Anthropology

Human Evolutionary Biology and Geography

In this module, you’ll dive into human evolution. You’ll explore how the biological stages of human evolution link to changes in society and behaviour. You’ll gain specialist knowledge of the palaeoenvironmental (environment of a past age) and palaeogeographical ( geographical features of a past age) context of human evolution.

Methods and Analysis in Biological Anthropology

In this module, you’ll get to grips with the key methods and analysis in biological anthropology. You’ll core key scientific skills for your degree and dissertation. You’ll apply the scientific method (using testing to gain knowledge about the natural world) and hypothesis testing to biological anthropology. And you’ll observe the scientific methods of studying biological forms, including:

• human diversity
• forensics
• skeletal analyses.

You’ll also explore:

• Behavioural observation techniques
• Population genetics
• Evolutionary systematics.

Social Anthropology Theory

In this module, you’ll explore the rise of social anthropology as a science. You’ll dig into the main developments in social anthropology. You’ll look at nineteenth century social evolutionism - the belief that all societies start off as simple and primitive, and evolve to more complex states. You’ll also look at post-structuralism (the idea that if we’re to understand an object, we need to understand the environment that produced it), and feminism.

Research Methods in Social Anthropology

In this module, you’ll gain fantastic research skills for your dissertation and other independent projects. You’ll develop a strong knowledge of the research methods that social anthropologists use. You’ll work in a small team on an independent research project, and discover the best research methods for your own dissertation.

Anthropology in Action

In this module, you’ll kick-start your career, as you explore the wide range of career options open to Anthropology graduates. You’ll put anthropology into practice, using the skills you’ve gained in your degree to explore how anthropology contributes to:

• business
• conservation
• development
• human health and wellbeing
• forensic investigations.

Anthropology of India

In this module, you’ll get to grips with India, and its cultural customs and habits. You’ll dive into key economic and political issues in India. You’ll look at how Indian and non-Indian anthropologists seek to understand the diversity of the country. And you’ll follow India’s social, political and economic change - from colonialism to postcolonialism, and then to free-market capitalism. And you’ll gain key insight into how India has been represented and imagined over time.

We often stereotype rituals as exotic, and about religion. However, you’ll enrich your perspective as you explore ritual in non-religious contexts. You’ll look at ritual within:

• politics and power relations
• social identities
• social traditions.

Anthropology of Ritual

What are rituals, and why do we perform them? In this module, you’ll explore the key role of rituals in society. You’ll look at various human communities as you consider the origins of ritual, and its different definitions. You’ll gain valuable critical skills as you explore key anthropological concepts, including:

• rites of passage
• liminality
• anti-structure
• communities.

Becoming Independent Researchers

What does real-world research involve? How does academic publication work? What makes a good dissertation proposal? These are some of the questions you’ll discuss and find answers to in this module. You’ll discover more about the research activities of the biological anthropology staff and postgraduates. You’ll develop the motivation, skills and discipline you need to become a successful independent researcher, preparing you to tackle your Dissertation and Independent Study in Year 3.

European Societies

In this module, you’ll investigate European societies. You’ll apply classic concepts in studying societies as you look at European villages and urban neighbourhoods. You’ll then explore broader contemporary issues, including:

• identity
• nationalism
• racism
• how we use history
• ceremonial issues
• tourism
• the EU.

Human Ecology

How do humans interact with their environments, past and present? In this module, you’ll explore two key themes - nutrition and disease - and what these can tell us about humans and their biological and social surroundings. You’ll gain a strong grounding in the principles of human ecology. And you’ll gain key critical skills as you explore humans and their evolution.

Personhood, Gender and the Body in Contemporary Japan

How do people define themselves as human beings in contemporary Japan? How do they view gender and the body? In this module, you’ll apply anthropological thinking to Japanese culture. You’ll also explore how the role of health and medicine in Japan, including:

• medical systems in Japan
• beliefs around reproductive technologies, end of life, and organ donation.

Primate Adaptation and Evolution

Are humans any different from other primates? In this module, you’ll dig into the relationship between humans and other primates. You’ll investigate:

• structure
• physiology
• molecular biology
• evolutionary history.

You’ll discover what marks us as human against other species. You’ll gain a detailed knowledge of other species, as you trace our inheritance and explore the reasons for our unique characteristics.

Anthropology Dissertation (compulsory for single honours, optional for combined honours)

This module gives you the chance to do research on a topic that fascinates you. You’ll have the support of expert tutors. This is an opportunity for you to showcase your passions, expertise and advanced learning in Social Anthropology.

Anthropology Independent Study

This module gives you the chance to do research on a question or issue that fascinates you. You can home in on any topic in social or biological anthropology, with the support of expert tutors. You’ll enhance the key skills needed for a research project, gaining vital experience for the world of work:

• planning
• explaining a problem in depth
• carrying out primary research
• collecting and analysing data
• structuring and presenting a major piece of work.
   

Anthropology of Development

In this module, you’ll explore the changing relationship between anthropology, and international development (the idea that different countries have different levels of development). You’ll gain a strong grounding in international development. You’ll gain key analytical skills as you dive into debates on the relationship between anthropology and development. You’ll explore key issues for anthropologists working in international development, including:

• gender relations
• environmental issues
• health
• youth
• religion.

You’ll compare ideas and practices in international development. You’ll look at approaches to social policy, inequality and well-being in the UK. And you disrupt the lines we draw between North and South, developed and underdeveloped, or advanced and emerging economies and societies.

Becoming Independent Researchers

In this module, you’ll develop fantastic, transferable skills for work, and gain the research skills to succeed in your degree. You’ll develop the knowledge and expertise to become an independent researcher. You’ll enjoy access to the research in our internationally acclaimed department, the current work of staff.

Cognitive Evolution

In this module, you’ll dive into human intelligence and its evolution. You’ll gain fantastic research skills as you evaluate the evidence for the development of cognitive traits such as:

• language
• Culture
• tool use
• symbolism.

You’ll uncover fossil and archeological records for evidence of human intelligence and its development. You also draw on:

• evolutionary psychology
• cognitive science
• philosophy
• linguistics
• primatology (the study of intelligent mammals).

Culture and Care

How do our brains make us care - for children, the elderly and the vulnerable? How do different cultures encourage people to nurture others? In this module, you’ll look at the evolutionary and ecological reasons for care, nurturance and social support. You’ll dive into the care practices of other cultures, as you look at how they approach:

• religion
• healing
• child care
• elder care.

You’ll also look at how we care for non-human living things and the planet as a whole. You’ll gain key analytical knowledge as you apply what you learn to yourself, your community and pressing social issues.

Dawn of Civilisation

How did humans change from nomadic hunter-gatherers to the pioneers of enormous changes in technology, subsistence and organisation? In this module, you’ll look at human history from 10,000 until 1,000 BC that led to an avalanche of development. You’ll gain key critical skills as you review:

• archeological data
• geography
• the environmental record
• mythology from the world’s first civilisations.

Material Lives: Money and Livelihoods in Contemporary Africa

In this module, you’ll explore key themes in African cultures - from the colonial era to today. You’ll reflect on core economic arguments, asking how far theories of modernisation can shed light on African social and economic transformation. You’ll dig into detailed, ethnographic (the study of people and their cultures) accounts of people’s everyday lives, reflecting on:

• the shifting nature of kinship
• gender issues
• intergenerational tensions
• economic morality.

Through these intimate stories, you’ll explore broader issues of vulnerability and marginalisation. We’ll discuss what anthropology can tell us about global impoverishment. And we’ll discuss how men and women navigate fragile livelihoods in shaky economies. 

Minorities and Marginality in Contemporary Japan

We often assume that only the Japanese live in Japan. In this module, you’ll meet Japan’s ethnic minorities and marginalised groups. You’ll understand their experiences - both historically and today. You’ll gain key analytical skills as you relate minorities in Japan to broader concerns with:

• ethnic and cultural identity and conflict
• class structure
• nationality
• hybridity in cultures
• diaspora (people living outside their original homeland).

Palaeopathology

In this module, you’ll analyse human bones from archaeological sites. You’ll get to know the ancient diseases that we can understand through human and animal bones. You’ll gain key practical skills through lab-based sessions and through researching primary material. You’ll also learn how palaeopathology can help us understand different populations.

People and Other Animals

As humans, we’ve lived closely with other animals since the dawn of time. We have a long history of interacting with each other. In this module, you’ll examine the complex and contradictory elements in people-animal relations, including:

• animals as food
• companion animals
• animals as nature.

Primate Conservation

From forest loss to climate change, living primates (including humans) are facing huge threats to their environment and conservation. In this module, you’ll get to know the impact of humans on non-human primates, including hunting for trade to the issues of co-existence.You’ll discover why our non-human primate relatives are at greater risk of extinction now than ever before. You’ll understand the major challenges facing primates, how international legislation protects them, and how we can help the world’s most threatened species.

Subjectivities and Social Transformation

In this module you will explore the relationship between material change, forms of social transformation and shifts in individual/communal subjectivities of people themselves. In exploring these intersections you will have the opportunity to think about, for example, the role of industrial capitalism, urbanization, neoliberalism, migration and shifting understanding of time and temporality.