MA in Society and Culture
The MA in Society and Culture, a unique program conceptualized and implemented by the faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (since 2014), has a specific goal of providing to students (from any disciplinary background) breadth and focus in the key disciplines within the Humanities and Social Sciences. It does so by providing fundamental learning, debates, and methods in literature, sociology, anthropology, political science, and history. The two-year MA program emerges from a conviction that students need to be trained to understand the social and political context around them; that encounters with theoretical and cutting-edge formulations on societies and nations are necessary and must also be learned in tandem with real-life observation and fieldwork.
The program also helps students understand intersections between disciplines so that recurring themes such as identity, democracy, tradition, modernity, citizenship, selfhood do not get restricted to a narrow disciplinary focus. Exposure to interdisciplinarity is an integral part of a student’s learning. This is further developed and tested through rigorous research.
Students were provided with an opportunity to access journals, scholarships from any part of the world, and the faculty’s vast international network to provide them with internship and research experience relevant to their chosen research project. In short, the MA program allows one to deepen their knowledge and yet remain free of boundedness that is so characteristic of other systems.
Students graduating with a Master’s in Society and Culture are equipped with a nuanced and more in-depth understanding of their context, sufficient enough for them to realize the dangers of single narratives. Their learning and skills prepare them for doctoral studies, policy work, consultancy, and a range of jobs and research careers.