Master’s Degree - Qualification goals

• Graduates are able to independently analyze more complex everyday cultural phenomena of past and present in their historical depth, their social contexts as well as their spatial manifestations. After attending seminars, field trips, practical training courses and a compulsory internship, they are able to select suitable methods of cultural anthropology (e.g. analyzing archival sources and material culture or conducting qualitative interviews and field research), to adapt them to current issues where necessary and to apply them.
• They support their statements with expert literature (e.g. on cultural theories). When needed, they can reflect on and apply theories and concepts from other disciplines for European-ethnological work (e.g. theories of space, gender). They refer to current research and discourses in European Ethnology/ Cultural Anthropology/ Empirical Cultural Studies, which they can draw on for comparative cultural purposes. Thus, they are able to ask interpretive questions. In doing so, they utilize their anthropological knowledge and can justify their statements with relevant literature as they have demonstrated in term papers and their master's thesis.
• In lectures, graduates have acquired a broad knowledge of select cultural topics, for example the cultural backgrounds of our food, clothing and living culture. They have furthered their knowledge in specialized seminars. Graduates are able to reflect nuanced opinions on generational issues and to analyze and explain current topics such as gender-specific issues, protest movements or life reform movements. They are capable of expressing relevant topics of Cultural Studies on a scholarly level.
• In a research-oriented final thesis, graduates apply their knowledge independently and demonstrate their ability to work academically. They discuss self-drafted research questions, explain the selection of their methodology and present their research results in a scientific paper.

Studying European Ethnology prepares students for a wide range of possible professions; graduates describe how they can start their careers on our page Paths to Career (in German).

• Thanks to the specialized courses and seminars, graduates are familiar with a wide range of qualitative methods and are able to reflectively select and apply the most suitable method for a particular research question, which qualifies them for activities in the field of market research (e.g. user research).
• After taking the immersion module, our graduates are well-versed in academic methods for research and teaching, so that they can independently work on a complex research question and present it in a coherent paper. In addition, they are able to develop differentiated content for teaching in cultural studies and to organize it in a clearly structured manner that is appropriate for the chosen target group.
• In projects they have learned how to foster cultural participation through participatory events and how to actively contribute to the co-shaping of cultural life. For this, they have mastered skills for activities in cultural mediation: Graduates are able to communicate European-ethnological findings and research results in a comprehensible way to a non-specialist, even heterogeneous audience. In doing so, they are able to present different opinions and positions and thus to promote or newly stimulate discussion. Using tangible everyday examples, they are able to present even complex topics such as gender, migration or protest in an appropriate, comprehensive manner, even for laypersons.
• In addition, they have demonstrated in micro-studies and cultural studies projects that they can identify local and regional characteristics and thus utilize the potential of local conditions. They are able to synthesize the statements of relevant actors and appropriate stakeholders, as well as to stimulate opportunities for cooperation.
• They are able to develop ideas for sustainable projects - even with limited resources.
• They have internalized the principle of solution-oriented and pragmatic action, as they have demonstrated interdisciplinary competencies in project and time management during the practical module. The chair is in close contact with the internship providers, who give our students the opportunity for practice-oriented teamwork within a given time frame (e.g. development of exhibitions, press and public relations work, experience in adult education, preparation of publications). This creates the opportunity to carry out an independent research- or application-oriented project largely autonomously.
• Graduates are able to conduct cultural analyses, to think historically and in a networked manner, and to communicate their findings orally and in writing; this benefits them in the areas of exhibition planning/design, museum education, and marketing for widely varying cultural institutions (e.g., museums, publishing houses, social media, radio and television, adult education institutions). Through the achievements acquired in the practical module, they will be able to plan and design exhibitions with target audiences in mind.

• Graduates are able to view cultural and everyday processes objectively and in a differentiated light. They can discuss and question supposedly self-evident facts in a controversial manner. This includes, for example, topics on the behavior and attitudes of different groups of society. In everyday life, they recognize social determinations and cultural attributions, which they can counter argumentatively with their expertise. This allows them to contribute to opening up new, diverse development opportunities for different genders, generations and other social groups.
• By dealing with stereotypical ideas in a reflective fashion, graduates show that they know how to handle established opinions critically. This enables them to come to reasonable, science-based decisions, even on the basis of incomplete or limited information. In doing so, they take social, scientific and ethical findings into account and contribute to the diversity of opinions in a democratically constituted society.
• Graduates are able to actively contribute to the understanding of cultural diversity in the region, in Germany and in Europe by dealing with everyday cultural phenomena and explaining them through their expertise. Especially in unstable times, they thus contribute to a responsible and democratic approach to cultural diversity. With knowledge of cultural history and current specialist discourses, they understand how to develop new problem solving approaches.
• Graduates apply their specialist knowledge to promote understanding of culture among different social groups. In doing so, they are also able to participate in a differentiated discourse in new and unfamiliar situations. Especially when encountering populist slogans, the skills acquired in cultural studies are instrumental in fostering a fruitful dialogue.