Please note that option papers will change from time to time, and not all will be run every year.
As at September 2022, it is expected that the following options will run in the academic year 2023-24: Gender and Society in India c. 1800 to the present; The Economic Development of South Asia 1947 to the present; The International Relations of South Asia; Social History of Colonial India 1800-1947; Themes in the history of Pakistan; Unmasking the State: civil society activism in South Asia; Anthropology of South Asia; and Anthropology of Buddhism; as well as the main advanced language options.
Students may alternatively apply to take an 'approved option' from elsewhere within the University, subject to the agreement of both the Modern South Asian Studies Teaching Committee and the Graduate Studies Committee of the hosting department. Such options may include options run as part of OSGA's new MPhil in Global and Area Studies.
By the end of the first year, MPhil students 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.
In the second year, all students will attend a course on advanced methods, as part of which they will make a presentation of their developing thesis project. Both language track and non-language track students will take one further option paper and language track students will additionally continue their intensive language study. The major focus of the second year will be the thesis, for which you will receive expert supervision.
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.
Students on the course will experience a variety of teaching modes, including lectures, seminars, classes, student presentations, and small group teaching. Supervision for the thesis will be offered as a series of individual meetings between you and your thesis supervisor.
You will be required to gather relevant materials for your thesis, usually by working in libraries and archives in the UK but potentially also via fieldwork.
Assessment is through a combination of submitted essays and examinations (which may be in-person or online) and the thesis.