Social Anthropology Research Group

Social anthropology is the study of social and cultural life in the various forms this takes in relation to the many contexts where this is found. As social anthropologists, we aim to answer questions of broad interest through the comparative study of particular people and places.

We are especially interested in investigating people in contexts of everyday social life and in understanding these practices from the perspective of those involved. We use a range of ethnographic methods to do this, including participant observation, interviewing, and archival research.

Social Anthropology Research Group Members

Jump to the Active Social Anthropology Research Group Members to see their current interests and recent research outputs or contact the Research Co-ordinator Professor Catherine Alexander for more information. 

Seminars and Events

Many of our Social Anthropology seminars are open to the public alongside our students and wider university community. The current Social Anthropology Seminar Series is available lower down this page.

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Active Social Anthropology Research Group Members

Selected research interests are shown for group members - clicking on their names will take you to a more comprehensive profile. Group members can also be contacted directly when exploring options for Postgraduate Research supervision.

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Social Anthropology Seminars 2024/25

Many of our Social Anthropology seminars are open to the public alongside our students and wider university community. Some are also live streamed online. For further information about individual seminars or the whole series, please contact the Senior Research Administrator, Kate Payne (kate.payne@durham.ac.uk).

Please also note that our other Research Groups will be presenting their own seminar series' during this period. You can find details on their Research Group pages: Centre for Anthropology of Health (CAH) and Evolutionary Anthropology (EARG).

MICHAELMAS TERM 2024

This period has now ended and seminar dates have all passed. See Epiphany Term 2025 dates below for upcoming events.

EPIPHANY TERM 2025

15^th January, 13.00 - 14.30 (CLC407, Calman Learning Centre)

• From Miasmatic Mists to Air-Conditioning Disease: Worrying About Humidity in Chinese History
• Joint Seminar SARG/AHRG
• Chris Courtney, (Durham University)

22^nd January, 15.30 - 17.00 (CLC407, Calman Learning Centre)

• Seep Time: on the passings of time in the short term, the long term, and into the future of UK nuclear decommissioning
• Petra Tjitske Kalshoven (Manchester University)

5^th February, 13.00 – 15.00 (CLC407, Calman Learning Centre)

• ‘Why and how we speak with the dead: an interdisciplinary dialogue on spiritualist practices in China and the UK’
  • Joint seminar SARG/AHRG
• Living Images: Spiritualism and the equivocations of mediumship
  • Adam Reed (St Andrews University)
• Divine Influence or Mental Power? Redefining Ritual Healing in Republican China (1912-1949)
  • Luis Junquiera (Cambridge University)

12^th February, 15.00 – 17.00 (CLC407, Calman Learning Centre)

• Department Seminar (Data theme)
• Title TBA
• Tom Neumark (University of Oslo)

19^th February, 15.30 - 17.00 (CLC407, Calman Learning Centre)

• Solidarity across Difference: Lessons from Lebanon's Oppositional Politics
• Fuad Musallam (Birmingham)

26^th February, 15.00 – 17.00 Department Seminar (Data Theme) CLC407, (Calman Learning Centre)

• Department Seminar (Data theme)
• Title TBA
• Alberto Acerbi

5^th March, 15.30 - 17.00 [] CLC407, (Calman Learning Centre)

• Elemental Infrapolitics: On Guerrilla De-mining in a Landscape of War
• Joint seminar with Newcastle University
• David Henig (Utrecht University)

19^th March, 15.00 - 17.00  (CLC407, Calman Learning Centre)

• Department Seminar
• Inaugural Professorial Lecture
• Tom Widger

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Be social. Be informed. Be a part of Durham Anthropology.