Courses

The Undergraduate degree programme provides school-leavers with a broad-based training that combines theoretical developments in social anthropology with a range of thematic options, in-depth regional ethnography, and opportunities for hands-on research linked to a dissertation.

The first year (Part I) is an integrated and multi-disciplinary course that combines social anthropology with archaeology, biological anthropology and sociology to approach the unity and variety of humankind in different but overlapping ways.

The second year course (Part IIA) comprises two papers on the foundations of social anthropology (one on kinship and economics, the other on politics and religion), one paper on theory, methods and enquiry, and a fourth paper chosen from a range of research-led optional papers.

The third year course (Part IIB) comprises two papers in advanced social anthropology, a paper about the anthropology of a regional area studied in depth, and a choice of either two further optional papers or one option and a dissertation. Most students choose to do the dissertation, a choice that also allows them to carry out a project of field research at home or abroad.

Postgraduate courses

The MPhil in Social Anthropology provides an intensive but thorough grounding in both theory and ethnography either as a route to the PhD or for those who wish to use a knowledge of social anthropology in relation to other work. It consists of two examined papers on the core subjects of kinship and economics, politics and religion) and a dissertation.

Students who already have a substantial background in social anthropology (normally a good UK honours or Masters degree in the subject) are admitted directly to the postgraduate research programme that leads to the PhD. They may take the MRes in Social Anthropology first, or be registered directly on the PhD programme.