Master of Arts in Creative and Life Writing

at Goldsmiths, University of London United Kingdom

If this degree were a film we’d be watching the beginning and the end. We think, like Walter Benjamin, that it’s in these moments – in their inception and their obsolescence  – that you see the utopian possibilities of a form or social movement.

Are we in the midst of a beginning? What can we learn now from visual culture’s past? What’s happening to our bodies when we play a video game? What are the gestures involved in everyday life? How do our bodies relate to technology?

These are the kinds of topics we analyse on this MA. We want to go beyond the borders of a traditional film studies degree so we go back to the beginning of film history to explore what it meant to fashion yourself in an image, or for a society to see itself in an image. Then we explore how images gain meaning now, and where they’re going next.

The MMus Popular Music builds upon our international reputation in the popular music field established by our ground-breaking undergraduate degree.

The Popular Music pathway is designed for music artists who are seeking to deepen their creative practice. We are songwriters and composers, producers and performers, engaged in making work that has relevance to real music scenes.

The programme centres the creative artist in a stimulating and supportive environment where critical enquiry, testing of songs/compositions/performance and experimentation in practice lead to a portfolio of new work.

The development of industry-relevant skills and key cultural-theoretical understandings is led by the needs of our own projects and foundational knowledge. Typically, students make records, explore performance and production methodologies, present shows, write and release new sets of songs/works. The programme offers the opportunity to extend the boundaries of artistry and critically reflect upon our own creativity in music.

You’ll also be able to extend your own practice through options in sonic and studio art, advanced music technology, exploration in audiovisual media, and ethnomusicology.

You’ll acquire graduate-level training in creative practice and subject-specific skills that could set you up for a career as a composer-performer or studio practitioner/producer, as well as other jobs in the popular music sector.

The MA Digital Media is unique in its combination of practical and theoretical approaches to contemporary media and technology.

This established and exciting degree is designed to help you understand digital transformations in media, culture, and society and apply this understanding in practice, in the media and creative industries and in further research. The programme will equip you with skills that can be applied to current and future developments in digital media, social media, computing, and other aspects of technology.

The MA Digital Media educates aspiring media practitioners and academics as well as early and mid-career professionals who seek to reflect on their roles in a structured and stimulating learning environment designed to give all students up-to-the-minute knowledge of digital media and the skills to apply that knowledge to future developments.

This programme offers three pathways:

• Pathway 1 is a Theory programme where you learn about developments in digital media and technology.  This pathway draws on media theory, critical theory, continental philosophy, science and technology studies, gender studies, critical race studies, the posthumanities, software studies and cultural studies to diagnose our present digital condition.
• Pathway 2 (Image Making) is a theory and practice programme.  Alongside engaging with digital media theory you will work with one or more of the following – animation, photography, video and other forms of moving image – to create installations, apps and single/multi-screen work that is responsive to a continually changing, and conceptually understood, digital landscape.
• Pathway 3 (Critical Computing) is a theory and practice programme where you will interrogate technical objects through critically learning a technical subject and by collectively criticising the results and processes involved – for example, by studying the racialisation of algorithms or exploring non-proprietary databases, operating systems, software licensing, programming, networking and open hardware in the shape of physical computing.

The MA Cultural Policy, Relations and Diplomacy is a trans-disciplinary programme that addresses the theory and practice of cultural policy, cultural relations, and cultural and public diplomacy.

This broad area of study and the terminology applied to it is fluid and expanding. Having culture as the underlying thread, the programme explores areas such as:

• Arts policy and management
• Globalisation
• Cultural relations
• Public diplomacy
• Cultural and arts diplomacy
• External communications
• Place branding

This will provide a unique perspective into this field of study, and will examine topics such as mobility of cultural practitioners, cultural identity, intercultural dialogue, mutuality, propaganda, soft power, hegemony, influence and perceptions.

Goldsmiths' location provides you with a unique experience of living in a multicultural world city, which is of great relevance to the study of cultural policy, relations and diplomacy.

The MA Anthropology, Ecology and Global Justice is an exciting interdisciplinary programme that explores the contemporary crises of global inequality, climate change, and ecological breakdown, and equips you with the tools to respond.

Why study MA Anthropology, Ecology and Global Justice at Goldsmiths?

• Identify and grapple with the structural drivers of global inequality, climate change and ecological breakdown.
• Develop your understanding of these crises in historical perspective, with reference to patterns of colonial power and the formation of the capitalist world-system over 500 years.
• Work with insights from dependency theory; anti-colonial movements; degrowth; ecological economics; and post-development thought.
• Engage with classic texts in critical theory and ecological anthropology, with a focus on thinkers from the global South and Indigenous political ontology.
• Learn about concrete policy alternatives for the 21st century, drawing on the Department of Anthropology’s commitment to building a public anthropology.

This exciting MSc reflects the broad-ranging and strong neuroscience research profile of our Department, equipping you with a rigorous grounding in the theory and applications of cognitive, clinical, and developmental neuroscience.

The programme provides a thorough coverage of the historical, philosophical and scientific bases of modern neuroscience. The emphasis is on scientific knowledge relating to the specialisms of clinical and cognitive neuropsychology with theoretical and some practical coverage.

During the course of the MSc, students interested in gaining clinical experience will be encouraged to consider possible placements that may be available with one of the several clinical sites we collaborate with. In some cases, there may also be the possibility of carrying out research for their dissertation in these clinical settings.

This programme offers an exciting and complementary combination of two humanities disciplines which promote the understanding of human life, culture, and society in the past and present.

The BA History with Anthropology at Goldsmiths will enable you to explore and analyse contemporary social, cultural, and anthropological issues in their historical contexts. You will learn the importance of historical understanding for exploring and analysing the complex present-day world that surrounds us.

This programme will give you a grounding in both History and Anthropology, teaching you to think about History like an anthropologist, or Anthropology like a historian. Through History, you will learn to study, analyse, and understand the past and how it continues to make vital contributions to how we comprehend and interact with the world around us. Through Anthropology, you will learn to contextualise contemporary societal and cultural issues, and explore the complex and global world we live in. You will have the opportunity to develop knowledge of many key anthropological concepts, such as kinship, ritual, world systems, and development, as well as investigating anthropology in relation to history, politics, religion, philosophy, and psychology.

From day one, you will be introduced to complementary aspects of the two disciplines, developing Historical skills in modules addressing how History is written and how it should be read while focusing on a range of specific historical controversies. You will also be introduced to key concepts in social anthropology and field research methods. Your first year will also give you the choice of studying a range of subjects in History, many of which can be analysed using anthropological approaches.

The MA Contemporary Art Theory is for those with a special interest in contemporary art, and an aptitude for theoretical work in the subject.

Why study MA Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths?

• This degree explores a range of theoretical perspectives that shape art and visual culture, and attitudes towards them in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
• You’ll be encouraged to conceptually and creatively explore the ways in which contemporary artistic practice and urgent theoretical and political matters intersect.
• You’ll expand your knowledge of contemporary artistic developments and deepen your understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of academic discourses on visual culture.
• The programme draws on the shifting fields of performance studies, art history, continental philosophy, ecology, feminist theory, queer theory, postcolonial/decolonial studies, and cultural studies in addressing the critical challenges posed by artistic practice, and you’ll be able to focus on an aspect that particularly interests you.
• You’ll take part in an assessed symposium, which provides you with a chance to present your dissertation topic at an early stage in order to define and progress your final project.

Anthropology and sociology deal with human behaviours in their social context. This degree gives you a comprehensive grounding in these converging subjects, so you'll develop an understanding of their shared traditions and differences in perspective.

Why study BA Anthropology and Sociology at Goldsmiths?

• The degree is divided evenly between anthropology and sociology, so you'll get a solid grounding in both subjects.
• The dynamic nature of the degree means you’ll be able to bring an interdisciplinary angle to any problem, whether that’s arguing your perspective in an essay or coming up with novel solutions in your future career. Our graduates have gone on to work for the UN, World Bank, as well as various NGOs, law companies and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) consultancies.
• In your third year, you’ll be able to choose from a range of option modules, tailoring your learning in a way that suits your interests and aspirations. You might choose to explore topics like gender theory, environmental anthropology, or borders and migration.
• Our academics are responsible for actively shaping disciplines – they are pioneers in their fields, playing key roles in developing awareness of society and culture.

The MA Filmmaking (Producing) will provide you with a thorough training in all aspects of producing – from the conception of an initial idea through to development, financing, production and release.

This Masters, a pathway of the MA Filmmaking, provides excellent training for a successful career as a producer. As part of the programme you'll have the opportunity to specialise in either development, where you will work with writers and directors to develop new ideas, or line producing, where you will focus more on how to run a production and a crew, and how to also take a production manager or assistant director role.

What we offer

• The programme is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including film and photography studios equipped with Arri lighting and Greenscreen, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Film Editing, Animation, Digital Special Effects, Pro Tools Audio Postproduction and Foley suites.
• Our studio spaces, and extensive production facilities and informal rehearsal and meeting spaces create an environment where you can discuss and collaborate with scriptwriters, actors, directors, other producers and your shoot team. We also have established relations with casting directors, agents, production designers and other professionals who will both advise you and provide their skills to enhance your productions.
• You work on at least one film per term in your specialist role, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. In addition to your specialist area, you attend classes in related disciplines such as Film Directing and Editing and collaborate with students across specialisations on film projects. This framework is designed to stimulate collaborative practice by providing you with a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise in your chosen filmmaking discipline.