Joint Degree Master in Transcultural Studies | Study Focus: Visual, Media and Material Culture (VMC)

Global Neorealism

Course Type: Lecture
Study Focus: VMC
Term: Fall

Teacher: Ida DURETTO

Course Code: JK39002

Italian neorealism (1945-1952) was a crucial movement in film history, marking an aware move away from mainstream Hollywood filmmaking and focusing on realistic characters and stories.

Introduction to Transcultural Studies

Course Type: Lecture & Seminar (Tutorium)
Study Focus: Foundations, KBR, SEG, VMC
Term: Spring

Teachers: ASATO Wako, Björn-Ole KAMM, Somdev VASUDEVA, Mitsuyo WADA-MARCIANO
Course Code: JK01001 (JK02001)

Foundational lecture series that introduces students to diverse disciplinary approaches enabling them to frame their own studies of transcultural phenomena and perspectives.

Issues in Ethics

Course Type: Lecture
Study Focus: KBR, SEG, VMC
Term: Fall

Teacher: WIRTZ, Fernando Gustavo
Course Code: JK54001

How does culture influence our ethical ideas? How can we think of an ethics suitable for our multi-/trans-cultural societies? What obligations do we have toward the Other and toward others?

Learning the Power of Observation: How and Why I Make “Observational” Documentaries

Course Type: Lecture
Study Focus: VMC
Term: Spring

Teacher: SOUDA Kazuhiro

Course Code: JK11002

In this intensive course, I will explain how and why I take my particular approach to documentary filmmaking, covering all phases of filmmaking from filming to editing to marketing.

Philosophy of Myth, Politics and Emotions

Course Type: Lecture
Study Focus: KBR, VMC
Term: Fall

Teacher: WIRTZ, Fernando Gustavo
Course Code: JK41003

This course explores the theoretical role of myth in the construction of political subjectivity. In other words, how are political subjects—such as organizations, classes, or parties—constituted through affective and emotional imagery?

Transcultural Cinema Forum 2025

Course Type: Seminar
Study Focus: VMC
Term: Spring

Teacher: Mitsuyo WADA-MARCIANO

Course Code: JK36001

The Transcultural Cinema Forum in 2025 will consider what “cinema” means: the cinema, born at the end of the 19th century and regarded as the king of entertainment throughout the 20th century, is undergoing a major transformation in its form with the advent of the Internet in the 21st century. The purpose of this course is to reconsider the question “What Is cinema?” from the perspective of the year 2025.

Transcultural, Interdisciplinary Game Studies

Course Type: Seminar
Study Focus: VMC
Term: Spring

Teacher: Björn-Ole KAMM
Course Code: JK33001

The focus of this practice-oriented and interactive seminar lies on theoretical concepts and analytical techniques useful to engage transculturality in the cross-disciplinary research field of game studies.