Our MA Social Anthropology programme is designed on a modular basis offering different pathways to suit three categories of students:

• students with a degree in social anthropology wishing to pursue more specialist topics and/or more regional and language-based study
• students with little or no previous knowledge of social anthropology wishing to acquire a broad knowledge of the discipline
• students with little or no previous knowledge of social anthropology wishing to take the degree as a conversion course before proceeding to a research degree in anthropology

Why study MA Social Anthropology at SOAS

• our Anthropology Department is ranked 5th in the UK and 13th in the world in the 2020 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 outside world of academia
• you will be able to flexibly structure your programme using our optional modules and/or the 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 language at SOAS will set you apart from graduates of other universities

This programme has a first-rate graduate employability record. See Employment for more information.

 For more information email: anthsoc@soas.ac.uk

Start of programme: September intake only

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 compulsory modules listed below, except for students with a previous Anthropology degree, who are not required to take the Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology (TASA) module but may wish to select this as one of their options. In addition to TASA, students who choose one of the pathways in the MA Social Anthropology (The Anthropology of Development, Sustainability and Social Change or Medical Anthropology), are required to take the compulsory modules associated with the pathway.

Programme Detail

Compulsory Module

AND

Guided Module(s) from the Anthropology and Sociology list below, to the value of 30 credits.

AND

Guided Module(s) from the Anthropology and Sociology list below, OR modules from the Postgraduate Open Options List, to the value of 45 credits.

Dissertation

Students must complete a Dissertation (10,000 words) worth 60 credits.

Pathways

Students who wish to focus on a pathway within the MA Social Anthropology are required to take the compulsory modules of that degree: Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology, Ethnographic Research Methods, and Dissertation in Social Anthropology. They must also fulfil the following requirements of the pathway:

For Pathway - Anthropology of Development, Sustainability and Social Change 

Compulsory Module

AND

Guided Module(s) from the Anthropology and Sociology list below, OR modules from the Postgraduate Open Options List, to the value of 45 credits.

For Pathway - Medical Anthropology

Compulsory Module

AND

Guided Module(s) from the Anthropology and Sociology list below, OR modules from the Postgraduate Open Options List, to the value of 45 credits.

List of Modules (subject to availability)

Anthropology and Sociology

Programme Specification

• MA Social Anthropology Programme Specification (pdf; 523kb)

Important notice

Teaching & Learning

The academic staff in the Department of Anthropology are dynamic, experienced teachers who are widely recognised for their expertise and enjoy working directly with students. Renowned scholars from other institutions also come to share their knowledge. The SOAS Anthropology Department sponsors several lecture series, including the weekly Departmental Research Seminar, the Food Studies Centre's Food Forum and the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies’ Seminar Series.

In addition to these formal settings for learning, our students also learn from one another. Hailing from around the globe and bringing diverse life experiences to bear on their studies, all MA students in the Department of Anthropology can take courses together, making it a rich environment for intellectual exchange. Students also benefit from campus-wide programmes, clubs, study groups, and performances.

Modules

 During the academic year, modules are delivered through a combination of lectures, tutorials and/or seminars. Students can expect an average of two hours of classroom time per week for each module. Outside of the classroom, students explore topics of the module through independent study and through personal exchanges with teachers and fellow students. In some cases, modules are taught by several teachers within the department to provide students with an array of perpsectives on the subject. All modules involve the active participation of students in the discussion of ideas, viewpoints and readings. 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

The MA Social Anthropology culminates in a 10,000-word dissertation, based on original research on a topic of the student's own choosing and developed in discussion with a supervisor.

Tuition Fees

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

This is a Band 3 tuition fee.

Fees for 2021/22 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

A Masters in Social Anthropology helps you to understand the world, other peoples’ ways of life and how society is organised.

This programme has a first-rate graduate employability record. Our alumni include everyone from dance therapists and film editors, to teachers, gender violence outreach workers, television and radio producers, international development workers, journalists, analysts, web developers, and more. Students with a SOAS degree in Anthropology are regularly employed by NGOs, charitable organisations, media companies, and voluntary sector organisations. Recent graduates have found jobs at Action on Hearing Loss, British Council, Deloitte, Hackney Migrant Centre, IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), The New York Times, and the Social Mobility Foundation. Many of our graduates have their own successful start-ups, and others go on to research degreees and lectureships/professorships around the world.

Over the years the SOAS department has trained numerous leading anthropologists who have gone on to occupy lectureships and professorships throughout the world. Equally, students gain skills during their degree that transfer well to areas such as information and technology, government service, the media and tourism.  

Postgraduate students leave SOAS with a portfolio of widely transferable skills which employers seek, including analytical and critical skills; ability to gather, assess and interpret data; high level of cultural awareness; and problem-solving.  

A postgraduate degree is a valuable experience that provides students with a body of work and a diverse range of skills that they can use to market themselves with when they graduate.

Graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations including:

Types of roles that graduates have gone on to do include:

For more information visit our Graduate Destinations for this department.

• How to Apply
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• Tuition Fees
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