The Department of Anthropology is committed to high quality research that benefits society. Our research groups are:
Anthropology of the North
Since its founding in 2003 the Department has been a focus internationally for the Anthropology of the North, involving the Nordic and Baltic countries, northern Russia, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and Alaska together with their links to north east Scotland.
Environment and Multispecies Life
Our approach to environmental anthropology stretches from fundamental questions of environmental perception and multi-species relations to the politics of land rights, climate change, mobility, and environmental contestations. Our research shows that people both live in and respond to their environments creatively.
Food: Cultures, Economy, Sovereignty
Our new research group on food brings together the interests of a number of staff and research students in the Department.
Museums, Archives and Histories of Knowledge
We carry out research in museum anthropology, historical anthropology, heritage studies, and histories of science and technology. The University's own ethnographic museum collections provide extensive research opportunities.
Religion: Polity, Person, Identity
The Department’s research in religion has a particular focus on Buddhism, Islam, shamanism, and the theme of death, embodiment and the person. It also covers ritual theory, cosmology and myth, moral subjectivity, and evolutionary theories of religion.