MA in Society & Culture

The MA in Society and Culture, a unique program conceptualized and implemented by the faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (since 2014), has a specific goal of providing to students (from any disciplinary background) breadth and focus in the key disciplines within the Humanities and Social Sciences. It does so by providing fundamental learning, debates, and methods in literature, sociology, anthropology, political science, and history. The two-year MA program emerges from a conviction that students need to be trained to understand the social and political context around them; that encounters with theoretical and cutting-edge formulations on societies and nations are necessary and must also be learned in tandem with real-life observation and fieldwork.

The program also helps students understand intersections between disciplines so that recurring themes such as identity, democracy, tradition, modernity, citizenship, selfhood do not get restricted to a narrow disciplinary focus. Exposure to interdisciplinarity is an integral part of a student’s learning. This is further developed and tested through rigorous research.

Students were provided with an opportunity to access journals, scholarships from any part of the world, and the faculty’s vast international network to provide them with internship and research experience relevant to their chosen research project. In short, the MA program allows one to deepen their knowledge and yet remain free of boundedness that is so characteristic of other systems.

Students graduating with a Master’s in Society and Culture are equipped with a nuanced and more in-depth understanding of their context, sufficient enough for them to realize the dangers of single narratives. Their learning and skills prepare them for doctoral studies, policy work, consultancy, and a range of jobs and research careers.

The two-year, 80-credits MA program in Society and Culture at IIT Gandhinagar aims to provide analytical lens and theoretical perspectives in disciplines including History, Culture Studies, Literature, Translation Studies, Sociology, Political Science and Anthropology. The MA curriculum combines core learnings in theory and methods with a range of advanced electives in specific disciplines. That is, students interested in particular disciplines may take specific tracks that allow them to deepen their knowledge and critically engage in the contemporary body of scholarship shaping the humanities and social sciences intellectual traditions. Please note that, students can also complete the program without opting for a specific track. As a capstone project, all MA students complete a Master’s level thesis that allow them to work closely with a faculty advisor in the students’ preferred field of specialization. Overall, the MA program trains graduate students in independent research allowing them to pursue an advanced academic degree (e.g. PhD) and also prepares them for professional careers in journalism, writing, social development sector and public policy.