News

Two ambitious researchers have pooled their collective expertise to develop a very local approach to the global climate emergency.‘Precipice thinking’ is how social anthropologists Dr Kelly Fagan Robinson and Dr Hildegard Diemberger describe the critical phase reached in their shared research. For the past two years, they have been working with thr…

The Grade I listed Leper Chapel is possibly Cambridge's oldest building. Originally serving as a 12th-century sanctuary for those affected by leprosy, its dual nature as a place of both exclusion and worship resonated deeply with Dr Iza Kavedžija’s recent exhibition on the themes of loss and repair.In place of loss: landscapes of memory and repair …

“What is it about the life and work of Stuart Hall that ‘calls’ on us to think biographically?” Professor David Scott asked in this year’s W.H.R. Rivers Memorial Lecture.   In one sense, the answer is obvious. Stuart Hall led an exemplary life. His intellectual achievements and range were formidable: the founding editorship of the New Left Review,…

A new collective of mixed-race scholars confront their own experiences of race and identity to examine what being mixed race really means.What happens to people that do not fit within conventional social groups? How might this experience of not fitting in shape a person’s thoughts, ideas and actions? Can this friction ever become valuable and posit…

“Graduation Performance of Mongolian Dance Students”Photo by PhD candidate Gol Tengis, Postgradute Photography Celebrations.Interested in pursuing an MPhil or PhD in Social Anthropology? Join us for a virtual presentation on Tuesday November 5th from 13:00 – 13:45 where we will describe our postgraduate programs and answer questions. Register here.

A project analysing informal and formal work practices in Latin America produced by Alejandro Porcel Arraut – a SocAnth PhD student since 2022 – was shortlisted for the United Nations PRI Awards 2024.The PRI – the letters stand for Principles for Responsible Investment – is a UN-supported network of investors which works to promote sustainable inve…

One of our Research Students has produced the cover art for a recent issue of the New York Review of Books.The student is Julien Porquet – who, under the name Julien Posture, has provided illustrations for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Book Review and The Guardian.Julien – a PhD student in Cambrid…

The Department of Social Anthropology is pleased to announce that a new part time course in Anthropology at the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge is open for applications. The Undergraduate Certificate in Anthropology is open to all applicants from around the world and taught by lecturers from the department.The deadline fo…

Every year, the Department awards a prize of £200 to the most outstanding IIB dissertation. The prize is named in memory of Dr Sue Benson (1948-2005), an anthropologist who lectured, supervised and directed studies in Cambridge for 26 years and who was an inspiration, both personally and intellectually for generations of students.We are pleased to …

Juliette GautronJuliette Gautron, PhD candidate in social anthropology, is the winner of this year’s postgraduate photography competition. Juliette – who is conducting her PhD fieldwork in Colombia – impressed the competition judges with the strong sense of place and intimacy found in her black and white images. Can you give an overview of your do…

Pioneering account draws on the eyewitness recollections of a Chinese rebel participantWhen the Cultural Revolution reached China’s border region of Inner Mongolia in 1966, it caused the largest pogrom ever experienced in the People’s Republic. Mao’s class struggle injunctions exacerbated Chinese-Mongol ethnic conflicts and China’s geopolitical cla…

Department’s in-house journal opens up conversations about definition of ‘good’ anthropologyThe Cambridge Journal of Anthropology (CJA) (formerly ‘Cambridge Anthropology’) is a vital part of the Department’s research environment.This in-house publication has grown and thrived since its re-launch as an international peer-reviewed journal in 2012, an…

Susan Drucker-Brown was one of the first women anthropologists in Mexico. ‘A Woman in the Field. The Photographs and Fieldnotes of Susan Drucker-Brown’ (22 April – 31 May 2024) explored the everyday life of her pioneering ethnographic research in the Mixtec-speaking village of Jamiltepec, in the southern state of Oaxaca.The exhibition – hosted at t…

Who are the people who look after you when you die? What happens when there isn’t anyone able or willing to arrange the funeral? These are some of the critical questions posed by Dr Sally Raudon, ESRC postdoctoral fellow, whose doctoral research focused on Hart Island, New York City, the largest public cemetery in the US. During COVID-19, it shocke…

Juliette Gautron, PhD candidate in the Department of Social Anthropology, has been announced as the winner of this year’s postgraduate photography competition. Juliette – who conducted her fieldwork in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, northeast Colombia – impressed the competition judges with her striking and captivating images.“These pictures wer…