Master of Social and Cultural Anthropology

What makes anthropology unique is not the subject it studies but the perspective from which and the way in which it approaches the human condition. In doing so, it focuses
on both the differences and the similarities between people across the globe.

Initially, anthropologists focused mostly on far-away, ‘exotic’ cultures. They made use of participant observation or fieldwork – the trademarks of anthropology. However, contemporary anthropology has become much more than the study of the exotic ‘other’. You don’t need to travel to remote places to be an anthropologist. Nowadays, cultures are regarded as always ‘in-between’, as giant melting pots of all sorts of influences. The global has adapted to the local, and, vice versa, the local has incorporated the global. It is this interaction between cultures that contemporary anthropologists focus on. Moreover, they pay special attention to economic, social and political implications. Despite this shift in focus, however, the working methods of qualitative research are still maintained.

As an anthropologist, you will study issues such as the impact of colonisation, the making and unmaking of identity, the relation between people and their environment and ethnicity. You do this by taking the perspective of the people involved, placing emphasis on the daily experience of everyday women, men and children. This approach adds a different dimension to issues such as globalisation, ecology or migration. Often it leads to unexpected insights.

Career prospects

Graduates of anthropology find employment in numerous areas: education, social services, medical care, NGO’s, international organisations, development policy, international policy, business, research, etc. Anthropologists are employed as, for example, diversity consultants, cultural and political formation consultants, employees in non-profit organisations, educational consultants, healthcare workers, political consultants, researchers, youth consultants, professors, directors of socio-cultural organisations and journalists. And there are dozens of other possibilities! Graduates describe the programme as a breach, a change of perspective and an experience that has radically changed their thought. They appreciate the transition from the abstract to the concrete.