Angewandte Kulturwissenschaft und Kultursеmiοtik

The master's program is unique in Germany with its cultural semiotic and practice-oriented focus. It is characterized on the one hand by the combination of in-depth studies in the field of cultural studies and cultural semiotics (as science and methodology), and on the other hand by a career- and practice-oriented study curriculum. In addition, a binational master's degree is offered as part of the master's program in International Applied Cultural Studies and Cultural Semiotics , which is carried out with a double degree in cooperation with the University of Turin. This combination focuses on the analysis and optimization of linguistic, visual, audiovisual, and media forms of communication. This includes phenomena and structures of globalized cultures and media, collective memory, cognitive concepts, and communicative behavior.

Content of the course

The master's program "Applied Cultural Studies and Cultural Semiotics" deals with the various dimensions of human communication both theoretically and practically. Students acquire in-depth knowledge of cultural studies, media culture, and cultural history with a focus on phenomena and structures of globalized cultures and media, collective memory, cognitive concepts, and communicative behavior. By focusing on methods of semiotically oriented analytical and empirical cultural studies, students can analytically grasp and reflect on current cultural phenomena and cultural dynamics, as well as penetrate the associated sign-based forms of communication to optimize them.

The course is aimed at students with a humanities or cultural studies bachelor's degree who are looking for further studies in cultural semiotics with a focus on cultural and media studies and who also want to be practically oriented toward a desired professional field. For this very reason, the course maintains concrete cooperation with institutions and experts from culture, the creative industries, media, and intercultural and social work. Furthermore, the teaching and internship program at the University of Potsdam focuses on the analytical penetration and application-oriented optimization of culturally influenced forms of communication and processes, which are examined and further developed from multiple perspectives against the background of semiotic models. For example, the students use current theories of metaphorical concepts to analyze advertising, media reporting, or populist interpretations of social events in their concrete forms of expression and their cognitive effects. The associated analytical findings can in turn be used for the production of advertising or political education. The additional elective modules in the areas of American Studies, Slavic Studies, Visual Studies, and Linguistics offer additional insight into the theory and practice of Cultural Studies as well as into application-oriented semiotic-linguistic work.