Teaching & modules
Modules
Courses are divided into modules. You will normally take modules totaling 180 credits.
Required Modules
You are required to take:
- Foundational Texts in Critical Theory (15 credits)
- Main Currents in Critical Theory (15 credits)
- Dissertation (60 credits)
Optional modules
In addition, you are required to take 90 credits from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:
- Text, Image, Object & Gesture in Twentieth- Century French Writing (15 credits)
- Media Aesthetics (15 credits)
- Myth after Slavery (15 credits)
- Continental Philosophy I (15 credits)
- Writing the Body in Literature and Culture (15 credits)
- Documenting the Camp: Testimony, Memory, Legacy (15 credits)
- Decoloniality and the Global South (15 credits)
- Thinking Cinema (15 credits)
- Adaptation and the Time-Image: Desire, Subjectivity and Temporality Between Literature and Film (15 credits)
- Illness Narrative as Life Writing (15 credits)
- Cultural Memory (15 credits)
- Theories and Poetics of Refusal, Dissent and Resistance (15 credits)
- Violence and the State of Exception: Critical Theories and Its Sources (15 credits)
- Writing the Body in European Literature and Culture (15 credits)
You may also take
- A language module from King’s Language Centre (15 credits) subject to approval
If you are a part-time student, you will take Foundational Texts in Critical Theory (15 credits) and Main Currents in Critical Theory (15 credits), along with 30 credits of optional modules from the list above in your first year.
In your second year you will take your dissertation module and a further 60 credits of optional modules.
Teaching methods - what to expect
Assessment
- Coursework
- Written Dissertation
- Assessed Essays
- Class presentation
- Research methodology exercise
If you are a full-time student, we will provide six hours of teaching each week through lectures and seminars, and we will expect you to undertake 34 hours of independent study. If you are a part-time student, we will provide two to four hours of teaching through lectures and seminars each week, and we will expect you to undertake between 16 and 18 hours of independent study. For your dissertation we will organise a workshop and provide you with an additional four hours of supervision. Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.
Application closing date guidance
Key Information
Course type:
Master's
Delivery mode:
In person
Study mode:
Full time / Part time
Duration:
One year full-time, two years part-time, September to September
Application status:
Open
Start date:
September 2026