Art History and Geography

Art history and geography at St Andrews is a combination that pairs two disciplines that are, at first glance, very different, but that share a profound concern with how places, peoples, and cultures shape and are shaped by human activity across time and space. In art history you will learn to analyse the history, context, style, and meaning of images and objects, developing visual literacy and engaging with different critical approaches and theoretical frameworks. These will allow you to explore the complex role that visual culture plays in questions of aesthetics, politics, power, and identity, and to understand how art and its display have both reflected and shaped human history and experience.

Geography examines the physical and human landscapes of the Earth, investigating how places are made and remade through social, economic, political, and environmental processes.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year full-time programme brings together both disciplines in the Scottish MA (Hons) structure, allowing genuine depth in both art history and geography across all four years. A year abroad is part of the programme, giving you the opportunity to experience both art and geography in an international educational context, engaging with different visual cultures and different landscapes and their study. You will develop close analytical and critical skills across both disciplines, alongside the quantitative and qualitative research methods that geography demands.

This is a competitive programme at one of the UK's most prestigious universities. The combination of art historical knowledge and geographical understanding opens distinctive career possibilities in heritage and conservation, museum and gallery work, cultural geography, urban design, arts management, education, environmental and cultural policy, journalism, publishing, and academic research. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in art history, geography, museum studies, or cultural studies.