Master

Arts and Culture

The master's programme in Arts and Culture focuses on culture in the making. Culture can refer to the products of intellectual and artistic creativity, such as scholarly and literary texts or works of art. It also indicates the cultural practices that shape the everyday life of people, and is expressed in their individual tastes and forms of associating with one another. Finally, culture is at the heart of the processes through which people explicate and contest ethical, aesthetic, and political meanings and values. You will study how cultures change, and how these  changes are related to societal problems and debates, as well as to global challenges such as climate change and increasing social inequalities.

The Master's programme Arts and Culture offers three specialisations:

The Master's programme Arts and Culture focuses on how cultures change. We are interested in how these changes are related to societal problems and debates, as well as to global challenges such as climate change and social inequalities. To understand and practically address these issues and problems you develop a humanities perspective on cultural practices. Drawing on disciplines such as art and literature theory, history, philosophy, and anthropology, you will learn how humanities research is of fundamental importance in dealing with the issues faced by present-day societies. Examples include the ways in which history enables citizens to shape, preserve or challenge their national heritage and culture; how the arts can contribute to critical thinking and action; and how contested present day political ideas are the result of long and intricate genealogies. The programme addresses a broad scope of topics and approaches that not only draws on Western (i.e. European and North American) perspectives, but reflect the global character of today’s societal issues and debates.

Master's programme Arts and Culture has three specialisations. Each in their own way, they seek to demonstrate how the humanities and the qualitative social sciences provide a fundamental perspective for analysing and understanding the most pressing questions of our own age.

What will you learn

You will learn how to recognise, evaluate, and utilize different (trans)disciplinary theoretical approaches and research methods. These combine approaches from the humanities and the qualitative social sciences, including critical discourse analysis, philosophical reflection and analysis, archival research, close reading and interpreting of texts and artefacts, as well as ethnographic field work. You will not only ‘learn to understand’, but also learn how to engage with and practically address the issues that you aim to understand.

The master’s didactic approach adheres to the problem-oriented and interdisciplinary teaching and learning formats that characterise teaching at FASoS. Throughout the curriculum, you will have the opportunity to develop contacts with the world beyond academia, in your research as well as through internships.

Customise your programme

You will write your master's thesis on a topic of your choosing that is related to your specialisation. You will receive supervision from our academic staff and will receive individual feedback on your work throughout the academic year. You will be further supported through a thesis course that will help you develop your academic skills as well as practice applying research designs and methodologies. You will also have the possibility to conduct an internship or extra-curricular internship.

UM and FASoS Campus Tour

At FASoS, we offer our prospective students the opportunity to join a campus tour on 18 December, 12 March 2025 and 7 May 2025. During this campus tour, one of our student ambassadors will show you our faculty, inner city and all important UM buildings. Are you not able to come one of the aforementioned dates? Don't worry! We also offer campus tours during our Open Days, Experience Days and Introduction Days.

Campus

Online Campus Tour

Are you not able to come from abroad for a campus tour? We also offer a virtual campus tour! Check it out through the interactive video on the left.

UM FASoS

Kickstart your career at our Master's Open Day

Experience Maastricht University: find out more about one of the most international universities in Europe, immerse yourself in your programme of choice, and explore our beautiful city. The next Master’s Open Day is on 9 November 2024.

Q&A sessions

We regularly offer Instagram Live Q&A sessions for students who are interested in our master's programmes. Our student ambassadors will answer all your questions about the programme of your choice and studying in Maastricht. For more information and registration, take a look at our Master events page.