The advanced graduate degree program M.A. Visual and Media Anthropology (VMA) was originally developed and offered at the Freie Universität Berlin from 2008-2019, a university of excellence in Germany. The VMA program has been offered exclusively at HMKW Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Germany since winter semester 2019/20.

The advanced graduate degree equips students who already have a professional background in film, photography, journalism, communication studies, online marketing, digital/social media or any other field related, with an in-depth knowledge of Visual and Media Anthropology. The program provides the essential needed to become professional documentary filmmakers, documentary photographers and experts for virtual environments and immersive video.

All course content is delivered 100% online. Students can study at a time and place convenient to their lifestyle. All that is needed is a good internet connection, and a laptop or smartphone. Meet your fellow students for additional On-Campus-Camera-and Sound-Workshops in Berlin, Germany. The advanced graduate degree program is 100 % equivalent to other M.A. programs, and prepares graduates for PhD studies.

Students develop innovative perspectives with the potential to lead the future of digital anthropology in science, virtual platforms, TV broadcasts, museums, online news platforms, cultural institutions, film festivals, galleries, governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The program also equips students with knowledge about the ethical correct production of classical, scientistic, immersive and artistic audio-visual media for the representation of national, and transnational cultures, with a focus on Asian, African, European, North American and Latin American “native” or “indigenous” communities. The program includes classes about the Theory and History of Ethnographic Film, Documentary Photography, Digital Anthropology, Camera, Sound, and Editing classes, Social Media Activism and Marketing, Qualitative Ethnographic Methods, Decolonization of the Image, Migration, Extremism and conflict Research, Virtual Environments and building in VR, Gender, feminist and queer theory, Environmental Anthropology, Climate Change and Visual Culture.

The Master’s program Visual and Media Anthropology is conducted online by an international team of professors and lecturers with over a decade of online teaching experience. Distance Learning is offered via the world-best Learning Management platform LMS Canvas and through Zoom-live-streams of classes, online presentations and discussions. The program was one of the winners of the Best Practice in Online Teaching by CEDIS Center for Digital Systems Freie Universität Berlin.

Additionally, optional 2-5 days hybrid On-Campus-workshops are offered for students to build hand on technical experience. Students must assume additional (travel, room) costs arising from in-house workshops (not mandatory) and fieldwork periods. We offer hybrid classes via live-stream in case you cannot travel to Berlin. 

• First Semester: Basic Modules (30 CP): Visual Anthropology, Media Anthropology
• Second Semester: Profile Modules (30 CP): Basics and Varieties of Ethnographic Film Production, Communication/Mediascapes, Applied Visual & Media Anthropology
• Third Semester: Project Modules (30 CP): Internship, Film- or Media Project
• Fourth Semester: Supervision Courses (30 CP)