The Cultural Studies program allows you to engage critically with the changing meanings of culture in our everyday world. Students learn how to analyse cultural forms while debating their significance in relation to socio-historical contexts. Culture is seen not as a stable, self-evident property but a dynamic terrain through which individual and collective life are expressed, experienced and negotiated.

In covering topics such as popular culture, media, gender, sexuality, globalisation and consumer culture, the course raises questions around identity, community, representation, power, values and the practice of everyday life. The units of study offer a range of critical perspectives, providing you with the tools to understand how culture is produced, circulated and lived.

The program enhances any career in which culture is involved. Understanding of cultural processes is key in many fields of work, from government and community sectors through to the arts, education and communication industries. One of the study options is an internship that enables you to undertake a research project within a relevant organisation.

The program can also provide a pathway into postgraduate research. Our department is internationally renowned for its work in gender and cultural studies. As a postgraduate coursework student you can become actively involved in its vibrant culture of seminars, teaching and collaborative research. You can opt to write a short supervised dissertation, which may allow you to progress to a research degree.

As well as the core and optional units run by the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, a range of electives from other departments in the faculty are offered so that students can follow their thematic interests across disciplines. You may take any combination of offered optional units.