Social Anthropology with Development MA

(Hons)
University of Edinburgh
Student rating (4.2) 1603 reviews

UCAS CODE
LL69

Course description
Social anthropology is the study of human conduct and thought. Societies around the world vary enormously socially, culturally
and politically. The study of these variations, and the common humanity that underlies them, is at the heart of social
anthropology. There are close links between social anthropology and sociology, human geography, development studies,
history, archaeology, and philosophy. You will take a broad range of courses in Year 1 and 2 and will have the opportunity to
specialise in Years 3 and 4. You will spend up to four months on an individual research project that will form the basis of your
dissertation. Fieldwork for your project can be done both within and outside the UK.

Study options

STUDY MODE CAMPUS DURATION STARTS

Full time Central area campus 4 Years 13-SEP-21

Entry requirements

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Course fees

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Modules

Modules (Year 1)
Social Anthropology 1B: Anthropology Matters (20 Credits) - Core
In this module we examine how concepts and ideas that have driven anthropology help us shed new light on debates that are at
the heart of contemporary questions about how our societies work. Each week will include two sessions exploring a single issue
and anthropological contributions to surrounding debates relating to that issue. The issues explored will vary from year-to-year,
examples include: climate change, hunger, well-being, body modification, and human rights.

Fundamentals: Studying Anthropology - Core

This module aims to help familiarise students with university study and to introduce students to anthropology at Edinburgh. It
focuses on generic academic study skills, but using anthropological texts as key exemplars.

Fundamentals: Anthropological Practice - Core

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This module introduces students to anthropological practice outside academia, helps students understand potential career
routes after anthropology honours, and the ways in which anthropological knowledge and skills relates to careers outside
academia. The module includes a variety of presentations from alumnai and applied anthropologists. It also includes a semester
long group project developing an online presentation.

Social Anthropology 1A: The Life Course (20 Credits) - Core

This module is intended as an introduction to social anthropology - taking as its central theme and organising structure the life
module from birth to death, conceived in very broad terms. As well as encompassing life crisis moments and rituals of birth,
marriage, and death, the module includes such themes as gender, personhood, work and making a living, the house,
consumption and exchange, health, and the body. It begins with a brief consideration of what anthropologists do thinking about
participant observation and fieldwork; and it ends with a brief discussion of how anthropological subjects are placed - and place
themselves - in history.

Modules (Year 2)
Ethnography: Theory and Practice (20 Credits) - Core
This module introduces undergraduate students to the theory and practice of ethnographic fieldwork. At the heart of this module
is collaborative project in which students will learn about qualitative methods by putting them to the test in practical group work.
Their collective ethnographies will require them to write extensive field notes, which will be assessed, and which will function as
an extended period of learning to write effectively in an academic manner. The module will be open to all second year
undergraduates within the School of Social and Political Science.

Fundamentals: Ethnographic Theory - Core

This module aims to help students develop critical analytic skills in anthropology. It does so by addressing the relationship
between ethnography and theory in anthropological writing, using key texts as exemplars.

International Development, Aid and Humanitarianism (20 Credits) - Core

This module aims to allow undergraduate students to develop an understanding of social science engagements with
international development, aid and humanitarianism. The module will explore the histories, impacts and legacies of international
development planning and policy, introducing students to foundational issues in development studies and offering them the
opportunity to create a policy brief on a specific theme.

Social Anthropology 2: Key Concepts (20 Credits) - Core

This module will provide a historical overview of anthropological thought and will be taught through an introduction to keywords
that have helped to shape the development of social anthropology. The thematic approach is designed to be engaging and
stimulating to students and to help to foster critical conceptual and theoretical thought. It will highlight the continued significance
of key concepts and oppositions over time.

Fundamentals: Reading and Writing Anthropology - Core

This module takes at its premise that both reading and writing well in anthropology can be cultivated through practice. The
module builds upon Fundamentals Semester 1 and continues to develop skills in reading and writing for an anthropology degree
but with a particular focus on supporting students? first (group) research project.

Modules (Year 3)
Imagining Anthropological Research - Core
This module is only intended only for Honours students in Social Anthropology who are planning to work on a dissertation in the
subject in the summer of 2014. The main purpose of the module is to prepare you to write your dissertation proposal. Our chief
task, therefore, is to help you imagine what will be involved in your field or library project. To do so we shall be looking at the
process of research, from the design stage through to the methodologies and to the writing strategies, always within the context
of what is possible in an undergraduate dissertation. We shall also have presentations and discussions on particular people?s
experience of doing research, using examples from the work of Senior Honours students, previous undergraduates and current
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postgraduates, as well as members of staff. In the second half of the semester you will be allocated to a group which will work
together on students Research Proposals. By the end of the Semester, students will have developed their ideas into a detailed
Research Proposal, setting out a timetable, budget, and a consideration of the practical arrangements and methods. The
proposal, which will account for 10% of your final dissertation mark, will include a discussion of relevant theoretical and
ethnographic literature, and an ethical clearance form.

Modules (Year 4)
Dissertation (MA Social Anthropology) (40 Credits) - Core
This module provides students with the opportunity to undertake a project of their own design and to submit a written
dissertation based on their research. This work will initially be supported by the module convenor and subsequently a member
of the teaching staff in Social Anthropology, who will be assigned to supervise the student's research and writing and guide
them towards the submission of their dissertation.

Culture and Power (20 Credits) - Core

This module introduces a range of anthropological approaches to politics. It provides a detailed examination of both open and
hidden forms of power and their workings at the global, state, national, community, and personal level. Key themes of this
module are the interactions between subjects, population and governance; nation states, citizenship, migration, territorialism
and multiple ways of belonging and exclusion; colonialism and post-colonialism; forms of domination and resistance; discourses
on human rights, and political violence.

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 University of Edinburgh
Student rating (4.2) 1603 reviews

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What students say about University of Edinburgh

Tai, Archaeology and Social Anthropology MA (Hons) 29 Jan 20

OVERALL UNIVERSITY RATING

It has been great so far

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Not sure- I know nothing about the student union

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STUDENT SUPPORT
Sheena, Fine Art MA (Hons) 29 Jan 20

OVERALL UNIVERSITY RATING

Had the worst times of my life but also some very good ones, definitely all up to what you get out of it yourself

JOB PROSPECTS
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Not many contact hours, not much teaching but okay

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expensive but nice

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