Cultural Analysis: Tools, Histories, Concepts is a core methodological course that provides students with the knowledge and tools necessary for conducting cultural analysis, understood as the critical study of cultural objects while relating these objects to the present. Intercultural Dialogues is dedicated to the comparison, dialogue, translation, and communication between different cultural expressions and experiences – including the failures, breakdowns, misunderstandings, and blind spots that such interactions typically contain.

Students can choose electives across the Humanities and Social Sciences, provided they meet the entry requirements. We offer two electives ourselves: Sex/Race/Trans allows students to gain knowledge of queer, trans, and critical race scholarship. Narrative and Globalization focuses on various theories of (anti-)globalisation, concepts related to (anti-)globalization and ways of analyzing how (anti-)globalization is narrated and visualized in different cultural imaginations (literature, film, television, new media) and discourses (political, economical, commercial, cultural, historical). In addition, students in Comparative Cultural Analysis may benefit from electives offered by the programme’s Cultural Analysis, Comparative Literature and Literary Studies. 

Students can use (part of) their elective space for an internship. Typically, students in Comparative Cultural Analysis take internships in the cultural sector in Amsterdam and The Netherlands: from museums to galleries, from festivals to magazines, but also work for non-profit organizations dealing with environmental or socio-cultural issues, or for (digital) media organisations. Read more about student internships.

The Master's thesis reports on research carried out by the student under the supervision of an academic staff member involved in the programme. Students are free to select their thesis topic and can indicate their preferred supervisor.