Close icon

Personalise what you see on this page.

Choose from the options below. We'll show you information based on your current location as default.

I'M FROM

  • United States
Please select so we can show the most relevant content.

LIVING IN

  • United States
Please select so we can show the most relevant content.

LOOKING FOR

  • Undergraduate courses
Please select so we can show the most relevant content.
Viewing as a student from United States living in United States interested in Undergraduate courses

Course options

  • Qualification

    Postgraduate Diploma

  • Location

    The University of Manchester

  • Study mode

    Full time

  • Start date

    23-SEP-24

  • Duration

    9 months

Course summary

Course description

The objective of this course is to communicate an anthropologically-informed understanding of social life in both Western and non-Western societies. By confronting you with the remarkable diversity of human social and cultural experience, our aim is to encourage you to question taken-for-granted assumptions and to view the world from a new perspective.

Through a set of core course units, comprising about a third of coursework credits, you are provided with a comprehensive grounding in classical as well as contemporary debates in social anthropology and are introduced to the distinctive research methods and ethical positions associated with the discipline. You can select units of study from a good number of elective modules offered by staff working at the forward edge of their fields of study, and complete augment these by choosing from a broad range of units offered around the Faculty of Humanities.

Through these options, you apply the social anthropological theories and methods learnt on the core units to particular substantive themes and topics.

Diploma students complete their coursework in May and formally graduate in July. Over the summer holidays, MA students carry out research for a 15,000 word dissertation that is submitted in September; normally graduating in December.

Teaching and learning

You will take four 15-credit core course units to a total of 60 credits, including Key Approaches to Social Anthropology, Ethnography Reading Seminar, Contemporary Debates, and Image Text and Fieldwork, and a selection of optional units that you choose shortly after arrival.

You must first check the schedule of the compulsory units and then select your optional units to suit your requirements.

Updated timetable information will be available from mid-August and you will have the opportunity to discuss your unit choices during induction week with your course director.

Coursework and assessment

Most units are assessed by means of an extended assessment essay. Typically, for 15 credit units, these will be 4000 words, whilst for 30 credit courses, they are normally 6000 words.

Certain options involving practical instruction in research methods, audio-visual media or museum display may also be assessed by means of presentations and/or portfolios of practical work. In addition, all MA students are required to write a 15,000 word dissertation.

Career opportunities

The MA Social Anthropology course trains you in a broad range of transferable skills that are useful in many walks of life, including assessing basic research reports, effective essay-writing, oral presentational skills in seminars and other contexts, basic computing skills, using the internet as a research tool and conducting bibliographic research.

Past graduates have gone on to many different careers, both inside and outside of academic life. As it is a 'conversion' course aimed at those who want to explore anthropology after undergraduate studies in another field, or at least within a different anthropological tradition, it often represents a major change of career direction, opening up a wide range of different possibilities.

Tuition fees

Students living in United States
(International fees)

£ 17,333per year

Tuition fees shown are for indicative purposes and may vary. Please check with the institution for most up to date details.

University information

University of Manchester

  • University League Table

    19th

  • Campus address

    The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, England

Subject rankings

  • Subject ranking

    7th out of 26 4

  • Entry standards

    / Max 217
    158 80%

    10th

  • Graduate prospects

    / Max 100
    70.0 70%

    12th

    2
  • Student satisfaction

    / Max 5
    4.12 82%

    3rd

    9

Suggested courses

University of Aberdeen
SIMILAR RANKING

Social Anthropology MRes

University of Aberdeen

Anthropology league table

10
SOAS University of London
MOST VIEWED

MA Social Anthropology

SOAS University of London

University league table

58

Is this page useful?

Yes No

Sorry about that...

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE IT?

SUBMIT

Thanks for your feedback!