Anthropology BSc

Level 1 offers a firm grounding in the central themes and debates in anthropology. It introduces students to the international work being carried out by the teaching staff and explores the practicalities of undertaking anthropological fieldwork.

At Level 2, you will take more advanced modules in the history and theory of anthropology, alongside modules covering topics such as kinship, ethnicity, religion, sex and gender, and regional ethnography.

At Level 3, in addition to training in contemporary anthropological theory, students can select from a range of topics as varied as personhood, the body, disability, medical anthropology, international development, childhood and youth, education, and psychological and psychiatric anthropology.

The BSc consists of both compulsory and optional modules, a typical selection can be found below. Modules can vary from year to year, but these offer a good idea of what we teach.

Level 1

Compulsory

• Introduction to Anthropology: Themes
• Fieldwork Encounters: Thinking Through Ethnography
• Introduction to Anthropology: Beliefs and Ways of Thinking
• Research Methods in Anthropology
• Anthropology and Contemporary Debates
• Anthropology, Objects and Images

Level 2

Compulsory

• Ethnicity, Culture and Identity
• Ethnography of a Selected Region
• Kinship, Sex and Gender
• Classical Anthropological Theory
• Political and Economic Issues in Anthropology

Optional

• Global Communication
• Sociology of Everyday Life: Issues in Contemporary Culture

Level 3

Compulsory

• Social Anthropology Dissertation
• Contemporary Anthropological Theory

Optional

• Anthropology of the Person
• Anthropology of the Body
• Understanding Childhood Youth
• Themes in Psychological and Psychiatric Anthropology
• Medical Anthropology in Clinical and Community Settings
• Anthropology of Education and Learning
• Ethnography of a Selected Region
• Anthropological Perspectives on War and Humanitarianism
• Global Health in Anthropological Perspective

Dissertation

All students write a 10-15,000 word dissertation in their final year (which, on four-year degrees, usually draws on research conducted during the second Work Placement). This is on a topic of your choice. In past years, students have written on topics such as:

• A New Age Settler Colony in South India
• The Effectiveness of AIDS Education Programmes
• The Role of Indigenous Healers in a South African Village
• Migration and Social Investment in a Mexican Village
• Exploring Modern Urban Paganism

Read more about the structure of undergraduate degrees at Brunel and what you will learn on the course.