Ancestral Studies [MSc/PgDip]

This course can be taken full or part time (at the convener’s discretion). It is comprised of two core modules and several optional taught modules. This structure allows you to shape your own curriculum and tailor it to your interests (insofar as staffing and course availability allows). You will work closely with the convener to shape a meaningful and intellectually cogent programme of study. Over the summer you will complete a dissertation or professional report dependent upon your interests.

Research Methods for Ancestral Studies introduces you to key research methodologies and practices drawn from a range of disciplines. You will receive an introduction to specialist and transferable skills such as working with archives and online genealogical resources, visual culture, heritage landscapes, museums and material culture. Emphasis is placed on the interpretation of primary sources.

Approaches to Ancestral Studies provides a conceptual framework for exploring core themes of the discipline through weekly topics drawn from multiple disciplines. You will consider questions of identity (genetic and social), examine current trends in family history and heritage research and address questions of past generations and their experiences of place, language and material culture. You will be exposed to theoretical, critical and practical insights from across the arts, humanities and sciences to explore ancestry, relational identity, intellectual inheritance and memory works.

Optional courses will be drawn from a range of disciplines and will therefore change on a yearly basis. You will work with the programme convener to choose a complement of optional courses that will align with your interests. These courses may be taken from History, Archaeology, Celtic and Gaelic, and more (depending on course offerings in any particular year).

MSc students will complete a dissertation. Innovative, cross-disciplinary dissertations are encouraged and will be supervised/co-supervised within the appropriate School/s.