Course summary
The Cambridge MPhil by advanced study in Social Anthropology is an intensive 11-month course (early October to end August). The course is intended for graduate students who are studying the subject for the first time, who have studied Anthropology in the context of a more general degree, and/or for those with little knowledge of the tradition of British Social Anthropology. The degree can be a free-standing qualification or a route to the original research involved in a PhD, or a means to acquire knowledge of anthropology for use in other fields and professional contexts. This is a demanding course which enables students to reach a fairly high level of specialist knowledge in social anthropology within a relatively short time and, subject to performance in their exams and assessed work, equips them to undertake a research degree. Given that MPhil students are supervised on an individual basis in order to provide a programme of teaching tailored to individual needs, the assignment of supervisors is spread as evenly as possible among the staff attached to the Department. Principal fields of anthropological analysis are covered in two core seminar courses in 'The Scope of Social Anthropology'. Attendance at these is compulsory for all students. These two courses cover, respectively, 'Production and Reproduction', which includes the fields of economic anthropology and kinship studies; and 'Systems of Power and Knowledge', which includes political anthropology and the anthropology of religion. Students also take a non-assessed course in theory and methods and one course in a specialist option subject. Different optional papers are on offer each year. Examples of optional papers include : Ethnography; Gender, Kinship and Care; History, Archive, Time. In addition, for those wishing to specialise in a particular professional field, the Department may also offer options in Social Anthropology and Museums and Medical Anthropology. Please see the Department website for confirmation of options running in 2023-24 and further details of the courses.
Entry requirements
Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK High II.i Honours Degree. If your degree is not from the UK, please check International Qualifications to find the equivalent in your country. Applicants wishing to follow the options in Medical Anthropology or Social Anthropology and Museums would benefit from previous experience in these areas.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
No fee information has been provided for this course
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Provider information
University of Cambridge
The Old Schools
Trinity Lane
Cambridge
CB2 1TN