Postcolonial Studies MA

Course overview

Postcolonial Studies is an intellectually dynamic and politically urgent field. It takes the pulse of contemporary societies and cultures in the context of an increasingly interconnected yet complex world.

Our postgraduate degree allows you to look critically at problematic histories whose legacies remain with us: the history of slavery, the history of apartheid and the ongoing histories of colonialism itself, which cut across different languages and cultures in different parts of the world.

You will discover the richness and diversity of Anglophone postcolonial cultures, their social and historical contexts, and the theoretical but also practical issues they raise. An understanding of these issues will also allow you to gain an in-depth knowledge of how creative outputs like literature, film and music engage with race, place and identity across a variety of contexts. Examples include the stereotyping of Turks and Jews in the Renaissance, the global ‘migration crisis’ and the Black Lives Matter movement of present times.

The scope and scale of our academic expertise will help you to examine postcolonial societies and cultures from a broad range of perspectives. This flexibility will give you many opportunities to pursue your personal interests, while an independent research project will enable you to explore a topic of your choice in even greater depth.

Our postcolonial team specialises in postcolonial ecocriticism, disability studies and medical humanities, decolonial thought and anti-colonial struggle, diaspora and cosmopolitan community, states of refuge and asylum, postcolonial theory, psychoanalysis and trauma, Indigenous knowledges, postcolonial film, theatre and poetry, and postcolonial prize cultures and reception histories.

Specialist resources

The University of Leeds Library is one of the best research libraries in the UK, with holdings across the entire range of postcolonial literatures/cultures and special collections in a number of areas directly relating to the postcolonial field.

Our Special Collections offer a huge range of rare books, manuscripts and art, as well as microfilm collections of American, Indian and South African newspapers, US government and presidential files, the Black Power Movement archive, the Church Missionary Society archive, and documents relating to British imperialism, foreign affairs and overseas policy.

Course details

Our course allows you to take a holistic look at the field of postcolonial studies, taking you through its core ideas and pursuing its connection with other disciplines. You'll start by learning about the foundations of postcolonial thought (and its many connections to the wider world) before choosing from a wide range of optional modules. These open up multiple directions for your studies to take.

You can learn about the experiences of people affected by colonial activity in places such as Africa and the Americas, the relation of Indigenous writers to the wider world, the ways postcolonial art reconnects with and revitalises hitherto denigrated practices, the fate of languages after empire, definitions and redefinitions of culture, matters of politics and activism, the connections between postcolonialism and the environmental movement, and more besides. Whatever you choose to study, you’ll shape a highly nuanced understanding of the world and the relationship of different peoples to it.

Course structure

The list shown below represents typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our terms and conditions.

For more information and a full list of typical modules available on this course, please read Postcolonial Studies MA in the course catalogue

Year 1 compulsory modules

Year 1 optional modules (selection of typical options shown below)

The below descriptions are designed to give you a taste of some modules you may study on this course, however modules studied are subject to change.

Compulsory modules

Postcolonial Encounters (30 credits) is the team-taught core module for the MA in Postcolonial Studies. It provides an updated (re)introduction to the field, paying particular attention to key concepts such as decolonisation, social/environmental justice and globalisation, and anchoring these in contemporary cultural texts. The module also looks at the intersections between postcolonial studies and other cross-disciplinary formations such as ecocriticism, Indigenous Studies and World Literature, and gauges the field’s capacity to perform and support activist work.

Research project (60 credits) allows you to develop your own research agendas and advance your analytic skills and theoretical knowledge in a specialist area of the discipline. The module also develops professional skills in time management, prioritisation, decision making and autonomous working. These aims are achieved through a combination of workshop taught sessions, covering topics such as proposal writing, presentation skills, and argumentation; and individual supervision meetings with an assigned supervisor.

Optional modules

Typically when choosing optional modules on this course you will select one from the below list of Postcolonial-aligned optionals. The final 60 credits that make up your course can be selected from either the list of Postcolonial modules or you may choose to select from those available within the wider School of English.

Africas of the Mind (30 credits) explores how a number of diverse constructions of African experience reveal what we might call ‘the political organisation of the psyche’. The module considers Frantz Fanon’s work as one way of avoiding the difficulties of applying psychoanalysis to African contexts. Since the colonial inheritance has been a debilitating force in many African societies, it follows that literary texts may register historical pain and socially-embedded malaises. The module duly investigates examples of the cultural logic of psychopathological symptoms.

Global Indigeneity (30 credits) explores how Indigenous writers situate themselves and their communities in relation to a globalized world, and how they intervene in debates about some of the most pressing contemporary issues: resource extraction and environmental health, tourism and development, genetic research and ‘biopiracy’. The module takes a comparative approach to Indigenous cultural production, looking at texts from or set in Australia, New Zealand, North America, Canada, the Pacific and Central and South America, and considering the common concerns and challenges facing Indigenous peoples as well as thinking about conflicts, practices and representations in culturally specific terms.

Global Literature and Terror (30 credits) examines contemporary fiction, poetry, theatre and memoir which dramatise the transnational figuration of contemporary political violence. In reading a range of key texts alongside relevant critical theory we explore their intervention in debates surrounding terrorism and counterterrorism, and their engagement with urgent matters of Islamophobia, surveillance, ‘radicalisation’, drone warfare and homonationalism.

Language After Empire (30 credits) sensitises students to questions around language that have been essential to operations of colonial power and postcolonial reckonings with the legacies of empire. It introduces major practical and theoretical currents associated with colonial, postcolonial, and decolonial approaches to language. It explores the close connections between language and colonial control, anticolonial resistance, and postcolonial cultural and material politics, while developing an awareness of how cultural products help us to investigate such significant linguistic issues. At heart, this module builds a critical understanding of how empire has shaped linguistic life.

Planetary Aesthetics: Animism, Mimesis and Indigeneity (30 credits) explores literature and film which ask us to identify across racial and species borders and thereby begin to imagine forms of planetary community. Focusing in particular on Africa before branching out to consider other Indigenous traditions, we will consider renewed interest across the humanities in cultures once denigrated as animist. How can we learn from such cultures how to reanimate our relation to the world without reinscribing colonial divisions between magical beliefs and scientific knowledge?

Learning and teaching

Modules on this course will mostly be taught in a seminar format, workshop-style, in order to promote student-centred learning and collaborative work. This is in keeping with the course’s broader aims to provide a historical and theoretical grounding for research in the field. This approach will then give you the opportunity to put this conceptual apparatus into practice in your own work.

On this course, you’ll be taught by our expert academics, from lecturers through to professors. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus.

Assessment

The main assessment component of most modules on the course will be a final essay based on individual, text-based research work. ‘Text’ includes film, music and other forms of cultural production as well as literature, and you will have the choice to work on your own particular area(s) of interest. Modules will also usually require a shorter, formative piece of some kind, allowing you to explore concepts and ideas that will then be further developed in the final essay.

Group presentations will be encouraged for all those willing to give them, but will remain unassessed. Interdisciplinary work may also be encouraged in some modules, in line with the overall aims and objectives of the course. All assessments are designed to be fair and inclusive and to provide you with the opportunity, where appropriate, to draw on your own experience. You will be invited to think about key concepts and ideas in the field, to bring together evidence from a variety of sources, and to evaluate and contribute to contemporary debates.

Applying

Entry requirements

We ask for a 2:1 Honours degree, or non-UK equivalent, in English (English Literature, English Studies, English Language & Literature etc.) or a related subject e.g. History, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Cultural Studies. Applications from those with degrees in other subjects will be considered on an individual basis.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in all components. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Arts and Humanities (6 weeks) and Language for Social Science and Arts: Arts and Humanities (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional. 

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

How to apply

Please see our How to Apply page for information about application deadlines.

You’ll need to apply for a place before applying for any scholarships, so check the deadlines for available scholarships on our website.

The ‘Apply’ link at the top of this page will take you to information on applying for taught programmes and to the University's online application system.

If you're unsure about the application process, contact the admissions team for help.

Documents and information you need

You’ll need to upload the following documents when completing the online application form:

• A transcript of your completed BA degree or grades to date

• If English is not your first language, you’ll need to submit proof of your English language results (eg IELTS).

Personal Statement Requirements

Please answer the following questions in separate numbered paragraphs. These questions provide us with important information on your suitability for the course, so please complete them carefully and in detail. Please provide a supporting statement of approximately 500 words based on the following questions.

• Please explain your reasons for applying to this particular programme in Postcolonial Studies.
• How has your academic experience, including past written work, prepared you to study this area at postgraduate level?
• What authors and texts within the field of Postcolonial Studies particularly interest you, and why?
• What approaches to the study of Postcolonial Studies (i.e. methods, theories) most interest you, and why?

Next steps

We will decide whether to offer you a place based on your application form, personal statement, transcripts, predicted or actual degree results and, where appropriate, any additional documentation requested.

Read about visas, immigration and other information in International students. We recommend that international students apply as early as possible to ensure that they have time to apply for their visa.

Admissions policy

University of Leeds Admissions Policy 2025

This course is taught by

School of English

Contact us

Postgraduate Administrator

Email: pgtenglish@leeds.ac.uk
Telephone:

Fees

UK: £12,500 (Total)

International: £27,000 (Total)

Additional cost information

There may be additional costs related to your course or programme of study, or related to being a student at the University of Leeds. Read more on our living costs and budgeting page.

Scholarships and financial support

If you have the talent and drive, we want you to be able to study with us, whatever your financial circumstances. There may be help for students in the form of loans and non-repayable grants from the University and from the government.  Find out more at Masters funding overview.

The School of English also offers a range of scholarships for taught postgraduate study. Find out more on our Scholarships page.

Career opportunities

Students graduating from this course have gone on to do successful PhDs in the UK, quite often in Leeds but also in a number of different countries across the world. Other students have gone on to equally successful careers in the cultural sector (eg publishing and cultural management) or working for national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Careers support

Leeds for Life is our unique approach to helping you make the most of University by supporting your academic and personal development. Find out more at the Leeds for Life website.

We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.

The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more about Careers support.

Whether you're looking to pursue further study, change career, or stand out in the competitive graduate job market, you'll receive expert support in applying the skills you've developed in your chosen career.