News

David Sneath worked with producer Anthony Denselow for BBC World Service radio Heart and Soul series, to tell the remarkable story of how a 10-year-old Mongolian boy has been recognised by the Dalai Lama as the new reincarnation of the head of Gelugpa School of Buddhism in Mongolia, the 10th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu. David interviews a variety of Mo…

Cambridge Professor of Anthropology among new Fellows of the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Professor Yael Navaro has been elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in recognition of her outstanding achievements. She is among 92 distinguished scholars to be elected to the prestigious Fellowship for 2025, in fields …

It’s that time of year when prospective students start exploring the broad inventory of university courses on offer to find the right fit. Many will be drawn to Anthropology at Cambridge – and with very good reason.We are consistently placed among the world’s leading institutions for the study of Anthropology, most recently maintaining a second-pla…

One emerging research network is working to shift anthropological focus to the future of Indigenous Amazonia, rarely before the subject of scholarly debate.When we think about the future, we often imagine something abstract or vague. Dr Natalia Buitron and Dr James Andrew Whitaker are trying to make it more concrete. For Buitron, the future is gro…

How to encourage innovative forms of expression while preserving the rigour that defines good researchWhat makes a piece of poetry, fiction or a sound recording also anthropological? How can drawing or sketching become ethnographic? Is it enough that the work is by an anthropologist or ethnographer? How can we make these alternative forms of expres…

Anthropologist Rebecca Cassidy brings a rich and diverse body of research—from racetracks to orchards—to her new role at Cambridge.Professor Rebecca Cassidy’s CV is like no other. Her academic career has united her love of anthropology with a serendipitous blend of research interests, from horseracing and the gambling industry to apples and orchard…

How a rewired education system that values marginalised forms of knowledge can reach far beyond minority communities.“It’s a matter of social justice,” says anthropologist Dr Angela Giattino. “And epistemic justice sits at its core: the recognition that other people bear other ways of learning and knowingthat are just as valuable as our own.” This…

The deadline for applications to our postgraduate courses is Wednesday 30 April 2025To see the courses we offer, visit our Prospective Postgraduates webpage.The Postgraduate Admissions Office Directory has all the information on the course entry requirements and how to apply. If you have a query regarding the admissions process and entry requiremen…

AIM: PhDThe Department of Social Anthropology is happy to confirm that it will be participating in this year’s AIM: PhD programme.AIM: PhD is an application support programme, designed to support PhD applicants with their application for doctoral study at the University of Cambridge. Over the course of six months, participants receive support to pr…

The Department are delighted to announce that Professor Harri Englund has been awarded the Curl Essay Prize of the Royal Anthropological Institute for the essay Why Is There No Slavery in the Anthropology of Freedom?

Freedoms of Speech: Anthropological Perspectives on Language, Ethics, and Power Editors: Matei Candea, Taras Fedirko, Paolo Heywood and Fiona WrightFollowing a six-year ERC-funded research project on the comparative anthropology of free speech, Matei Candea, Taras Fedirko, Paolo Heywood and Fiona Wright have published a large open-access edited vol…

How one Cambridge researcher is reaching beyond academia to enhance societal understanding of witchcraft and possession.Dr Naomi Richman has always been interested in contemporary spirituality, particularly the global movements that seem to disrupt predictions of sweeping secularisation. “That's what led me to Pentecostalism,” says the anthropologi…

Cambridge social anthropologist Dr Christina J. Woolner has won the 2024 International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD) Book Prize. Each year, the prize recognises an exceptional book of outstanding scholarship.Woolner – an affiliated researcher within the Department of Social Anthropology – was awarded the prize for her book, Love…

Dr Natalia Buitron has had a deep connection to the Amazon since childhood. Her PhD led her back to study the region and its indigenous people more closely. And the Amazon has shaped her research and teaching ever since, resulting in long-term fieldwork with the Shuar of Ecuadorian Amazonia. She has held the Jessica Sainsbury University Lectureshi…

The latest Open Access issue of The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology has published! This special issue is entitled "Policing Fakes."Please visit the Berghahn website for more information about the journal. This issue is a part of the Berghahn Open Anthro subscribe-to-open Collection!Editors:Liana Chua, University of CambridgeNatalia Buitron, Unive…