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Culture and Colonialism (MA)

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Course Overview

IMPORTANT:
This programme is not on offer for entry 2022.

Watch course video presentation here.

The MA in Culture and Colonialism explores literature, politics and culture from Ireland to India, and from Africa to the Middle East. It is a multi-disciplinary taught Master of Arts programme, aimed at graduates from the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Students analyse imperial ascendancies, race and racial theories, nationalist movements, postcolonial experiences, the rise of neo-colonial thought, multiculturalism and interculturalism, and the implications of globalisation and development for the modern world.

This MA allows students to combine the specialisation of postgraduate research with the adaptable skills training of a multi-disciplinary approach. Students benefit from the legacy of an MA programme established in 1994; the programme has continuously re-invented itself in changing ideological climates while maintaining its primary goal: to offer a critical education in the cultural discourses of power.

Applications and Selections

Applications are made online via the NUI Galway Postgraduate Applications System. 

Who Teaches this Course

  • Dr Louis de Paor (Scoil na Gaeilge): Colonialism in Cultural Theory
  • Dr Su-Ming Khoo (Department of Political Science and Sociology): Decolonization and Neo- Colonialism
  • Dr Lionel Pilkington (Department of English): Approaches to Culture and Colonialism
  • Dr Laurence Marley (Department of History): History of Colonialism and Imperialism
  • Dr Sean Ryder (Department of English): Approaches to Culture and Colonialism
  • Dr Tony Varley (Department of Political Science and Sociology): Decolonization and Neo-Colonialism
  • Dr Muireann O'Cinneide ( Department of English): Literature and Colonialism
  • Dr Fiona Bateman (Moore Institute): Cinema and Colonialism
  • Dr Daniel Carey (English): Travel Literature

Requirements and Assessment

Students take six assessed courses spread over two semesters, together with a research seminar, and complete their degree with the writing of a 15,000-word dissertation. Courses are usually assessed through submission of written assignments.

Key Facts

Entry Requirements

NQAI Level 8 at H2.2 in relevant subject area, GPA 3.0 or equivalent international qualification. IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent if applicable.


Additional Requirements

Duration

1 year, full-time | 2 years, part-time

Next start date

September 2022

A Level Grades ()

Average intake

15

QQI/FET FETAC Entry Routes

Closing Date

You are advised to apply early, which may result in an early offer; see the offer round dates

NFQ level

Mode of study

ECTS weighting

90

Award

CAO

Course code

1CC1 (full-time) | 1CC2 (part-time)

Course Outline

Our teaching staff has been drawn over the years from the disciplines of English, History, Political Science and Sociology, Economics, Irish Studies, Film Studies, Spanish, French, Archaeology, German, Italian, and Classics, and is supplemented by Irish and international guest lecturers.

Modules/coursework on offer may include:

  •  Literature and Colonialism
  •  Cinema and Colonialism
  •  Studies in the History of Colonialism and Imperialism
  •  Decolonization and Neo-Colonialism: The Politics of ‘Development’
  •  Colonialism and Cultural Theory
  •  Approaches to Culture and Colonialism
  •  Travel Literature
  •  Political Economy, Colonialism and Globalization (How To Argue with an Economist).

Modules for full-time course

Modules for part-time course

Curriculum Information

Curriculum information relates to the current academic year (in most cases).
Course and module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Glossary of Terms

Credits
You must earn a defined number of credits (aka ECTS) to complete each year of your course. You do this by taking all of its required modules as well as the correct number of optional modules to obtain that year's total number of credits.
Module
An examinable portion of a subject or course, for which you attend lectures and/or tutorials and carry out assignments. E.g. Algebra and Calculus could be modules within the subject Mathematics. Each module has a unique module code eg. MA140.
Optional
A module you may choose to study.
Required
A module that you must study if you choose this course (or subject).
Semester
Most courses have 2 semesters (aka terms) per year.

Year 1 (90 Credits)

Required CU552: Culture & Colonialism - Minor Dissertation


15 months long | Credits: 30

Learning Outcomes
  1. TBC
Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Research (100%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
The above information outlines module CU552: "Culture & Colonialism - Minor Dissertation" and is valid from 2018 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Required SP544: Decolonization & Neo-Colonialism:The Politics of 'Development'


Semester 1 | Credits: 10

Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
The above information outlines module SP544: "Decolonization & Neo-Colonialism:The Politics of 'Development'" and is valid from 2014 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Required EN541: Colonialism In Twentieth Century Cultural Theory


Semester 1 | Credits: 10

This module focuses on theories of identity, political agency and representation. It offers an introduction to twentieth- and twenty-first century theorisations of colonialism, post-colonialism, neo-colonialism and globalisation, especially in relation to cultural production. Ireland’s relation to postcolonial theory is considered. Some of the theorists discussed may include Fanon, Said, Spivak and Ahmad.
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the works of key theorists of colonial and postcolonial thought.
  2. Apply these theorists' ideas to different cultural and national contexts.
  3. Critique the limitations and frameworks of these theories and through this develop their own individual critical apparatus.
Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Continuous Assessment (85%)
  • Oral, Audio Visual or Practical Assessment (15%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
Reading List
  1. "Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader" by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman
    ISBN: 978-023110021.
    Publisher: Columbia University Press
  2. "Postcolonial Discourses" by Gregory Castle (ed.)
    ISBN: 978-063121005.
    Publisher: Blackwell
The above information outlines module EN541: "Colonialism In Twentieth Century Cultural Theory" and is valid from 2018 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Optional EN573: Travel Literature


Semester 2 | Credits: 10

Narratives of travel constituted one of the most popular publishing genres of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This course examines the literary conventions, genres, and modes of representing otherness that characterised this disparate body of texts. We will make particular used of Early English Books Online which makes available virtually everything printed from 1475-1700.

Learning Outcomes
  1. To be confirmed
Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
The above information outlines module EN573: "Travel Literature" and is valid from 2015 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Optional HI546: Studies In The History Of Colonialism And Imperialism I


Semester 1 | Credits: 10

This course introduces students to some of the key thinkers and concepts in the writing of British imperial history. The work of scholars such as J. A. Hobson, Ronald Robinson and Jack Gallagher, Peter Cain and Tony Hopkins, Chris Bayly, Alan Lester and John Darwin will be discussed. Concepts such as finance imperialism, informal empire, the official mind, gentlemanly capitalism, colonial knowledge, imperial networks, and bridgeheads will be examined from a critical perspective. Full use of on-line journals and other e-resources will be encouraged. Students will be asked to read key texts, undertake wider reading and research to help put these key texts in context, comment on their readings, and present their own ideas as the basis for class discussion and debate. Course assessments will be linked closely to the core texts studied.
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. Describe different historical theories concerning the origins and nature of British overseas expansion during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
  2. Critically evaluate the merits of these theories, with reference to a range of examples drawn from the history of the British empire
  3. Identify inter-disciplinary trends in the history of the modern British empire; Present ideas in a persuasive, logical and scholarly fashion through written assignments
  4. Apply scholarly conventions in the citation of relevant literature or primary sources
Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
Reading List
  1. "The Empire Project" by John Darwin
    ISBN: 9780521317894.
    Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  2. "Empire" by Stephen Howe
    ISBN: 9780192802231.
    Publisher: Oxford ; Oxford University Press, 2002.
  3. "The British Empire" by Philippa Levine
    ISBN: 0582472814.
    Publisher: Harlow, England ; Pearson Longman, 2007.
  4. "The lion's share" by Bernard Porter
    ISBN: 0582772524.
    Publisher: Harlow, Essex, England ; Pearson/Longman, 2004.
  5. "The Oxford history of the British Empire" by Wm. Roger Louis, editor-in-chief
    ISBN: 9780198205654.
    Publisher: Oxford University Press
  6. "The Oxford history of the British Empire" by Wm. Roger Louis, editor-in-chief
    ISBN: 9780198205647.
    Publisher: Oxford University Press
  7. "The Oxford history of the British Empire" by Wm. Roger Louis, editor-in-chief
    ISBN: 9780198205661.
    Publisher: Oxford University Press
  8. "British imperialism, 1750-1970" by Simon C. Smith
    ISBN: 052159930X.
    Publisher: Cambridge University Press
The above information outlines module HI546: "Studies In The History Of Colonialism And Imperialism I" and is valid from 2017 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Optional EN547: Literature And Colonialism


12 months long | Credits: 10

Students will develop an in-depth knowledge and understanding of literature relating to the British Empire and its former colonies. The course will analyse literature in relation to colonial power structures and consider the relationship between political power and literary representation. Students will read a wide range of postcolonial literary theory and learn both to apply these theories and to consider them critically. By the end of the course, students will be encouraged to consider how ideas concerning literary representation relate to present-day debates about representation and power in a modern globalised world.

Learning Outcomes
  1. TBC
Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
The above information outlines module EN547: "Literature And Colonialism" and is valid from 2018 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Optional EN597: Approaches to the Study of Culture and Colonialism


Semester 2 | Credits: 10

Approaches to the Study of Culture and Colonialism will consider in a systematic fashion some of the variety of disciplinary and methodological approaches that can be adopted in order to address key concerns related to the study of culture and colonialism. A series of lectures and seminars will be convened involving academics from some or all of the following disciplines: English, Economics, History, Sociology and Political Science, French, Geography, and Spanish. Students will be introduced to a range of key texts and critical methodologies. Assessment will consiset of a 2,500 word essay (70%) and a detailed weekly learning journal (1500 words approx) weighted at 30%.
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. Gain a detailed knowledge of a range of disciplinary approaches to colonialism / post colonialism
  2. Become familiar with significant critical and theoretical arguments within the field of colonialism / post colonialism and the relationship of these to differing methodological approaches
  3. Aquire a detailed historical knowledge of colonialism / post colonialism as an area of scholarship
  4. Demonstrate an ability to examine a case study in colonialism / post-colonialism using a variety of disciplinary approaches
Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Continuous Assessment (30%)
  • Department-based Assessment (70%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
Reading List
  1. "Colonial discourse and post-colonial theory" by edited and introduced by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman
    ISBN: 9780231100212.
    Publisher: Columbia University Press
  2. ""Exterminate All the Brutes"" by Sven Lindqvist, Joan Tate
    ISBN: 978156584359B.
    Publisher: New Press
  3. "Postcolonialism" by Robert J. C. Young
    ISBN: 9780192801821.
    Publisher: Oxford ; Oxford University Press, 2003.
  4. "Postcolonial discourses" by edited by Gregory Castle
    ISBN: 0631210059.
    Publisher: Oxford ; Blackwell, 2001.
  5. "Englishness" by edited by Robert Colls and Philip Dodd
    ISBN: 9780709945628.
    Publisher: Croom Helm ; c1986.
  6. "Postcolonialism" by Robert J. C. Young
    ISBN: 0631200711.
    Publisher: Blackwell Publishers
The above information outlines module EN597: "Approaches to the Study of Culture and Colonialism" and is valid from 2017 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Optional HI6100: NGOs and the Making of the 20th Century World


Semester 2 | Credits: 10

In the 20th century NGO's emerged as one of the key building blocks of the contemporary world. This module introduces the historiography, key concepts and methodologies in the study of transnational action. How did NGOs operate? How should we study them? What can they tell us about the growing inter-connectedness of the modern world? The second part of the module puts these concepts into practice through a series of focused case studies, from Amnesty INternational to the Ante-Apartheid Movement.
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. Demonstrate knowledge and informed understanding of the historiography, key concepts and methodologies involved in the study of NGOs in the twentieth century
  2. Show familiarity with a range of primary source documents relevant to the course, and develop skills allowing them to analyse documents of this type in depth.
  3. Give an oral presentation based on their reading and research.
  4. Develop a discreet project and write an accompanying scholarly essay appropriate to an MA student.
Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
Reading List
  1. "The politics of expertise: how NGOs shaped modern Britain" by Matthew Hilton, James McKay, Nicholas Crowson and Jean-François Mouhot
  2. "Global Community: the role of international organisations in the making of the contemporary world" by Akira Iriye
  3. "Activists beyond borders: advocacy networks in international politics" by Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink
The above information outlines module HI6100: "NGOs and the Making of the 20th Century World" and is valid from 2018 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Optional FM6119: Film, Politics, and Colonialism


Semester 2 | Credits: 10

This module considers the significance of film as a mode of cultural production, the politics of representation, and the role of ‘national’ cinema. The films viewed and analysed address subjects including colonial history, marginal groups, conflict, resistance, gender, and postcolonial realities. Students will consider aspects of those films including genre, theme, and narrative structure. The political and historical circumstances of their production will also be discussed and analyzed.
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. Understand the language of film and be able to deconstruct and read a film critically.
  2. Analyse the politics of representation, with reference to the historical and social context of films under discussion, including the effects of colonialism and postcolonialism.
  3. Explore ideas about film and politics which provide theoretical and analytical tools that can be deployed in the specific media practices involved in advocacy, for example the application of postcolonial theory to film texts.
  4. Demonstrate understanding of the relationship between film and politics, and the difference between propaganda and entertainment.
Assessments

This module's usual assessment procedures, outlined below, may be affected by COVID-19 countermeasures. Current students should check Blackboard for up-to-date assessment information.

  • Department-based Assessment (100%)
Module Director
Lecturers / Tutors
Reading List
  1. "Questions of Third Cinema" by Jim Pines
  2. "Inventing Vietnam: The War in Film and Television" by Michael Anderegg
    Publisher: Temple UP
  3. "Irish Film: The Emergence of a Contemporary Cinema" by Martin McLoone
    Publisher: BFI
The above information outlines module FM6119: "Film, Politics, and Colonialism" and is valid from 2020 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Why Choose This Course?

Career Opportunities

MA in Culture and Colonialism graduates have gone on to careers in development work, NGOs, law, university lecturing, publishing, media, journalism, community work, teaching (primary and secondary), film-making, advertising, and the civil service. The programme has a particularly strong record in research training: a high proportion of its students have proceeded to doctoral programmes in Ireland, Britain and North America, with many of them winning prestigious funding awards.

Who’s Suited to This Course

Learning Outcomes

 

Work Placement

Study Abroad

Related Student Organisations

Course Fees

Fees: EU

€6,850 full-time; €3,465 part-time p.a. 2022/23

Fees: Tuition

€6,710 full-time; €3,360 part-time p.a. 2022/23

Fees: Student levy

€140 p.a. FT; €105 p.a. PT 2022/23

Fees: Non EU

€16,540 p.a. 2022/22

 


Student levy €140 - payable by all students and is not covered by SUSI.  Further detail here.

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Downloads

  • Postgraduate Taught Prospectus 2022

    Postgraduate Taught Prospectus 2022 PDF (14.3MB)