Course description
Course description
Contemporary social anthropology is a critical discipline that tackles an enormous variety of topics. These range from social implications of the new reproductive and information technologies through the analysis of the social meanings of consumer behaviour, to the study of violence, poverty and the means for resolving conflicts and alleviating human suffering. Although anthropological studies are now conducted everywhere, from middle class suburbs and inner cities, to boardrooms and migrant labour camps, what all our studies have in common is an awareness of human diversity. Social Anthropology is the comparative study of culture(s). This BSocSci at Manchester provides students with comprehensive knowledge of both past achievements in the field and latest developments in anthropological research. The programme is structured around thematic courses, which consider specific issues in a variety of cultural settings and regionally focused courses which enable students to explore the diversity of human life-ways within specific historical and geographical contexts. Both explore the virtues of cross-cultural comparative analysis. Our objective is not simply to transmit anthropological knowledge and analysis but to train our students to think anthropologically, that is, to apply what they have learned to new problems, including your own society and culture. Students are admitted from a wide variety of backgrounds, and the range of experience brought always ensures a lively atmosphere.
Special features
The Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology houses a Film Library with some of 1500 titles from classic ethnographic film to contemporary documentary and world cinema. To complement the film titles, the Film Library has a comprehensive collection of written materials by anthropologists and film makers, including a selection of journals.
Students in Social Anthropology can participate in the ERASMUS SOCRATES Exchange Scheme, and the VSO's Youth for Development programme.
Module details
All students must take 120 units per year.
Course content for year 1
The following first year courses are compulsory: Culture, Power and Language; Cultural Diversity in Global Perspective; Culture and Society; Regional Studies of Culture; Researching Social Life. You can take a further 20 Units from outside the Discipline Area approved by Social Anthropology.
Course content for year 2
Students will need to complete 100 compulsory course credits in the second year. Theses are: Sex, Gender and Kinship; Anthropology and Religion; Political and Economic Anthropology; Arguing with Anthropology; and The Ethnographer's Craft. A further 20 Units in Social Anthropology will be taken listed under Final Examination.
Course content for year 3
In the final year students must produce a dissertation proposal and dissertation. This comprises of 40 compulsory course credits. The remaining 80 credits are chosen from the following modules: Technologies of Reproduction; Technology, Power and Identity in the Andes; Regional Anthropology: Amazonia; Screening Culture; Out of China; Anthropology, Globalisation and Development; Working our Culture: A Course in the Anthropology of Organisations; Visual Culture and Media; African Youth Culture; Perception, knowledge and Cognition; Another Europe: War, Nation, Transformation.
Career opportunities
Social Anthropology is not directly vocational but knowledge and insight gained in its study can be turned to account in many ways. Training in Social Anthropology prepares graduates to meet the demands of new and unexpected situations, and employers are increasingly recognising the value of a degree that combines a multifaceted understanding of culture and society with practical skills in working with people. Many of our graduates go on to do postgraduate work, and many go overseas. They take to a wide range of occupations and careers, especially those that require people skills, such as teaching, journalism, development work, social services and business and personnel management. They also find themselves in government and non governmental organisations, the media, the City, and schools.
