MA Gender Studies (Middle East Pathway)

Program Overview

The MA in Gender Studies (Middle East Pathway) at SOAS University of London is a one-year full-time or two to three-year part-time program that critically examines gender and sexuality in the Middle East. Students will explore historical and contemporary gender and sexual dynamics in the region, challenging essentialist and culturalist understandings. The program encourages a focus on the agency of actors on the ground and draws on their voices to challenge the centrality of the Western canon. Graduates have been hired by organizations such as ActionAid, Amnesty International, and The Guardian.

Program Outline

Careers:

Recent Gender Studies graduates have been hired by various organizations, including:

• ActionAid
• Amnesty International
• Association for Women’s Rights in Development
• Commission for Gender Equality
• Euromet Feminist Initiative
• International Organisation for Migration
• International Rescue Committee
• Raising Films
• The Children’s Society
• The Guardian

Other:

• The MA in Gender Studies (Middle East Pathway) at SOAS University of London is a one year full-time or two to three years part-time program that critically examines popular discourses on gender and sexuality in the Middle East, providing an alternative approach to the study of gender and sexual norms in the region.
• Students will be encouraged to see the Middle East as a zone of theoretical production, drawing on the compelling field of Middle East gender and sexuality studies to introduce nuanced historical and contemporary explorations of gender and sexual dynamics in the region.
• The program encourages a move away from essentialist and culturalist understandings of the Middle East and towards an exploration of the conditions of possibility for the ways of being and living associated with the region, centering the agency of actors on the ground and drawing on their voices as a means of challenging the centrality of the Western canon.
• Students must take 180 credits comprised of 120 taught credits (including core and option modules) and a 60-credit dissertation.

Home student fees: £12,220 per year Overseas student fees: £25,320 per year Please note that fees go up each year.