Available Programmes of Study

Performance Studies

Qualification Duration Learning Mode Study Mode Start Month Location  

MLitt 12 months or 24 months On Campus Learning Full Time or Part Time September Aberdeen View

Programme Information

Semester 1

Semester 1

Compulsory Courses

Performance Histories (FS5029)

30 Credit Points

This course will examine the history and development of live art genres, including happenings, performance art and socially engaged art. Students will be introduced to the various theoretical lenses for looking at and analyzing performance art, including debates regarding documentation and re-performance.

View detailed information about this course

Optional Courses

Research Methods in Film and Visual Culture (FS5022)

30 Credit Points

This course will introduce students to a range of methods of visual analysis and approaches to research in the fields of film and visual culture. We will example key theoretical concepts and paradigms, such as authorship, spectatorship, materiality, and employ them in rigorous analysis of film, material and visual culture.

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Contemporary Issues in Aesthetics (MU5016)

30 Credit Points

This course will introduce students to the work of key contemporary texts in aesthetics relating to music and the other arts. Texts will be studied, discussed and related to one another. While selected texts will vary from year to year, readings will be taken from writers such as Adorno, Badiou, Benjamin, Barthes, Bloch, Boulez, Deleuze (and Guattari), Dahlhaus, Derrida, Dufrenne, Eco, Gadamer, Habermas, Heidegger, Husserl, Jameson, Jencks, Lachenmann, Lyotard, Nancy, Nietzsche, Rancière, Rihm, Sartre, Schoenberg, Serres, Sloterdijk, Spivak, Stockhausen, Vattimo, Wittgenstein, Zizek.

Examples of issues and questions that may be covered include the nature of modernity, post-modernity more idiosyncratic variable theorisations of recent aesthetic history; the nature and purpose of the contemporary artwork; the beautiful and the sublime; relationships between the arts; the materiality of contemporary art forms; musique informelle.

View detailed information about this course

Approaching Literature (EL5092)

30 Credit Points

This course examines some critical approaches and theories that have shaped modern literary inquiry. An organising theme of the course is different notions of ‘text’, ranging from historicist definitions of the ‘material text’ to poststructuralist theories of intertextuality and the practice of modern textual editing. The relevance to literature of different types of context is also explored, as are the interpretative possibilities of various forms of ideological critique, including feminism and post-colonialism. Throughout the course students are exposed to a wide variety of primary and secondary texts.

View detailed information about this course

Semester 2

Semester 2

Compulsory Courses

You will undertake the following course:

• Performance Practices

Optional Courses

from a selection of optional courses:

Projects in Film and Visual Culture (FS5527)

30 Credit Points

This course will involve students in a project related to film and visual culture, wherein methods in film and visual culture will be applied to practical experience. Students will take a leadership role in the project, being responsible for its completion from start to finish. Students will work with a local arts and cultural organization and develop a portfolio of material, depending on the project. A particular focus will be placed on public engagement with research, in other words, presenting the project to the public through blog posts, social media, film, or other for a. Workshops will prepare the students for the portfolio and assessed work, involve close analysis and discussion of specific examples.

View detailed information about this course

MLitt Special Study in Film and Visual Culture (FS5526)

30 Credit Points

This course is designed to allow the creation of a programme of individual study where other appropriate course options at masters level are not available. It will run at the discretion of the programme co-ordinator. In discussion with a designated supervisor students will be able to identify and design a programme of research and study, which may include the completion of an undergraduate course, with assessments appropriate to masters-level work, or which may be consist of a short programme of research conducted over one semester. This programme of study will be subject to approval by the convener of the relevant M.Litt programme. Where appropriate courses at masters level are available, this course will not run.

View detailed information about this course

Work - Based Placement in Film and Visual Culture (FS5525)

30 Credit Points

Students will gain practical experience in the film industry and/or visual culture organisations, providing real work experience in preparation for the next steps following their degree.

View detailed information about this course

Public Engagement for Arts (EL5596)

30 Credit Points

Art and culture are integral to our daily lives, and the ways in which these are experienced are continually changing. Whether it is in a street performance, a public gallery, an academic festival, a webcast, a documentary or in social media, the relationship between the creative artist and those who consume it, is complex and can itself be a creative process. This course explores the many ways in which creative materials can be brought to public view, and how different forms of communication, aural, verbal and visual, can enhance public engagement with aesthetic experiences and the discourses around these.

View detailed information about this course

The Museum Idea (AT5526)

30 Credit Points

Why do human beings collect and what is the purpose of museums? ‘The Museum Idea’ examines these questions by focusing on the history and philosophy of museums and relating these to contemporary museum practice. The course will examine the role of museums in society through case studies of exhibitions and other museum projects in a variety of settings, including art, history and ethnographic museums.

View detailed information about this course

Semester 3

Semester 3

Dissertation in Performance Studies

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Programme Fees

Fee information

Fee category	Cost
EU / International students	£19,400
Tuition Fees for 2021/22 Academic Year
Home / RUK	£9,200
Tuition Fees for 2021/22 Academic Year

MLitt 12 months or 24 months On Campus Learning Full Time or Part Time January Aberdeen View

Programme Information

Semester 1

Semester 1

Those starting the degree in January should be advised that they will complete the dissertation over the summer and finish the programme with the Semester 3 selection of courses. Taught courses do not run in the summer. Students wishing to do their dissertation at the end of the programme should consider starting their study from September.

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Compulsory Courses

• Performance Practices

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Optional Courses

Projects in Film and Visual Culture (FS5527)

30 Credit Points

This course will involve students in a project related to film and visual culture, wherein methods in film and visual culture will be applied to practical experience. Students will take a leadership role in the project, being responsible for its completion from start to finish. Students will work with a local arts and cultural organization and develop a portfolio of material, depending on the project. A particular focus will be placed on public engagement with research, in other words, presenting the project to the public through blog posts, social media, film, or other for a. Workshops will prepare the students for the portfolio and assessed work, involve close analysis and discussion of specific examples.

View detailed information about this course

Public Engagement for Arts (EL5596)

30 Credit Points

Art and culture are integral to our daily lives, and the ways in which these are experienced are continually changing. Whether it is in a street performance, a public gallery, an academic festival, a webcast, a documentary or in social media, the relationship between the creative artist and those who consume it, is complex and can itself be a creative process. This course explores the many ways in which creative materials can be brought to public view, and how different forms of communication, aural, verbal and visual, can enhance public engagement with aesthetic experiences and the discourses around these.

View detailed information about this course

Locations and Dislocations: the Role of Place in Literature (EL5590)

30 Credit Points

This course examines the social, political and cultural construction of place in literary texts. The imaginative co-ordinates of places such as ‘Scotland’, or ‘England’ exist in a constant state of flux, refusing to yield an essential, authentic image. Using core texts from the early modern period paired with more recent literary responses we explore the idea of place in its various forms. Key themes and issues to be discussed will include the rural and urban divide; literature and nationhood; the nature of community; the significance of emigration, and displacement; walking texts, metropolitan literature, and ideas of the “new world”

View detailed information about this course

The Museum Idea (AT5526)

30 Credit Points

Why do human beings collect and what is the purpose of museums? ‘The Museum Idea’ examines these questions by focusing on the history and philosophy of museums and relating these to contemporary museum practice. The course will examine the role of museums in society through case studies of exhibitions and other museum projects in a variety of settings, including art, history and ethnographic museums.

View detailed information about this course

Semester 2

Semester 2

Compulsory Courses

• Dissertation in Performance Studies (60 credits)

Semester 3

Semester 3

Compulsory Courses

Performance Histories (FS5029)

30 Credit Points

This course will examine the history and development of live art genres, including happenings, performance art and socially engaged art. Students will be introduced to the various theoretical lenses for looking at and analyzing performance art, including debates regarding documentation and re-performance.

View detailed information about this course

Optional Courses

Contemporary Issues in Aesthetics (MU5016)

30 Credit Points

This course will introduce students to the work of key contemporary texts in aesthetics relating to music and the other arts. Texts will be studied, discussed and related to one another. While selected texts will vary from year to year, readings will be taken from writers such as Adorno, Badiou, Benjamin, Barthes, Bloch, Boulez, Deleuze (and Guattari), Dahlhaus, Derrida, Dufrenne, Eco, Gadamer, Habermas, Heidegger, Husserl, Jameson, Jencks, Lachenmann, Lyotard, Nancy, Nietzsche, Rancière, Rihm, Sartre, Schoenberg, Serres, Sloterdijk, Spivak, Stockhausen, Vattimo, Wittgenstein, Zizek.

Examples of issues and questions that may be covered include the nature of modernity, post-modernity more idiosyncratic variable theorisations of recent aesthetic history; the nature and purpose of the contemporary artwork; the beautiful and the sublime; relationships between the arts; the materiality of contemporary art forms; musique informelle.

View detailed information about this course

Approaching Literature (EL5092)

30 Credit Points

This course examines some critical approaches and theories that have shaped modern literary inquiry. An organising theme of the course is different notions of ‘text’, ranging from historicist definitions of the ‘material text’ to poststructuralist theories of intertextuality and the practice of modern textual editing. The relevance to literature of different types of context is also explored, as are the interpretative possibilities of various forms of ideological critique, including feminism and post-colonialism. Throughout the course students are exposed to a wide variety of primary and secondary texts.

View detailed information about this course

MLitt Special Study in Film and Visual Culture (FS5026)

30 Credit Points

This course is designed to allow the creation of a programme of individual study where other appropriate course options at masters level are not available. It will run at the discretion of the programme co-ordinator. In discussion with a designated supervisor students will be able to identify and design a programme of research and study, which may include the completion of an undergraduate course, with assessments appropriate to masters-level work, or which may be consist of a short programme of research conducted over one semester. This programme of study will be subject to approval by the convener of the relevant M.Litt programme. Where appropriate courses at masters level are available, this course will not run.

View detailed information about this course

Work - Based Placement in Film and Visual Culture (FS5525)

30 Credit Points

Students will gain practical experience in the film industry and/or visual culture organisations, providing real work experience in preparation for the next steps following their degree.

View detailed information about this course

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Programme Fees

Fee information

Fee category	Cost
EU / International students	£19,400
Tuition Fees for 2021/22 Academic Year
Home / RUK	£9,200
Tuition Fees for 2021/22 Academic Year