Masters of Arts Literature Degree (MA. Lit)

The Master of Arts in Literature (MA. Lit) is a two-year degree programme by both coursework and research offered in the Department of Literature and Film Studies. The programme is tailor-made to spur the students’ literary and critical passion while engendering the development of the requisite skillsets and values to thrive at the postgraduate research level. With a very competent and dedicated team of academics, the Department of Literature and Film Studies offers a stimulating, challenging, and rewarding intellectual experience.

The programme offers the following pathways drawn from various literatures and cinemas around the world that build the core aspects of research in the department: Oral Literature and Contemporary Society, Classical Literature, Drama, Advanced Literary Theory and Criticism, Film, Poetry, Prose Fiction, and Non-Fiction expose students to global formidable reserves of knowledge, teaching them how language shapes the world and how to see diverse cultural perspectives and voices through other eyes.

Appreciative of the core role of literature in the development of democracy and changing society for the better, our MA programme is designed to enable students to develop analytical and/or critical thinking skills, evidence-based writing, clear communication, and editing skills. It is the perfect option for those who love books and love to read and write.

General Objective

The programme will enable students to do in-depth research in literature and film, as well as achieve a lifelong engagement with the English language in both writing and publishing.

Specific Objectives

The programme aims to:

1. Equip students with critical knowledge of the major literary genres, periods, theories, and scholarship.
2. Enable students to acquire critical life skills such as discourse and textual analysis, critical thinking and writing, film criticism, and practice.
3. Equip students with the requisite knowledge, skills, and values for quality and original research.
4. Expose learners to a more intensive and broader experience of literary and cultural studies that is not tenable for undergraduate literary study.
5. Equip the learners with the requisite knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes necessary for a successful career in literature teaching, media, communication, film/cinema, and other creative arts.

The minimum qualification for admission to the MA (Lit) programme shall be at least a second-class lower in: Bachelor of Arts with Education, majoring in Literature/English Language; Bachelor of Education, majoring in Literature/English; Bachelor of Arts in Arts, majoring in Literature; Bachelor of Social Sciences, majoring in Literature; and other related programmes, such as Bachelor of Journalism, Media Studies, and Communication, Majoring in Literature.

At the end of the course, learners should be able to:

• Demonstrate a critical understanding of the major literary genres, periods, theories, and scholarship in the literary canon.
• Demonstrate critical depth in discourse and textual analysis, critical thinking and writing, film criticism, and practice.
• Analyze a wide array of selected literary works through a variety of literary and cultural theories and perspectives.
• Conduct independent and ethically sound research that makes a positive contribution to literary studies in the country. Demonstrate competence in critical thinking, film criticism and practice.
• Pursue a career in literature teaching, media communications, film and other creative Arts.

Given the role of language and literary skills (such as reading, writing, critical thinking skills), and the growing digital revolution in the global—which has created a strong need for digital content producers, particularly in the creative content industry, literary scholarship is well placed to lead content development in the creative sector since it teaches key technical skills needed in that industry: story structure, development and production. On such a background, our graduates go on to flourish in such careers as; Teaching and Administration, Media, Writing, editing and publishing, Drama and Theatres, Curating, Film/cinematography, Politics.