MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies

The MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies is an exciting degree bringing together Oxford’s wealth of expertise on South Asia in a single course. You will gain access to teaching and expert supervision across departments in the Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions. You will receive rigorous training in one of two tailored modules in research methods, and have the option to build in Hindi, Urdu, Classical Hindi/Hindavi, Persian or other language training.

You may choose to explore the social, economic and political achievements and challenges of the present-day states of South Asia, and the connections between the countries’ democratic and developmental successes and failures, or to range more broadly across the states and societies of the subcontinent over the past five hundred years.

Since the MPhil is taught jointly by staff within the Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions, students will be part of a larger community of teachers, researchers and students with interests in South Asia.

For students who already have a grounding in a South Asian language, there are opportunities to proceed to an advanced level, and to develop reading skills to attain a research proficiency.

Course structure

You will also choose between the language track or the non-language track. Language track students may take one of the following intensive courses both at beginner and advanced level: Hindi, Hindi and Urdu, Classical Hindi/Hindavi, and, if the timetable permits, Sanskrit, Persian or Tibetan. Students who are interested in any of these three 'substitute' core languages are asked to flag this interest in their personal statement.

Subject to timetabling, students with at least an intermediate or colloquial knowledge of any South Asian language also have the opportunity to take less intensive training in Hindi, Urdu, Classical Hindi/Hindavi or Persian either continuing at an advanced level or beginning a new language. Subject to both timetabling and demand, Bengali, Gujarati or Marathi may be studied either in their modern-day forms at elementary level or in their classical forms at a more advanced level. Again, if you are interested in taking Persian either at advanced or beginner level you are asked to flag this in your personal statement.

You will experience a variety of teaching modes, including lectures, seminars, classes, student presentations, and small group teaching. The MPhil is jointly taught by staff within the Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions, who will also assess your application. The application process is administered by the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. Language teaching will be provided in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. For much of the course, students will work alongside those taking the nine month MSc in Modern South Asian Studies. For parts of the research methods course, students will be taught alongside those studying for other MPhil and MSc courses offered by the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, as well as doctoral students, opening up further possibilities for interdisciplinary learning and exchange.

You will be required to gather relevant materials for your thesis during the course, usually by working in libraries and archives in the UK but potentially also via fieldwork. Required hours of study will vary between students as you will come from different backgrounds and bring different experiences to your study. However, a typical week during term time will involve around 40 hours of study, including two to six hours of scheduled contact hours (more for those following the ‘language track’), two hours for the weekly seminar and at least thirty hours of independent study. In the second year of the MPhil course, the balance changes as students concentrate on the writing up stage of their theses.

Success on the course requires sustained effort across the academic year, with term-times being typically prioritised with preparation for, and participation in, course lectures, class presentations, class discussion, essay reviews, and thesis supervisions. The vacation periods are not holidays as such but instead represent extended periods in the academic year when private study and thesis research can be balanced alongside taking a well-earned break during national festivals such as Christmas and Easter. During the summer vacation between the first and second years of the course you will be expected to undertake at least six weeks’ research in archives or fieldwork as appropriate. 

First year

During the first year, you will attend the core course, introducing modern South Asia across the disciplines. You will also receive training in research methods, through one of the following specially tailored programmes:

• research methods for area studies, both qualitative and quantitative
• research methods in humanities, including qualitative methods in literature, language and history.

An important purpose of the research methods course is to help you develop and refine your thesis topic.

You will also choose option papers. If you are taking the language track, you will take one option paper during the first year. If you are taking the non-language track, you will take two option papers. For a full list of option papers, please see the course pages on the department website. Please note that the options will change from time to time, and not all will be run every year.

By the end of the first year, you will have worked out a thesis proposal, and plans for field or archival work to be undertaken during the summer months between the first and second years.

Second year

In the second year, you will attend a course on advanced methods, as part of which you will make a presentation of your developing thesis project. Language track students will continue intensive language study. Both language and non-language track students will take an additional option. The major focus of the second year will be the thesis, for which you will receive expert supervision.

Attendance

Resources to support your study

For students whose research requires fieldwork, the University offers guidance on safe and ethical approaches to fieldwork and the conduct of interviews with local research participants.
Students will have access to the libraries, study spaces, common rooms and IT facilities of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, and of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, as well as to the social and networking events organised by these two university centres.

The Bodleian Libraries offer unparalleled library and archive facilities for South Asia, including one of the richest collections of official archival materials on South Asia in the UK. The main reference collection is accessed via the Charles Wendell David Reading Room at the Weston Library. Other important open shelf collections can be found in the Upper Camera, the Nizami Ganjavi Library and the Social Science Library. Students may access other Bodleian Libraries sites as necessary.

Oxford also offers a wealth of resources for the study of South Asian art and material culture. The Ashmolean Museum contains collections encompassing art from the Islamic world, the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia. The Pitt Rivers Museum holds important collections of ethnographic material from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The Museum of the History of Science houses an unrivalled collection of historic scientific instruments, including astrolabes and other instruments, with Persian, Arabic, or Sanskrit inscriptions, manufactured by artisans in India.

In addition to the faculties and departments who share in teaching for the MPhil, Oxford contains outstanding collegiate centres for study and research in relation to South Asia and its many regions, at Somerville College and St Antony’s College. Research seminars at these collegiate centres are open to all students.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies.

All students are assigned a general supervisor at the start of term, who is usually a member of the core teaching staff on the MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies. The role of the general supervisor is to guide you through your course of study. If your research interests fall outside the expertise of your general supervisor, they will assist you in identifying appropriate expertise within the university, and help you approach suitable scholars for supervision. Applicants are advised to consider the research interests of relevant faculty teaching on the course and to choose a topic where appropriate supervision can be provided. Applicants with a research interest in art history should note that supervision is only available for research that relates specifically to items held in the Ashmolean's collection.

Depending on the range of your research interests, therefore, it is possible for you to have more than one supervisor - a general supervisor who oversees your general academic progress, and a different supervisor for your thesis. Supervision for the thesis will be offered as a series of individual meetings between you and your thesis supervisor. Your supervisor(s) will discuss your progress, and answer any questions before you submit assessed work. Your thesis supervisor will read one full draft of your thesis provided it is submitted.

In the case of students who require specific help to adjust to an academic programme or to a new range of skills, the supervisor will work with them to ensure that they have additional support.

Assessment

In order to receive the MPhil degree, you must obtain pass marks in all components:

Language Track (first year)

1. Research Methods (comprising two assignments, one in Michaelmas and one in Hilary term)
2. Core Course Essay (submitted at the beginning of Trinity term)
3. Core Language Qualifying Assessment
4. Option 1

Language Track (second year)

1. Core Language Final Assessment
2. Option 2
3. Thesis (submitted Monday of week 4 of Trinity term)

In addition to this, you will be required to undertake formative assessment (essays, presentations etc) throughout the programme.

Non-language Track (first year)

1. Research Methods (comprising two assignments, one in Michaelmas and one in Hilary term)
2. Core Course Essay (submitted at the beginning of Trinity term)
3. Option 1
4. Option 2

Non-language Track (second year)

1. Option 3
2. Thesis (submitted Monday of week 4 of Trinity term)

In addition to this, you will be required to undertake formative assessment (essays, presentations etc) throughout the programme.

Graduate destinations

The department aims to equip its graduates with a range of valuable skills which will enable them to compete successfully within a number of different careers - in the civil service and policy-making bodies in Britain, Europe and further afield, in non-governmental organisations concerned with development, in the charitable sector, in journalism, public and private sector research and consultancy, law and academia. The MPhil is a valuable preparation for students wishing to go on to doctoral research.

College preference

The following colleges accept students on the MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies: