Visual Culture

Course details Looking across time and place, this interdisciplinary MA in Visual Culture offers you the opportunity to develop your knowledge of visual culture and arts and your understanding of how we perceive and interact with objects and images around us. By studying examples such as fine art, film, photography, architecture as well as scientific imaging practices, you will be able to explore the uniqueness of objects, images and events, understand how to appreciate them and consider how other people may respond to them in the context of the working practices found in cultural institutions including museums, galleries and heritage organisations.

Why Durham University? The School of Modern Languages and Cultures is a world-class centre for teaching and research in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hispanic, Italian, Japanese and Russian Studies. We provide an outstanding environment for research activity, adopting an open and flexible approach to study. Language provision at Durham consistently ranks within the top five performing Schools in the UK according to university league tables. We feel this reflects our deep commitment to research that nurtures cultural understanding and inspires a love of languages and fosters an understanding of different cultures in an era of increasing globalisation. Support and guidance are given by the committed subject experts that can be found in our academic team. They are passionate about their specialisms, which cover the relevant languages, literature, cultural history, cinema and visual culture, and translation. This significant reservoir of knowledge is reflected in the diversity of the topics being researched in the School. Key areas of in-depth study activity range from Translation Studies and Film Studies through to Science and the Humanities, and Gender and Sexuality.

Facilities Learning facilities include language laboratories, computer classrooms and a large study area. There are also satellite and recording facilities for viewing programmes in all the major taught languages. The University's fully equipped Centre for Foreign Language Study is housed in the same building, and members of the Languages and Culture School have access to its facilities. Similarly, the Translation Zone provides a place to meet translators, learn how we teach translation and attend seminars and master classes.

Career Opportunities Our approach to learning and research encourages a freedom of thinking and expression about language and cultures that provides sought-after skills and a worldview that will be attractive to top employers. In an environment of globalisation, the ability to display a knowledge and understanding of the diverse world we inhabit and to understand and communicate effectively is crucial. Following graduation, we offer the option of building on your research activity at a higher academic level and progressing into teaching with roles at universities across Europe, the USA, Australia and the Middle East a viable option. If your aspirations lie more towards developing a professional career, our qualifications offer a weather of opportunities with recent graduates taking up positions in university administration, translation, analytics, museum curating, rare bookselling and the French film industry.