Atlantic Studies in History, Culture and Society
(Master of Arts)
German HZB: English B2 AND another subject-related foreign language B1 (preferably French and/or Spanish)
International application: German B2 AND English B2 AND another subject-related foreign language B1 (preferably French and/or Spanish)
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Stay abroad possible, but not obligatory.
Short Description
Course content: the Master’s degree programme in Atlantic Studies is the only programme in the whole of Germany that addresses social, cultural, political and economic relations in the South Atlantic from the interdisciplinary perspective of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Teaching staff: members of the Centre for Atlantic and Global Studies from the History Department (African and Latin American History), the Institute of Sociology (Sociology and Cultural Anthropology), the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (Spanish Studies, Literature and Linguistics), the English Department (English Studies and American Studies) and the History of Religions Section.
Particular advantages of the course:
• Integrated period abroad related to the professional field while at university (cooperative agreements with universities in countries such as Chile, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, Senegal and the USA, international placement exchange)
• Acquisition of empirical research skills in the integrated research learning module, e.g. in cooperation with local institutions and international visiting lecturers
• Intensive support, the possibility to specialise during the programme.
Professional skills:
• The Master’s degree programme in Atlantic Studies trains students to become regional and globalisation experts on the South Atlantic region “Latin America-Caribbean-Africa”. Graduates possess versatile language skills and intercultural skills, project management skills, and have undertaken unusual stays abroad.
Areas of Focus
- Challenges of long-term social change in the Atlantic region
- Conflict dynamics and attempts to resolve conflict in the Atlantic region
- Demographic change, migratory movements, asymmetries in the global economy, social inequality and working conditions, cities in the Global South
- House regulations in the Atlantic World
- Knowledge production and knowledge systems, (new) social media, constructions of identity and their cultural and linguistic representation, cultures of remembrance and colonial pasts
- Mediality, representation and perception of challenges in the multiple Atlantic
- Transformations of houses, households, cultural patterns and social relationships in the domestic area as well as notions of home as a result of the mobility of people, goods and ideas in the Atlantic region from the 16th century to the globalised present
- Violence and conflict resolution, interculturality and legal pluralism, political participation, social and solidarity movements, universal human rights, religions and ethnicity as a political resource
Relations between Africa, the Americas (in particular Latin America and the Caribbean) and Europe from the 15th century to the globalised present, focusing on the South Atlantic (in its global contexts)
Interdisciplinary theoretical approaches (historical, sociological-cultural anthropological, linguistic, literature and cultural scientific, religious), empirical research practice
Structure of the degree programme:
Compulsory modules: basic module in Theory and Methods; advanced module in Research Debates; Integrated Research Learning Module; practical module (practical training with an international reference at home or abroad or a research stay abroad, generally linked to a semester abroad at an African, Latin American/Caribbean, Canadian or US-American, European university with an Atlantic/global focus), Master’s thesis
Compulsory elective modules: Globalisation and Transcultural Spaces; Inequality, Power, Difference; Social, Religious and Cultural Movements; Violence and Conflict Resolution; Cultural Anthropology
Semester | Pflichtbereich Interdisziplinäre Theorie- und Methodenmodule | Pflichtbereich Projektmodule | Pflichtbereich Masterarbeit | Wahlpflichtbereich Fach- und interdisziplinäre Themenmodule |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Basismodul Theorie und Methoden
| Integriertes Forschungslernmodul
| 3 aus 5 folgenden Themenmodulen (jeweils 1 Vorlesung und1 Seminar oder 2 Seminare)
| |
2 | Aufbaumodul Forschungsdebatten
| |||
3 | Praxismodul
| |||
4 | Masterarbeit (mit Supervision durch die Lehrenden) |
- Openness and the willingness to look beyond European and nation state perspectives of social contexts
- Ability to persevere with exploring an object of research intensively and to thoroughly read specialised texts
- An interest in interdisciplinary approaches
- An interest in research trips and the willingness to get involved with multicultural contexts
- Two modern foreign languages, preferably Spanish or French
- Universities, higher education institutions and non-university research institutes
- Science policy and management
- Adult education, trade unions
- Media, journalism, publishing
- Cultural management, cultural mediation, marketing, public relations
- Political consulting
- International government institutions and non-governmental institutions (NGOs)
- Foundations with an international orientation
- International business enterprises and associations
- Archives, libraries and museums
Admission Requirements
An undergraduate degree in a related field of study, such as
- English Studies as subject in the Interdisciplinary Bachelor’s Degree Programme (Bachelor of Arts)
- History as subject in the Interdisciplinary Bachelor’s Degree Programme (Bachelor of Arts)
- Political Science (Bachelor of Arts)
- Politics as subject in the Interdisciplinary Bachelor’s Degree Programme (Bachelor of Arts)
- Study of Religions / Ethics as subject in the Interdisciplinary Bachelor’s Degree Programme (Bachelor of Arts)
- Social Sciences (Bachelor of Arts)
- Spanish Studies as subject in the Interdisciplinary Bachelor’s Degree Programme (Bachelor of Arts)
For master's degree programmes with restricted admission, places shall be allocated according to the university’s own selection procedure, if there are more applicants fulfilling the admission requirements than there are places available. The exact admission requirements can be found in the admission regulations:
Application Deadlines
First-year students
- June 1st – July 15th of the year for the winter semester
- December 1st – January 15th of the year for the summer semester
Students resuming their studies and transfer students (application in a higher semester)
- June 1st – July 15th of the year for the winter semester
- December 1st – January 15th of the year for the summer semester
Do you have questions about studying? We are happy to help!

30167 Hannover

30167 Hannover