In our fast-changing world, humanity and society are facing momentous challenges. Anthropology, as the study of the human condition, focuses on the diversity of the relations between humans and the world. It is in a unique position to help us respond to these changes and challenges. Social Anthropology provides critically useful skills to navigate through the complexities and uncertainties of an increasingly interconnected yet fragmented world.
This advanced programme in social and cultural anthropology provides training in contemporary anthropological theory and methodology focusing on the understanding of the human condition and the challenges it faces today. It is designed to receive students with previous undergraduate training in the humanities or social sciences (such as history, sociology, geography), as well as students from biology, who wish to deepen their knowledge of human sociality. It provides in-depth generalist training in contemporary social anthropology in preparation either for a research degree or for entering professional fields where anthropological knowledge and methods constitute valuable assets.
Anthropology at Kent is shaping the discipline and making a contribution to our contemporary world.
A good honours degree (2.1 or above) in anthropology or associated fields. In certain circumstances, we will consider students who have not followed a conventional education path. These cases are assessed individually by the Director of Graduate Studies and the programme convenor.
All applicants are considered on an individual basis and additional qualifications, professional qualifications and relevant experience may also be taken into account when considering applications.
Please see our International website for entry requirements by country and other relevant information. Due to visa restrictions, international fee-paying students cannot study part-time unless undertaking a distance or blended-learning programme with no on-campus provision.
The University requires all non-native speakers of English to reach a minimum standard of proficiency in written and spoken English before beginning a postgraduate degree. Certain subjects require a higher level.
For detailed information see our English language requirements web pages.
Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of pre-sessional courses in English for Academic Purposes through Kent International Pathways.
This programmes offers a high level of flexibility with four compulsory modules, a research project dissertation and four optional modules from those listed below, or from the range of School modules.
Please note that modules are subject to change. Please contact the School for more detailed information on availability.
Duration: One year full-time, two years part-time
Assessment is by written reports, oral presentations and the dissertation.
This programme aims to:
You will gain knowledge and understanding of:
You develop intellectual skills in:
You gain subject-specific skills in:
You will gain the following transferable skills:
The School has a lively postgraduate community drawn together not only by shared resources such as postgraduate rooms, computer facilities (with a dedicated IT officer) and laboratories, but also by student-led events, societies, staff/postgraduate seminars, weekly research student seminars and a number of special lectures.
The School houses well-equipped research laboratories for genetics, ecology, visual anthropology, virtual paleoanthropology, Animal Postcranial Evolution, biological anthropology, anthropological computing, botany, osteology and ethnobiology. The state-of-the-art visual anthropology laboratory is stocked with digital editing programmes and other facilities for digital video and photographic work, and has a photographic darkroom for analogue developing and printing.
Kent has outstanding anthropology IT facilities. Over the last decade, the School has been associated with many innovatory projects, particularly in the field of cognitive anthropology. It provides an electronic information service to other anthropology departments, for example by hosting both the Anthropological Index Online and Experience-Rich Anthropology project. We encourage all students to use the Centre’s facilities (no previous experience or training is necessary).
Anthropology at Kent has close links with the nearby Powell-Cotton Museum, which has one of the largest ethnographic collections in the British Isles and is particularly strong in sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian material. It also houses an extensive comparative collection of primate and other mammalian material. Human skeletal material is housed at the Kent Osteological Research and Analysis Centre within the School.
Anthropology, together with the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) form the School of Anthropology and Conservation.
All students registered for a taught Master's programme are eligible to apply for a place on our Global Skills Award Programme. The programme is designed to broaden your understanding of global issues and current affairs as well as to develop personal skills which will enhance your employability.
We publish research on timely contemporary topics using a vast range of formats: podcasts, documentaries, comic books and short fiction and monographs, as well as prestigious academic journals: e.g. American Ethnologist; Anthropological Theory, Anthropology Today, Current Anthropology; Cultural Anthropology, Critique of Anthropology, Ethnos, Focaal, Hau-Journal of Ethnographic Theory, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Oceania, Social Anthropology, and many more.
Our School continues to be a centre for ethnographic innovation and for the development of new methods of qualitative research. Our students and staff are active in the production of ethnographic film, visual analysis, and ethnographic drawing. They also participate with regularity in a great number of collaborative projects, responding to the latest debates about politics, society and environment.
The regional expertise of our staff and graduate students has a global reach, with presently open field sites across Europe (including the UK), the Middle East, China, Central and South America, South and Southeast Asia, Southern Africa and the United States. Among others, research is presently being carried out in southern Portugal, Greece and Cyprus, southern Spain, southern France, southern England, southeastern Turkey, Amazonia, Panama, northeast Brazil, and New York.
Thematically, we focus on the contemporary challenges to our changing world—a concern that unites us with the other disciplines that are present within our School. Our specific thematic interests range from the politics of the Anthropocene to protest against neoliberal ‘austerity’.
This is a list of some of our areas of research:
• Persons and the World: we work on the relation between persons and the world they live in, focusing on the study of personhood and ontogeny, environmental issues, territoriality, indigenous tourism and conflict resolution, the study of food, the human-animal or human-plant relationship, ethnobotany, and the social implications of conservation.
• Diversity and Conflict: within each of our diverse field sites, we are concerned with the impacts of human conflict—such as violence, inequality, precarity, crime, and corruption. We pay special attention to the intersections of personhood, gender, ethnicity, race, and temporality. We work on conflict resolution, on the human implications of development, on the study of austerity, and on the impact of neoliberal reforms.
• Diversity and Knowledge: we have staff specialising in science and technology studies, in medical anthropology, in religious studies, in the anthropology of business, in biotechnology, and in mental health. We study closely a wide variety of religious movements, alternative beliefs and medical practices. We have a tradition of work using audio-visual media to research, represent and produce ethnographic knowledge. Our work on creative writing adds to our expertise on ethnographic innovation, and encourages the pursuit of creativity through alternative ethnographic media that include drawing, filming and art. Since 1985, our School has pioneered new approaches to digital anthropology, namely in cultural informatics and computational methods.
Visit our blog if you want to watch student videos, see photos from our recent events and watch talks.
Students are allocated a supervisor to support them in the production of their 15,000 word dissertation. Students are led from the beginning to develop an idea, research a specialised bibliography and employ their methodological training to produce a research thesis. Students are assisted financially and academically in order to facilitate their research projects.
Examples of recent MA projects include:
• Rap, Identity, and Sense of Self in Eastern Kent.
• The future of the harbour of Ramsgate and the Brexit conundrum.
• A Study of Difference Externalisation and Political Violence in the Spanish Civil War.
• Transformation and Narrative of Trans/Disabled Persons Within Medical Encounters.
• “Humanitarianism” and Identities of Women after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
• An exploration of attitudes and motivations towards tattooing within the Medway Towns.
• Fishing Identities in the Context of Current Policies and Management.
• Transgressing 'Transgender': Institutional and Structural Exclusion of Non-Binary Students.
• Biopolitics, and Nation-building in Post-Conflict Timor-Leste's Population Boom.
• Policy and ‘Crisis’ in Mongolian Pastoralist Education.
• Everyday nationalism: lived experience in a Scottish market town.
• Exploration of M?ori knowledge within bilingual and mainstream schools in Auckland, New Zealand.
• Voices of the Maya: An anthropological discovery of the past.
Full details of staff research interests can be found on the School's website.
The School has a very good record for postgraduate employment and academic continuation, 100% of our postgraduate students, who graduated in 2014, found a professional job within six months or continued on to a PhD, ranking Anthropology at Kent 1st in the sector. Studying anthropology, you develop an understanding of the complexity of all actions, beliefs and discourse by acquiring strong methodological and analytical skills. Anthropologists are increasingly being hired by companies and organisations that recognise the value of employing people who understand the complexities of societies and organisations.
As a School recognised for its excellence in research we are one of the partners in the South East Doctoral Training Centre, which is recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). This relationship ensures that successful completion of our courses is sufficient preparation for research in the various fields of social anthropology. Many of our students go on to do PhD research. Others use their Master’s qualification in employment ranging from research in government departments to teaching to consultancy work overseas.
Many of our alumni teach in academic positions in universities across the world, whilst others work for a wide range of organisations. Examples of positions held by our alumni include:
Hear more from MA Social Anthropology alumni Victor Fiorini who found employment as Detainee-Visitor Manager for Dover Detainee Visitor Group.
The 2020/21 annual tuition fees for this programme are:
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
For students continuing on this programme fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact information@kent.ac.uk
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
Full-time tuition fees for Home and EU undergraduates are £9,250.
For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.*
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
Find out more about general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.
Search our scholarships finder for possible funding opportunities. You may find it helpful to look at both:
Next steps
This course page is for the 2020/21 academic year. Please visit the current online prospectus for a list of postgraduate courses we offer.
Supporting your success
Kent ranked top 50 in The Complete University Guide 2024.
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Kent has risen 11 places in THE’s REF 2021 ranking, confirming us as a leading research university.
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