Part IIA

It used to be said that there were ‘four fields’ of human social life: kinship, politics, economics, and religion. In Part IIA, students learn how anthropological research has been instrumental in transforming how we think about each of these – as well as being introduced to the cutting-edge debates surrounding the questions that remain unanswered.

The course has been specifically tailored to serve both as a springboard for students planning to continue to Part IIB, and as a satisfying self-contained course for students wishing to take a one-year Part II. This could be the third year of a Medicine course, or because they have taken a two-year Part I in another Tripos.

Structure of the Course

There are three compulsory papers. Paper S1 teaches students about the study of both kinship and economics, while Paper S2 combines the study of religion and politics. Of course, social life cannot be easily divided into separate ‘fields’, and our teaching is designed to allow students to explore contexts in which they overlap, such as bridewealth and dowry (which combine marriage with economic exchange) and the use of religious movements for political protest.

The third core paper, S3, provides a thorough grounding in anthropological and social theory. Students are introduced to a wide variety of approaches, and are encouraged to explore the ways in which they can be used, criticised, and combined.

Finally, students take a fourth paper, which they can choose from a wide variety of options. These include papers on specialist areas of Social Anthropology, and papers borrowed from Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, History, and PPSIS – so there is plenty of scope to pursue individual interests!