About Social Anthropology
We are committed to the pursuit of excellence in research and teaching in all aspects of Social Anthropology. Our strength is based upon the diversity of specific interests of individual members of staff, while maintaining the intellectual integrity of Social Anthropology as a comparative inquiry into the conditions of human culture and social life.
Social Anthropology currently has a complement of 19 research-active academic members of staff and 6 post-doctoral researchers, supported by 4 administrative staff and one audio-visual technician. As such, it is one of the largest departments of social anthropology in Britain. In the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008), 90% of our research activity was judged to be of international quality, and 50% was judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
Social Anthropology continues to play a leading role in sustaining the profile of social anthropology at both a national and international level, particularly in multi-disciplinary contexts. For example, several members of staff are centrally involved in the ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC), the Global Poverty Research Group, the Centre for Latin American Studies, and the Research Institute in Cosmopolitan Cultures. In addition, Manchester anthropologists developed EastBordNet, an international research network now funded by COST which is chaired by a Social Anthropologist at Manchester. Last year, the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology hosted the 10th RAI film festival in Manchester.
Most important for the life of Social Anthropology are the personal relationships which students build up with their tutors, and with one another, in the course of their three years here. Our students are admitted on the basis of a commitment to equal opportunity; they are recruited from a wide variety of backgrounds, and the range of experience they bring with them always ensures a lively atmosphere in Social Anthropology.
History
The Department of Social Anthropology was founded in 1949 by Max Gluckman, under whom it gained a world-wide reputation. From the beginning, the scope of research was broad. The Department became best known, under the guise of the 'Manchester School', for its influential series of studies of Central and Southern Africa; however there was also a strong interest in India and later in East Africa. A focus on Middle Eastern societies was introduced with the work of Emrys Peters, who succeeded Gluckman to the Chair, holding it until his retirement in 1984. From 1985 until 1993, the Chair was held by Marilyn Strathern, under whose leadership the Department gained particular research strengths in the fields of gender and kinship studies, especially in Melanesia and Britain.
The Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology was established in 1987 and in 1990 the Department gained a second Chair with the appointment of Tim Ingold as Professor of Anthropology.
On 1 October 2004, the University of Manchester joined with University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) to form the new University of Manchester. Social Anthropology became part of the School of Social Sciences, alongside Sociology, Politics, Economics and, in 2005, Philosophy.
Professor Jeanette Edwards took over as Head of Social Anthropology in 2010.