Launch of the MA in Languages and Cultures across Borders

The University of London Institute in Paris academic team is delighted to be involved in the new MA in Languages and Cultures across Borders, launched in October by colleagues at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies (ILCS). This innovative programme supports students to become effective communicators across borders by developing their language skills alongside their understanding of the different cultural contexts in which key questions of migration, memory and environment frame contemporary experience. 

The new MA programme brings together expertise from across the School of Advanced Study and the wider federation of the University of London, with specialists from ILCS, the University of London Institute in Paris, Queen Mary University of London, University College London, Royal Holloway University of London and King’s College London contributing to the teaching. 

Dr Shela Sheikh, Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the Institute in Paris, will join course convenor, Dr Jamille Pinheiro Dias, and other colleagues at the ILCS to teach sessions of the module "Understanding Environmental Humanities". Dr Sheikh’s work in the field of post/ decolonial cultural studies will contribute to the interdisciplinary approach of the module, which investigates links between colonial histories and the contemporary climate crisis, exploring questions of climate justice and environmental ethics. 

This module forms part of an exciting range of options, which sit along the core components of the programme: a year-long course in any language provided by the King’s Language Centre, training in transdisciplinary methodologies, and a final extended piece of coursework. Other optional modules include "Contact Zones" – focusing on the relationship between histories of colonisation, migration, translation and the interconnected societies of the present day – and "Materiality and Temporality" - focusing on the migration of cultural products across historical periods and geographical areas – and a selected range of modules taught at the various University of London institutions contributing to the programme. 

The programme supports students as they work towards the production of a final piece of coursework, which may take the form of a dissertation, a digital exhibition, a piece of creative writing or a translation. The interdisciplinary academic team at the University of London Institute in Paris is proud to contribute to the supervision of these projects, which offer students the opportunity to draw on the various skills they have developed throughout their studies. 

Applications for the new MA in Languages and Cultures across Borders open on the 1 November 2024, for September 2025 entry. More details on the course content, application process and funding options can be found here.