Anthropology L602 September 2024

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Typical offers

Typical offers
A Level	AAB
BTEC	DDD
International Baccalaureate	36

Course details

Our BA Anthropology degree is designed to give you a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of social anthropology situated in relation to wider disciplinary approaches, including biological anthropology as well as interdisciplinary perspectives on health.

In the first year, you will receive a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of anthropology in the broadest sense, addressing the core disciplines of social and biological anthropology as well as interdisciplinary perspectives on health.

In your second year, you will develop a deeper and more complex grasp of social anthropology and continue to gain ‘hands-on’ experience of conducting research through a series of local field trips and activities.

In your final year, you will design and carry out your own dissertation project and take part in our Field Course Module, an intensive 7-day experience at one of several European destinations, or online as part of our Virtual Field Course.

As you move through your degree, you will shift from being a consumer to a generator of knowledge, ready for professional or postgraduate life. You can also apply to add a placement year or a year abroad to your degree, increasing the course from three years to four.

Course Structure

Year 1

Core modules:

Peoples and Cultures provides an introduction to the peoples and cultures of the world from an anthropological perspective and prepares you for further critical study of the discipline.

Human Evolution and Diversity introduces the biological basis of human diversity and the key areas of study as well as the key methodologies used within biological/evolutionary anthropology. The module also provides you with the basic vocabulary, concepts and theories which will prepare you for further study of biological anthropology.

Being Human: An Introduction to the History and Practice of Anthropology teaches you about the history of anthropology, including the major theoretical developments and debates, and their legacies for the present day practice of anthropology.

Doing Anthropological Research highlights the importance of the relationship of data to anthropological theory and allows you to experience the process of collecting and analysing data, and creating anthropological knowledge. This will prepare you for fieldwork, and ensure you develop academic and transferable skills for your degree and beyond.

Health, Illness and Society promotes the value of a multidisciplinary perspective to the study of health and illness, and gives insight into how social, cultural, biological and evolutionary factors interact in the field of health and disease. You will learn the potential for medical anthropology and evolutionary medicine in contributing to health policy and planning in diverse human societies.

Year 2

Core modules:

Anthropological Research Methods in Action provides opportunities for inquiry-based learning by addressing key anthropological themes and issues beyond the classroom. You will learn to develop and apply research skills relevant to the different areas of anthropology. The module gives you practical experience of conducting field-based research and prepares you for the Anthropology Field Course module.

Research Project Design builds upon previous methods training by providing the skills necessary to develop independent dissertation projects.

Kinship and Religion builds introduces social anthropology theory and methods. It explores in greater depth themes which fall under the broad headings of kinship and religion.

Politics and Economics introduces important topics related to key themes in the anthropology of politics and economics. It explores key issues and theory essential to a social anthropology education.

In recent years, optional modules have included:

Biology, Culture and Society
Reading Ethnography
Global Health and Disease
Sex, Reproduction and Love
Evolution, Variation and Adaptation
Our Place in Nature
Environment, Climate and the Anthropocene.

Year 3 (Year 4 if undertaking a placement year or year abroad)

In your final year, you will design and carry out your own Dissertation which will develop your skills of independent research and project management by pursuing a substantial research project in a topic of your choice.

You will also take part in our Anthropology Field Course module, an intensive 7-day fieldwork experience at one of the department’s residential field schools, or online as a Virtual Field Course.

In recent years, optional modules have included:

Mediterranean Connections
Anthropology, Art, and Experience
Poison, Pollution and the Chemical Anthropocene
Exhibiting Anthropology
Capitalism in Ruins
Social Anthropology of Hormones
Anthropology of Ethics and Morality
Anthropology of Sport.

Additional pathways

Students on the Anthropology BSc can apply to be transferred onto either the ‘with Year Abroad’ or ‘with Placement’ pathway during the second year. Places on these pathways are in high demand and if you are chosen your studies will extend from three years to four.

Placement

You may be able to take a work placement. Find out more.

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Department information

Anthropology

Join a diverse and welcoming Department that takes a distinctly broad-based approach to the study of humanity. Each year around 120 undergraduate students join one of our single or joint honours degree courses. We are among the largest Anthropology departments in the UK and one of the few to combine the study of the social, biological and medical aspects of anthropology. This gives you the chance to explore humanity from multiple perspectives, covering our species' evolution over millions of years up to the present day diversity of human societies.

The academic team are passionate about teaching the next generation, with many lecturers actively involved in research and teaching in numerous areas that overlap with other subjects, including culture, environmental issues, evolution, genetics, forensics, language, literature, health, music, politics, primate behaviour, religion, reproduction, skeletal anatomy and many others still. And with a research-led approach, our teaching is constantly evolving to incorporate the latest developments into the curriculum.

Our flexible courses offer the opportunity both to explore the breadth of Anthropology and to specialise in one of our sub-disciplinary areas. We offer a residential field course to all our undergraduate students, providing hands-on experience of varied anthropological methods in practice.

For more information see our department pages.

Rankings

23rd in the QS World University Subject Rankings 2023.
8th in The Complete University Guide 2024.

Staff

For a current list of staff, please see the Anthropology pages.

Research Excellence Framework

45% of our research was rated as world-leading (REF 2021)

Facilities

The Anthropology department is housed in the Dawson Building. It is conveniently located next to the main library, and close to lots of other departments and university services.

The Department’s state-of-the-art research facilities include a skeletal collection, a fossil cast collection, a material culture collection and many other practical resources.

We also house a number of research centres and laboratories including an Infancy and Sleep Centre which investigates infant and child sleep; the Physical Activity Lab to monitor physical activity levels in our everyday lives and an Ecology and Endocrinology Laboratory which is equipped to analyse human samples.

More information about our facilities and equipment.