A BRIEF HISTORY
Cultural Studies Programme at Edinburgh was established in 2003 at the School of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures (LLC) by John Frow, Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature and the Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities (IASH). The interdisciplinary conference on Visual Knowledges, organised by John Frow in September 2003 marked the inauguration of the Programme and its transdisciplinary ethos. Since 2004, under the direction of Dr Ella Chmielewska, the programme has developed its focus on visual culture and expanded to include PhD in Cultural Studies. In 2008 it was relocated to the School of Arts, Culture and Environment (ACE) in order to capitalise on research and curriculum potentials of architectural humanities and particularly the work on visuality and the city (projects such as Critical Architecture, Scale, Aerial View). In this new academic context, the programme has benefited from research-led teaching and exchanges with the interdisciplinary Urban Studio in MSc in The City and the M.Arch city-based design studios (Warsaw, Florence and Marseille). Cultural Studies PhD research on text and image and visual knowledges has been enhanced by collaboration with PhD in Architecture by Design programme.
Cultural Studies students have distinguished themselves in scholarly contributions to the postgraduate culture in the School of Literatures, Language and Cultures through the quality and scope of their research, through activities of the Cultural Studies Salon, and key editorial roles in the Postgraduate Journal FORUM. In the School of Arts Culture and Environment, research, publications and curatorial projects by Cultural Studies students (and those whose research was supervised by staff in the Programme) greatly contributed to the inter-disciplinary ethos of the School and its innovative research into urban visual cultures, cultural heritage, memory, representations and identity. Within the School of Arts, Culture and Environment (ACE), Cultural Studies programme has established its unique identity and focus on situated textual, visual and critical practices.
In 2011, following the merger of the School of Arts, Culture and Environment (ACE) and the Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), and the creation of Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), MSc in Cultural Studies was fused with the interdisciplinary MSc in The City. The new programme in Cultural Studies @ Architecture continues its commitment to critical engagement with urban cultures and related inquiry into textual, visual and spatial practices. The programme's transdisciplinary ethos welcomes students from a wide variety of backgrounds across the humanities, art and design, history or social sciences. Students intent on pursuing advanced design interests (architectural and/or urban) can consider MSc in Architectural and Urban Design.
© culturalstudies@edinburgh 2013
website by richard collins