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Study at the University of Kent

Canterbury, United Kingdom

Social Anthropology
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Social Anthropology

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Kent

Programme details
Degree: Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (BA (Hons))
Discipline: Anthropology
Duration: 36 months
Study modes: full-time, part-time
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University of Kent (United Kingdom)

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Description:

Study everything from religion and politics, to gender, creativity, conflict, inequality, and the anthropology of business. You gain in-depth knowledge of today’s global cultures and challenges, and valuable skills that will help you to find your place in a changing world and make you more employable. If you're a creative and critical thinker, fascinated by every aspect of human life then our BA Social Anthropology is for you.

The University of Kent boasts one of the UK's largest groups of Anthropology lecturers. Each specialises in at least one geographical region and a number of fascinating research topics. This means that you gain an unusually diverse range of module choices, covering the usual core topics such as the study of politics and religion, but also more specialist or practical modules that help you to prepare for life after graduation. 

Social Anthropology was established at the University of Kent in 1965 and is one of the longest-running programmes in the United Kingdom. Kent plays an important role in pioneering new and innovative approaches to contemporary anthropology and our exciting range of expertise reaches across all regions of the globe. It is through drawing directly on this wealth of experience that we deliver a dynamic Social Anthropology programme.

Our degree programme

You learn to understand and address the challenges of our time and are given skills to contribute to society in a wide range of exciting careers after you graduate. 

  • Regional expertise and cultural literacy. Social Anthropology is the social science that specialises in cultural diversity. In no other subject will you have the opportunity to study so many different cultures. You may develop your cultural literacy further by taking one of our Year Abroad programmes (see below).
  • Understanding changing values and identity. Rapidly changing values and identities present one of the greatest areas of challenge for the world today—as well as exciting opportunities. Studying Social Anthropology at Kent provides you with opportunities to learn more about how these changes are affecting people in different societies and how social scientists have tried to understand them. 
  • Understanding the impacts of the planetary crisis. One of the biggest changes in the social sciences in the past ten years has been the growing interest in the relationship between human beings and their environment. You have the opportunity to study this relationship with researchers who are at the forefront of this trend. 
  • Ethnographic research skills. Across your degree programme, you have the opportunity to choose modules that offer training in ethnographic methods, including the possibility of undertaking your own research under the supervision of our expert staff, and writing a dissertation about your research in your final year. 
  • Using your creativity. You are trained to use your creativity to produce vivid accounts of social life. Most of these will be in writing, but you have the opportunity to choose modules that focus on other media, for example, by producing your own short documentary film.

You acquire these skills by taking a combination of compulsory core modules and a number of optional modules that you choose from a wide range.

In the first year, you take core modules that give you a broad background in the subject. The core modules in the second and final year of the programme cover the anthropology of politics, religion and economics, and introduce you to some advanced topics in social theory. These core modules also give you an understanding of the distinctive research method of Social Anthropology: ethnographic research. 

In each year you have the opportunity to pursue your own interests by choosing from a wide range of optional modules. These teach you more about specialist areas and develop corresponding skills. Some modules cover thematic issues, such as the anthropology of law or the anthropology of business. Others focus on particular regions of the world, such as China, Europe, South East Asia and Amazonia. You take at least two regional modules during the programme.

Year abroad

Studying Social Anthropology abroad for a year as part of your degree programme allows you to take your cultural expertise to the next level. You either study in English (Social Anthropology with a Year Abroad) or in the local language (Social Anthropology with French / German / Spanish / Italian). In recent years, our students have spent a year at our partner universities in countries including Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, as well as France, Spain and Italy. 

You don't need to make your mind up about studying abroad before you enrol at Kent, but certain conditions apply. See Social Anthropology with French / German / Spanish / Italian.

Year in professional practice

If you have specific ideas about how you would like your career to develop, you may be able to expand your degree into a four-year programme by adding a work placement between the second and final years. 

You don’t have to make a decision before you enrol at Kent, but certain conditions apply. See Social Anthropology with a Year in Professional Practice.

Study resources

Students studying BA Social Anthropology at the University of Kent enjoy world-class study resources including:

  • a recently renovated and expanded library with up-to-date collections, access to top journals, plenty of comfortable spaces providing for quiet individual work or group work
  • well equipped lecture and seminar rooms with integrated audio-visual technology
  • a state-of-the-art visual anthropology room with a suite of computers equipped for editing film and cameras made available for student use
  • an ethnobiology lab for studying human-related plant material
  • a teaching laboratory with first-rate equipment
  • for students interested in taking Biological Anthropology we have an excellent fossil cast collection with hundreds of casts, including multiple entire skeletons of extant and extinct primates and hominins.

Extra activities

The University of Kent has an active Anthropology Society run by the students, which you are encouraged to join, as well as a wealth of other student clubs and associations to enjoy. 

The School of Anthropology and Conservation puts on many events that you are welcome to attend. We host two public lectures a year, the Stirling Lecture and the DICE Lecture, which bring current ideas in anthropology and conservation to a wider audience. We are delighted that these events attract leading anthropological figures from around the world; in 2017 we hosted paleoanthropologist Professor Lee Berger, one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people.

Each term, there are also seminars and workshops discussing current research in anthropology, conservation and human ecology.


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