Social Anthropology

Entry requirements

A First-class Honours Degree or strong High Pass in a Master's degree in Social Anthropology is normally required.

Months of entry

October

Course content

The MRes in Social Anthropology is intended for students who already have full training at undergraduate and/or Master's level in the methods and perspectives of Social/Cultural Anthropology.

The course is a one-year period of rigorous training in research issues and methods that leads to the production of an independently-researched 15,000 word dissertation (dissertation) and a substantial fieldwork proposal. The taught portion of the MRes programme is the same as the nine-month PhD pre-fieldwork training programme: students take the same courses in ethnographic methods and social theory, and receive the same close interaction with their supervisor, a senior member of department staff. There is also training in quantitative social science methods.

The course offers critical discussion of students' research projects and provides training in:

• how fieldwork contributes to social scientific knowledge;
• how to isolate the theoretical questions that inform particular pieces of ethnography; and
• how to identify the kinds of empirical evidence necessary to address those questions.