Master of Arts in Tourism and Cultural Policy

at Goldsmiths, University of London United Kingdom

Professionally validated by the National Youth Agency, this programme brings together community development and youth work practice with the research methods and theoretical preoccupations of anthropology.

This MA is the first of its kind in the country, combining academic and professional qualifications. It is aimed at students who wish to pursue a career in youth and community work and who need a professional qualification.

This MA draws on urban sociology to explore the meaning of cities, urban life and culture.

The programme covers topics including the politics of gentrification, urban community, infrastructure and the intricacies of urban culture, alongside lectures on urban policy, food politics, poverty and migration.
You will also zoom out to consider the broader meaning of urban sociology and its ongoing contribution to social science. With over two-thirds of the global population destined to live in cities by 2050, there has never been a more important time to research and understand urban life.

Why study MA Sociology (Urban Studies) at Goldsmiths?
Critically engage with urban work

• The degree brings together social analysis, activism, and inventive research methods to critically engage with various dimensions of urban work – from policy-making, research and cultural interventions, to the management of social programmes and institutions.

Take a multi-disciplinary approach

• The MA is distinguished by a focus on experimental empirical research and covers the following disciplines: sociology, geography, anthropology, architecture, cultural studies, history, fine arts, media and communications.

Experience research-led teaching

• We use research-led teaching to explore the importance of sociological knowledge in understanding cities, urban economies, culture, politics and social justice.

Analyse and explore spaces and places

• You’ll analyse the organisation of contemporary cities, including the built environment, commerce, housing, culture, political and social infrastructures. You'll also explore how distributions of wealth, power and culture in spaces and places are constituted through political, material and social processes.

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.

This challenging and ground-breaking degree introduces you to core ideas and issues in politics, philosophy and economics (PPE). It will help you understand how the economy is governed, how public policy gets made, and the ideas which shape our world.

Why study BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Goldsmiths?

• We offer a distinctive, fresh and critical take on the well-established combination of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), drawing on our strengths in social science and theory. You'll gain an introduction in the ideas and concepts that have shaped the world you live in, and learn to challenge established political and economic policies, institutions and methods.
• As one of the top political universities in the UK as voted by students (Which? University 2019), Goldsmiths offers a dynamic undergraduate culture, with active student media and politics groups. By the time you graduate, you will have gained a wealth of practical experience, and discovered what excites you for your career ahead.
• You’ll be taught by highly engaged lecturers working across politics, philosophy and economics, all of whom are active researchers and accomplished writers in their fields.
• The programme includes a basic introduction to economics, so you don’t need any prior experience of economics or an A-level in Mathematics before you start.
• Over the three years, you’ll be introduced to alternative approaches to the economy, drawn from anthropology and sociology. You will be encouraged to think more broadly and imaginatively about the way in which markets, states and public policies operate in the 21st century.
• You’ll focus on contemporary, real-world problems, such as financial and environmental regulation, which will prepare you for a career in public policy, NGOs, media, consulting or social innovation.
• In addition to the taught curriculum, you will have the opportunity to hear from experts and policy-makers at special guest lectures.

Interrogate the status quo with leading academics who don’t just talk and write about politics, but actively campaign to create change in the world

All around us governments are in crisis, protests are on the increase, dissent and mobilisation is widespread and relayed across the world instantaneously on a screen. Communication is at the very heart of the structures, institutions and actors that give meaning to politics in governments, in parties and on the street.

The programme’s core curriculum will address a range of contemporary issues, debates and theory in political communication, including work on:

• Comparative media systems
• Theories of communication and democratisation
• Global media, international governance and transnational communication
• Economic, financial and industrial policy
• Digital media and online politics
• Media sociology and news production
• Political parties, party ideologies and party-member dynamics
• Public relations, political marketing and spin
• Government communication systems and media management
• Media audiences, effects and agenda-setting
• Public opinion and public sphere debates
• Interest groups, social movements and alternative media
• Advocacy, civil society and public affairs
• New technologies and the information society
• Citizenship and public engagement
• The policy process and government decision-making
• Politics and culture
• Social theories of power, culture and communications

Theory is usually applied to a number of case study areas on, for example: conflict and war; elections; social and environmental debates; foreign affairs; the economy, finance and business; crime and disorder. Theory and discussion is always related to current events and debates.

Whether your sights are set on being behind the camera as a producer, appearing on screen as a foreign correspondent, or heading off to far-flung parts of the world to make investigative documentaries - it’s vital you get a solid understanding of the basics, from the ground up.

That’s exactly what this programme will teach you: newsgathering, production, reporting skills, writing for broadcast, filming and self-shooting, video editing, presenting, online longer-form current affairs, using social media, mobile journalism, researching stories and verification. We provide a broad curriculum to the highest professional standards, so you’re prepared to work in today’s ultra-competitive, ever-changing media environment.

The programme is accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC), which represents broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV News, Sky, Reuters, Channel 4, and AP. The BJTC also provides valuable input from key figures within television to make sure we teach the skills the industry demands and supports the provision of work placements.

What will you learn as an MA Television Journalism student?

• Employers tell us that when they’re recruiting the journalists of tomorrow, they’re looking for all-round skills, innovative ideas and a can-do attitude. You’ll also get a thorough grounding in media law and ethics, media theory and journalistic research skills and tools.
• You’ll learn your craft from dedicated, hugely experienced media practitioners with careers in broadcasting and extensive teaching experience. Our teaching staff get to know all of our students personally, helping them to achieve their full potential by providing continual feedback and support.

The MA Promotional Media explores the impact of digital platformisation and automation on promotional professions, skills and techniques

You will explore the convergence between public relations, advertising, and marketing roles, as well as hybridised fields such as digital marketing, social media management and UX/UI design. This MA isn’t about studying ads or press coverage, but about becoming a professional who can cross-examine and critique the power dynamics between promotional professions, their client-organisations and today’s platformised media landscape.

At its core, this masters looks at how you can better serve society by improving communications across the promotional disciplines, and how public relations (PR), advertising, and marketing professionals can best develop within a challenging digital world. You’ll learn how to reflect on contemporary intellectual theories – including digital media studies, sociology, feminist theory and algorithmic culture – and apply them to workplace realities so you plan the next decade of your career.

Journalism is about the world outside. It’s about the story and the people who make it. It’s about being on top of the zeitgeist. And being on top of the deadlines.

What you will learn

• This MA gives you the practical skills to work as a journalist at the highest level in print and online. We will learn what news means, and where it comes from. We will give you the ability to write compelling features and interviews. We’ll also be focusing on the kinds of questions you need to ask – of the individual, the state or the organs of power. And we address how the new digital world has transformed the way we go about journalism, adding new platforms and new technical skills.

This Masters programme in Cultural Studies offers you the opportunity to engage with some of the key theorists and the significant debates in Cultural Studies, spanning from its inception in Britain in the mid-1970s, to the present day. Cultural Studies has developed a distinctive set of concepts and methodologies to help better understand social institutions and practices, objects, items, and their circulation in consumer culture. Cultural theory permits close analysis of topics including race, youth, music, fashion, and the creative economy, and embraces the history of sexuality, emotions and affects. This course will consider current permutations on key topics such as music, sound and technology, national identity, the rise of ‘public feelings’, the cultural dynamics of precarity and austerity, art, and cultural expression for the new feminist activism.

Why study MA Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths?

• Explore the impact and influence Cultural Studies has on a wide range of research interests, not only in the English-speaking world, but also internationally. The programme will teach you about a range of Cultural Studies methodologies that you can then apply in your own writing and research. It will also include a Critical Ethnography Afternoon where students explore the place of this kind of research in the cultural studies tradition.
• Examine the effect media technologies have on the cultural practices of production and consumption. As the course has a strong focus on new developments in sonic technology, this might include, for example, emerging local music scenes. This might also involve mean a focus on changes in fashion consumption, such as platform providers, and the role of influencers.

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.