THE M.A. ONLINE PROGRAMME

The MA online programme is a two-year course consisting of four papers per year. While three papers each year will be evaluated through a viva, one paper will be a project-based one. Students will be allowed a maximum extension of two years to complete the MA programme.

CULTURAL STUDIES

Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary area of study which lies at the intersection of existing social science disciplines such as Sociology, Anthropology, Film Studies, Literature and History. Cultural Studies also draws on emerging interdisciplinary areas of study such as Women's Studies. This new area aims at studying culture, politics and society.

We live in a world in which cultural phenomena, mediated by new technologies of communication and entertainment, have changed the ways in which we think of politics. It is becoming increasingly clear that culture can no longer be seen as a private matter that concerns individuals, but is at the very heart of political mobilization. Unlike earlier notions of culture which treated it as a reflection of social, economic and political conditions prevalent in a society, Cultural Studies understands culture as the field on which social and political issues are formulated and socio-political contests staged.

Cultural Studies is generally recognized by the objects it studies and the methods it employs. It draws on the theoretical insights provided by a range of existing disciplines. The field also uses resources such as legal documentation, oral testimonies, early efforts by political and cultural practitioners to develop theoretical models, the popular press, the cinema, and previously unexplored traditions of performance or visual expression, all of which would be seen by conventional disciplines either as un-teachable or as irrelevant to the understanding of culture.

THE COURSE OBJECTIVE

The objective of the course is to make students acquainted with the latest developments in the new interdisciplinary area of cultural studies. The programme will expose students to existing scholarship in the area and provide them with critical tools and methodologies to understand contemporary Indian society and cultural practices.

The uniqueness of the course is that it is offered online. Submission of assignments and student-teacher interaction such as tutorials will be done online. Course material will also be made available online. However, if necessary, hardcopies of the reading material can be obtained from the Centre.

See individual papers (below): available only for authorised users.