MSc in Social Anthropology

Everything social is open to question, including solidly held beliefs and attitudes and ideas about causality, the self in society, and nature and culture. Learning to relate different versions of the world to each other is learning to be a Social Anthropologist and is what we hope you will learn over the course of your degree.

The MSc in Social Anthropology aims to provide a solid background in analytical and methodological issues as they apply to social anthropology. You will critically read key intellectual contributions to the discipline and you will be introduced to ethnographic methods and experiences of living among, and writing about, people. You will learn how to comparatively study what makes humans simultaneously similar and yet different. You will follow both core and option courses in social anthropology and may also consider doing a little fieldwork over the summer for your MSc dissertation if appropriate (and the School approves). Core teaching covers the major theories, approaches and themes in social anthropology, plus comparing cultures, anthropology in the world, and fieldwork theories and methods. Option courses offered vary from year to year, but are chosen from around twelve to fifteen that are available, with topics ranging from specific areas of geographical focus, to current anthropological themes.

Teaching is by a mixture of lectures, where you will be listening to a specialist in the topic, classes, where you will be presenting and discussing texts in small groups (eight to nine students), and tutorials, where, in small groups of three or four, you will be exploring with one another and with the tutor issues and ideas raised in your own essays and other work on the topic they have assigned; the tutor will also provide written feedback on the essays.

Methods and skills training are offered through the school and sometimes through other institutions as well. A programme of research seminars is available, some of which feature invited speakers from outside the university. The principal event in this programme is the departmental seminar, run weekly during term time.

Attendance

The School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography takes the view that full-time degrees require full-time study (ie equivalent to typical employment, around 40 hours per week, throughout the year). MSc students should expect to spend six to eight hours per week in term time in formal teaching contexts (lectures, seminar groups, tutorials, classes), which can be supplemented with attendance of the many research and visiting speaker seminars on offer; the remainder of their time (ie around 30 hours per week) should be spent on independent study and preparation of submitted work. The periods outside term time are considered to be opportunities for further independent study, consolidating and supplementing the knowledge gained during the preceding term and preparing work for examination, as well as for an appropriate break from study.

Resources to support your study

Workspaces are available in the school on a first-come, first-served basis. Laboratory and other dedicated workspaces and equipment for methods teaching will be provided where required. All students receive an email account.

The Pitt Rivers Museum has its own library, the Balfour Library. The Pitt Rivers Museum also has an online catalogue of its entire collections and a number of dedicated collections-based and research-related websites.

A student-run society, the Oxford University Anthropology Society, runs coffee mornings, talks and other social and academic events throughout the year. 

Supervision

You will receive all or most of your academic supervision in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. You will have a named supervisor, who will have overall responsibility for the direction of your work from inception to submission.

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography.

Students will normally meet with their supervisor at least twice per term, but are likely to do so more often than this as their supervisor is typically also involved in their class teaching; students may also contact their supervisor at other times.

Assessment

You will be examined on two core papers: one in the second term, and one in the third term. During the third term, you will also be examined on two option papers. These assessments will usually take the form of an essay or an unseen timed examination. You will also be examined on a dissertation which you will submit in late August.

You receive support from your tutors in devising a viable dissertation project, including discussion of relevant literature, questions of methodology and research implementation, but the actual writing of the dissertation is unsupervised providing you with an opportunity to demonstrate your skills and qualities as an independent researcher.

Graduate destinations

The conditions for applicants to proceed from an Oxford master's degree to a doctorate are: 

1. a viable project
2. agreed supervision
3. an overall mark of at least 67% in an Oxford anthropology master's degree
4. the agreement of the School of Anthropology as a whole.

Research and teaching, though this often requires a doctorate, recruitment to public bodies, the larger private companies, development agencies, NGOs etc.

College preference

The following colleges accept students on the MSc in Social Anthropology: