MA Migration and Diaspora Studies

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or part-time

Our MA in Migration and Diaspora Studies is a broad-based degree for students who want to receive research training in Migration, and Diaspora, as well as Humanitarian and Refugee Studies, including a relevant language as part of the specialisation.

The degree prepares you to proceed to advanced postgraduate research or to work as practitioners in fields related to Migration, Refugees and Humanitarian relief.

The degree offers students a chance to pursue their specific areas of interest by selecting from optional modules. You will have the option of studying the degree from either:

• A broad-based perspective enhancing your knowledge in light of continuing contemporary research;
• A specific area, allowing you to study diaspora and migration issues in-depth in relation to a particular discipline or region.

The MA in Migration and Diaspora Studies is considerably enriched by the SOAS Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies, which runs seminars, films and public lectures and also hosts a number of international scholars. The Centre is also a part of a migration research network of London colleges including LSE and UCL. Students on the programme, therefore, have unparalleled access to a critical body of scholars and scholarship on migration and diaspora related issues.

This programme has a first-rate graduate employability record, with graduates moving on to find employment in lectureships and professorships throughout the world in areas such as information and technology, government service, the media and tourism.

Prospective students are encouraged to contact the Programme Convenor, at an early stage of their application to seek advice on the most appropriate options for study.

This MA Migration and Diaspora Studies is designed for students who:

• Wish to know more of the transnational nature of the modern world.
• Wish to engage with critical theories to understand the management of mobility and the impact of humanitarian relief.
• Wish to understand the role of migration in the major political and cultural processes of the contemporary world.
• Come from other disciplines, such as Law or Politics, and now wish to incorporate an anthropological perspective on issues of migration and diaspora.

Structure

The programme consists of 180 credits in total: 120 credits of modules and a dissertation of 10,000 words at 60 credits.

Students are expected to take all the core and compulsory modules listed below.

All students must audit the compulsory module, Ethnographic Research Methods during term 1. This will not count towards the 180 credits. Students will be expected to attend only lectures and do not attend seminars or submit any assessments. Students may choose to take this module (worth 15 credits) as part of their 120 credits from the option lists.

All students are required to take 30 credits from the Department of Anthropology and Sociology list.

The remaining credits can be selected from the relevant lists in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology or relevant options from other departments or a language module.

Dissertation

• Dissertation in Anthropology and Sociology

Taught Component

Compulsory Module

• African and Asian Diasporas in the Contemporary World: Cultures of Resistance and the Dissolution of Boundaries
• African and Asian Diasporas in the Contemporary World: Migration, Space, Identities
• Ethnographic Research Methods

and

Guided Option

Choose modules from the List of Anthropology and Sociology modules below to the value of 30 credits.

and

Guided Module(s) from any of the lists below, OR from the Postgraduate Open Options List, to the value of 60 credits.

List of Modules (subject to availability)

Anthropology and Sociology

• Anthropology of Development and Sustainability: History, Politics and Culture
• Anthropology of Development and Sustainability: Global Challenges and Alternative Futures
• Anthropology of Food: Diet, Society and Environment
• Anthropology of Food: Politics, Place and Mobility
• Body politics: the anthropology of "race", gender and desire
• Culture and Society of East Africa
• Culture and Society of Near and Middle East
• Ethnographic Research Methods
• From Theory to Practice and Back: Work Placements in Migration Research
• Issues in Anthropology and Climate Change
• Issues in Anthropology and Film
• Issues in Mind, Culture and Psychiatry
• Medical Anthropology: Global Perspectives
• Medical Anthropology: Bodies and Cultures

Modules in Other Department

• Borders and Development
• Civil society, social movements and the development process
• Queering Migrations and Diasporas
• Indian Cinema: Its History and Social Context
• Indian Cinema: Key Issues
• International migration and diaspora politics
• Issues in Forced Migration
• Migration and Development
• Migration and Policy
• Modern Film from Taiwan and the Chinese Diaspora (PG)
• Music, Place and Politics in Cuba
• Political Theory, Race and Empire
• Postcolonial Theory and Practice
• Law and Postcolonial Theory
• Race and Caste
• Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media: Networking, Connectivity, Identity
• Labour, Activism and Global Development
• White Supremacy and African Resistance in Colonial Southern Africa

Learn a language as part of this programme

Degree programmes at SOAS - including this one - can include language courses in more than forty African and Asian languages. It is SOAS students’ command of an African or Asian language which sets SOAS apart from other universities.

Important notice

The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session.

Employment

A Masters in Migration and Diaspora Studies helps you to understand the world, other peoples’ ways of life and how society is organised.

This programme will endow you with a specialist understanding of producers, audiences, and other cultural and social aspects of mass media. Over the years the SOAS department has trained numerous leading anthropologists who have gone on to occupy lectureships and professorships throughout the world. Equally, students gain skills during their degree that transfer well to areas such as information and technology, government service, the media and tourism.

Postgraduate students leave SOAS with a portfolio of widely transferable skills which employers seek, including analytical and critical skills; ability to gather, assess and interpret data; high level of cultural awareness; and problem-solving.

A postgraduate degree is a valuable experience that provides students with a body of work and a diverse range of skills that they can use to market themselves with when they graduate.