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The Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies (IACS) department in the Wits School of Arts (WSOA) focuses on investigating shared disciplinary concerns regarding artistic and cultural expression. Courses offered consider questions regarding the interconnections between culture, identity, aesthetics, economy, technologies, hierarchies of tastes, and power relations, and the relevance of developments, debates, and critical inquiry within the context of both our specific geographical location in Johannesburg/South Africa/Africa as well as its positioning within a global context.

The pedagogical approaches adopted by IACS aim to assist students in developing a measure of practical, creative and cognitive agility, capacities required to succeed in an increasingly interdisciplinary world of creative practice.

At the undergraduate level, the department offers the interdisciplinary component FVPA (Film, Visual & Performing Arts) of an academic major which is open to all students in the Faculty of Humanities.

The department also offers postgraduate degrees at Honours, Masters and PhD levels of study. Many of our courses afford the opportunity of cross-departmental collaboration, and access to specialised equipment and labs is negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies offers students a way into the following professional fields:

Research

Grounding in qualitative research practices and research ethics, with programmes that focus both on research in the arts and arts-based research methods.

Academic

The department focuses on best practice in academic research and communication, and offers postgraduate students opportunities and mentorship in developing academic careers.

Media analyst

IACS courses and degrees focus on critical engagement with arts production, circulation, and audiences. These skills are central in producing, and critically engaging with, public media.

Publisher/Writer

The department focuses on traditional research writing on the arts as well as creative or arts-based research. ×ãÇò¾º²ÊappÅÅÃûs are exposed to writing and publishing industries in the arts and the humanities more broadly.

Digital project manager/campaign analyst

×ãÇò¾º²ÊappÅÅÃûs are exposed to a range of innovative digital platforms and tools, as well as debates on the logics, ethics and affordances of these tools. Many of our courses offer opportunities to negotiate collaboration with departments that can offer specific technical training in the use of these tools such as the Digital Arts and Film & TV departments.

Not for profit and public interest professional

Through IACS, students are introduced to critical debates and discourses on identities, technologies, and arts and cultures in respect of urban and natural environments. This foundation prepares students to work in not for profit and public interest/activist spaces, where these critical frameworks will inform their engagement with complex social and cultural issues.