DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL STUDIES

Welcome to the BS Cultural Studies Programme, the first of its kind in Pakistan!

Cultural Studies researchers theorize the creative forces that shape the lived reality of people in the 21st century. Drawing on a range of practices, Cultural Studies researchers investigate values, beliefs and belongings, cultural processes and cultural objects, economic and social relations, institutions and identities. Cultural Studies is an emphatically interdisciplinary area of inquiry that intersects the humanities, science studies, the social sciences and the arts. Necessarily selfreflexive, Cultural Studies department draws on a range of methods and critical theories and offers opportunities to break down conventional divisions between academia and activism, and, between theoretical critique and cultural production. What distinguishes Cultural Studies from other approaches to the study of culture and art is its recognition that no single disciplinary approach can get at the complexity of cultural forms and its emphasis on power, social justice and social change.

The programme is aimed primarily at preparing theoretically sound professionals, and academians with a focus on South Asian visual and material culture issues and perspectives. The programme is designed to develop conceptual rigor, criticaltheoretical and analytical skills, along with an ability to imbibe contemporary theoretical debates with the local context of art and cultural development of Pakistan. The programme is theory-focused, albeit with practical relevance.

With this set of knowledge and skills, graduating students will make valuable societal contributions. They will be able to (a) seek admission in any leading, relevant doctorate programme in the world, including the NCA MPhil/PhD programme and/or (b) compete in the careers of arts (resident, commissioned or freelance musicians, artists, designers, architects, and urban planners); humanities (literature, publishing, criticism, research); print/ electronic media (print and electronic journalism, audio-visual production, media analysis and management); social/ cultural/ environmental development (international and national agencies); and public policy (public sector or independent research houses).

1st Semester

2nd Semester

3rd Semester

4th Semester

5th Semester

6th Semester

7th Semester

8th Semester

Thesis 18 credits

Elective Courses

From 3rd semester onwards, a student will be able to choose elective courses from within his/her department and from other departments with the help of assigned advisor. Each Elective Crouse will be of 2 credit hours.