MA in Social Anthropology - Pathways
Progamme structure
Over two semesters, students take 120 credits of coursework modules. There are four 15-credit core modules, two per semester, totalling 60 credits. These offer an intensive introduction to the history, theory, research methods and ethics of social anthropology, covering the most classical to the most cutting-edge approaches. These core courses are normally obligatory, but those who have a prior academic qualification in anthropology may be exempted from one or more of them.
The remaining coursework credits are made up by selecting from a very broad range of modules offered not only within Social Anthropology but elsewhere in the Faculty of Humanities. In any given year, there are at least 50 such modules open to MASA students. Although certain combinations may not be possible due to timetabling clashes and/or staff leave in particular years, the range of choice remains very large.
Most modules are assessed by means of extended essays, though some may also involve assessment through presentations, student group projects or, in a few cases, the production of portfolios of practical work.
Those enrolled on the Diploma variant of the programme graduate after completing their coursework in May-June. Over the summer vacation, those on the full MA programme write a 15,000-word dissertation that is due in early September.
Pathways
Students choose their options in consultation with the programme director to ensure their academic and practical viability. Once you arrive, you can also enroll on one of a number of 'pathways' consisting of modules that have been pre-selected for their academic coherence. In this case, you take at least 30 credits and up to the full remaining 60 credits from the modules offered on that pathway. You would also normally write your dissertation on a related topic. But please note, it is not compulsory to follow a pathway and all students will be awarded the same generic degree title, 'MA in Social Anthropology', regardless of which pathway they took, if any.
In 2010-2011, we shall offer the following pathways:
Cities and Migration
This pathway allows you to draw on the broad range of expertise on cities and migration in Social Anthropology and across many other disciplines in the Faculty of Humanities. The modules offered cover such varied topics as
- the linkages between migration and international capital
- social aspects of inner city regeneration in the UK
- urban planning in the global South and extreme social inequality
- the recent radical transformation of Beijing and Shanghai through consumer culture
- humanitarianism and the management of refugees
- urban design and concepts of community and collective memory
- ideas about sexuality, gender and their connection to modern urban social geography.
Culture, Ethnography and Development
This pathway provides you with the opportunity to study the history, theory and practice of development in a broad variety of social and geographical contexts, encouraging you to think of development critically as a complex transformative process that has cultural as well as economic and political consequences. You may select from modules covering a broad range of topics, including:
- relationships of dependence between the global North and the global South
- social and cultural effects of international labour migration
- the Millenium Development Goals
- the political economy of foreign investment
- inequality and urban planning in the cities of the global South
- the international agenda for the reduction of poverty
- the impact of local civil society and NGOs
- social welfare policies
- the politics of biodiversity conservation.
Latin American Studies
This pathway offers an interdisciplinary mix of modules on Latin America, including the following topics:
- Black identity and culture
- the indigenous peoples of Amazonia
- the history of revolutions from Zapata to Che Guevara
- the effect of urban planning on poverty in Latin American cities
- Hispanic migration to the United States
- the effect of soap operas on the development of Spanish as a pluricentric language
- contemporary debates concerning pre-Columbian and Latin American art
Museums and Material Culture
This pathway draws on modules in Anthropology, Museum Studies and Archaeology to examine the cultural, economic and political contexts in which the conservation, display and interpretation of material objects takes place. These objects range from prehistoric artefacts excavated by archaeologists to the objects from the more recent past,both natural and human-made, scientific as well as artistic, that are held in metropolitan museums. In addition to modules on the general theory and practice of Museum Studies and Archaeology, you can choose from optional modules, including the following topics:
- the impact of ideas about religion, gender, ethnicity, race and nationalism on archaeological and curatorial practices
- 'behind-the-scenes' insights into the way in which objects are handled in museums,
- issues of display, be it of Paleolithic hand-axes, human remains, stuffed animals or contemporary works of art
There is a notable practical dimension to many of these modules since they often involve museum visits and are assessed in part by group project work.
Media and Performance
This pathway is based on modules from Drama and Social Anthropology and is specifically intended for those who plan to carry on to the doctoral programme in Anthropology, Media and Performance (AMP). Read more. Drawing on the 'ethnofiction' of the anthropologist Jean Rouch and Augusto Boal's 'Theatre of the Oppressed', the aim of the pathway is to show how performance – ritual, dramaturgical or cinematographic – can serve as a means of social research, not merely by representing knowledge but also by provoking or creating it. Students can select from modules covering the following topics:
- the history and theory of applied theatre
- ethnographic documentary and cinema studies
- practical training in photography and sound-recording.
- those proceeding to the AMP doctorate may also take basic film-training modules.
Please note that both these last two audiovisual training modules require the payment of a 'bench fee' of approx. £500 (currently under review) to cover equipment and facilities costs. Although this pathway does not offer similar basic training in practical theatre, students may enhance skills that they already have through workshops on topics as varied as
- working with vulnerable groups and offending behaviour programmes
- theatre in sites of conflict, museums and heritage sites
- community film and playwriting.
Visual and Sensory Media
This pathway draws exclusively on modules drawn from Social Anthropology and the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology.
- In the first semester, students normally take two modules exploring the representation of visual culture in the visual arts, in cinema and in ethnographic film and related documentary genres.
- In the second semester, they take a practice-based module that offers basic training in photography and sound-recording as well as encouraging reflection on these media both as means of creating anthropological knowledge and as a means of representing it. An important feature of this module are the workshops given by practising photographers and sound-recordists. Please note that this last module requires the payment of an additional 'bench fee' of £500 to cover equipment and facilities costs.
- The dissertation normally consists of a text directly supported by and integrated with still images and/or sound recordings.
For practice-based exercises engaged in by students on this pathway see the following page.
Research Methods
This pathway is intended for those who wish to supplement the core modules with additional training in social research methods, be it in preparation for a doctoral degree or for a research-based career outside academic life. Amongst the methods that students may choose to study are:
- the typically anthropological research practice of ethnography, based on participant-observation, structured and semi-structured interviews, survey methods etc.
- more generally applied methods, including focus groups, working with memory, archival research (including the use of the web), photo-elicitation and elite interviewing.
- basic introduction to statistical methods
- practical training in the use of photography and sound-recordings as both a means of carrying out and representing social research. But please note that this last module requires the payment of an additional bench fee of approx. £500 to cover facilities and equipment costs.
History
This is not a formal pathway but there are a number of modules offered by the History Discipline Area that are particularly appropriate for MASA students, covering topics such as:
- Russian, Chinese, Indian, Latin American and African history, drawing on anthropology and on cultural and literary studies as well as more conventional historiography
- themes such as the development of the modern city, refugees and humanitarian relief, selfhood as presented in autobiographies, novels and films, and ideas of corporeality and sexuality in the colonial era.