Everything social is open to question, including solidly held beliefs and attitudes and ideas about causality, the self in society, and nature and culture. Social anthropology uses very practical, empirical methods to investigate some quite philosophical-looking problems about the nature of human life in society. Learning to relate different versions of the world to each other (politics, religion, culture, gender, economic development, etc.) is learning to be a Social Anthropologist and is what we hope you will learn over the course of your degree.
There are two master’s courses in Social Anthropology: the one-year MSc and the two-year MPhil. These share a common period of nine months’ course work in the first year. Both courses will provide students with a solid background in analytical and methodological issues as they apply to social anthropology. The courses are designed such that applicants require no previous training in anthropological methods and perspectives.
