Our MA programme in the Anthropology of Food offers you the opportunity to explore historically and culturally variable foodways, from foraging to industrial agriculture, from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia and South America.

You will study the passage of food from plant to palate, and examine who benefits, and who suffers, from contemporary modes of food production, exchange, preparation, and consumption. You will also explore the role of food in human migrations and investigate the formation of regional and national cuisines. As well as examine food fears and food safety and concerns over ‘nutrition transition’. 

Debates over the impact of agricultural biotechnology on agrarian livelihoods and knowledge systems, as well as on the natural environment, are assessed. Movements toward organic agriculture, veganism and vegetarianism, fair trade, and slow food are also analysed. An anthropological approach to the study of food draws upon and challenges the perspectives of other disciplines, whether agronomy or nutritional science, economics or law, history or literature.This programme has a first-rate graduate employability record, with graduates moving on to find employment in food-related government ministries, international organisations, development agencies, or non-governmental associations.

• Learn about the modules (courses) for this programme
• Click here for a last of past Dissertation Titles
• Click here for Alumni Profiles

Why study MA Anthropology of Food at SOAS?

• our Anthropology Department is ranked 6 in the UK and 16 in the world in the 2019 QS World University Rankings
• we draw on the exceptional regional expertise of our academics in Asian, African, and Middle Eastern languages and politics, many of whom have joined us with a practical working knowledge of their disciplines
• you will be joining our thriving community of alumni and academics who have an impact on the world outside of academia
• you will be able to flexibly structure your programme using our optional modules and/or optional modules from other departments, including the opportunity to learn a regional language
• we are specialists in the delivery of languages. Your command of a second language at SOAS will set you apart from graduates of other universities
• For more information email: jk2@soas.ac.uk

Scholarships

Applicants for the MA Anthropology of Food may be eligible to apply for Scholarships and Bursaries.

Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

Start of programme: September

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time

Programme Overview

The programme consists of 180 credits in total: 120 credits of modules and a dissertation of 10,000 words at 60 credits.

All students are expected to take the core and compulsory modules listed below, except for students with a previous Anthropology degree, who are not required to take the Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology module but may wish to select this as part of their 120 credits from the options lists.

All students must audit the compulsory module, Ethnographic Research Methods during term 1.  This will not count towards the 180 credits.  Students will be expected to attend only lectures and do not attend seminars or submit any assessments.  Students may choose to take this module (worth 15 credits) as part of their 120 credits from the option lists.

Students with a previous Anthropology degree will be required to take 30 credits from the Anthropology and Sociology options list.

The remaining credits can be selected from the Department of Anthropology and Sociology or relevant options from other departments or a language module.  See below for a detailed programme structure.

Programme Detail

Dissertation

Students must complete a Dissertation (10,000 words)

For students WITHOUT previous Anthropology degree

Core Module

Compulsory Module

AND

Guided Option

Choose modules from the List of Anthropology & Sociology modules below to the value of 60 credits

OR

Choose modules from the Postgraduate Open Options List to the value of 60 credits.

For students WITH previous Anthropology degree

Core Module

Compulsory Module

AND

Guided Option

Choose modules from the List of Anthropology & Sociology modules below, OR from the Postgraduate Open Options List, to the value of 30 credits

AND

Choose modules from the List of Anthropology & Sociology modules below to the value of 60 credits

OR

Choose modules from the Postgraduate Open Options List to the value of 60 credits

List of modules (subject to availability)

Anthropology and Sociology

Centre for Gender Studies

Development Studies

Religions and Philosophies

http://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecultures/courses/

Language Modules

Programme Specification

• MA Anthropology of Food Programme Specification (pdf; 251kb)

Important notice

Teaching & Learning

Course teachers Johan Pottier, Harry G. West, and Jakob Klein were awarded the 2009 Excellence in Instruction Award by the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society. West was named joint runner-up for the SOAS Director’s Teaching Prize in 2011-2012. The SOAS MA in the Anthropology of Food was named a Finalist in the Best Food Initiative category in the BBC Food & Farming Awards in 2015.

Modules

In the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, most postgraduate modules have a one or two-hour lecture and a one hour seminar every week. Lectures and seminars are often taken by different teachers to provide a variety of angles on the subject.  The majority of the student’s time will be through their own independent study. Students become more active in class through their reading and essay-writing and should greatly enhance their participation in discussion groups.  

The Dissertation

These are taken by final-year students only, its aim is to provide an opportunity for students to conduct original historical research on their own initiative, to engage in in-depth analysis of particular subjects and to use a range of primary historical sources. It is assessed by a single 10,000-word dissertation (including notes but excluding bibliography).

The Language Entitlement Programme 

While you may take a language module for credit, all SOAS MA students, regardless of department or degree, are also entitled to register for non-credit free courses in a single language through the Language Entitlement Programme (LEP). Languages normally available include Arabic, Chinese, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish and Urdu. Others may also be offered. 

Tuition Fees

Full details of postgraduate tuition fees can be found on the Registry's Postgraduate Tuition Fees page.

This is a Band 1 tuition fee.

Fees for 2019/20 entrants. The fees below are per academic year. Fees go up each year, therefore, your tuition fee in your second & subsequent years of study will be higher. Our continuing students, on the same degree programme, are protected from annual increases higher than 5%.

Scholarships

For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section

Please see our Alumni Profiles.

For more information about Graduate Destinations from this department, please visit the Careers Service website.

• How to Apply
• Online Application
• Request a prospectus
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• Funding options
• English language requirements
• Tuition Fees
• Admissions Contacts