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 explore the cultural and creative representation of colonialisms old and new. The degree focusses on the ongoing impacts of enslavement, environmental catastrophe, forced migration, resource extraction, expulsion and extinction, explored in a range of literary and creative texts and materials, and engages with the exciting new cultural forms and politics emerging from rebellion and revolution, ideas about of difference, decolonial endeavours and multicultural values and innovations.

You will discover the richness and diversity of postcolonial cultures across the globe, exploring their social and historical contexts, and the theoretical and practical issues they raise.

An understanding of these issues will allow you to gain an in-depth knowledge of how creative outputs such as literature, film and music engage with race, place, power, identity and representation across a variety of contexts. Examples include new indigenous cultural activities and movements in the Americas and the Global South, environmentalist and more-than-human consciousness across Africa, and the growing metropolitan multicultures in the Global North.

The scope and scale of our academic expertise will help you to examine postcolonial societies and cultures from diverse intellectual perspectives. This flexibility will give you many opportunities to pursue your personal interests across the optional modules on the course, 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, anti-colonial revolution, experiences of refuge and asylum, trauma, Indigeneity, and more besides. We work across postcolonial fiction, film, theatre and poetry.

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 Cultural 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. It also holds an extensive collection of the papers of Peepal Tree press, one of the world's most important of publishers of postcolonial literature from the Caribbean, South Asia, and the UK.

Course details and modules

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 you to take your studies.

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 previously denigrated practices (such as oral storytelling or religious ritual), 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 many other examples. 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 student-centred seminar groups, within which there are plenty of opportunities for small-group work, collaborative class presentations, plenary discussions, and mini-lectures. This is in keeping with the programme’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, and especially when it comes to your self-designed research project, for which you’ll receive specialist one-to-one supervision.

On this course, you’ll be taught by our expert academics, each of whom is an established postcolonial scholar. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus.

As an MA student you will join the wider postgraduate community within the School of English, which includes our Masters by Research students and doctoral researchers. You will be able to attend reading groups and research seminars run by university staff, and take the opportunity establish your own learning communities with other students in the School, and across the university, who share your interests. You will have access to the MA Student Research Fund to support your preparations for the research project, such as attending conferences, visiting archives, or licenses for specialist software. You will also attend, and have the opportunity to participate in, the annual MA student conference, at which MA students present their ongoing research to students and staff within the School, as part of their research projects.

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 essay discussing your own 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.

This may include group presentations for tutor and peer feedback. 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

You’ll need a bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) or equivalent qualification, preferably in an English related degree specialising in one of the following subjects:

Anglophone literature, World literature, Comparative literature, Postcolonial studies, Empire writing or a related Humanities and Arts subject.

We will also consider applicants with relevant experience, an interest in colonialism, decolonisation, migration, multiculturalism, indigenous studies, and human rights, or coming from an area of expertise to which English is complementary.

We welcome applicants from a diverse range of subject disciplines so please do not hesitate to apply if your subject is not listed.

All applicants will be required to respond to the questions in the supporting statement section of the online application form to explain why you wish to study this particular course and your career plans. Relevant professional experience may also be considered. We may request additional documentation to inform our decision.

Humanities and Arts subjects

• Anglophone literature
• World literature
• Comparative literature
• Postcolonial studies
• Empire writing
• English Literature
• History
• Philosophy
• Cultural Studies
• Media and Communication Studies
• Creative Arts

International

Our admissions team are experienced in considering a wide range of international qualifications. If you wish to discuss whether your qualifications will meet the necessary entry criteria, contact the School’s admissions team.

You can also check the accepted qualifications for your country or region.

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

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 intend to apply for funding, we advise you to submit an application for your chosen course as early as possible and at least one month before any scholarship deadline.

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

Documents and information you'll need

• A copy of your degree certificate and transcripts, or a partial transcript if you’re still studying (please submit an official English translation where the original is not in English)
• Your approved English Language test* (if applicable)
• A personal statement in response to the questions asked in the supporting statement section of the application form
• A full up-to-date CV
• Any previous UK CAS, visa and BRP documents if you’re an international applicant who has previously studied in the UK on a Tier 4/ Student Visa.

* Applicants who have not yet completed an approved English language test may apply for a Masters course prior to taking a test.

Personal Statement Requirements

Please summarise your reasons for applying to this particular programme of study. Your response can include details of your previous study/work experience relevant to the programme and career ambitions. Your response can provide us with important information on your suitability for the course, so please complete carefully.

Please explain why you have chosen to apply for this Masters course at the University of Leeds by answering the following questions in separate numbered paragraphs:

• What areas of this course particularly interest you and why? Have you studied these before? Please explain your reasons for applying to this particular Masters course
• Why do you want to study this course at Leeds? Please comment on aspects such as available resources at the University and in the city, research specialisms within the school or academics you would like to work with.
• What potential themes have you considered for dissertation research?
• How will studying for this course help you to achieve your longer term goals?
• Why do you see this course as a particularly valuable subject to study?
• What skills and experience do you have that have prepared you for this course? You may like to give details of any final year work/projects you have previously undertaken, relevant work experience etc.

Relevant work experience might include: advertising, marketing, architecture, crafts, design (product, graphic, fashion), film, TV, radio, photography, IT - software, computer services, publishing, museums, galleries, libraries, music, performing and visual arts, teaching and education.

Next Steps

Where further information to support the assessment of your application is needed, we may ask for a recent sample of written work.

We do not generally request references, unless further information is required to support the assessment of your application.

Support for part-time and mature learners

The Lifelong Learning Centre provides support for mature and part-time learners across the University, including advice on how to apply to university and support throughout your studies.

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

Fees

UK: £12,500 (Total)

International: £27,500 (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.