MA Social Anthropology Programme with Intensive Language

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or part-time

Our MA Social Anthropology programme is designed on a modular basis offering different pathways to suit three categories of students:

• Students with a degree in social anthropology wishing to pursue more specialist topics and/or more regional and language-based study;
• Students with little or no previous knowledge of social anthropology wishing to acquire a broad knowledge of the discipline;
• Students with little or no previous knowledge of social anthropology wishing to take the degree as a conversion course before proceeding to a research degree in anthropology.

This two-year intensive language pathway is directed at students who wish to combine knowledge of the anthropology of development, with expertise in a regional language. It prepares students to apply their anthropological knowledge in a developing country context by achieving proficiency in a language.

Why study MA Social Anthropology at SOAS

• We draw on the exceptional regional expertise of our academics in Asian, African, and Middle Eastern languages and politics, many of whom have joined us with practical working knowledge of their disciplines.
• You will be joining our thriving community of alumni and academics who have an impact on the world outside of academia.
• You will be able to flexibly structure your programme using our optional modules and/or the optional modules from other departments, including the opportunity to learn a regional language.
• We are specialists in the delivery of languages. Your command of a language at SOAS will set you apart from graduates of other universities.

This programme has a first-rate graduate employability record, with graduates moving on to find employment in lectureships and professorships throughout the world in areas such as information and technology, government service, the media and tourism.

May be combined with:

The following Intensive Language pathways are available with the MA Social Anthropology

• Arabic
• Japanese
• Korean
• Persian
• South-East Asian Languages: Burmese, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese
• Swahili
• Turkish

Structure

Students on this two-year Intensive Language programme must take 315 credits in total, comprised of 255 taught credits (45 of which are taught abroad as part of a Summer School) and a 60-credit dissertation as outlined below.

In their first year, students on this two-year Intensive Language programme take 60 credits of intensive language instruction and 60 credits in the discipline. During the summer, they participate in a Summer School abroad. In the second year, they take another 30 language credits as well as 60 credits in the discipline; they also complete their dissertation in the discipline.

The structure of the programme can be adjusted for those who wish to take the programme part-time over a period of four years and/or for those who have a previous background in Anthropology.

Year 1 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Compulsory Module

• Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology
• Ethnographic Research Methods

and

Guided Module(s) from the Anthropology and Sociology list below, OR modules from the Postgraduate Open Options List, to the value of 15 credits.

and

Students take 60 credits in the selected language.

Summer Abroad

Students participate in a Summer School abroad for the selected language.

Year 2 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Module(s) from the Anthropology and Sociology list below, OR from the Postgraduate Open Options List to the value of 60 credits.

and

Language Component

Students take 30 credits in the selected language.

Dissertation

All students are required to take the compulsory dissertation module worth 60 credits.

• Dissertation in Anthropology and Sociology

For Pathway - Anthropology of Development, Sustainability and Social Change

Year 1 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Compulsory Module

• Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology
• Anthropology of Development and Sustainability: History, Politics and Culture
• Anthropology of Development and Sustainability: Global Challenges and Alternative Futures

and

Students take 60 credits in the selected language.

Summer Abroad

Students participate in a Summer School abroad for the selected language.

Year 2 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Compulsory Module

• Ethnographic Research Methods

and

Guided Module(s) from the Anthropology and Sociology list below, OR modules from the Postgraduate Open Options List, to the value of 45 credits.

and

Students take 30 credits in the selected language.

Dissertation

All students are required to take the compulsory dissertation module worth 60 credits.

• Dissertation in Anthropology and Sociology

For Pathway - Medical Anthropology

Year 1 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Compulsory Module

• Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology
• Medical Anthropology: Bodies and Cultures
• Medical Anthropology: Global Perspectives

and

Students take 60 credits in the selected language.

Summer Abroad

Students participate in a Summer School abroad for the selected language.

Year 2 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Compulsory Module

• Ethnographic Research Methods

and

Guided Module(s) from the Anthropology and Sociology list below, OR modules from the Postgraduate Open Options List, to the value of 45 credits.

and

Students take 30 credits in the selected language.

Dissertation

All students are required to take the compulsory dissertation module worth 60 credits.

• Dissertation in Anthropology and Sociology

List of Modules (subject to availability)

Anthropology and Sociology

• African and Asian Diasporas in the Contemporary World: Cultures of Resistance and the Dissolution of Boundaries
• African and Asian Diasporas in the Contemporary World: Migration, Space, Identities
• Anthropology of Development and Sustainability: Global Challenges and Alternative Futures
• Anthropology of Development and Sustainability: History, Politics and Culture
• Anthropology of Food: Diet, Society and Environment
• Anthropology of Food: Politics, Place and Mobility
• Body politics: the anthropology of "race", gender and desire
• Culture and Society of East Africa
• Culture and Society of Near and Middle East
• Issues in Anthropology and Climate Change
• Issues in Anthropology and Film
• Issues in Mind, Culture and Psychiatry
• Medical Anthropology: Global Perspectives
• Medical Anthropology: Bodies and Cultures

Important notice

The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session.

Our Anthropology Department is ranked 6 in the UK and 16 in the world in the 2019 QS World University Rankings.

Employment

A Masters in Social Anthropology helps you to understand the world, other peoples’ ways of life and how society is organised.

This programme will endow you with a specialist understanding of producers, audiences, and other cultural and social aspects of mass media. Over the years the SOAS department has trained numerous leading anthropologists who have gone on to occupy lectureships and professorships throughout the world. Equally, students gain skills during their degree that transfer well to areas such as information and technology, government service, the media and tourism.

Postgraduate students leave SOAS with a portfolio of widely transferable skills which employers seek, including analytical and critical skills; ability to gather, assess and interpret data; high level of cultural awareness; and problem-solving.

A postgraduate degree is a valuable experience that provides students with a body of work and a diverse range of skills that they can use to market themselves with when they graduate.

Graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations including:

• Africa Practice
• Alastair Coey Architects
• Bank of America, Tokyo branch
• Citizenship Foundation
• CNN
• Department for Culture
• Foreign Commission Office
• General Medical Council
• IBM
• Institute of Ismaili Studies
• Leonard Cheshire Disability
• Mediacom
• MMMF, the World Bank Group
• Oriental Institute, University of Oxford
• Salaam Bombay Foundation and Samaskaara
• Street Children Africa
• The Freud Museum
• The Prince's Youth Business International
• University of Gadjah Mada
• World Society for the Protection of Animals

Types of roles that graduates have gone on to do include:

• Consultant
• Global Client Service Associate
• PhD student
• Secretary for the Minister for Communications
• Social Researcher
• Producer/Director
• Lawyer
• Business Analyst
• International Trusts Manager
• Research Fellow
• Marketing Specialist
• Overseas Programmes Director
• Archives Officer
• Director - Network Expansion
• Health Promotion Consultant
• Senior Lecturer
• Online Marketing Officer