Social Anthropology with Visual Ethnography - MA

Teaching

Teaching and assessment

Assessment for most modules is an essay of 2,000-3,000 words plus participation and/or oral presentation. Some modules include other assessments such as videos.

Programme aims

This programme aims to:

• introduce you to a variety of different approaches to social science research, presented in a multidisciplinary context and at an advanced level
• facilitate your educational experience through the provision of appropriate pedagogical opportunities for learning
• provide an appropriate training for students preparing MPhil/PhD theses, or for those going on to employment involving the use of social science research
• make you aware of the range of existing material available and equip you to evaluate its utility for your research
• cover the principles of research design and strategy, including formulating research questions or hypotheses and translating them into practicable research designs
• introduce you to the philosophical, theoretical and ethical issues surrounding research and to debates about the relationship between theory and research, about problems of evidence and inference, and about the limits to objectivity
• Develop your skills in searching for and retrieving information, using library and internet resources in a multidisciplinary and cross-national context
• introduce you to the idea of working with other academic and non-academic agencies, when appropriate, and give you the skills to carry out collaborative research
• develop your skills in writing, in the preparation of a research proposal, in the presentation of research results and in verbal communication
• help you to prepare your research results for wider dissemination, in the form of seminar papers, conference presentations, reports and publications, in a form suitable for a range of different audiences, including academics, policymakers, professionals, service users and the general public
• give you an appreciation of the potentialities and problems of anthropological research in local, regional, national and international settings
• ensure that the research of the Department’s staff informs the design of modules, and their content and delivery in ways which can achieve the national benchmarks of the discipline in a manner which is efficient and reliable, and enjoyable to students.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

You will gain knowledge and understanding of:

• social anthropology as the comparative study of human societies
• specific themes  in social anthropology eg religion, politics, nationalism and ethnicity
• human diversity and an appreciation of its scope
• several ethnographic regions of the world including Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East, North Africa, SE Asia, Latin America and the Pacific
• the history of the development of anthropology as a discipline
• the variety of theoretical approaches contained within the discipline
• the process of historical and social change
• the application of anthropology to understanding issues of social and economic development throughout the world
• the relevance of anthropology to understanding everyday processes of social life anywhere in the world.

Intellectual skills

You develop intellectual skills in:

• general learning and study skills
• critical and analytical skills
• expression of ideas both orally and in written form
• communication skills
• groupwork skills
• computing skills
• reviewing and summarising information
• data retrieval ability.

Subject-specific skills

You gain subject-specific skills in:

• the ability to understand how people are shaped by their social, cultural and physical environments while nonetheless possessing a capacity for individual agency which can allow them to transcend some environmental constraints 
• the ability to recognise the pertinence of an anthropological perspective to understanding major national and international events.
• the ability to interpret texts and performance by locating them within appropriate cultural and historical contexts
• high-level competence in using anthropological theories and perspectives in the presentation of information and argument
• high-level ability to identify and analyse the significance of the social and cultural contexts of language use
• the ability to devise questions for research and study which are anthropologically informed
• the ability to perceive the way in which cultural assumptions may affect the opinions of others and oneself
• an openness to try and make rational sense of cultural and social phenomena that may appear at first sight incomprehensible.

Transferable skills

You will gain the following transferable skills:

• the ability to make a structured argument
• the ability to make appropriate reference to scholarly data
• time-management skills
• the use of information technology including computers and library research
• groupwork
• handling audio-visual equipment
• independent research
• presentation skills
• have the ability to exercise initiative and personal responsibility
• have the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development.

Careers

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. Anthropology students 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 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:

• Corporate anthropologist
• Campaign developer for War Child
• Project director for the Global Diversity Foundation
• Curator at Beirut Botanic Gardens
• Film producer for First German Television
• Project manager for Porchlight Homelessness Charity

Hear more from MA Social Anthropology alumni Victor Fiorini who found employment as Detainee-Visitor Manager for Dover Detainee Visitor Group. You might also enjoy reading about Ruth Krause who studied MA Visual Anthropology (now MA in Social Anthropology with Visual Ethnography).

Study support

Postgraduate resources

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.

Global Skills Award

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.