Anthropology

Overview
The Anthropology Diploma is designed to provide students with a strong grounding in the principles and methods of Anthropology. It offers the opportunity to study innovative modules taught by leading experts in key anthropological fields, including Conflict and Borders, Religion, Cognition and Culture, Business and Sustainability, Material Culture and Art, Migration and Diasporas, Anthropology of Ireland, Human-Animal relations and the cross-cultural study of Emotions. Anthropology at Queen's also has a distinguished history in Ethnomusicology, the cross-cultural study of music.

The PG teaching is research-led and draws on our staff's theoretical work in these areas, as well as regional expertise, including research in India, Pakistan, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Japan, the Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, the UK, and the island of Ireland. Anthropology at QUB is ranked 2nd in the UK (Guardian University Guide 2021) and 1st in relation to research intensity (Research Excellence Framework 2014). With 97.8% for overall satisfaction!

Our Diploma in Anthropology explores current debates in the study of cultures and societies and offers specialised knowledge and advanced skills for a range of competitive careers. Studying anthropology at postgraduate level combines an in-depth understanding of human diversity and critical social theory, with hands-on training in carrying out grounded ethnographic research.

Studying anthropology is a great way to get involved in contemporary issues, and gain a wide range of critical and applied skills highly relevant in a globally interconnected world. Diploma students in our programme learn how to discover and understand human societies and cultures, and to work in collaboration with people in their places and communities.

This programme provides students with the opportunity to work in the centre for anthropological study and research in Northern Ireland. Our staff and programmes have long-standing connections with a number of local and international organisations, NGOs, and community groups. Anthropology postgraduate life centres around the weekly Anthropology Postgraduate Seminar and regular Anthropology Research Seminars, as well as regular events in the Institute for Cognition and Culture, the Institute of Irish Studies, and The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.

Anthropology Highlights
In the Guardian University Guide 2021, Anthropology was ranked 2nd in the UK, including: 4th in the UK for: Course satisfaction 2nd in the UK on: Teaching Satisfaction 1st in the UK for: Satisfaction with feedback 2nd in the UK for: Spend per student
Global Opportunities
• Studying Anthropology at Queen's gives you the opportunity to design and carry out field research locally or anywhere else in the world. Under the guidance of experienced supervisors, students develop original projects among diverse groups of people across the globe.
Industry Links
• Our staff and programmes have long-standing connections with a range of stakeholders and beneficiaries, including national and international governmental and non-governmental organisations, cross-border and community groups, arts, music and museum professionals as well as politicians and policymakers. We value our student achievements and offer opportunities for placements and internships. Some of our students have completed successful placements through the Science Shop
https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/ScienceShop/
Career Development
• Studying anthropology is a great way to get involved in contemporary issues, and gain a wide range of critical and applied skills highly relevant in a globally interconnected world. In the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021, Anthropology was ranked 3rd in the UK for Graduate Prospects. Queen's postgraduates reap exceptional benefits. Unique initiatives, such as Degree Plus and Researcher Plus bolster our commitment to employability, while innovative leadership and executive programmes, alongside sterling integration with business experts, helps our students gain key leadership positions both nationally and internationally. Queen's is ranked in the top 140 in the world for graduate prospects (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2020).

Learning and Teaching
The Diploma is taught through a combination of small-group seminars and lectures. Assessment and Feedback: through a combination of essays, learning journals, blog-posts, placements, projects, presentations and fieldwork-based reflections.

Knowledge and Understanding
• Advanced understanding of theory and method as applied to anthropological study.
• Advanced knowledge of ethnographic accounts of various conflict-affected contexts studied in a comparative perspective.
• The ability to engage critically with historical and contemporary anthropological debates.

Subject Specific Skills
• The ability to explore social and cultural issues with reference to ethnographic case studies
• Familiarity with-and between- the ideas and approaches adopted by various anthropologists
• The ability to identify relevant information and utilise anthropological sources effectively

Transferrable Skills
• Enhanced skills in group work (through seminars), in note taking, in presentation and in written argument;
• Library research skills;
• Critical reading;
• Research Design, interviewing skills, surveying skills;
• Advanced writing and oral presentation skills.

Course Structure
If you wish to take the programme on part time basis you will be required to complete 3 taught modules each year (one in first semester and two in second semester or vice versus). It is advised you should complete the core modules in your first year. Please note, all modules run at the same time for full time and part time students. Please contact the programme convenor for further information.

Course Details Current information: Students are required to take FOUR CORE modules (THREE in semester 1 and ONE in semester 2). Students are required to take TWO Optional Modules, of which at least ONE should be from the Anthropology options.

Information here can provide the structure of the programme i.e. number of compulsory and elective modules and dissertation, credits etc.:

You will gain a strong grounding in key and current anthropological fields, studying the value and meaning of human life from the grassroots up on a local and global platform.

Learning how ethnographic fieldwork is conducted will give you real-world skills that are uniquely valued among employers and offer you unforgettable cultural and social experiences.

For PGT list each module by semester providing module code and brief blurb about module contents.
*(List core modules first followed by electives)

ANT7008 – Advanced Anthropological Perspectives
The module will study a core set of influential analytical perspectives through readings that demonstrate both continuities and shifts in anthropological enquiry. Topics covered include: anthropological and local perspectives; philosophical approaches in anthropology; new insights from studies of the self, narrative and the emotions; visual anthropology and ethnographic knowledge as part of the debate of 'ways of seeing'; perspectives on environmentalism, materiality, affectivity, memory and subjectivity; cosmopolitanism as a political and moral condition.

ANT7009 - Anthropology: Ethnography and Evolutions
The module looks at the themes of ethnography and evolution in anthropology. Students choose to specialise in ethnography or evolution. Teaching of the ethnography takes the form of students reading a number of ethnographies and discussing and analysing these texts in class. Teaching of evolution draws on literature in the field of cognition and culture and focuses on the application of the logic of evolution by natural selection to the human mind and behaviour to help us better understand cross-culturally recurrent patterns in thought and behaviour.

HAP7001 - Approaches to Research Design
This module aims to introduce key approaches to research design, while also introducing some of the contemporary debates in research in the social sciences and humanities. It will also provide students with an introduction to some of the key practical research skills they will find of use when designing and conducting their academic research. These skills are also those which students will find necessary as they continue their academic and research career.

Students will have a high degree of choice across workshops, enabling them to tailor the module content to their pathway of student and personal research goals. The workshops will address five key areas: Fundamentals of Research; Debates; Philosophy of Science/Epistemology; Qualitative Methods; and Quantitative Methods.

The broad aims of the module are to:
• Introduce students to the diversity of research approaches and debates;
• Heighten awareness of methodological issues facing researchers in the social sciences and humanities;
• Develop an awareness of interdisciplinarity and its potentials and challenges in research;
• Encourage students to develop their research skills through the selective use of this reading guide and their own search for appropriate literature on research design topics that are of interest to them.

ANT7007 Advanced Anthropological Methods
This module focuses on the key qualitative and quantitative techniques used by anthropologists in their field research, including participant observation, interviewing, the use of archives and written information, the production of genealogies, the collection and analysis of numerical data, etc. Students will learn about the place of these methods in the history of the discipline, and about the key debates surrounding the relationship between the anthropologist and his or her informants in the field; through a series of practicals, the students will learn how to use these qualitative and quantitative methods themselves. Two of these exercises will be formally assessed.

Elective Modules (choose at least one): ANT7013 The Anthropology of Music
This module aims to provide an overview of the field of ethnomusicology, outlining the major theoretical orientations and issues being debated within contemporary ethnomusicology. It begins with an introduction to some of the main scholars involved in shaping the discipline as it is currently constituted, and then proceeds by looking at how these ideas have shifted in the modern world. Throughout the semester students participate in an ensemble of non-western music in order to gain a reflexive understanding of the ways in which ethnomusicological knowledge can be obtained through personal musical experience.

ANT7023 Anthropology of Conflict: Ireland and Beyond
This module will explore the development of anthropological approaches to conflict, examining what social and cultural anthropologists have added to our knowledge of conflict. It will particularly examine issues of group identity and cohesion in relations to conflict. Examining theories of ethnicity and nationalism it will examine power and hegemony of the state. In relation to this there will be a focus upon aspects of remembering and social memory, on the use of rituals and symbols and of the way acts of violence are legitimised or delegitimised. The course will look at examples from Irish case studies but work on a comparative basis.

ANT7003 Anthropology of Business
This course will familiarise students with a range of theoretical debates that have shaped business anthropology with a particular emphasis on new innovations in design and tech industries. In the undergraduate business anthropology course, there is a strong foregrounding on consumer behaviour, advertising and marketing, as well as entrepreneurship and new labour forms. This course, building on these thematics, will develop a strong focus on how anthropologists of business are playing significant roles in design and technology spaces. The course will present itself as both a scholarly interpretation of what is happening in these spaces and also an applied learning of how to work in these spaces, providing students with a strong skill set for work in business, design and tech sectors.

And

Students will also be able to choose from a list of modules across the School and Faculty to support their specialisation.
Students are required to take FOUR CORE modules (Three in semester 1 and One in semester 2). Students are required to take TWO Optional Modules, of which at least ONE should be from the Anthropology options.

Students also participate in the weekly Anthropology Postgraduate Seminar were PG students present their on-going research and in addition attend the weekly Anthropology Research Seminar where established academics discuss their work. Students also have the option to audit an undergraduate module and participate in various music ensembles.

Graduate
Normally a 2.2 Honours degree in an appropriate subject (excluding Anthropology) or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University.

International Students
For information on international qualification equivalents, please check the specific information for your country.

English Language Requirements
Evidence of an IELTS* score of 6.5, with not less than 5.5 in any component, or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University is required (*taken within the last 2 years).

International students wishing to apply to Queen's University Belfast (and for whom English is not their first language), must be able to demonstrate their proficiency in English in order to benefit fully from their course of study or research. Non-EEA nationals must also satisfy UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) immigration requirements for English language for visa purposes.

For more information on English Language requirements for EEA and non-EEA nationals see: www.qub.ac.uk/EnglishLanguageReqs.

If you need to improve your English language skills before you enter this degree programme, INTO Queen's University Belfast offers a range of English language courses. These intensive and flexible courses are designed to improve your English ability for admission to this degree.

Academic English: an intensive English language and study skills course for successful university study at degree level

Pre-sessional English: a short intensive academic English course for students starting a degree programme at Queen's University Belfast and who need to improve their English.

Applicants are advised to apply as early as possible and ideally no later than 11th August 2023 for courses which commence in late September. In the event that any programme receives a high number of applications, the University reserves the right to close the application portal. Notifications to this effect will appear on the Direct Application Portal against the programme application page.

How to Apply
Applications should be submitted online via the Postgraduate Applications Portal for admission to the vast majority of postgraduate programmes.

New applicants will need to register via the Portal to create an application account. If you are already a Queen's student with an active Qsis account, you can log in using your student number and Qsis password. Guidance on how to complete an application is provided within the Portal and it is possible to save application data and return to complete it at a later date, if you wish. After core details about yourself and your academic background have been provided, you can submit an application, or multiple applications, if required.

If you applied in a previous cycle through the Portal and are re-applying, you should use your previous log in details. Please review and update your personal and contact details, academic and professional qualifications before submitting a new application.

Important – please ensure that the email address you provide is correct and active, as this will be used by us to communicate the progress of your application to you.

1 year (Full Time)
3 years (Part Time)

Teaching Times
Teaching times will be a combination of both morning and afternoon with the opportunity for occasional weekend training sessions.

Intake: Annually (subject to numbers)

Career Prospects
Introduction
Graduates have pursued careers in a wide range of fields, such as research (academic and non-academic), teaching, music therapy, consultancy, development and charity work, museum and heritage posts, journalism and radio broadcasting. Among those who have pursued academic careers, not all have done so within anthropology - several have taken posts in related disciplines. Others have found positions within governmental and non-governmental organisations abroad. Our graduates have found employment with a very wide range of employers, including the Council for International Educational Exchange, Handelsbanken Bank, the Institute for Conflict Research, US News and World Report and the Bangladesh Civil Service.
http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/sgc/careers/

Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award for extra-curricular skills
In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised from a world leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall. We call this Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.