Arts and Culture

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.