Anthropology offers a unique and powerful means for understanding cultural and social diversity in the modern world. It considers issues which can lead to mind blowing revelations about how individuals and cultures experience life differently.

Anthropology is concerned with contemporary issues such as multiculturalism, identity politics, racism and ethnic nationalism, changing forms of the family, religious conflict, gender, and the political role of culture.

It also addresses perennial questions about human nature, such as: ‘What do we have in common with each other cross-culturally?’ and ‘What makes us different?’. If you are intrigued by these questions and want to study a discipline that will enrich your everyday life as well as equip you for a great variety of occupations, anthropology is the right course for you.

A special feature of the course at Brunel is the opportunity to do fieldwork placements anywhere in the world according to your anthropological interests. Fieldwork is excellent preparation for work and a chance to make useful contacts and will help to add greater meaning to academic studies.

Around half of Brunel’s anthropology students carry out a placement or fieldwork abroad, in places as wide ranging as India, Nepal, Australia, South Africa, Papua New Guinea and Jamaica.

Recent UK placement destinations include the Royal Anthropological Institute, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, Amnesty International and the Department of Health.

Examples of dissertation titles based on fieldwork findings have included work in a Nepalese monastery, a South African women’s refuge, the Police Complaints Authority (on the Stephen Lawrence case), as well as in schools and charities.

Outside of classes, you can look forward to a one of the most cultural diverse campuses in the UK with opportunity to meet people from all over the world.

Additionally, Brunel’s anthropological student society arrange class trips to places like the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, and the campus’s London location makes it ideal for exploring places like the British Museum in Central London.

The placement year costs £1,385.

Entry Requirements

Are you eligible to apply?

Course Content

Through a set of compulsory modules in your first year, you will gain a firm foundation in the central themes and debates in anthropology as you are introduced to the international work carried out by the teaching staff that explores the practicalities of undertaking anthropological fieldwork.

Towards the end of your first year, you get to choose your degree pathway – either to remain on the general Anthropology route or to specialise in Anthropology (Childhood, Youth and Education), Anthropology (Development, War and Humanitarian Assistance), or Anthropology (Global Health).

In years two and three, you will follow a pre-set group of compulsory modules according to your pathway choice, plus optional modules choices according to your interests. Below is a list of the variety of modules typically taught within the subject. Details on modules studied by pathway can be found in the Programme Specification below the module lists. You can also see below a table with modules for each pathway.

Please see below for more information on modules offered throughout the course for each pathway.

Teaching and Learning

The Anthropology BSc at Brunel consistently ranks within the top quartile for student satisfaction for anthropology nationally.

You will be taught by an internationally respected team of anthropologists who have conducted fieldwork in five continents on religion, witchcraft, disability, memory, nationalism, childhood and education, political violence, social hierarchies, race, ethnicity, and ecology.

Like most social science subjects, anthropology is taught through a mixture of lectures and small discussion groups or seminars. For each module, you will usually attend one lecture and one seminar every week.

Uniquely for a UK university, studying anthropology at Brunel will always mean applying what you have read to what you discover in real-life situations with the opportunity to conduct fieldwork experience anywhere in the world.

Year 1

Introduction to Anthropology: Themes

Fieldwork Encounters: Thinking Through Ethnography

Introduction to Anthropology: Beliefs and Ways of Thinking

Research Methods in Anthropology

Anthropology and Contemporary Debates

Practising Anthropology 1

Year 2

Ethnicity, Culture and Identity
Kinship, Sex and Gender
Political and Economic Issues in Anthropology
Practising Anthropology 2

Optional Modules:
Ethnography of a Selected Region
Ethnography of a Selected Region 2
Medical Anthropology in Clinical and Community Settings
Global Health in Anthropological Perspective
Anthropology of Education and Learning
Understanding Childhood and Youth
Anthropological Perspectives on War and Humanitarianism
Critical Perspectives on International Development

Placement Year

Year 4

Contemporary Anthropological Theory
Social Anthropology Dissertation (40 credits) Core: Block

Optional Modules:
Anthropology of the Person
Anthropology of the Body
Themes in Psychological and Psychiatric Anthropology
Medical Anthropology in Clinical and Community Settings
Anthropology of Education and Learning
Anthropological Perspectives on War and Humanitarianism
Critical Perspectives on International Development
Global Health in Anthropological Perspective
Understanding Childhood and Youth
Ethnography of a Selected Region
Ethnography of a Selected Region 2