MA Social Anthropology and Intensive Language P4 (Japanese)

This is an intensive programme that takes place at a Japanese university in the summer. In this module students will learn to consolidate the knowledge and skills obtained from Intensive Elementary Japanese 1. They will develop further the intermediate language competence in both receptive (reading/ listening) and productive (speaking/writing) skills and acquire mediation skills. Whilst studying in Japan students will have extensive opportunities for direct experience of life in Japanese society and develop cultural awareness, allowing them to compare it to their own cultures.

This module aims to develop a basic elementary level of interactional competence by using productive (speaking/writing) and receptive (reading/listening) skills in Japanese on concrete and familiar everyday topics. In addition to the four skills mentioned above, acquiring transferable skills such as translation to and from Japanese/English also form a part of learning Japanese at this module. Students are also expected to learn essential customs and Japanese cultures through the engagement of language activities and appreciate the importance of intercultural understanding and diversity in everyday contexts and develop cultural awareness in Japanese cultures.

This module aims to develop an elementary level of interactional competence by using productive (speaking/writing) and receptive (reading/listening) skills in Japanese on predictable and familiar everyday topics. In addition to the four skills mentioned above, acquiring transferable skills such as translation to and from Japanese/English also form a part of learning Japanese at this module. Students are also expected to learn appropriate customs and Japanese cultures through the engagement of language activities and appreciate the importance of intercultural understanding and diversity in everyday contexts and develop cultural awareness in Japanese culture.

This module takes research methods as philosophically and practically exciting techniques and attitudes that allow us to know and understand the world better. The material addresses the history and foundations of anthropological knowledge, and describes some of the key concepts in anthropological methodology by using 'ethnographic writing' as a guide. The module encourages self-reflexivity, ethical conduct, and an anticipatory awareness of research practice and design. We explore ideas such as participant observation, the field, fieldwork, fieldnotes, interviewing and the ways in which scales of knowledge (local and global) can be brought into conversation through well-thought through methodology.

This module guides students through key concepts and theories that have underpinned the discipline of social/cultural anthropology over the last five decades, with particular attention to how theoretical concerns and orientations are continually rethought and retooled to address contemporary conditions. The module consciously departs from the conventional “canon” (i.e., the “founding fathers” approach) to offer a more inclusive and vibrant picture of the discipline’s (post-1960s) theoretical shifts. But it does so without overlooking the reverberations of anthropology’s past colonial entanglements, and without giving up its older core question: what does it mean to be human? Weekly class sessions and readings address a variety of topics across the anthropological spectrum, without diluting their analytical and empirical richness.

721 Ethnographic Encounters introduces MA Social Anthropology students to the research interests and regional/topical specialisms of members of the SOAS Anthropology Department, the variety of theoretical questions and field sites that make up contemporary anthropology, and the specifics of how anthropologists work, design projects, gather their data, and write about their findings. Through a series of conversational lectures/seminars with members of the Anthropology faculty, guided by the module convenor, students will be introduced to the research process behind each academic’s publications, shedding light on their methods and offering insight into the less-often discussed practicalities and peculiarities of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in the contemporary world.

This module is concerned with the ways the mind and mental illness are understood in different cultural contexts. We explore the cultural and historical shaping of Western psychiatry and its interaction with other diagnostic and healing traditions. Are psychiatric diagnostic categories like depression or PTSD universal or culturally and historically specific, bound to particular notions of mind, body or spirit? Is Western psychiatric knowledge imposed on other societies through Global Mental Health, or does the expansion of evidence-based treatments address a critical ‘treatment gap’? Is the globally rising diagnosis of mental disorders a consequence of new stressors, undiagnosed conditions or the medicalisation of ordinary sadness and coping responses? How might we understand the relationship between brain biology, adverse life experiences, and culturally experienced illness? How does social inequality, discrimination and abuse affect mental health? The module uses ethnographic research, cultural psychiatry and anthropological theory to explore such questions.

This course offers an exploration of the formation of diasporas and their cultural politics. It looks at how diasporic subjectivities are formed through gendered aesthetic practices and performances, which can take on and signify religious, cultural, political meanings, which are in turn constantly negotiated, hybridised and re-fashioned across bodies, times and spaces.

In this module we explore the complex and often paradoxical relationship between place, mobilities and food. We critically interrogate claims made about food system 'delocalisation', 'deskilling' and 'gastro-anomie'. We examine food markets, street foods and restaurants as sites of both cultural production and labour exploitation, of social interaction, cosmopolitanism and open debate, and of social control, surveillance and spatial cleansing. We explore contemporary forms of ethical food activism, including in the digital realm, and consider the complex role of food in migration.

This module deepens student understanding of key concepts in medical anthropology with a special focus on a) the materiality of bodies, substances, and practices, and b) science and technology studies that explore how knowledge comes into being, how it gains traction in the world, and how it shapes existing subjectivities and creates new ways of being and relating.

This module is open to all students interested in understanding major transitions in the conceptualisation of the social since the 1960s. Highlighting important currents in poststructuralist thought in anthropology and beyond, the module explores sources of new ideas and frameworks that are themselves of fundamental significance to all humanities and social science scholars. The module guides students to engage with and critically evaluate the theoretical underpinnings of social anthropology as a field of inquiry, and the ways these have been rethought in the face of recent historical and political shifts inclusive of decolonisation and neoliberalism. It introduces new vital concepts and currents, themselves the result of intense interdisciplinary encounters between anthropology on the one hand, and sociology, history, philosophy and political science, on the other.

What does it mean to study music-making as a dynamic field of practice, rooted in social and political realities? How does it change our understanding of music when we consider embodied engagement, practices of listening, emotion and affect? This module introduces contemporary themes and approaches within the discipline of ethnomusicology: music, society and environment; musical identities; music and sustainability; music, diaspora and transnational flows; and digital mediation. Through individual fieldwork projects, students engage with the methodologies of musical ethnography: field-based research techniques and ethnographic writing.

Special Theme (2024/25): The Cultural Politics of Chinese Food
We explore key themes in the anthropology of Chinese societies through the lens of food and its cultural politics. In China, food figures prominently in the formation and expression of cultural identities, majority-minority interactions, political power, gender, religious practice, and everyday social relations. Longstanding concerns about food security have increasingly given way to anxieties about food safety and dietary health and renewed interest in culinary tourism and heritage. Food also mediates the relationship between China and the world and shapes the experiences of Chinese in the diaspora. The course addresses current issues and debates surrounding food systems and food practices, as they pertain to Chinese societies and peoples. Topics covered include: food safety and social trust; the culture and politics of banqueting; cultural understandings of body, health and nutrition; food and urban space; food and diasporas; ethnicity and nationalism; meat production, consumption, and avoidance; and famine, memory and moral economies.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of a particular region in South Asia, its resident populations, and/or its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. Students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes, such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, caste and class personhood, the body, consumption, labour and livelihoods, violence and justice, and the environment, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of the Near and Middle East, the region's resident populations, and its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. The module draws on material on countries such as Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, and may also include literature on Muslims in South East Asia and Europe. Students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, violence and justice, consumption, labour and livelihoods, and social identities, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.

A Dissertation of 10,000 words (excluding bibliography, appendices, etc., but including footnotes) is a required element of all MA Anthropology Degrees. The topic of the dissertation is left to students to decide according to their interests and subject to the agreement of the relevant Programme Convenor. The dissertation should show an appropriate command of anthropological theory and the relevant literature, as well as the capacity to apply this to the topic in question. Students should also demonstrate an understanding of the specialised field of their degree.

The objective of this module is to prepare students to understand the main points on familiar matters regularly encountered in contexts such as university, leisure, etc. Students will also learn fundamental Japanese customs and cultures and appreciate the importance of intercultural understanding and diversity. 

The objective of this module is to prepare students to understand the main points on familiar matters encountered in contexts such as university, leisure, etc. It builds on knowledge gained in the pre-intermediate level. Students will also learn fundamental Japanese customs and cultures and develop intercultural understanding and diversity.

In this module, students will learn how to communicate effectively and appropriately in a variety of contexts, styles, and modes. Students engage in communication on both personal and social topics, using complex oral and written texts. They also learn Japanese customs and culture and compare them with those they are familiar with, appreciating the importance of intercultural understanding and diversity. 

In this module, students will learn how to communicate effectively and fluently in a variety of contexts, styles, and modes. Students engage in the communication with the speakers of Japanese to develop a deeper understanding of Japanese society and culture and compare them with those they are familiar with, appreciating the importance of intercultural understanding, diversity, and global citizenship. 

This module is concerned with the ways the mind and mental illness are understood in different cultural contexts. We explore the cultural and historical shaping of Western psychiatry and its interaction with other diagnostic and healing traditions. Are psychiatric diagnostic categories like depression or PTSD universal or culturally and historically specific, bound to particular notions of mind, body or spirit? Is Western psychiatric knowledge imposed on other societies through Global Mental Health, or does the expansion of evidence-based treatments address a critical ‘treatment gap’? Is the globally rising diagnosis of mental disorders a consequence of new stressors, undiagnosed conditions or the medicalisation of ordinary sadness and coping responses? How might we understand the relationship between brain biology, adverse life experiences, and culturally experienced illness? How does social inequality, discrimination and abuse affect mental health? The module uses ethnographic research, cultural psychiatry and anthropological theory to explore such questions.

This course offers an exploration of the formation of diasporas and their cultural politics. It looks at how diasporic subjectivities are formed through gendered aesthetic practices and performances, which can take on and signify religious, cultural, political meanings, which are in turn constantly negotiated, hybridised and re-fashioned across bodies, times and spaces.

In this module we explore the complex and often paradoxical relationship between place, mobilities and food. We critically interrogate claims made about food system 'delocalisation', 'deskilling' and 'gastro-anomie'. We examine food markets, street foods and restaurants as sites of both cultural production and labour exploitation, of social interaction, cosmopolitanism and open debate, and of social control, surveillance and spatial cleansing. We explore contemporary forms of ethical food activism, including in the digital realm, and consider the complex role of food in migration.

This module deepens student understanding of key concepts in medical anthropology with a special focus on a) the materiality of bodies, substances, and practices, and b) science and technology studies that explore how knowledge comes into being, how it gains traction in the world, and how it shapes existing subjectivities and creates new ways of being and relating.

This module is open to all students interested in understanding major transitions in the conceptualisation of the social since the 1960s. Highlighting important currents in poststructuralist thought in anthropology and beyond, the module explores sources of new ideas and frameworks that are themselves of fundamental significance to all humanities and social science scholars. The module guides students to engage with and critically evaluate the theoretical underpinnings of social anthropology as a field of inquiry, and the ways these have been rethought in the face of recent historical and political shifts inclusive of decolonisation and neoliberalism. It introduces new vital concepts and currents, themselves the result of intense interdisciplinary encounters between anthropology on the one hand, and sociology, history, philosophy and political science, on the other.

What does it mean to study music-making as a dynamic field of practice, rooted in social and political realities? How does it change our understanding of music when we consider embodied engagement, practices of listening, emotion and affect? This module introduces contemporary themes and approaches within the discipline of ethnomusicology: music, society and environment; musical identities; music and sustainability; music, diaspora and transnational flows; and digital mediation. Through individual fieldwork projects, students engage with the methodologies of musical ethnography: field-based research techniques and ethnographic writing.

Special Theme (2024/25): The Cultural Politics of Chinese Food
We explore key themes in the anthropology of Chinese societies through the lens of food and its cultural politics. In China, food figures prominently in the formation and expression of cultural identities, majority-minority interactions, political power, gender, religious practice, and everyday social relations. Longstanding concerns about food security have increasingly given way to anxieties about food safety and dietary health and renewed interest in culinary tourism and heritage. Food also mediates the relationship between China and the world and shapes the experiences of Chinese in the diaspora. The course addresses current issues and debates surrounding food systems and food practices, as they pertain to Chinese societies and peoples. Topics covered include: food safety and social trust; the culture and politics of banqueting; cultural understandings of body, health and nutrition; food and urban space; food and diasporas; ethnicity and nationalism; meat production, consumption, and avoidance; and famine, memory and moral economies.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of a particular region in South Asia, its resident populations, and/or its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. Students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes, such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, caste and class personhood, the body, consumption, labour and livelihoods, violence and justice, and the environment, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of the Near and Middle East, the region's resident populations, and its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. The module draws on material on countries such as Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, and may also include literature on Muslims in South East Asia and Europe. Students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, violence and justice, consumption, labour and livelihoods, and social identities, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.