School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography

DPhil and MLitt in Anthropology

Course Code | 001655

The overwhelming majority of research students in the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA) conduct research under the doctoral rather than MLitt programme, either via the MSt/MSc route (nine- to twelve-month taught course, followed by an additional nine to twelve months as a Probationer Research Student) or the MPhil route (two-year taught course followed by direct transfer to the research programme).

Students who already hold a taught course degree in anthropology may be enrolled directly within ISCA as Probationer Research Students. It is preferred that doctoral students in ICEA have a suitable master’s degree as background.

Research in ISCA spans a wide range of topics in social, medical, museum, materials and visual anthropology; geographical areas covered include Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South and East Asia, and Lowland South America.

Doctoral students in the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology website (ICEA) conduct research in various area of cognitive and evolutionary anthropology, including the development of language and the evolution of socio-cognitive systems.

Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA)

MSc in Medical Anthropology

Course Code | 001600 

MPhil in Medical Anthropology

Course Code | 001590 

The two degree programmes in Medical Anthropology aim to provide a thorough grounding in the theory and methodology of Medical Anthropology, and an ability to apply this knowledge to particular research objectives.

The programmes are designed to prepare high-quality students for further research in the discipline and for employment in fields where sensitivity to cross-cultural variability is required, and to build upon students' knowledge of recent significant advances in techniques, information and ideas which will have been acquired as part of the training within a general anthropological perspective, as well as a general understanding of the role of medical anthropologists in society.

The MPhil in Medical Anthropology is recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

• Length of programmes: Twelve months (MSc in Medical Anthropology), or twenty-one months (MPhil in Medical Anthropology)
• Core and optional courses

MSt in Social Anthropology

Course Code | 001672

MSc in Social Anthropology

Course Code | 001670

MPhil in Social Anthropology

Course Code | 001660

The degree programmes in Social Anthropology aim to provide a strong background in analytical and methodological issues in the subject, and practice in the critical evaluation of its sources, both in the library and in the context of fieldwork.

The programmes will prepare high-quality students from the UK, EU and overseas, either for further research in the discipline or for employment in fields where sensitivity to cross-cultural variability is required. Course teaching takes into account the recent significant advances in techniques, information and ideas at the forefront of current research and integrates these within a general anthropological perspective.

Both programmes provide a range of generic research skills relevant not only to this discipline, but to several neighbouring fields where students might eventually be given responsibility for research or the administration or application of research.

• Length of programmes: Nine months (MSt), twelve months (MSc), or twenty-one months (MPhil)
• Core and optional courses

MSc in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology

Course Code | 000732

MPhil in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology

Course Code | 000731

The two degree programmes in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology consolidate long-standing programmes in Material Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (MAME) and Visual Anthropology (VA), in recognition of the increasing intellectual and empirical links between these areas of anthropological enquiry.

The programmes act as terminal degrees but also prepare students for doctoral research by introducing a wide range of theories and perspectives on museum anthropology, visual anthropology, and material culture theory, as well as practical field- and museum-based research methodologies.

A rich programme of research-led teaching and visiting speakers, curators and filmmakers, allows students to benefit from study within the oldest and one of the most important departments of anthropology in the country and to draw upon the resources of one of the greatest ethnographic museums in the world.

The MSc and MPhil are approved sub-pathway routes for the ESRC-approved Anthropology pathway to doctoral training and are therefore eligible for ESRC funding.

• Length of programmes: Twelve months (MSc), or twenty-one months (MPhil)
• Core and optional courses

Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology 

MSc in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology

Course Code | 001673 

Since the inception of modern anthropology, considerations of the impact of human biology and natural ecology on human thought, behaviour, social structures and cultural expression have occupied a central position in the field. Anthropology at Oxford has championed this decidedly scientific side of anthropology.

Developments in evolutionary approaches to genetics, culture and animal behaviour, as well as evolutionary psychology and neuroimaging studies, have already begun to change the face of anthropology. Similarly, advances in the cognitive sciences, including the area of cognition and culture, have begun to reinvigorate cognitive anthropology and to bridge its gap with biological anthropology, bringing them closer together than at any other time in their respective histories.

Connecting biological constraint to cultural expression requires an eye on cognition, and likewise a thorough study of cognition and its interplay with culture requires attention be paid to the biological and evolutionary dimensions of anthropology.

Understanding human and animal behaviour also requires a thorough appreciation of the role of strategic thinking (as represented in the behavioural ecology approach of evolutionary biology), which is addressed by the MSc in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology.

• Length of programme: Twelve months

The resources of the School of Anthropology include the world-renowned Pitt Rivers Museum, which has a workroom containing a video library and dedicated computing equipment available for students in visual and material anthropology, and the Balfour Library, a teaching and research library for anthropology.

The main ISCA building at 51 Banbury Road houses the Tylor Library, one of the leading anthropology libraries in the UK, and a dedicated computer room.

The Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology is housed separately in a new building, with its own dedicated lecture room, common room and teaching and research area. The ICEA houses the Centre for Anthropology and Mind, a thriving research hub for the cognitive scientific study of culture.

The majority of former Anthropology students have gone on to careers in academia and the professions.