MA/PGDip Gender, Sexuality and Culture / Course details
Year of entry: 2025
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Course description
Our innovative and highly interdisciplinary MA Gender, Sexuality and Culture master's course is designed specifically for students interested in investigating gender and sexuality within culture.
Our approach is unique within the UK, bringing together scholars who offer options in a range of academic disciplines, including English and American studies, art history and visual cultures, politics, history, modern languages, religions and theology, history of medicine, sociology, social anthropology, as well as others.
On top of this, the research culture of The University of Manchester is unusually rich for the study of gender and sexuality.
In close consultation with the course directors, you'll opt for a range of MA units drawn from offerings across the humanities and social sciences. You will also be able to take up training in research methods.
This approach allows you greater flexibility and the opportunity to pursue research in new areas.
Special features
Cultural Manchester
Manchester enjoys a dynamic cultural scene. Annual festivals celebrate everything from contemporary literature to gay rights.
Thriving research culture
The University's interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research Centre for the Study of Sexuality and Culture (CSSC) is the UK's first research facility to focus exclusively on the relationships between gender, sexuality, culture and history. As a graduate student, you can take advantage of its stimulating research environment.
The Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life , based in the School of Social Sciences, also works to foster interdisciplinary projects in the field of relationships, family and personal life, including issues on gender and sexuality.
Other centres include the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts and Languages (CIDRAL), the Feminist Theory Network, and the Cultural Theory Institute.
Sexuality Summer School
The Sexuality Summer School is an annual event intended for postgraduates working in the area of sexuality.
The Summer School addresses current debates within queer studies, emphasising in particular its implication for the interdisciplinary study of culture.
It provides an opportunity to discuss queer debates with researchers in the CSSC, as well as with international scholars brought in for the event.
Teaching and learning
You will learn through a variety of teaching methods, depending on the units you take, including lectures, seminars and independent study.
Academics that teach on the course include:
Jackie Stacey - Professor of Media and Cultural Studies
Dr Monica Pearl - Lecturer in 20th Century American Lit, English and American Studies
Dr Gareth Gavin - Lecturer in Creative Writing
Dr Noelle Gallagher - Senior Lecturer in18th C British Literature, English and American Studies
Dr Ben Nichols - Lecturer in Gender and Sexuality Studies
Daniela Caselli - Professor of Modern Literature, English and American Studies
Coursework and assessment
You will be assessed in a variety of ways depending on the units you take, including written assignments, participation in discussions, and presentations.
Course unit details
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dissertation (MA) | ENGL60000 | 60 | Mandatory |
| Critical Thinking in Gender and Sexuality Studies | ENGL60971 | 30 | Mandatory |
| Race, Gender and Power in the American South: From Slavery to Segregation | AMER62001 | 15 | Optional |
| Historicising the Contemporary: Literature and Politics 1970-2000 | ENGL60081 | 30 | Optional |
| Queer Cinema and Beyond | ENGL60152 | 30 | Optional |
| Modernisms | ENGL60451 | 30 | Optional |
| Postcolonial Literatures, Genres and Theories | ENGL60461 | 30 | Optional |
| Key Issues in Literary and Critical Theory | ENGL70032 | 30 | Optional |
| Literature and the Contemporary Literary Industry | ENGL71212 | 30 | Optional |
| Approaches to Literary Studies: Historicism and the Archive | ENGL71822 | 30 | Optional |
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What our students say
My first semester at UoM has seen me negotiating between what I assumed to be the ultimate truth and the very, many theoretical knowledge that scholars over decades have developed.
The programme has given me language, histories and methods to think about my position in this world as a black woman from the Caribbean.
Kristina / MA Gender, Sexuality and Culture Student
'The MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture is unique in the UK, and Manchester offers a great variety of study resources.
Furthermore, the city's cultural offering complements my course extremely well.'
Anne Engels
Read all about student Kristina's experience on the MA Gender, Sexuality and Culture course here at Manchester in this blog post .
Facilities
You will have access to one of the UK's five National Research Libraries at Manchester, as well as 24/7 study facilities at the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons and cultural assets such as the John Rylands Library, the Whitworth and the Manchester Museum.
Find out more about facilities for master's students .