History of Art and Archaeology MA

The MA History of Art and Archaeology programme is a unique opportunity to study the History of Art and Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Your extensive choice of modules will allow you to shape the degree around the areas that interest you most – you can either focus on a region or experience a broad range of themes. Students explore a wide range of arts and material culture, from Islamic art to African diasporic art, contemporary Korean ceramics and South East Asian Buddhist monuments, exploring their specificity and the links between them, in historical and contemporary periods. Modules include field-trips, museum and storage visits, talks by curators, artists and other practitioners.

You will consider theoretical and methodological questions and are invited to question the relevance of the disciplinary distinction between History of Art and Archaeology to the study of the non-Western world. Courses cover a time period spanning from antiquity to present-day, contemporary art.

Why study History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS?

• SOAS is ranked top 30 in the UK for Arts and Humanities (QS World University Rankings 2025)
• We partner with the British Council to offer a School of Arts student an internship at the Venice Biennale
• We partner with the Chu Te-Chun Foundation to offer a paid internship at the Venice Biennale
• We offer exclusive School of Arts-led internships at the Rietberg Museum, Zurich (2 places available)
• You can apply for a SOAS Co-Creator internship in the Special Collections of the SOAS Library
• You are eligible for The Elizabeth Moore Dissertation Prize, the annual £200 prize is supported by the SOAS-Alphawood Group