MA Contemporary Literature and Culture (2000-present)

This course explores the literary and cultural landscape of the 21st century, examining the latest trends, movements, and debates in contemporary literature and culture. Students will engage with a wide range of texts, including novels, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, as well as visual and multimedia works, to analyze their representation of the world around us. The course also considers the social, political, and economic contexts that shape contemporary literature and culture, and how they are influenced by globalization, technology, and other factors. Through a combination of lectures, seminars, and independent research, students will develop critical thinking skills and knowledge of the latest scholarly debates in the field.

Additional Information

This course is ideal for students who want to pursue careers in publishing, teaching, criticism, or other areas related to literature and culture. It is also suitable for those who simply want to deepen their understanding of contemporary society and culture.

Join a community of scholars at a world-class institution and take your knowledge of contemporary literature and culture to the next level.

Birkbeck University of London is a world-renowned institution with a long history of excellence in the humanities. Our faculty members are leading scholars in their fields, and our location in the heart of London provides unparalleled access to cultural and intellectual resources. The course will give you the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research and scholarship, as well as to benefit from the vibrant cultural scene of the city.

Our MA in Contemporary Literature and Culture (2000-present) offers you the chance to specialize in twenty-first-century literature and culture, as well as expose you to the most important literary and theoretical developments of the last few decades.

Informed by our world-class research in contemporary literary and cultural studies, in this course, you will examine:

the effects of new technologies on narrative form

the aesthetic, spatial, and political coordinates of writing produced in an increasingly networked and globalized world

literature’s role among a vibrant and diverse range of digital, visual, and multimedia texts.

You will develop your expertise in key topics, such as migrants’ narratives and refugee film-making; precarity fiction and emergent pandemic storytelling; anti-gentrification zines and the low-fi aesthetics of resistance; nonhuman forms of agency; post-gender feminism; the relationship of genres such as science fiction, horror and the fantastic to literary fiction; trans aesthetics in film and TV; African American poetry and performance; contemporary black aesthetics.

Our MA in Contemporary Literature and Culture (2000-present) offers you the chance to specialize in twenty-first-century literature and culture, as well as expose you to the most important literary and theoretical developments of the last few decades.

Informed by our world-class research in contemporary literary and cultural studies, in this course, you will examine:

the effects of new technologies on narrative form

the aesthetic, spatial, and political coordinates of writing produced in an increasingly networked and globalized world

literature’s role among a vibrant and diverse range of digital, visual, and multimedia texts.

You will develop your expertise in key topics, such as migrants’ narratives and refugee film-making; precarity fiction and emergent pandemic storytelling; anti-gentrification zines and the low-fi aesthetics of resistance; nonhuman forms of agency; post-gender feminism; the relationship of genres such as science fiction, horror and the fantastic to literary fiction; trans aesthetics in film and TV; African American poetry and performance; contemporary black aesthetics.

Our standard postgraduate entry requirement is a second-class honors degree (2:2 or above) from a UK university or an equivalent international qualification. Your first degree does not have to be in English Literature.

20 hours of work permit weekly for international students.