Major
History
The History programme at IBA aims to cultivate an awareness and critical understanding of past and present human societies, while developing students’ analytical, research and writing abilities. The History programme seeks to expose students to the richness, diversity, and complexities of human history over long periods of time and in different geographic regions. The programme of study endeavors to develop students’ ability to think historically and to foster in them an appreciation of the value and the contested nature of historical knowledge by confronting them with the variety of ways in which historians have approached and interpreted the past, engaging them in issues that provoke historical debate, and familiarizing them with the diverse types and uses of historical evidence. By engaging students in the critical study of the past, IBA’s History courses are designed to develop their ability to formulate historically informed analyses of any question or problem.
Media & Culture
The ’Media and Culture’ major provides a strong foundation in media studies and critical cultural theory while also introduces students to creative practices in media. The curriculum offers a robust critical, historical, and theoretical knowledge base to analyze a range of visual, popular, and digital media, technologies, and cultural forms and situate them in their social, political, and global context. The creative practice aspect of the curriculum is focused on narrative and multimedia production and writing and multimodal publication and design. The major enables students to do research as well as produce critically informed multimedia projects.
Political Science
The Political Science major at IBA fosters in students an understanding of the contemporary world and the complex dynamics, structures and norms that underpin it. It provides a strong footing in the historical and theoretical foundations of political phenomena, as well as offering critical perspectives and empirical applications of such knowledge. The courses taught span topics such as political philosophy, foreign policy, comparative politics, war and security studies, development, environmental politics and political economy. With these wide avenues of knowledge, the major thus allows students to grapple with the political realities of Pakistan, South Asia and the global arena, while also equipping them with the methodological tools they need to carry out rigorous quantitative and qualitative research.
Psychology
The Psychology programme aims to provide students with a diverse curriculum consisting of multiple perspectives with which to study the mental and behavioural processes that make individuals what they are. Students are introduced to different types of psychological study in courses such as counselling, developmental, social, educational, clinical, positive and personality psychology amongst others and develop a robust understanding of why people think, feel and behave the way they do. This programme involves extensive reading, writing and research and students learn to develop both their independent and team-working abilities with regards to their assigned projects and assessments.
Minor
Literary Studies
Literary studies can provide diverse and insightful perspectives on literature, culture, history, and the world around us. The field of literary studies is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly interdisciplinary in its approach. More recently, the field has also become more inclusive in its examination of a geographically broader range of literature. The Literary Studies minor also takes a more global approach to the study of literature and students will be encouraged to analyse literature within a comparative framework. The electives offered will incorporate interdisciplinary elements, allowing students to engage with ideas within history, philosophy, theology, politics, and media, and examine them within a literary context. Students will be also given a theoretical basis through which to examine and critically engage with a diverse range of literature. Overall, due to its interdisciplinary nature, the Literary Studies minor would complement the existing majors, drawing on similar themes and concepts, leading to a multifaceted understanding of them.
Urban Studies
In these unprecedented times of anthropogenic transformations and planetary challenges, the Urban Studies minor is a new concentration and a unique learning platform at IBA SESS. The minor is open to all undergraduate students at IBA, and complements SESS' multidisciplinary curriculum. It exposes students to various approaches in urban studies and introduces them to the challenges facing contemporary cities in Pakistan and across the world. The minor prepares students for a variety of careers, professional programs, and graduate study. Pedagogically, the minor comprises one core and three electives, which entail in-depth theoretical engagement, primary fieldwork, experimentations in spaces of urban practice, and rigorous approaches to quantitative and qualitative analyses of data on urban indicators, sites, and populations. It combines conventional lectures, studio hours, small-group seminars, and on-ground engagement with communities and settlements under the supervision of instructors holding substantial experience of working across diverse kinds of urban practice in cities in Pakistan and across the world.
