Postgraduate Anthropology 2025-2026

The course comprises a programme of readings that will be devised in advance through consultation between student and supervisor, in light of the student’s intended research interests. The student will write a 3000 word essay on the readings.

Research and interpreting artefacts is core to many aspects of museum work. This course gives students experience of working directly with the collections of the University Museums. By preparing an in-depth study of one artefact, students will develop skills in close observation of artefacts and of sourcing archival and secondary information. They will also learn how to apply current approaches to working with material culture, drawn from anthropology, history and museum studies, to museum collections.

Given the expanding use of the Internet and new media forms, museums are re-evaluating their relationships with their audiences as well as their relationships with collections. This course introduces students to a wide range of digital technologies as they relate to museums e.g., online exhibitions, smart phone apps, and 3D imagery. Students will examine the impact and consequences of using digital approaches, and the implications for museums and their users of these rapidly changing technologies.

Museums worldwide are grappling with the complex legacies of colonialism that have shaped collections, institutional practices, and museum relationships with their users. This course introduces students to current debates regarding how - and if - the museum can fully decolonise. It also gives them a grounding in the historical, social, and institutional contexts which have led to these debates, and introduces practice-based strategies to address one of the key challenges facing museums and heritage institutions today.

Museum Pathways prepares students for museum employment, involving input from a variety of practitioners at different career stages and in different areas within the museum sector. They will complete a two part assignment, totalling 3000 words, on their chosen role and CPD plan.

What is ethnographic writing and how do we learn to write ethnographically? This course seeks to familiarise students with the craft of ethnographic writing through a series of lectures, seminars, reading and writing exercises.  

This interdisciplinary course combines the focuses of political science and anthropology as it relates to policymaking on climate change. Relying on expertise from both subject areas, the course examines international and national climate policies and brings forth case studies of how climate change is experienced at the community-level. Through this approach, the course will highlight current priorities, gaps, as well as successes, and failures, of climate policies worldwide.

Research in Social Anthropology will discuss key topics within social anthropology. These may include religion, politics and the state, environmental anthropology, the anthropology of the north, creativity and knowledge, medical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, oral traditions, media, or museums, amongst others. Following the class each week a student-led seminar will be held to discuss the issues raised.

This course explores theoretical issues and key debates in contemporary anthropology. We begin with the questioning of the central concepts of culture and society in anthropology during the 1980s. Following this, we ask: how can anthropology proceed if the targets of its investigation can no longer be understood as objective entities? How can anthropology proceed if the anthropologist themselves is inevitably implicated in and part of those very targets? To look for possible answers, the course examines current anthropological interest in power and history, political economy and phenomenology, experience, embodiment and practice, ontology and things that speak.

Why do human beings collect and what is the purpose of museums? ‘The Museum Idea’ examines these questions by focusing on the history and philosophy of museums and relating these to contemporary museum practice. The course will examine the role of museums in society through case studies of exhibitions and other museum projects in a variety of settings, including art, history and ethnographic museums.

"Museum Professional Practice" examines some of the key issues facing museums today and how they are responding. The course will consider critically professional practices of collections management, care and documentation, examining the social, political and ethical issues within which they operate. The course is taught by a team of academic and professional staff, making use of the University's museums, including exhibitions, collections and conservation facilities and activities.

Anthropology and art have much to offer each other. Taking historical and contemporary perspectives, students in this course will debate the cultural significance of art and the nature of creativity. We will focus particularly on questions of place, landscape and materials through a combined art-anthropology approach. The course will use the University of Aberdeen’s own art and ethnographic collections, and we will also work with Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen.

This course enables students to learn about research skills in social anthropology. It will encourage reflexive awareness of the role of methods in the discipline that centres students’ own experiences. Topics will include the history of methods in anthropology, participant observation, writing fieldnotes, interviews and analysis amongst other themes. Case studies of how these skills are combined in practical fieldwork will be explored. Students will be supported in developing a small-scale research project for this course in which they will practice their anthropological research skills.

This course builds on the skills and knowledge acquired in taught courses in the MLitt Museums Studies programme. In completing their dissertation, students will be expected to demonstrate that they can conduct advanced library research, prepare an extensive literature reviews situating their research question in its wider academic and professional context, and write and edit a large piece of work. In addition, they will be required to prepare abstracts and bibliographies and assess the ethical issues involved in original research. All students will receive staff supervision in identifying a suitable topic and in completing an original research project.

The ‘Curating an Exhibition’ course leads to the creation and opening of an exhibition for the University’s museums. Working together as a team, each student also takes on a specific role, including research, writing, design, installation, marketing, working closely with professional members of museum staff. The course makes extensive use of the University’s internationally-important museum collections and gives students an opportunity to reflect on an important aspect of museum practice. The exhibition will include an in-person exhibition in high-profile display cases in the  Sir Duncan Rice Library café and an online exhibition. The course is assed by a personal reflective portfolio.

As a practice-based alternative to a dissertation, students take part in a 20 day placement in a museum or gallery followed by writing an 8,000 word Museum Studies Project. Some students opt for a four-week placement in the early summer, while others choose to make a regular arrangement to volunteer in a local museum during term-time. Placements are offered in a range of museums in Scotland, but students can also identify other possibilities themselves.

This course will provide students doing the MSc Environmental Anthropology with the opportunity to develop vocational skills in a relevant work context.  Emphasis will be placed on applying the ideas and approaches discussed in academic courses to the issues encountered during the work placement.