MA (Hons) Social Anthropology (Single honours)

The MA (Hons) in Social Anthropology explores the fundamental question of ‘what it is to be human’. It seeks to answer this by examining the diverse ways in which human beings establish and live social lives in the contemporary world. Although Social Anthropology involves studying a full variety of human contexts, at St Andrews the chief focus is on societies in East and West Africa, the Pacific, South America, the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia.

The MA (Hons) in Social Anthropology is a four-year course run by the Department of Social Anthropology. Social Anthropology at St Andrews has a distinctive orientation that combines interpretive, experiential, philosophical and historical research that is politically engaged, reflexive and critically aware. In the first two years, you will be introduced to the wide variety of societies that anthropologists study and some key theoretical approaches

. This is a good opportunity to explore a number of different anthropological topics and to see where your interests lie. Alongside Social Anthropology, in the first year of your studies, you will be required to study an additional two subjects. In the second year you will usually carry on at least one of these subjects, sometimes two.