MA Migration History: People, Objects, Cultures
Explore the movement of people, both voluntarily and involuntarily, across borders in this unique research programme.
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13 November 2024
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Sep 2025 (Full-time)
Module | Type | Credits | Level |
---|---|---|---|
Dissertation (Migration History) | Core | 75.00 | 7 |
Emigration and Immigration in the Modern British Isles: Issues and Debates | Core | 25.00 | 7 |
Migration and the Grande Nation | Core | 25.00 | 7 |
Persecution and Protection: The History of Asylum | Core | 20.00 | 7 |
The Practice of Research | Core | 15.00 | 7 |
Art across Borders: Networks, Collecting, and Conquest | Optional | 20.00 | 7 |
Empires of Movement: Exchange, Enslavement and Emigration | Optional | 20.00 | 7 |
The MA in Migration History: People, Objects, Cultures offers a unique opportunity to undertake advanced study of one of the oldest, most constant, and still searingly relevant phenomena in human history: the movement of people, both voluntarily and involuntarily, across borders.
Key features
- Unique postgraduate degree: focusing on the history of international migration over several centuries, from the early modern era to the present.
- Diverse in approach: emphasises political, economic, cultural, intellectual, and imperial explanations for and interpretations of migration history.
- Visits to and workshops in key archives and cultural institutions in the UK and abroad.
- Taught in Bloomsbury, in central London.
- Study week in Paris during the Spring term.
Structure of the course
The MA in Migration History is a taught Master’s, based in Bloomsbury in central London, which runs for one year, from September to September. In the autumn, winter, and spring terms, students take a range of modules, each of which is dedicated either to the history of migration in a particular geographical region, including a comprehensive grounding in the history of emigration and immigration in the British Isles, or to specific themes in migration history, from the role of war and repression in generating mass exoduses of refugees to the transoceanic movements forced and facilitated by the rise of global empires. These modules will meet weekly at Buckingham’s London campus at 51 Gower Street, and will consist of a mixture of lectures, seminar discussions, and class visits to relevant archives, libraries, and museums.
In the spring and summer terms, students undertake a significant and independent research project in the form of a dissertation. Students may write their dissertation on any subject to do with migration history, so long as there is sufficient evidence to illuminate it. Students’ supervisors, as well as the knowledge, skills, and experience of working with relevant primary and secondary sources acquired during the taught modules, will help students to select and hone a dissertation topic of their choice.
Modules on the Course
Autumn term
Emigration and Immigration in the Modern British Isles
This module gives students a systematic understanding of the history of emigration and immigration in the British Isles since the eighteenth century. Each week focuses on a crucial ‘moment’ in migration history, from early modern British emigration into and colonization of North America and Ireland to the impact of the Windrush generation in creating a multicultural United Kingdom in the second half of the twentieth century. The study of several of these themes will be facilitated by workshops highlighting relevant primary sources at institutions like the National Archives and the Migration Museum. Throughout, students will consider how this history is presented to the public and its role in current political discourse. The module therefore serves as a thematic introduction to the MA in Migration History while providing a comprehensive grounding of the migration history of this country.
The Practice of Research
This module provides students with a thorough understanding of the methodologies, skills and critical thinking required for the study, research, and writing of History at the MA degree level. These will include practice in critically reading primary and secondary sources, a dissection of existing historiography and its relationship to theory, and considerations on the ethics of historical practice, including personal interviews and oral sources. Using examples and sources of migration history drawn from across the globe, the module culminates with tutorials on planning a dissertation.
Winter term
Persecution and Protection: The History of Asylum
Refugees, exiles, and the divisive international and domestic politics of asylum have emerged as some of the great global issues of the last generation. But they are hardly new. This module gives students a history of refugees from the exiles of Europe’s early modern religious wars to the global displacement of people in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The causes of displacement, from international and civil war to political, religious, and economic marginalization are explored. So too is the evolution of the concept of ‘asylum’ from religious notions of ‘sanctuary’ to the international refugee protection regime constructed after the Second World War.
Empires of Movement: Exchange, Enslavement and Emigration (optional)
Empires have always been a crucial factor in the global movement migration. This module will convey how the actions, objectives, and cultures of empire have shaped the migration of peoples and materials, the transmission of cultural ideas and practices, and the ecological consequences of imperialism not least through the movement of flora and fauna. By nature global in its approach, the module’s topics range from the forcible transportation of enslaved peoples and indentured servants to the impact of decolonization on migration patterns after 1945.
Art Across Borders: Networks, Collecting, and Conquest (optional)
This module, taught in partnership with Buckingham’s MA in the Art Market, Provenance and the History of Collecting focuses on the changing status of objects and artefact when they move between different cultural, religious and political contexts. Organised thematically, the module seeks to develop awareness of the current theoretical and methodological approaches to the history of collecting, patronage, the art market, and museums, as well as to provide the critical tools to assess these approaches and debates. It is also intended to equip students to take full account of collection ethics associated with the trans-national movement of cultural objects and with societal displacement.
Spring term
Migration in La Grande Nation
A counterpart to ‘Emigration and Immigration in the Modern British Isles’, this module provides a history of movement to and within France. It begins with five weeks of classes on the migration history of France, covering the seventeenth century to the twenty-first. Students then travel to Paris for a week-long study trip. There, the class will meet with historians and fellow students across the Université de Paris and with curators at institutions such as the Carnavalet Museum and the National Museum of the History of Immigration. Students will use source material encountered on this trip in their written work, and are invited to draw comparisons between the histories and current immigration debates of Britain and France.
Dissertation
In the spring term, students begin preparation for their dissertations. With the aid of their lecturers, students will select a dissertation subject and be assigned a supervisor. Through the term, in discussion with their peers, students will hone their subject and begin to build up a base of evidence to examine. By the end of the term, students will have produced a research exercise, often consisting of a single chapter, introduction or literature, or other portion of the dissertation deemed appropriate by their supervisor.
Summer term
Dissertation
This will constitute the culmination of students’ work on the MA in Migration History. Building on the work done in the spring term, students will turn their full attention in the summer to researching, drafting and completing their dissertations, with support from their supervisors. In doing so they will acquire unmatched expertise in an area of migration history.
Course director
Dr Jones is one of the UK’s leading historians of refugees and asylum. He has authored numerous articles on the subject and his forthcoming book on the history of asylum in Britain, Liberty’s Refuge, will be published by Harvard University Press. He is a founding member of AsilEuropeXIX, an international network dedicated to the comparative study of the history of refugees. He convenes Buckingham’s PhD in Refugee History and also teaches migration history at the undergraduate level.
Find out more about our History and History of Art courses.
Entry Requirements
The minimum entry level required for this course is as follows:
- A first or second-class honours degree from a recognised university or,
- A recognised professional qualification
Mature students
Age is no barrier to learning and we welcome all applications from suitably qualified students. Due to their flexibility, our London-based MAs attract a wide variety of applicants from a range of backgrounds, including people in full-time employment and retirees. Our current students range in age from 21 to 75.
International students
We are happy to consider all international applications and if you are an international student, you may find it useful to visit our international pages for details of entry requirements from your home country.
The University is a UKVI Student Sponsor.
English levels
If English is not your first language, please check our postgraduate English language requirements. If your English levels don’t meet our minimum requirements, you may be interested in applying for our Pre-sessional English Language Foundation Programmes.
Selection process
Candidates apply online, sending in their supporting documents, by clicking the link below. Applications will be assessed and will be assessed by the Programme Director. For help in applying, please contact the Admissions Office at humanitiespg-admissions@buckingham.ac.uk
Teaching & Assessment
Buckingham prides itself on the focused and high-quality teaching that it provides to students. With one of the most favourable staff-to-student ratios in the United Kingdom, the University is able to give students individualised supervision tailored to their needs. Its small-group seminars have therefore been a strength of the University from its founding.
The MA in Migration History employs a stimulating variety of teaching strategies, including traditional lectures and seminar discussions, workshops with partner institutions, class visits to relevant cultural institutions and archive collections, and a week-long study trip to Paris.
A number of core modules are designed to instil skills crucial to the study of migration history and provide a comprehensive grounding in the history of emigration and immigration in the British Isles. Meanwhile, students can tailor their studies to their particular interests by choosing among optional modules on subjects such as the history of political and religious asylum, international cultural transmission, and the intersection of global empire and global movement. In the spring, students make a week-long study visit to Paris, to gain a further comparative and international perspective on these subjects, and begin work on their dissertations. The dissertation, submitted at the end of the summer, will allow students to make a serious and distinct contribution to the rapidly growing field of Migration History.
For more details, please feel free to contact the Programme Director Thomas Jones: thomas.jones@buckingham.ac.uk.
After Your Course
Graduates of the MA in Migration History will be well prepared for an array of opportunities for further study and employment. You will have honed the skills necessary to pursue a PhD in wide variety of historical periods, from the early modern period to the contemporary era, and will have attained excellent knowledge on subjects ranging from the history of the modern British Isles to that of the rise and fall of global empires and the foundation and operation of international institutions in the twentieth century. Such knowledge is of direct relevance not only to further academic study, but also in professions ranging from law to the charitable sector. Moreover, the skills of critical analysis and written and oral communication that you will develop are highly sought after by employers across many different sectors.
The University’s Course Directors, students’ supervisors, and the Research Officer and Tutor for Graduate Students are available to discuss students’ post-graduation plans and how they may utilise most effectively.
Fees & Scholarships
The fees for this course are:
Start | Type | Total cost |
---|---|---|
Sep 2025 Full-time (1 Year) | UK | £10,900 |
INT | £16,480 |
The University reserves the right to increase course fees annually in line with inflation linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI). If the University intends to increase your course fees it will notify you via email of this as soon as reasonably practicable.
Course fees do not include additional costs such as books, equipment, writing up fees and other ancillary charges. Where applicable, these additional costs will be made clear.
Please note that The University of Buckingham has four terms per year. The tuition fees quoted are for the degree (e.g. if you start a degree at Buckingham in January, you will pay the same termly fee for the duration of your degree – you will not be affected by the price increase in September). Students will pay the same termly fee for the duration of their studies, unless studies are interrupted and resumed later. The tuition fee quoted is therefore the total cost of the degree. Fees are normally paid in termly instalments.
Postgraduate loan scheme
A system of postgraduate loans for Masters degrees in the UK is available with support from the UK Government. The loan is available for taught and research Masters courses in all subject areas. The loans can be used for tuition fees, living expenses or both.
Postgraduate first-class scholarship
A first-class scholarship is available to both home and international students studying a taught postgraduate degree at the University. The scholarship will reduce tuition fees by 33%. The scholarship will be automatically awarded to applicants who already have a first class honours degree that is recognised to UK standard.
Details of other scholarships can be found on our Bursaries and Scholarships page. You should make an application to study at the University and receive an offer letter confirming our acceptance of your application before applying for a scholarship.
You may also find it useful to visit our External Funding page.