Undergraduate Anthropology 2026-2027

Anthropology explores ways of life in societies and cultures around the world. Through fieldwork in the places people live, anthropologists connect global issues with everyday lives. In this course you’ll learn about the key topics of anthropology and its research methods. Lectures introduce anthropological research topics such as ritual, climate change and indigenous rights. Small group tutorials will allow you to debate the issues and share your perspectives.

This course explores some of the key questions that anthropologists have debated: what it is to be human, the nature of human interaction with other humans and with other species, the role language plays in thought and culture, and the different ways that people perceive the world and act within it. Themes that will be discussed in this course include rationality, language, species difference, race, and place and community.

This course examines museums as sites for the production and dissemination of anthropological knowledge. Through seminars, museum visits, and access to the University Collections, students will consider the legacies of historic collecting practices and the challenges of ethically engaging with collections in the present. Students will gain hands-on experience of museum environments, learn about the limits of material culture as a source for researching anthropological topics, and engage with theoretical and methodological frameworks for working with collections and people.  They will also become familiar with how museums are taking on contemporary challenges, such decolonisation and the climate crisis. Assessment is based on an Artefact Study Portfolio and an essay.

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 examines museums as sites for the production and dissemination of anthropological knowledge. Through seminars, museum visits, and access to the University Collections, students will consider the legacies of historic collecting practices and the challenges of ethically engaging with collections in the present. Students will gain hands-on experience of museum environments, learn about the limits of material culture as a source for researching anthropological topics, and engage with theoretical and methodological frameworks for working with collections and people.  They will also become familiar with how museums are taking on contemporary challenges, such decolonisation and the climate crisis. Assessment is based on an Artefact Study Portfolio and an essay.

In this course students will write a dissertation based on scholarship in Anthropology (e.g. library research) but not on primary fieldwork. The course is available to single honours students who decide not to do a fieldwork-based dissertation and to joint honours students who wish to do a dissertation in Anthropology. This dissertation can be taken by joint honours students who have not previously taken AT3538: Anthropological Research Methods and Research Design.

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 course involves a dissertation based on anthropological fieldwork. It builds on the research proposal developed in AT3538 Anthropological Research Methods and Research Design.

In this course students will write a dissertation based on scholarship in Anthropology (e.g. library research) but not on primary fieldwork. The course is available to single honours students who decide not to do a fieldwork-based dissertation and to joint honours students who wish to do a dissertation in Anthropology. This dissertation can be taken by joint honours students who have not previously taken AT3538: Anthropological Research Methods and Research Design.