Our teaching and research within culture, society and the arts contribute to an increasingly complex and interconnected world. We support people's lives and tackle challenges as diverse as climate change and its impacts, social justice, and wellbeing.
Research and teaching within the School is available on three campuses and by distance, and spans multiple areas and methodologies.
Classics
Research in Classical Studies at Massey reflects the diverse and multidisciplinary nature of the field. Classical Studies embraces all aspects of the Greek and Roman world, including:
- history and politics
- language and literature
- art and performance
- religion and philosophy
- the pervasive impact of the ancient Greeks and Romans on the modern world.
Staff in the programme work on:
- Greek drama and its adaptation, from antiquity to the present day (Classical Reception Studies)
- Greek art and archaeology
- Greek and Roman religion
- Roman history, historiography and historical thought
- Roman constitutional thought
- literature of the Roman era (both Latin and Greek)
- science and philosophy
- intersections of Greco-Roman and Egyptian culture in the ancient Mediterranean.
This research is relevant to issues such as cultural tolerance and intolerance, the manipulation of past events and the retelling of myths and traditional stories for contemporary purposes.
We also contribute to so many of the political, religious, and philosophical terms and ideas that shape our world and our thinking about it.
Classical World New Zealand
A research project demonstrating the modern world’s ongoing dialogue with ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt – and highlighting New Zealand's contribution to this conversation.
Creative Writing
Massey's Creative Writing’s faculty of award-winning authors publish across the full range of creative writing forms, including:
- novels
- short stories
- poetry
- plays
- film scripts
- creative nonfiction.
They also write essays, articles, and books about creative writing and are experts in on-line workshopping and supervision.
The department has staff whose writing is influenced by diverse traditions, both international and from mātauranga Māori.
At Massey our faculty believe in the power of creative writing as our point of connection, as our way of understanding who we are, how we sit in the world, and what we might give to this world.
English literature
The English programme has research expertise in the following broad areas:
- early Modern drama, performance, and literature
- national literatures and cultures (Victorian, American, New Zealand)
- theoretical approaches to literature (postcolonial, gender, materialist, narratology, psychoanalytical, ecocritical)
- reception studies
- genre (gothic, crime fiction, young adult fiction)
- podcasting
- journalism and professional writing
- rhetoric
- composition
- science communication.
History
The History programme has staff with expertise on a broad range of places and periods:
- New Zealand (Māori and Pākehā)
- medieval, early modern and modern Europe,
- modern America.
Our specialist subjects include:
- war
- leisure
- sport
- gender
- class
- religion
- law
- colonisation
- disease.
Linguistics / Applied Linguistics
The Linguistics programme at Massey is made up of internationally renowned researchers who specialise in:
- TESOL (including teaching and assessment)
- bi/multilingualism and heritage/minority language maintenance
- education and policy
- second language acquisition (including L2 motivation, emotion and distance/online language learning).
Media Studies
Staff in the Media Studies programme have expertise in:
- critical and cultural theory (including political economy, affect theory, eco-critical theory, feminist theory, and comedy studies)
- media studies (including the study of social media, digital cultures, media technology, and media waste)
- film and television studies (including the study of screen audiences, film aesthetics, and film history)
- screen production.
Philosophy
Massey University Philosophy offers diverse ancient and contemporary traditions in philosophy emanating from different parts of the world.
Among the department’s specialities are philosophical views and approaches from North America, Europe, and Asia.
Our faculty make contributions to the study of Buddhist and ancient Greek philosophy, and contribute to key debates in areas such as:
- sex and sexuality
- religion
- reasoning.
Alongside world-leading scholarship in logic and perception, the department offers unique opportunities to study how philosophy can engage with contemporary issues of great concern in the world.
Faculty are currently doing work to address issues of healthcare ethics, environmental justice, populations, and consumption.
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School of Humanities, Media & Creative Communication
Explore cultures, society, theories and ideas – and the arts – with a rich variety of specialisations.
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