MA Scottish History/Theatre Studies

About this course

Scottish history and theatre studies is a combination that brings together two disciplines concerned, in different ways, with how communities define themselves, remember their past and represent their experience. Scottish history is a field of distinctive richness, spanning the medieval kingdom, the Reformation, the union with England, the Enlightenment, industrialisation, the Highland Clearances and the development of the modern Scottish political identity. Theatre studies examines dramatic forms, performance traditions and the cultural, social and political work that theatre has performed across different periods and societies, developing both critical and practical ways of engaging with performance. At the University of Glasgow you will study Scottish history within a department that houses researchers at the cutting edge of the field across all periods from medieval to modern, and within an institution that is home to the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, which encourages genuinely cross-disciplinary engagement with Scottish culture and history. Alongside this you will engage with theatre studies through analysis of dramatic texts and performance traditions, developing your critical vocabulary and theoretical tools. The programme is studied part time, allowing you to pursue both fields alongside other commitments. It also includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to experience different academic and theatrical traditions. You will develop skills in primary source research, archival analysis, dramatic criticism, historical argument and extended academic writing. The capacity to think across disciplinary boundaries and to bring different interpretive frameworks to bear on the same phenomena is a genuinely transferable intellectual skill. Graduates from Scottish history and theatre studies programmes pursue careers in education, heritage, arts administration, cultural journalism, community arts, archiving, librarianship and the creative industries. Postgraduate study in Scottish history, theatre studies, cultural history, heritage management or performance studies is also a natural route for those seeking specialist expertise.

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