Masters Degree in Culture and Performance

Advising

Each entering student will be assigned a temporary academic advisor, from among the ladder faculty of the department, who will take primary responsibility for academic counseling during the student's first year. It is expected that each student will form an advisory committee and apply for advancement to candidacy no later than Fall quarter of the second year. The Vice Chair of Graduate Affairs is fundamentally responsible for counseling students with regards to program requirements, policies, and university regulations.

Foreign Language Requirement

MA students must demonstrate reading competence in one foreign language before taking their qualifying exams and no later than the end of the fifth quarter of residency. The Department of World Arts and Cultures highly values the role that language learning plays in the well-rounded graduate education. While hoping that students will seek training in more than one language, we also consider that secondary "language" broadly to include various sign systems. The purpose of the language requirement is to ensure that MA students have the necessary skills to conduct independent research. Please consult your primary advisor to discuss which languages might be most useful for your professional goals and research projects. Any foreign language useful for field study and/or library research is acceptable. The language requirement must be completed before filing the advancement to candidacy petition for the M.A. degree.

The language requirement may be met by:

1) passing a departmental examination,

2) demonstrating the equivalent of 5 quarters or 4 semesters of training in an approved foreign language, completed within the last five years before admission with a grade of B or higher in the final course

3) placing at level 6 on the Foreign Language Placement Examination

4) approval of a petition to use English as a second language (for international students whose native language is not English).

Course Requirements

All MA students must successfully complete a total of nine courses (36 units) taken for a letter grade, with a minimum 3.0 grade point average. The nine required courses are distributed as follows:

1) Four core courses, taken during the first year of study: WAC 200 Theories of Culture; WAC 201 Theories of Performance; WAC 202 Research Methodologies; and WAC 204 Theories of Corporeality.

2) Three courses in the designated Major Field, chosen in consultation with the student's academic adviser.

3) Two elective courses.

Of the combined three Major Field and two elective courses, at least three of the five must be graduate level courses taken within the department.

No more than two 500-series independent study courses (e.g., WAC 596) may be applied toward the graduate course requirement.

The minimum course load is 12 units per quarter. Students must be registered and enrolled at all times unless on an official leave of absence.

It is expected that each student will form an advisory committee and apply for advancement to candidacy no later than Fall Quarter of the second year. The language requirement must be completed before filing the advancement to candidacy petition no later than the end of the fifth quarter of residence.

Major Fields

Students will designate a Major Field of study (to be determined in consultation with their faculty advisor). The Major Field will consist of at least three courses. The faculty strongly advises that one of these should be a course that provides introduction to the special methods or discourse of the Major Field (whether in WAC, i.e., Ethnography, or in another department). Examples of some possible fields would include dance studies, folkore, museology, or field studies in African, Caribean, or Indigenous Studies.

Our department offers unique opportunities to develop specialized knowledge and skills in diverse fields ranging from arts and activism, critical theory, curatorial studies, dance studies, ethnography and new media, festivals, folklore, visual cultures, to specific area studies, among others. Starting from the beginning of your studies, consult with your academic faculty advisor on a regular basis regarding your area(s) of interest to determine associated coursework and research focus, and plan your instructional schedule appopriately. Further speicialized training may be accomplished through additional coursework in the World Arts and Culture Departments, or other departments.

Human Subjects/IRB

Students conducting research entailing the use of human subjects (questionnaires, interviews, etc), must vet their proposal through the appropriate Human Subject Protection Committee (HSPC) at UCLA, prior to the initiation of the research. Additional information regarding application procedures may be obtained from IRB/HSPC - General Campus (310) 825-7122; www.oprs.ucla.edu.

Teaching Experience

Encouraged, but not required.

Field Experience

Expected of students whose theses are based on ethnographic research, but not required

Comprehensive Examination Plan

If this plan is selected, the student must take a comprehensive examination consisting of a series of essay questions. This examination is designed to test the student's knowledge of theories and methods in the study of performance and expressive culture, and their ability to apply these ideas and techniques to the study of particular traditions, genres, geo-cultural areas, social groups, or historical periods. The examination is administered and evaluated by the student's advisory committee, which consists of no fewer than three and no more than five members (a majority of whom must be ladder faculty in the department). Students are expected to demonstrate competence in their designated Major Fields.

The MA comprehensive examination will receive one of the following grades: Fail, Pass with awarding of the MA, or Pass with awarding of the MA and recommendation to proceed to the PhD.

If a student fails their comprehensive examination, they will be allowed to retake it once, no later than the following quarter.

Thesis Plan

The purpose of the Master's thesis is to demonstrate a student's ability to conduct research in the areas of performance and expressive culture, to interpret the results, to demonstrate the relevance of the work to conceptual and practical issues in selected disciplines, and to present the findings in lucid prose. Students pursuing this plan must submit an acceptable thesis, prepared under the direction of their academic adviser and thesis committee. The thesis committee must be appointed no later than Fall quarter of the student's second year.

While it is expected that a thesis will consist primarily of a written document, prepared in accordance with the Graduate Division's Regulations for Thesis and Dissertation Preparation, students may complement the text with work in other media (including video, CD-ROM, and performance projects), provided that these are explicitly related to the written work. Submission of the thesis and any associated materials to the thesis committee is followed by an oral examination involving members of the committee.