MPhil in Multi-disciplinary Gender Studies

I found the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies to be an incredible place to learn and to conduct research. The knowledge, support, and varied perspectives of my fellow students, together with the expertise and guidance of the lecturers, combined to create a truly unique space to study. The MPhil text seminars offered me an opportunity to learn from experts from a huge variety of different disciplines, many of which I had never come into contact with before. This has greatly increased my breadth of knowledge and has given me new outlooks on gendered issues. It has also helped to me develop the tools needed to challenge dominant assumptions and narratives in my own discipline, as well as the confidence to engage with others. With the expertise of my supervisor, I was able to explore feminist political theory and representation in-depth in my own research, ultimately challenging some of the foundational texts in the field from a feminist perspective. The support of my supervisor, and the knowledge and confidence I developed during the rest of the MPhil, were essential in enabling me to do this - despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. My time on the MPhil has helped me to grow exponentially in ability and confidence, and the skills and knowledge I developed have already proven indispensable since graduating - both in work and in further study.

Alice Roberts-Dunn (September 2020)

The MPhil in Multi-disciplinary Gender Studies is a timely scholarly pursuit because it enables us to envision new and apposite applications of gender as concept and method. Through its multi-disciplinarity, the course inspires a recognition of the fact that gender analysis resonates differently across fields, and that the pursuit of each resonance is as important as the other. I am particularly grateful to be exposed to this varied nature of gender not only through the work of pathbreaking established and emergent scholars, but also through the insights of my incredibly motivated peers. Whether it be ethnographic accounts of cycling clubs in Cambridge or the careful construction of a political genealogy of girlhood in contemporary Korean culture, our enactions of the field are significant. I feel fortunate to have gained a community of interlocutors that continue to inflect my understanding of the field, and the worlds we hope to account for.  

Mansi Hitesh (September 2020)

The best thing about the MPhil in Multi-disciplinary Gender Studies was the community. Even though I joined the programme late, everyone, from students to faculty, was welcoming and supportive. Gender studies and allied fields inevitably raise difficult topics, but despite occasional disagreements, our community remained committed to an ideal of generosity toward others that I will bring with me wherever I go. Moreover, this spirit of mutual respect and kindness emerged from a group of people with divergent academic and personal interests. Throughout our classes, events, and informal gatherings, I learned from other students and faculty not just about different interests, but different ways to approach shared interests. Gender studies is necessarily an interdisciplinary field, and the MPhil programme at Cambridge showed me the political and academic potential of that endeavour.

Caleb Shelburne (September 2019)