relevant methodological approaches and respond to issues emergent from non-representational theory and the current renewal of interest in the politics of method in the field. They will also be expected to engage with particular debates in the areas of visual research and social media research.CoreApproaches to Screen Studies 2022-23MED9037MLevel 72022-23Dewesternizing Film Studies aims to rethink and reassess the conceptual apparatus of contemporary film studies and theory to test its suitability for the analysis of film production, exhibition and reception in a variety of non-western contexts.OptionalFilm and Television in the 21st Century 2022-23MED9038MLevel 72022-23OptionalGender, Media and Culture in a Global Context 2022-23MED9039MLevel 72022-23This module examines the multi-directional and variable relationship between gender, media and culture. We will interrogate the category of gender as a tool of cultural analysis and its relation to media and popular culture. Gender will be presented as central to media and cultural formations, while media, mediation and culture will be presented as central to gender formations. Key concepts to be examined in relation to gender will include body, class, power, sexual difference, masculinity/femininity race/ethnicity, identity/non-identity and subjectivity. These concepts will be introduced and examined in relation to case studies, media practices and texts from a variety of historical and geo-political contexts.OptionalHuman and Inhuman in the 21st Century 2022-23MED9032MLevel 72022-23This module examines the specific social, cultural and political implications of everyday life in the 21st Century. It will aim to do this by attending to the expression and mediation of these issues in popular culture, dominant discourse and creative practice.OptionalRethinking Society for the 21st Century 2022-23MED9029MLevel 72022-23This module aims to critically examine the social, cultural and political implications of everyday experience unique to the 21st Century. It looks at to how these implications are mediated and expressed in popular culture, dominant discourse and creative practice. It is investigative rather than instructive and takes as its focus topics relevant to contemporary social life, including, for example, debt, conflict, global civil unrest, network culture, ideas of the future, utopia and dystopia. You will be encouraged to experiment with various ways of exploring such topics, both individually and collaboratively, and through the development of modes of inquiry which overcome false divisions between theory and practice.Optional

How you are assessed

Assessment is through written work, including essays and a dissertation, as well as through presentations. In addition, some optional modules provide the opportunity for collaborative research projects which involve elements of both theory and practice (eg. audio-visual essays), submission of research portfolios, and contribution to group blogs.

The University of Lincoln's policy on assessment feedback aims to ensure that academics will return in-course assessments to students promptly - usually within 15 working days of the submission date (unless stated differently above).

Fees and Funding

For eligible students, there are more ways than ever before to fund your postgraduate study, whether you want to do a taught or research course. For those wishing to undertake a Master's course, UK students can apply for a loan as a contribution towards the course and living costs. Loans are also available to those who wish to undertake doctoral study. The University offers a number of scholarships and funded studentships for those interested in postgraduate study. Learn how Master's and PhD loans, scholarships, and studentships can help you fund your studies on our Postgraduate Fees and Funding pages.

Programme Fees

Programme-Specific Additional Costs

For each course you may find that there are additional costs. These may be with regard to the specific clothing, materials or equipment required. Some courses provide opportunities for you to undertake field work or field trips. Where these are compulsory, the cost for travel and accommodation will be covered by the University and so is included in your fee. Where these are optional, you will normally be required to pay your own transport, accommodation and general living costs.

With regards to text books, the University provides students who enrol with a comprehensive reading list and you will find that our extensive library holds either material or virtual versions of the core texts that you are required to read. However, you may prefer to purchase some of these for yourself and you will be responsible for this cost.

International Postgraduate Taught Application Deadline

Please note that international applications for taught postgraduate programmes starting in September 2022 have now closed.

Entry Requirements 2022-23

First or upper second class honours degree in a relevant subject or equivalent professional experience.

International Students will require English Language at IELTS 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in each element, or equivalent. http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/englishrequirements

Career Opportunities

Graduates can go on to careers in the media and cultural industries, while others may utilise their knowledge and advanced critical-thinking skills in research roles across a range of commercial and public sector organisations. Some choose to go on to doctoral study and pursue a career in academia.

Postgraduate Events

Find out more about how postgraduate study can help further your career, develop your knowledge, or even prepare you to start your own business at one of our postgraduate events.

Find out More

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Key Information

MA Studies in Media and Culture