Department of Social Anthropology

"Kuna social life & cosmology", Panama "Names & agency", Vanuatu Tevutevu: "Exchange & Ontogeny", Fiji Islands "Experiencing, using and owning land in Kyrgyz", Kyrgyzstan "Ethnohistory & heritage", Libya "Contesting Gypsyness", Slovakia "Contesting Gypsyness", Slovakia "London knowledge & English Literary culture", United Kingdom "Kuna social life & cosmology", Panama "Cosmopolitanism & Creole culture theory", Jamaica "Material culture & pastoral nomadism", Kyrgyzstan "Anthropological history: Andes and lowlands", Bolivia
"Guyanese education trends", Guyana "Transparency culture", United Kingdom "Inhabiting the land: Guarani", Bolivia "Life on the Amazon", Brazil "Knowledge & gardening", Papua New Guinea "Human Consciousness", Austria "Narratives of Cubanness in Havana", Cuba "Poetry, Language and Local Identity", Greece "Incarceration & urban Papua New Guinea", Papua New Guinea "The Outdoors as Learning Environment", United Kingdom "Amerindian notions of the self", Guyana "Tourism, Myths & Development", Uganda

These images are a random selection taken from fieldwork - you can see more information on our interactive research map or click on an image to enlarge it

The images above are a random selection from our Anthropology Research Map, which shows the fieldwork undertaken by staff and students within the department.

World map

Social Anthropology explores and compares the ways different peoples live. Today anthropologists are as likely to work in Western urban contexts as they are to research in Alaska or on a tributary of the Amazon. Wherever they work, by being sensitive to social and cultural contexts, anthropologists can gain insights into different ways of being.

Social Anthropology's central methodology, ethnography, provides context-sensitive answers to why people think and behave the way they do. The anthropological contribution to understanding society is characteristically one of laying bare what we take for granted: making un-stated assumptions and beliefs visible and analysing their workings and consequences.

The St Andrews department of Social Anthropology is in the first rank of research-led departments in Britain. According to the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, its output of 'world leading' research was bettered only by the London School of Economics. Of the Scottish departments, work published by St Andrews Social Anthropology was ranked highest by a significant margin. Its three major research centres, the Centre for Amerindian, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Centre for Cosmopolitan Studies and the Centre for Pacific Studies foster innovative regional and theoretical perspectives and programmes. Alongside its regional focii on Africa, the Americas and the Pacific, the department is internationally recognised for its work on kinship, equality and hierarchy, for its child-centred and individual-centred theoretical concerns, for theorisations of cultural diversity and complexity, and for work that integrates historical, philosophical and ethnographic perspectives.

 

Latest News

Sunni-Shii Mausoleums and Saint Veneration in Iraq and Neighbouring Countries

Department of Social Anthropology, University of St-Andrews With collaboration of: Groupe Societes, Religions, Laicites (CNRS/Paris) Sunni-Shii Mausoleums and Saint Veneration in Iraq and Neighbouring Countries (Second Workshop) MONDAY 12TH April. 2010


ESRC Quota Awards in Social Anthropology Consortium, (Aberdeen, Edinburgh and St Andrews), STAR, Scottish Training in Anthropological Research.

We are delighted to announce that UK and EU students applying for PhD study in Social Anthropology at St Andrews are eligible for two ESRC 3 and 4 year quota studentships. DEADLINE: Those wishing to be considered for ESRC awards must have submitted their application for admission to the University of St Andrews for the PhD programme by 12th March at the very latest. ESRC applications for competition awards normally have to be submitted to the Councils 12th April, but successful applicants should aim to complete their sections of the form by 10th April.

Future events

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