Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - Social Anthropology and Politics (LL62)

BA Anthropology and Politics enables students to build a degree programme that suits their interests.

Studying undergraduate Anthropology will enable students to develop a distinctive set of skills and attributes. Students will learn how to search for, select from and evaluate sources of information, weigh up arguments, and present their findings effectively. As an anthropologist however, students will also become sensitive to the assumptions and beliefs that underlie behaviour in a range of social and cultural contexts, and this gives them a critical edge.

A knowledge of politics helps students to understand what governments do, shedding light on how some of history’s pivotal events were motivated by the political leaders of the day. Students learn to find their way among different arguments, rival theories and alternative explanations and about campaigns, elections, protest movements, policy issues and political ideals. It also teaches students a great deal about human nature. Politics is not only what political scientists study, but also an activity in which professional politicians, civil servants and ordinary citizens take part.

The first year of the degree course gives students a thorough grounding of Anthropology and Politics to assist them in choosing from a wide range of modules in the second and final year.