
Black Studies - MA
Currently viewing course to start in 2023/24 Entry.
In 2017 Birmingham City University became the first university in Europe to launch an undergraduate Black Studies degree course. Our MA Black Studies course aims to build on the success of this pivotal course. Since its emergence Black Studies at BCU has been one of the most high profile and successful research activities since 2014 in the faculty....
- Level Postgraduate Taught
- Study mode Full Time/Part Time
- Award MA
- Start date September 2023
- Fees View course fees
- School School of Social Sciences
- Faculty Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences
This course is:
Overview
In 2017 Birmingham City University became the first university in Europe to launch an undergraduate Black Studies degree course.
Our MA Black Studies course aims to build on the success of this pivotal course. Since its emergence Black Studies at BCU has been one of the most high profile and successful research activities since 2014 in the faculty. We have produced highly rated and world leading research, secured research funding and hosted some foundational research activities.
This course will be well suited to those already in employment as well as those wanting to develop specialist knowledge and build on transferable skill sets which will boost their employability and career options to working within education, local and national government, criminal justice, media, the arts and advocacy organisations. We have links with the public, private and voluntary sector organisations in local community, national and international settings. Engagement with stakeholders is fundamental part of the final project; which further enhances students’ personal and professional development and networking skills.
Why Choose Us?
Black Studies has been hugely influential in debates on university campus across the UK. BCU staff are regularly invited to speak at student and staff organised symposia about ‘decolonising’ the university. It was students that pushed for courses such as Black Studies, asking questions like ‘Why is My Curriculum White?’. From speaking at campuses across the country it is obvious there is a call for a postgraduate course in Black Studies.
In designing the course, we have built on the principles we have embedded into the undergraduate course. These have become the basis of the discipline of Black Studies that we are at the forefront of creating in academia. These key principles are embedded into the design of the degree and in module titles:
- Politics of Blackness. Black Studies is about connecting into the politics of Africa and the diaspora. We will explore critically and in relation to historical and existing social movements.
- Black Studies in Action. Taking Black Studies knowledge off campus is indispensable to the discipline, therefore we will explore research methods and partnerships with public, private and voluntary sectors in the community. This will feed directly into the Black Studies Project where student will develop a project with an impact off campus.
- Intersecting Identities. The most developed area of research in the discipline is Black Feminism, of which the key principles will be explored in this module.
- Race and Modernity. A critique of Eurocentric notions of progress is an essential component of ‘decolonising’ the curriculum.
- Culture, Media and Representation. Popular culture has been a central tool for exploring Black Studies knowledge, which aims to engage in the real world. We will be drawing heavily on these traditions in the course.
- Historical analysis. Throughout the modules we will be drawing on historical analysis to understand the contributions, experiences and perspectives of Africa and the African diaspora.
Find out more
OPEN DAY
Join us for an on-campus Open Day where you'll be able to meet us in person, hear from our trailblazing academics and explore our innovative £340m facilities.
Next Event: 26 November 2023
Entry Requirements
Essential Requirements
Typical Offers (UK Students) | ||
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A second class degree from a UK University or international equivalent. |
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Exceptions will be made on a case by case basis should a student possess enough relevant professional experience. |
Additional information for EU/International students
Essential | ||
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Applications from international applicants with equivalent qualifications are welcome. Please see your country page for further details on the equivalent qualifications we accept. In additional to the academic entry requirements listed above, international and EU students will also require the qualifications detailed in this table. |
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English language requirements 2020/21 | ||
IELTS |
6.0 overall with 5.5 minimum in all bands If you do not meet the required IELTS score, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English courses. Please note that you must have a Secure English Language Test (SELT) to study on the pre-sessional English course. More information. |
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Other accepted qualifications | Visit our English language page |
Fees & How to Apply
UK students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: MA
Starting: Sep 2023
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 1 Year
- £9,250 in 2023/24
- Part Time
- 2 Years
- Show fees
- £1028 per 20 credits
- Year 1 - 80 credits
- Year 2 - 100 credits
Fees for Part-time students
This course can be studied on a Part-time study basis. The cost per year of study is based on credit requirements for that year.
International students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: MA
Starting: Sep 2023
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 1 Year
- £16,870 in 2023/24
Personal statement
You’ll need to submit a personal statement as part of your application for this course. This will need to highlight your passion for postgraduate study – and your chosen course – as well as your personal skills and experience, academic success, and any other factors that will support your application for further study.
Not sure what to include? We’re here to help – take a look at our top tips for writing personal statements and download our free postgraduate personal statement guide for further advice and examples from real students.
Course in Depth
Year One
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 160 credits):
Blackness, rooted in Africa and the African Diaspora, underpins the work of Black Studies. However, there have been various ways that Blackness has been understood and mobilised historically and in the present. This module will explore the various political ideologies and movements that have articulated Blackness. Rather than seeing Blackness a single, fixed concept we will explore the dynamic and often contradictory approaches to the idea. Importantly, we will apply these ideas to the present day, asking you to identity your perspectives on how best to mobilise Blackness today. We will also discuss some of the exclusions in Blackness and how to ensure that we are utilising concept that can include and reach Africa and the diaspora regardless of gender, sexuality or disability. This module will underpin much of the content of the degree providing a critical understanding of Blackness.
Black Studies has two crucial elements. The first is the study of the perspectives, experiences and contributions of Africa and the African diaspora. The second is equally important and is focused on changing the way in which the university operates, rather than simply diversifying the people and contents of the curriculum. Transforming the ways in which research is both understood and done is an essential part of this. In this module you will critique the Eurocentric separation of knowledge from action, which is key to reproducing the exclusions of the ivory tower. Black Studies mobilises a different set of questions than mainstream or traditional academia, not focussed on analysing the problem but solving them by developing, what Robert Staples called the ‘science of liberation’. In this module, therefore, you will explore the philosophy behind this approach and how to do research that is directly connected to the struggles for justice off campus.
This module starts with examining Intersectionality as theoretical and analytical framework. It examines how individuals and groups that are marginalized and oppressed navigate through structural, political, and representational, experiential forms of intersectionality. A key aspect of intersectionality lies in its recognition that multiple oppressions are not each suffered separately but rather as a single, synthesized experience, you will be expected to critically assess your own, others and marginalized group’s lived experiences through undertaking a critical case study approach to examining.
The main purpose of this module is to examine the ways in which different media attempt to discuss or represent issues of Blackness. The module will draw on case-study examples from a number of different media including television, film, print media and online platforms, to explore current debates through discussion and in-class textual and contextual analysis. Topics covered will include Black studies related issues and other such as; race and ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, poverty, religion, age and nationality. You will be addressing particular contextual issues through critical Black Studies methodological lens.
I have great respect for the past. If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going’- Maya Angelou. Making connections between the past and future is the premise of this module. It focuses on the different ways in which Black historiography interrogates a variety of methods and sources to analyze past events, places and peoples within the African diaspora. This module also uses autobiographical/ memoir texts in circa from 18th Century to 21st Century written by Black Scholars. You will be expected to engage with Black scholars to fulfil the long tradition of recording life stories, through narrative, and self-reflection. In doing so, you will be engaging with changing notions of the self in autobiographical and other historical writings from Black scholars in relation to such themes as: race/ ethnicity, colonialism, slavery, gender, sexuality, nationality, citizenship and class.
The Black Studies Project is the opportunity for you to bring together your learning from the taught modules on the master's course. This module, therefore, allows you to bring your knowledge, research skills, and particular interests into one major research project which forms the bulk of semester 3. You will develop and carry out a project of Black Studies research with the support of a supervisor from the course team. In the first semester module Black Studies in Action, you will have put together a proposal for a research project with the intention to carry this out in order to complete this degree course. There are a variety of formats that the Black Studies Project can take but they must engage substantively with stakeholders off campus. You will directly apply your Black Studies learning to a project that engages with wider struggles outside the university.
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the following indicative list of OPTIONAL modules:
The content of the module includes both theoretical and case study overviews that will examine the complex range of abusive behaviours, from coercive control to image based abuse. We will explore a range of theoretical approaches including individualist, familial/systems and structuralist to strengthen our understanding of these harms. We will critically consider definitions, what we know/don’t know about the extent of the issue and consider the nature and impact of the harm caused. We take a holistic approach by considering by the victim-survivor and the perpetrators of harm and what can be done to prevent these forms of violence in society. We will give consideration to the different cultural social contexts of domestic abuse and sexual violence from childhood through to older age and in doing so you will be encouraged to explore the module content through an intersectional lens and with a trauma informed approach.
This postgraduate module provides you with an opportunity to engage with some of the key aims of your programme by examining contemporary debates that surround the phenomenon of homicide and multiple homicide, and a range of separate and related forms of violence. You will be given case studies of serial murderers, violent crimes, and harms caused by powerful interests. This will be achieved by focusing on both historical and contemporary cases within both a national and international context. By presenting both a theoretical discussion and real life cases, this module provides an opportunity to develop knowledge and critical understanding of criminology and related disciplines both in theory and in practice.
Originating at Temple University in Philadelphia, the Inside-Out model of prison education facilitates dialogue and education across profound social differences. University postgraduates (outside students) alongside incarcerated men and women (inside students) learn together on a module undertaken within the prison setting. The module is highly interactive and invites you to take leadership in addressing issues of crime, justice, and social concerns. Equality of status is at the heart of this innovative learning experience, alongside equality of expectation and outcome. Each student, whether inside or outside, undertakes the same learning process and assessment. All students read a variety of literature and engage with a number of reflective tasks. During class sessions you discuss issues in small and large groups, and in the final stages of the module students work together on a class project.
Medical Law and Ethics is an optional module that forms one of your choices on the programme to provide an introduction for you to the ever-growing body of law, policy and ethics concerned with the global health and some of the ethical dilemmas advances in this field.
The importance of international criminal law has grown considerably in recent years. Similarly to domestic criminal law, international criminal law aims to prohibit and penalise certain actions when committed by individuals. Unlike domestic criminal law however, the crimes that concern international community are particularly serious: prohibitions such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression involve conduct that is capable of affecting large numbers of the world's population. As such international criminal law is also relevant to study of international human rights, in that it establishes an additional accountability mechanism and protection to some of the most fundamental rights such as life, liberty, and security of the person.
The module examines the international law relating to refugees and the free movement of people and how that law has been executed in certain municipal contexts. The development and scope of the relevant law will be explored including both ‘mandate’ refugees, ‘statutory refugees’ and regional developments. Relevant international human rights protections will also be examined and their impact on refugee law and the doctrine of non-refoulement. The area of free movement of people will also be examined in an immigration context.
All core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
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International
Welcome to the School of Social Sciences, home to students from all around the world!
All of our undergraduate and postgraduate social sciences courses are open to international students, and our courses have been tailored to take a global approach to learning.
Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:
- Explore some of the good reasons why you should study here
- Find out how to improve your language skills before starting your studies
- Find all the information relevant to applicants from your country
- Learn where to find financial support for your studies
The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.
Facilities & Staff




Our Facilities
We are constantly investing in our estate and have spent £340 million on new learning facilities.
The Curzon Building
This course is based at our City Centre Campus – and specifically The Curzon Building, alongside other social sciences, law and business students.
The £63m building offers students a unique social learning space, including a dedicated student hub incorporating student support services, in the heart of Birmingham’s Eastside development.
Realistic, simulated environments include two mock court rooms, a Magistrates' and Crown Court, and an interviewing suite. We’re also exploring the use of virtual environments as a way to develop case study analysis.
For those studying on the BA (Hons) Policing or BA (Hons) Criminology, Policing and Investigation degrees, you’ll experience simulations of police interviewing environments for both suspects and witnesses, with access to tape recording and video playback analysis.
Crime investigation files are prepared using computer-based technology, and the crime data analysis requirements of the degree are supported by appropriate statistical and analytical software.
Psychology students can look forward to using state-of-the-art equipment as well, including the latest in eye-tracking software, and our new EEG machine, all geared towards giving you true hands-on experience with tools you’ll be using in your later career. You will also benefit from facilities across the wider campus including the Parkside and Millennium Point buildings.
The Curzon Building also features:
- An impressive library with access to over 65 million full text items and stunning views of Eastside City Park
- Your Students’ Union which is located in a beautifully restored 19th century pub, The Eagle and Ball
- A modern 300-seat food court with space to study and socialise
- Accessible IT facilities with full Office365 for all students for free
- Shared facilities with the wider campus including the Parkside Building and Millennium Point
Our staff
Professor Kehinde Andrews
Professor of Black Studies
Professor Kehinde Andrews is an academic, activist and author whose books include Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century (2018). His first book was Resisting Racism: Race, Inequality and the Black Supplementary School Movement (2013).
More about KehindeDr Dionne Taylor
Associate Professor in Sociology, Course Leader – MA Black Studies
Dr Dionne Taylor's role in BCU is about supporting, inspiring and guiding the students to reach beyond what many of them believe is possible. Encouraging students to work through the challenges, barriers and limitations to success is one of the reasons she became an academic.
More about DionneDr Martin Glynn
Lecturer in Criminology
Dr Martin Glynn is an experienced and internationally renowned criminologist, educator, theatre director, and dramatist with over 35 years’ experience of working in criminal justice, public health, and educational settings.
More about MartinDr Tony Talburt
Senior Lecturer in Black Studies, Course Leader – BA (Hons) Black Studies and BA (Hons) Black Studies with Criminal Justice
Having lived and taught in Jamaica, Ghana and also the UK, teaching African Caribbean history and politics, Tony Talburt has developed particular interests in the history of Africa and its peoples on the continent or in the Black Diaspora.
More about Tony