New York University’s XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement offers an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies in a program that strives to integrate theory and practice, art and activism, the local and the international, the analogue and the digital, the creative and the critical. We welcome students whose work might not neatly fit within conventional disciplinary boundaries. Our course of study is uniquely flexible in allowing students to take up to half their classes across other departments at NYU and, by so doing, design a curriculum that synthesizes their intellectual, creative, and professional interests.
Our classes are innovative, intersectional, and interdisciplinary, and span a wide range of subjects: gender and sexuality studies, digital art, feminist science studies, theories of the everyday, multi-species art and ethnography, science fiction, animal studies, and interdisciplinary histories of photography, art, and print culture. Our faculty draws on the resources of the university and the city, introducing students to archives, galleries, readings, and screenings both on and off campus. Conversely, we ask students to bring their own curiosities and creative pursuits into dialogue with their intellectual work. Many of our students develop exhibitions, produce films, write books, experiment with digital media and incubate collaborative projects, all while refining their academic research and writing skills.
XE is one of the longest-standing interdisciplinary programs in the United States. We have a strong track record of sending students into doctoral programs, as well as launching students’ careers as journalists, editors, educators, arts and non-profit professionals, human rights consultants, and policy analysts in both the government and the private sectors. Fully supported by our faculty and staff, students at XE are given the freedom to pursue the kind of work that they find most meaningful and compelling.