Culture, Media and Performative Arts

The study programme makes it possible to link professional experiences with research, leads its students to critical reflection on media content and media institutions and, consequently, to higher professional competencies and competitiveness. The rising influence of media on forming attitudes and opinion groups in society makes the anthropological research of media industries and audiences all the more relevant and necessary in our current times. It is therefore all the more essential to educate future teachers, researchers, journalists, media producers, and cultural institutions’ employees in their capacity to reflect on the relationship between producers, products, users, and outcomes.

The programme will be implemented at the intersection of the pedagogical and core research activities of the four participating departments: social anthropology brings the proper methodological training for empirical ethnographic research; media studies will provide students with technical skills for utilizing audiovisual techniques within research, and introduce students to appropriate research methods within the social sciences; theatrical studies will focus on explicating performative behaviour in public space; film studies will focus on the institutional context of media production, distribution and reception. Students will be trained in practical skills (technical skills in processing audio/photo/videomaterial, basic skills in academic writing, critical analysis, and promotional activities), and they will master the historical knowledge and analytical skills necessary for the critical analysis of media products and media production processes. The programme intends to connect their education to a critical understanding of other cultures, to the analysis of media production, and to understanding frameworks of historical context and continuities - i.e., to offer competencies which are currently highly-needed and in-demand, and which will only become more valuable in the future. The programme is highly interdisciplinary and it effectively intersects a focus on understanding the historical context of creative processes and media production (typical for humanities), with the analytical methods applied within the social sciences for the analysis of media production and reception.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• independently apply research techniques for analyses of data by using contemporary statistical and interpretational methods.
• understand social relevancies of social phenomena within a wide scale of complexities.
• interpret media content and protocols within media production in their relevant historical and cultural contexts.
• apply methods for anthropological, media, and historical research.
• use photo, video and audio techniques for data collection and analysis.
• become orientated in culturally different environments.

As a graduate, you will be competent to continue within an M.A. study programme across a wide scale of possible specializations. The programme will prepare you for entry into other English-language programmes such as Cultural Sociology, Conflict and Democracy Studies, or International Relations (to name but a few of the programmes running at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University). In the case of reaching fluency in Czech, you will be ready to continue with M.A. studies across a further spectrum of fields, including anthropology, media studies, history and theory of cinema, theatre, and television, filmmaking, film and television dramaturgy, and production (e.g., at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), etc.

After graduating from this study programme, you will be prepared to work in the media industry (film and television production), in cultural management (organizing festivals or cultural events), in cultural and media institutions, in NGOs focused on transcultural dialogue or education, in the press and online media, or as a cultural manager in governmental or self-governmental institutions. The achieved cultural and historical education, technical skills, and methodological knowledge uniquely provided by our programme can foreseeably position you favorably within the professional job market, meaning you will be able to hold research, managerial or communication positions in a wide array of cultural, media or social institutions.

You will be trained in practical skills: technical skills in processing audio, photo and video-material as well as in academic writing, critical analysis, and promotional activities. You will master the historical knowledge and analytical skills necessary for the critical analysis of media products and media productions. In other words, the programme offers you competencies which are currently highly-needed and in-demand and which will only become more valuable in the future.

An important aspect of our programme rests in the opportunities it offers to get real hands-on experience through internships at regional film, television, or theatre festivals (such as Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Film Festival One World, Ekofilm, or Mezipatra), in the Czech public service media, or in regional cultural institutions.

Finally, we will motivate you to bring to the programme and fully integrate your own acumen from your country, culture, and media contexts. The critical understanding of culture most effectively prospers from the sharing and diversity of thought and perspectives.

The programme concludes through the execution of an original research project in the form of a Bachelor’s thesis. The standard scope of a Bachelor's thesis ranges from 72,000 to 90,000 characters including footnotes and citations (supplements do not count into the range). A Bachelor's thesis verifies methodological, historical and theoretical knowledge which is applied on historical, or contemporary ethnographic material.

As a graduate, you will be ready to continue within any graduate programme related to culture, media, or performative arts.

At MUNI, you can apply for M.A. English- language study programmes such as Cultural Sociology, Conflict and Democracy Studies, or International Relations (to name some of the programmes running at MUNI). And in the case of reaching fluency in Czech, at MUNI you will be ready to continue in an M.A. programme across a further array of fields, including anthropology, media studies, history and theory of cinema, theatre, and television.