Books â€” Literature â€” Culture â€” Language: National and Transnational Studies (MA)

University of Münster

Germany, Munich

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384

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Home/Germany/Munich /University of Münster/Books â€” Literature â€” Culture â€” Language: National and Transnational Studies (MA)

University of Münster

Germany , Munich

Key Facts

Program Level

Bachelor

Study Type

Full Time

Delivery

On Campus

Campuses

MÃ¼nster

Program Language

English

Start & Deadlines

Next Intake DeadlinesOctober-2021

Go to the official application for the university

Duration 2 year(s)

Next Intake October-2021

Books â€” Literature â€” Culture â€” Language: National and Transnational Studies (MA)

About

The international, research-led MA NTS is a well-established programme exploring the sociocultural dynamics of an increasingly globalised world beyond national frameworks at one of Germanyâ€™s largest universities. The MA NTS is inspired by the so-called transnational turn in social science and the humanities. Its flexible syllabus enables students to curate their specific academic and professional profiles according to their own research interests and career goals â€” both within the core areas of the MA and beyond English studies. All MA NTS classes are taught in English, and students work in small, highly international seminar groups, in which they are offered close supervision. MÃ¼nster is an attractive and welcoming historical city that offers a lot to students. Tracing interdisciplinary developments within transnational literatures and cultures, key topics include colonialism and postcolonialism, (trans-)migration and diaspora, book studies, world Englishes, and linguistics of globalisation. During this two-year programme, students of National and Transnational Studies: reflect on nationalism, nationality, and transnational formations as cultural (rather than merely political) phenomena that are constructed through literary, cultural, linguistic, and material practices. Key topics include the evolution and transformation of national identities through print and online media, cultural memory, minoritisation, canon development, and the publishing sector. study a number of anglophone literatures, cultures, and linguistic varieties from the UK, North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. engage with different cultural productions (including books, film, and other media formats), cultural theory, and linguistics, and draw on scholarship from other fields such as sociology or political science. Since the core of the MA NTS lies in anglophone literatures and cultures, book studies, and the varieties of English, students are primarily based in the English Department. Its staff possess a wide scope of expertise, ranging from Adam Smith to Zadie Smith, from Bollywood to Shakespeare, and from Black studies to queer studies. Our research in transnational literary and cultural studies focuses on complicating and methodologically transgressing the geographical and ideological framework defining conventional approaches to the study of cultural representations and identifications. In book studies, we focus on book history and publishing studies, incl. book production, distribution, and reception. Our linguistic research ranges from socio- and corpus linguistics to phonetics and pragmatics. Students can also select courses from other modern literatures and languages, film and media studies, history, sociology, anthropology, and related fields. Given the programmeâ€™s high academic standards and its focus on research and practical experience (internship, study abroad, independent study), NTS graduates successfully pursue (inter)national careers in both academic and non-academic sectors, including media and publishing, advertising and public relations, museums, festival organisation, and NGOs dealing with e.g. migration, language policy, and international cultural relations.

Requirements

Entry Requirements

Admission to the Master of Arts programme in â€œBooks - Literature - Culture - Language: National and Transnational Studies (MA)â€ is offered for each autumn semester. This is a very selective programme that admits only those applicants who can prove that their interests and previous qualifications make them especially suitable for this degree course. Applicants are selected by an intra-departmental admissions committee. Prospective students must have completed a first academic degree (Bachelorâ€™s or equivalent) with a standard period of study of at least six semesters (three years). This first degree must be in a field which is thematically relevant to this Masterâ€™s programme: literature, linguistics, cultural studies, book studies, media studies, communication studies, history, political science, sociology, social anthropology, ethnology, philosophy, theology, educational science, art history or psychology. Applicants must prove a special qualification and suitability for this programme, which is assessed through the grades attained in MA-relevant focal subjects during their BA studies (or equivalent) as certified by their BA diploma (or equivalent) and transcript of student records, through the CV, evidence of previous international and professional experience (where applicable), and a short essay task: Applicants will be asked to submit an essay of approximately 2,000 words that meets accepted standards of academic writing with regard to both form and referencing. Essays containing plagiarism will be disqualified. The topic of the essay changes every year and can be found on the admissions page of the programme from early March until the end of the application period for EU students in July: https://www.wwu.de/MA_transnational/Admissions All prospective students should have a strong interest in literary and cultural studies and linguistics as well as in the study of national and transnationalÂ processes. Applicants who have already dealt with national and transnational studies as undergraduates are especially welcome. Students previously unfamiliar with the methodologies of literary studies, cultural studies and linguistics should be prepared to familiarise themselves with these fields during their first semester on the MA programme. It is desirable but not obligatory that prospective students have spent several months abroad or have done internships relevant to the programme.