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This innovative joint honours programme combines two related yet distinct approaches to the study of human cultural expression, past and present.

A highlight of the programme is the chance to work with the rich range of materials in the School of Scottish Studies Archives. These include thousands of recordings in Scots, Gaelic, English, and dialects now extinct.

Year 1:
You will study Scottish cultural history, heritage, cultural expression and representation. Courses also look at literature, music and visual arts and how these are linked to Scottish identity. You will take two literary studies courses from two genres of poetry, drama and prose.

Year 2:
You will study oral and visual representations of Scotland through music, song, art, photography and film and you will receive practical training in ethnographic fieldwork techniques and ethics. You will be introduced to the study of English literature in its cultural and historical contexts via a survey of literature from the late Medieval period to the mid-twentieth century.

Year 3:
This is the first of your honours years. You will choose from options such as Ethnological Fieldwork Methods, Traditional Narrative, Cultural Revivalism, Traditional Song, Scotland and Heritage, and Traditional Drama. If you are particularity interested in writing from and about Scotland, the literature options in the honours years typically include Edinburgh in Fiction / Fiction in Edinburgh, Haunted Imaginations: Scotland and the Supernatural and Modern and Contemporary Scottish Poetry.

Year 4:
You will undertake a dissertation and choose from options such as Custom, Belief and Community, Scottish Emigrant Traditions, The Supernatural World, Material Culture in Scotland, and Traditional Music.

Entry Requirements

2026 entry requirements

Standard entry:
4 Highers at ABBB (first sitting) or 4 or 5 Highers at AABB/ABBBB (two sittings) including English.

Widening access entry:
4 Highers at ABBB (two sittings) including English. Highers at BBB must be achieved in one sitting.