Arts, Literature and Media (research) (MA)

About the Arts, Literature and Media Research MA

The study of cultural artefacts from the past keeps shifting our understanding of the present, just as studying contemporary arts and literature often compels us to critically revisit the past and its multiple afterlives. The knowledge produced by works of art and literature - past and present - is always multiply mediated: through the contexts in which these works are called to function, through language and the media they are made of (print, paint, other materials), as well as through other media (photography, cinema, social media etc.) that they engage with or incorporate. This interdisciplinary RMA deems such transhistorical and transmedial conversations essential for humanities research and its social impact, even when one’s research focuses on a specific period, genre or medium. It thus brings together the best of three worlds (arts, literature, and media) through a programme of well-designed courses, combining theoretical and historical training with free space for specialisation.

Why study Arts, Literature and Media in Leiden?

This programme provides a unique combination of historical and theoretical training, tailored to your own ambitions and interests. In two core seminars, you learn to position yourself and your research in a multidisciplinary field and to make your work speak to others so that it has a good chance of getting funded or published. Then you choose between two historically defined lines that work with different understandings of media:

• In the medieval and early modern line, the focus is on the media that art and literature work through. Here, medium refers to the means by which art and literature are made (such as the medium of language, print, theatre, paint, etching, and so forth).
• In the contemporary line, from the 19th century until the present, the study of art and literature is accompanied and co-shaped by media such as cinema, games, or social media.

Deepen your interests

The free specialisation space offers you the possibility to deepen your disciplinary interests in medieval, early modern, or contemporary studies. Whether you have an art history, media studies, or Dutch, English, Italian, French, German, or Spanish literary studies background, the programme provides 60 ECTs in courses and research that contributes to your specialization. All you need is love for doing research. 

Learn more about the study programme

What are your career prospects?

The programme provides the basis for writing your research master's thesis that forms the starting point for either a path in the academy or elsewhere. The programme aims to prepare you well for both. During your studies you will acquire a valuable range of specific and transferable skills and knowledge, both disciplinary and interdisciplinary, historical, contemporary and theoretical.

Find out more about the career prospects

Is Arts, Literature and Media the programme for you? 

Do you have a love for doing research and a background in art history, media studies, or Dutch, English, Italian, French, German, or Spanish literary studies? With this programme you will learn what it takes to do good research. Do you want to find out if you are eligible for this Master's Programme? 

Check the admissions requirements

PhD vlogs

Interested to see what some of our graduates are doing now? Around 40% of our students go on to work in (academic) research after graduating from the Arts, Literature and Media research master. Check out the PhD vlogs from the Leiden University Centre of Arts in Society where graduates, including Merel Oudshoorn en Andries Hiskes, talk about their PhD project.