This Masters degree allows exploration of a wide range of Anglophone postcolonial literary and cultural endeavours from across the globe, engage with the latest issues and debates in postcolonial studies, and analyse the field’s conceptual and theoretical resources. Our programme is designed so that students can discover and develop the scope and concerns which characterise postcolonial studies today, often by pursuing dedicated option modules which variously investigate (for example) matters of indigeneity, race, multiculturalism, decolonisation, mental well-being, animism, decolonisation, the environment, and more besides, and across a wide range of postcolonial contexts (such as Africa, the South Pacific, multicultural Britain, etc.). In addition, students conceive, research, and write an extended dissertation on any postcolonial concerns of their choice (ie: specific writers, cultural forms, conceptual debates, particular locations). As well equipping students with an in-depth knowledge of postcolonial studies, our programme develops their cognisance of and literacy in postcolonial cultures, and also equips them with a wide range of high-level transferable skills, not least as regards communication and independent critical thinking.
[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable
In order to complete the programme, students must do the following:
• Study the programme’s core module, ‘Postcolonial Encounters’.
• Study at least one MA option module from those listed below in ‘Basket 2’, and no more than two MA modules from the rest of the School of English’s provision of MA options. Students may of course choose all three option modules from the ones listed in Basket 2
• Complete a research project on a topic germane to postcolonial studies.
Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules Basket 1:
| Code | Title | Credits | Semester | Pass for Progression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGL5115M | Postcolonial Encounters | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5842M | Research Project | 60 | 1 Dec to 30 Sep |
All modules listed in Baskets 2,3 and 4 are indicative research-led option modules and subject to staff availability.
Candidates must ensure that their 30 credit modules chosen from Baskets 2, 3 and 4 are evenly distributed across the academic year, choosing 2 in Semester 1 and 2 in Semester 2.
Candidates will be required to study a minimum of 30 credits from Basket 2:
Basket 2:
| Code | Title | Credits | Semester | Pass for Progression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGL5226M | Africas of the Mind | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5635M | Imagining Multicultural Britain in the 21st Century | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5941M | Animism and Ecology in Postcolonial Literature | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) |
Depending on the number of modules selected from Basket 2, candidates may select a further one or two modules from Baskets 3 and 4, up to a maximum of 180 credits overall across the programme.
Candidates must ensure that their 30 credit option modules are evenly distributed across the academic year, choosing 2 in Semester 1 and 2 in Semester 2.
Basket 3:
| Code | Title | Credits | Semester | Pass for Progression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGL5103M | Global Literature and Terror | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5117M | Romantic Identities: Literary Constructions of the Self, 1789-1821 | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5228M | Gothic Transformation | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5230M | Romantic Ecologies | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5413M | Text At Scale: Introducing Corpus Analysis | 15 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5414M | Text At Scale: Introducing Corpus Analysis | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5551M | Yorkshire Literary Landscapes: Writing Places and Identities | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5700M | Writing, Archives, Race | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5831M | Feeling Time | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5837M | Victorian New Media | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5849M | Culture and Anarchy: 1945-1965 | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5855M | Digital and Scholarly Editing | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) |
Basket 4:
| Code | Title | Credits | Semester | Pass for Progression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGL5012M | TextLab: Analysing Authorship and Style | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5217M | Arthurian Legend: Medieval to Modern | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5225M | Children's Literature: Language, Discourse and Education | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5345M | Reading (with) Psychoanalysis | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) | |
| ENGL5346M | So Where do you come from? Selves, Families, Stories | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5412M | Short Form Creative Writing for Digital Audiences | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5540M | Thinking With the Contemporary Novel | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5590M | Mystics and Metaphysicals: medieval and early modern spirituality | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5851M | The Brontës | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| ENGL5857M | Writing the Victorian Author | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) |
Students may also choose from the following list of Medieval Studies modules if they wish (subject to availability):
| Code | Title | Credits | Semester | Pass for Progression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDV5100M | Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age | 30 | Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) | |
| MEDV5340M | Medieval Bodies | 30 | Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) |
Optional modules are run subject to student interest. Optional modules with low student enrolments may not run and students may be asked to pick another module.
Last updated: 30/04/2026 15:58:47
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