Anthropology in Manchester
The Social Anthropology department – now known as a DA, 'discipline area', in Manchester – is one of the largest in the UK. It has a distinguished and distinctive history, but also a commitment to pushing the contemporary boundaries of the discipline. We have developed teaching and research links with many other discipline areas, not only in our own School of Social Sciences, but throughout the Faculty of Humanities, including with Archaeology, Museum Studies, Development Studies, Politics, History, Music and Drama as well as with regional studies of Latin America, the Middle East and China. Modules in most of these areas are now open to anthropology postgraduate students through a newly developed system of 'pathways' supplementing the core modules in anthropological theories and research methods.
The Manchester School
Social Anthropology was founded in 1949 by Max Gluckman, the leading figure of the 'Manchester School' that developed in and around the department, a group that was associated with such well-known figures as Clyde Mitchell, Victor Turner, Bill Watson, Elizabeth Colson, Jaap van Velsen and A.L. ('Bill') and Scarlett Epstein. In the 1950s, when much of British social anthropology was still concerned with traditional life in rural areas of the developing world, the Manchester School focused on the wider social field, particularly on migration to the cities of Southern and Central Africa and on the new social and cultural forms that were emerging there.
The Manchester School also promoted the application of anthropological ideas and fieldwork methods in European contexts, as for example in Ronnie Frankenberg's classic study of a village on the border of England and Wales or John Barnes' study of a parish in northern Norway.
Anthropology at Manchester is still concerned with the study of Africa and migration, and with the development of new social and cultural forms developing in African cities. Richard Werbner, who trained in the department in the heyday of the Manchester School remains very active as an emeritus research professor working on the emergence of Christian charismatics and faith-healing movements in Botswana.
Manchester Anthropology today
But although there are strong elements of continuity, our interests have diversified greatly since Gluckman's day. Today, Manchester's Africa specialists are also concerned with meeting the Millenium Development Goals, the impact of the AIDs pandemic and the 'heritagization' of traditional African culture. Meanwhile, migration studies in Manchester concern both voluntary migration and refugees, and not just within Africa, but also the much larger population displacements that are now taking place between the global South and the economically more developed societies of Europe and North America.
But we also now have many other interests, both regionally and thematically. We continue to have a strong interest in the anthropology of the UK and Europe, particularly the Balkans and the social and cultural consequences of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Latin America is another especially strong area of regional interest, but we are also engaged in research relating to the Middle East, India, Central Asia, Japan and Melanesia.
Politics, conflict, social inequalities and social change continue to be central interests, as they were for the Manchester School, but now these are supplemented by more contemporary concerns, including: new reproductive technologies and their implications for ideas about race, gender identity and the body; social memory and sensory experience; ideas about value and exchange; the effect of borders and territories on the sense of space, place and environment; the organization of knowledge in both traditional and new technology settings; the production of art and other cultural artifacts; the culture of and the culture in museums. Since its foundation in 1987, the Granada Centre has promoted visual anthropology at Manchester in all its aspects, both practical and theoretical.
Postgraduate environment
Past postgraduate students who have come to Manchester from Europe and North America have been pleased to discover how much direct contact they have with teaching members of staff, not only at doctoral level, but at the MA level also. In addition to coursework, all MA students have personal tutors with whom they usually meet every two weeks. They may also attend a broad range of other seminars in both social and visual anthropology, and in other discipline areas that they may come into contact through the pathway system.
Both MA and PhD students are also well-supported by a range of facilities, including the University Library, the IT services, Manchester Museum, which has an extensive collection of ethnographic objects, and the Film Library of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology which contains over 2000 titles.
