Anthropology

By Neda Mostafavi

Published: 15 August 2004

What do you come out with? BA or BSc.

Why do it? Because it helps you to understand yourself and peoples around the world - which is what everyone wants to do. Some students have watched a lot of David Attenborough on television or have travelled widely. Others, disillusioned by the failure of economists and sociologists to explain human behaviour, are opting for a subject that does the job better. Mature students believe it will be life-enhancing and bestow wisdom, it also a rounded subject. Do not choose it "because you want to see naked people prancing around in face paint," warns Professor Neil Thin of Edinburgh.

What's it about? Depends on the course. Some mix up biological anthropology (genetics and viewing ourselves as primates with some archaeology thrown in) and social anthropology (comparing different peoples and groups of people and the way they see the world). University College London; Durham; Cambridge and Oxford Brookes teach biological and social anthropology together. LSE does only the latter as well as some legal anthropology when combined with Law. SOAS concentrates only on Africa and Asia. At Oxford Brookes, anthropology is available only as a joint honours degree with another subject in the first year.

How long is a degree? Three years. Four years in Scotland or if combined with a language at SOAS.

What are the students like? A lot of them are mature, 21 and over on entry, and less career-minded than many. Some come from a science background, but are arts-minded; others have an arts background, but hanker after scientific knowledge - Renaissance men and women, keen to colonise other disciplines. Often students have done volunteering or have an interest in cultural diversity. Anthropology students are "predominantly intelligent females and independent-spirited characters," says Professor Thin of Edinburgh.

How is it packaged? Some courses (eg Oxford Brookes) have more assessment than others. Edinburgh splits 60/40 with the emphasis on continuous assessment and a dissertation in the 4th year with a preparatory trip (usually abroad) as research. UCL, Durham, LSE, SOAS and Cambridge rely more on exams.

How cool is it? Pretty cool, because studying ethnicity and multiculturalism carries cachet. Applications have increased in recent years. Some go so far as to claim it's the discipline of the 21st century.

What A-levels do you need? Most subjects are acceptable.

What grades? AAB-BBB at UCL, BBB at Edinburgh and LSE; ABB-BBC at Durham and CCC at Oxford Brookes.

Will you be interviewed? Yes at UCL. They want to know you understand the discipline. No at Edinburgh,SOAS or LSE, there may be exceptions for mature or non-standard students however.

Will it keep you off the dole? It should do, so long as you want to work, though it's not a vocational subject. Students generally don't become anthropologists and there are no such openings at the JobCentre. Instead, the worldly go into marketing; those who want to use their anthropology go to development agencies or human-rights groups. Typical job areas are very broad, however international law and development are common, as is work in the voluntary sector particularly with ethnic minorities, asylum seekers and refugees. A surprising number become accountants. One Durham graduate became an airline pilot.

What do students say? Charlotte Faircloth, 22, who graduated from Cambridge in 2004. "'Soc Anth' is a fantastic subject to read; not least because it can apply to anything and everything. It becomes, for those who study it, something of a way of life."

Where's best for teaching? UCL, Brunel, Cambridge, Durham, LSE, Kent, Sussex, Oxford, Manchester, SOAS and Oxford Brookes - have all been rated excellent. Edinburgh and the UHI Millenium Institute are rated commendable.

Where's best for research? Tops with a 5* were LSE and UCL. Next were Cambridge, Durham, Goldsmiths, Edinburgh, Kent, Manchester, SOAS, Oxford, Sussex, Surrey, St.Andrews and Queen's Belfast with 5.

Where's the cutting edge? Understanding people in the modern world (development anthropology). It looks, for example, at whether the Masai should be excluded from their land because of the environmental damage wrought by their cattle. Proof of increasing interest in this area is that the UK official aid program now employs over 100 social anthropologists whereas around 15 years ago they had only 3. Medical Anthropology is also a growing new area of interest where the concepts of diverse cultural illnesses are explored and the barriers of the traditional western biomedical approach are broken.

The discipline also covers the relationship between ourselves and modern culture; how we consume, how much effort we put into shopping and present-giving; the interface between anthropology, psychology, archaeology and human evolution.

Who are the stars? Professor Maurice Bloch of the LSE, who wrote How We Think They Think and was one of the first to focus on new discoveries in cognitive psychology and a specialist on Madagascar; Professor Marilyn Strathern of Cambridge, who has written about gender and exchange; Professor Leslie Aiello of UCL, for her book on human evolutionary anatomy; Professor Daniel Miller, also of UCL, for work on material culture and mass consumption; Professor Alan Bilsborough of Durham for his book on human evolution.

Related courses Anthropology of Japan at Oxford Brookes and anthropology and law at the LSE.

Added value:UCL is hoping to set up a unique centre for human evolution and ecology.