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Bachelor

Vergelijk

Global Arts, Culture and Politics

Study programme

We live in times of large global transitions and urgent threats. The environment, looted art and fake news dominate current media, museum exhibitions and performance arts. In this Bachelor's programme these debates take centre stage. Global Arts, Culture and Politics teaches you the necessary skills and knowledge to engage with the global challenges of today from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Bachelor's Week Information session (recording)

See this recording of our November 2023 live session, in which the Global Arts, Culture and Politics Bachelor's programme is illustrated in detail.

The programme in short

You will study art as a medium, the big history of art and the relationship between power and representation. You look at culture and ecology and study sustainability from multiple perspectives. You research the politics of culture and learn to understand how contemporary culture is highly politicised. Artificial intelligence deeply influences our daily lives. We analyse how this works and what consequences AI has ethically, politically, and sociologically. You acquire skills such as (academic) writing, creating (websites, videos, exhibitions), archival research, discourse analysis, public speaking, debating, programming, interview techniques and quantitative research. These valuable tools enable you to understand, analyse and to engage actively with various global challenges.

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC

Big History of Arts, Culture and Politics

Period 1

6
Skills: Critical Reading & Argumentation

Period 1

3
Fake News: Introducing The Human and AI

Period 1

3
Cultural Sociology

Period 2

6
Skills: Visual Literacy

Period 2

3
Writing Women into History: Introducing Art and Media

Period 2

3
Key Stories I: Research Within and Beyond the University

Period 3

6
Philosophy of Art & Culture

Period 4

6
Skills: Digital Literacy & Archival Research

Period 4

3
Earth Politics and the Future of Life: Introducing Reimagining Sustainability

Period 4

3
Global Politics and Power

Period 5

6
Skills: Interviews & On Site Research

Period 5

3
Culture Wars: Introducing Culture and Social Justice

Period 5

3
Skills: Writing About Arts, Culture and Politics

Period 6

6

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC

Major specific courses

Period 1

Period 2

Period 3

Period 4

Period 5

Period 6

48

- Major Art & Media - Major - The Human and Artificial Intelligence - Major - Culture and Social Justice - Major - Reimagining Sustainability
Philosophy of Science and the Humanities

Period 2

6
Key Stories II: Arts, Culture and Politics in the World

Period 3

6

COURSES SEM 1 SEM 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 EC

(Programme related) Electives or Minor

Period 1

Period 2

Period 3

Period 4

Period 5

48
Bachelor’s Thesis or Final Bachelor Project

Period 5

Period 6

12

Compulsory course

Elective

UvA Course Catalogue: Global Arts, Culture and Politics

Podcast: Writing Women Into History

Global Arts, Culture and Politics students have created two podcast episodes for the course Writing Women Into History. The episodes focus on the underexposed role of women in history.

Listen to the podcast

The first year

In the first year, you will lay a broad foundation in the fields of art and media, sustainability, cultural policy and artificial intelligence. You will also gain skills in doing interdisciplinary research, and academic writing.

The second and third year

In the second year, you will start your specialisation by choosing one of the four majors on the different global challenges. Additionally, you will be taught 'Philosophy of Humanities and Science' and follow the course 'Key Stories' with lectures from hot-shot specialists from various faculties and political, cultural and media figures.
In the third year, you will take two electives and a minor, either in a different discipline within the Humanities or at a different faculty. You will also have the opportunity to study abroad. The programme will be completed with a Bachelor’s project in cooperation with cultural, artistic or governmental organisations.
You choose to specialise in one of our four majors:

Art and Media
In this major, you study art as a medium, with an emphasis on the past. How was art used to justify social status (or political power)? How does portraiture convey power and identity, and what contribution did world maps have to the colonial aspirations of governments?
You will analyse themes and gain insights from fields such as:

Art History

Book History

Cultural Industries

Heritage Studies

History

Looted objects

Museums Studies

Music Studies

Theatre Studies

Technology

Visual Culture and Propaganda
Copyright: Bob Bronshoff

Since #MeToo, women are listened to and believed at face value, which has changed how we think about the past and the present. In our major, students learn how to do archival research to find women’s voices and write them into history. Dr Judith Noorman
Reimagining Sustainability
In this interdisciplinary major you will study sustainability from multiple perspectives. Courses will explore the historical roots of the concept, the place of sustainability in contemporary ecopolitics, and the important role arts and culture can play in shaping more sustainable futures. You will analyse themes and gain insights from fields such as:

Deep ecology

Ecofeminism

Nature and modernity

Degrowth

Sustainability in past societies

The Anthropocene

Indigenous approaches to sustainability

Art and the environment

Sustainable practices in cultural institutions
Museums and other cultural institutions have an important role to play in fighting climate change and shaping a more sustainable future for the planet. Dr Colin Sterling
Culture and Social Justice
Contemporary culture connects and divides. Film, music, art, dance and theatre travel across the globe faster than ever, bringing people closer. Simultaneously, proximity creates friction. In a globalising, post-colonial world (social) media discussions on topics such as gender, racism and #me that rub against different cultural norms existing in society can result in conflict. The arts are then often invoked to mediate and transform the problem of culture into a remedy.

The core themes of the major Culture and Social Justice are the global transformations of cultural practices, their underlying conceptions of culture and the socio-economic inequalities these create or tackle. You will analyse themes and gain insights from fields such as:

(Post-)Colonial Studies

Critical Heritage Studies

Cultural Policy

Gender & Sexuality Studies

Global Studies

Migration Studies
Copyright: FGw, Eduard Lampe

To some people fashion can bring enjoyment; to others it can even mean empowerment. Yet, fashion is also the product of a global industry that is structurally riddled with injustice in terms of gender, race and class, as well as in the way it appropriates indigenous cultures and pollutes the planet. In order to grasp this complex global phenomenon, we cannot do without a social justice approach. Dr Christine Delhaye
The Human and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence deeply influences our daily lives: in the way we listen to music on Spotify, consume (fake) news, or contact friends on WhatsApp. This major will address questions of big data and AI from the point of view of the humanities and arts. We will study how AI works, how it is it programmed, and what consequences it has ethically, politically and sociologically. You will learn about the growing importance of AI in contemporary culture and society and study the critical thinking and intellectual debates in this fast-developing field, while acquiring the tools and framework to analyse new cultural and social datasets with AI methods. You will analyse themes and gain insights from fields such as:

Artificial Intelligence and Ethics

AI and Politics

Content

Digital Humanities

Fake news

Media Studies (such as TV, film, photography and social media)

Platformisation
Copyright: Tobias Blanke

AI has always been an interdisciplinary object. The humanities play an important role in developing its future. Prof. Tobias Blanke, Humanities and Computing Expert

Theatrical performances about colonial history not only shape how we understand the past but also influence how we relate to social inequalities in the present. Dr Sruti Bala