This programme is designed as an advanced course in Social Anthropology and is
intended for students who have already studied Anthropology as a degree course or
a major part of a degree course at undergraduate level. It is recognised by the Economic
and Social Research Council as of Research Training status and the Department has
Mode A recognition. This means that on successful completion of the course students
are considered by the ESRC as sufficiently prepared to embark on research in Social
Anthropology. Many of our students do in fact go on to do MPhil and PhD research.
Others use their MA qualifications in courses ranging from research work in government
departments, to teaching and nursing and work overseas.
Social Anthropology and Computing - MA and Diploma
The aim of this programme is to prepare you to apply appropriate computer-based
methods to anthropological research at a relatively advanced and creative level.
You will develop a research perspective in social anthropology - the design, planning,
implementation and analysis of anthropological research - and apply specialised computing
methods to anthropological research and analysis.
Social Anthropology at Kent
Our department is highly inter-disciplinary and our postgraduate students can
benefit from a wide variety of expertise not only in the traditional fields of social
anthropology but also in areas such as environmental anthropology, ethnobotany, conservation
biology, biodiversity management, environmental law and, in particular, computing
applications for anthropology.
Social Anthropology is a discipline which emphasises
cross-cultural comparison and within the Department individual members of staff have
carried out fieldwork in West Africa, Latin America, South Asia, South East Asia
(especially Indonesia and Malaysia), Palestine, Spain, Italy, Papua New Guinea and
the Pacific.At the University of Kent at Canterbury (UKC) there are taught courses
at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Of postgraduate students studying for research
degrees at any one time some will be in the field doing research, others having returned
from the field will be engaged in writing up their research. We have a strong research
culture with a great deal of friendly interaction between staff and students. We
pride ourselves on our classroom teaching and our courses have been ranked as excellent
in the last Teaching Quality Assessment review. One of our strengths is the easy
accessibilty of staff to students, and we encourage students to meet regularly not
only with their individual supervisors but also with other members of staff on formal
and informal occasions. Our Tuesday afternoon seminar is the regular weekly occasion
on which we all meet.
Our library holdings are very good. The library is fully computerised and students
have access to an efficient inter-library loan service.
The Department also houses the Centre for Social
Anthropology and Computing (CSAC) under its Director, Dr. Michael Fischer. Thanks
to the Centre the Department is one of the world's leading institutions in the field
of the application of computing techniques to anthropology.
Collectively the Department has a strong interest in Environmental Anthropology
and members of staff together with postgraduate students are currently conducting
research on tropical rainforests in Asia, the Pacific and in Amazonia. In addition
we have interests in medical anthropology, visual anthropology and issues of nationalism
and ethnicity. Individual members of staff also pursue research of an interdisciplinary
nature bringing together history and anthropology, the use of literary texts in anthropology
and anthropology and indigenous knowledge.
The Academic Programme
Qualifications in Social Anthropology are:
Postgraduate Diploma in Social Anthropology (nine month taught course)
Postgraduate Diploma in Social Anthropology and Computing (nine month taught course)
MA in Social Anthropology (nine month taught course plus three month dissertation)
MA in Social Anthropology and Computing (Taught) (nine month taught course plus three month project)
MPhil in Anthropology (two years full time or three years part time: research)
PhD in Anthropology (three years full time, five years part time)
The Postgraduate Diploma and the taught MA consist of two core modules on Current
Problems in Anthropology and Anthropological Research Methods.
In addition students do a further module from a range offered within the Department
which they choose following consultation with their supervisor. Each student is assigned
a supervisor at the beginning of the year whom they are expected to meet regularly.
These meetings offer students the opportunity to discuss the assignments which they
are required to undertake for evaluation of their progress. Postgraduate students
are required to write seven essays for avaluation. MA students write a 10,000 word
dissertation in addition to their essays.(Note: Students registered for the Diploma
attend the same courses as the MA students. If, on completion of their assignments,
they have achieved a sufficiently high overall mark, they are given the option of
proceeding to the writing of a dissertation.)
Those doing the joint programmes with Computing will do core modules in Computational
Methods in Anthropology and Programming in Pascal plus optional modules
in both Anthropology and Computing. On successful completion of the coursework component,
those who proceed to the MA degree must design, implement and document a computing
application relating to some aspect of social anthropology and write a short dissertation
based on the use of this application.
Applicants should meet one of the following requirements
For the taught MA:
A good honours degree in social anthropology or joint honours anthropology and another discipline or the equivalent
An Undergraduate University Diploma indicating good performance in anthropology courses taken over a year
For the Postgraduate Diploma:
An honours degree in anthropology of at least II.ii or equivalent
Fees
Fees for postgraduate programmes are reviewed annually by the University. The
current fee tariff is available on request.
Funding
The Department is recognised by the ESRC and has one quota award for its MA in
Social Anthropology and one for Environmental Anthropology. It is also recognised
for the receipt of ESRC and joint ESRC/NERC research studentships.
Applications may be submitted at any time of year, but preferably by 30 June for entry in September of the same year.
Applicants should provide evidence of their academic qualifications, and of their ability in English (if relevant) to the Information, Recruitment and Admissions Office. They should also arrange for two academic referees to send reports to the same address.
