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Cultural Studies options

01 November 2023

Cultural Studies means studying 'culture' - but from particular angles. The contemporary theories we use view culture as dynamic not static. We question how culture is produced, who controls it, and more. Check out the Cultural Studies options at UC.

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Cultural Studies means studying culture - but from particular angles

In Cultural Studies, 'culture' is understood broadly, but with an emphasis on culture as a site of social and political struggle. The contemporary theories we use view culture as dynamic rather than static. We consider the following sorts of questions: how is culture produced, and who controls it? How do we use and interpret culture? How might culture be preserved, destroyed, or changed? How does our sense of identity merge with our culture? How is culture changing and developing in the 21st century?

Unique to UC

The programme at Canterbury is the only one in Aotearoa New Zealand, and we draw on more than 15 participating programmes - most of the Faculty of Arts.

One of the central strengths of Cultural Studies is its interdisciplinarity - the way that it draws on the perspectives, methods, and theories of numerous fields of study. The idea is not to reduce culture to something simple and unified, but to appreciate its complexity. This means graduates come away with a sophisticated understanding of the many competing forces that shape our everyday lives.

Cultural Studies pathways

We specialise in four strands or pathways of study: gender and sexuality, Aotearoa New Zealand studies, human-animal studies, and popular and visual culture.

Cultural Studies is offered as a major and a minor in the Bachelor of Arts.

Our core course is CULT202 - Cultural Politics / Cultural Activism, which offers students a firm grounding in the debates and theories that informed the emergence of Cultural Studies as a discipline in the 21st century. It is also an excellent way for students of other disciplines to gain proficiency in a wide variety of the sorts of theories and frameworks that underpin contemporary study in the humanities.

Interdisciplinary teaching

One of Cultural Studies’ great strengths is its interdisciplinarity, and courses from many subjects can contribute to your Cultural Studies major or minor. We offer four specialised pathways: gender and sexuality, Aotearoa New Zealand studies, popular and visual culture, and human-animal studies. You can also opt for a more diverse approach to your degree and construct your own pathway.

Please contact the Cultural Studies Programme Coordinator to find out more about Cultural Studies, or follow the link in the box below to find out more about the courses we offer.

Postgraduate study is both challenging and rewarding, and the interdisciplinary nature of the degree makes a postgraduate qualification in Cultural Studies very valuable to students and potential employers alike.

A postgraduate degree in Cultural Studies will provide you with:

An in depth and specialised understanding of the practical and theoretical debates within your field
An appreciation of the complex nature of culture, and an understanding of how culture is a dynamic site of social and political struggle
Intellectual flexibility and competence across a range of disciplines
Practical research skills, including the ability to analyse written texts and digital and visual media

BA Honours in Cultural Studies

Study at honours level is a good way of increasing the value of your first degree and introducing you to more advanced study. As an honours student, you choose four 400-level courses: ARTS401 Arts Research and Scholarship: Introduction to Theories and Methods, CULT402: Supervised Research, and two other CULT 400-level courses (or courses otherwise approved by the Programme Coordinator).
CULT402 is a 10,000-word research essay on a topic of your own choice. You will meet regularly with a supervisor who will support you from first steps (a topic and the development of a proposal) through to completion. If you are planning to go on to a master’s by thesis or a PhD, you may choose to use this research paper as a way to explore and test out ideas you’d like to pursue.
Courses can change year-on-year, so if you are interested in this programme please see the currently available courses , and get in touch with the Cultural Studies Programme Coordinator, who will be able to advise you on your course planning.

Past Cultural Studies honours research projects have included an analysis of gender performativity in Australian romance-based reality television, neoliberal feminism in contemporary television, queer representation in horror films of the New French Extremity, and Pākehā identity and politics.

Masters study is both challenging and rewarding, and the interdisciplinary nature of the degree makes a postgraduate qualification in Cultural Studies very valuable to students and potential employers alike.
A postgraduate degree in Cultural Studies will provide you with:
•   An in depth and specialised understanding of the practical and theoretical debates within your field
•   An appreciation of the complex nature of culture, and an understanding of how culture is a dynamic site of social and political struggle
•   Intellectual flexibility and competence across a range of disciplines
•   Practical research skills, including the ability to analyse written texts and digital and visual media

There is a great deal of scope for higher study within Cultural Studies, and the flexibility of the degree allows students from a broad range of disciplines to complete dissertations in innovative and diverse areas of study.
Students can choose between two masters programmes. A 180-point masters in Cultural Studies is made up of four 400-level courses (including ARTS401) and CULT650: MA Dissertation, a supervised 20,000-word research project on a topic of your choice.

Students undertaking an MA (Thesis) in Cultural Studies write a 40,000 word thesis on a topic of their choice, which is supervised by two members of staff. This is normally completed in one to two years full time. MA (Thesis) students will have already completed a BA(Hons) or comparable qualification. This is a good choice for people interested in exploring a unique field of study in depth, and in developing high-level skills in writing, analysis, and independent research. This includes anyone interested in pursuing a PhD.

There is considerable flexibility in potential topics, but we do need to ensure that there are people with appropriate expertise available to supervise projects. Please get in touch with the Cultural Studies Programme Coordinator to discuss which programme of study will be the best for you.

We offer a PhD by thesis only, which may be started at any point throughout the year. The PhD (CULT 790) involves the writing of an extensive, sustained, and original piece of research of 80,000 words in length over a period of three years under two or more expert supervisors. As a Doctor of Philosophy, you are considered prepared for a variety of research-related positions in government, education, administration, and business.

Cultural Studies theses at UC have covered a wide range of interdisciplinary topics, including the relationship between electronic dance music and the environment, maternal ambivalence in fiction and film, ways of theorising women in horror cinema, the ‘New Woman’ in Soviet Russia, ecocritical approaches to the aesthetic mediation of animals, and the use of metaphor in Chinese-American fiction.

Acceptance of enrolment depends on several factors, most importantly whether we have sufficient expertise and capacity to provide you with high-quality and sustained supervision across the duration of your studies. Before contacting the programme coordinator, you should start by looking at our staff research profiles to determine the areas of teaching and current research interests of members of the continuing staff of the programme.

A PhD is an incredibly rewarding thing to do, but please be mindful that it is a significant personal commitment that takes between three to four years of full-time study. Prospective students need to have successfully completed a postgraduate qualification that includes a large piece of independent research, such as a masters by thesis, to a high standard. In addition to a proposed topic, you should also have a clear idea of why it is you want to undertake doctoral study, what you hope to get from the degree, and how you intend to support yourself during this time.

If you would like to know more about the PhD in Cultural Studies, please read through UC’s information on doctoral study, then contact the Cultural Studies programme co-ordinator.

Consult the UC Scholarships Office database for a full list of available Scholarships and awards. We also have a dedicated award, the Howard McNaughton Prize in Cultural Studies. This is named for Professor Howard McNaughton (1945-2014), who established the first Cultural Studies course in New Zealand here at UC, and who founded our Cultural Studies programme.

Course planning

You can construct a Cultural Studies degree that is quite generalised or relatively specialised, focusing on Gender and Sexuality, Aotearoa New Zealand Studies, Human-Animal Studies, and Popular and Visual Culture. Courses change year-on-year, so please see here for current courses.
As Cultural Studies courses are housed across different departments, it is important that you talk to a student advisor while planning your major or minor. You can also contact the Cultural Studies Programme Coordinator for advice.

More information

See the Course Information website for more details about studying Cultural Studies.