MSc Social Anthropology MSc Social Anthropology (Learning and Cognition)

About the MSc programmes

The MSc Social Anthropology offers the following benefits:

• Teaching is directly informed and enhanced by the very strong tradition of fieldwork-based research within the LSE Department of Anthropology.
• The programme is an excellent and intensive introduction to the discipline of social anthropology.
• We offer a full academic tutorial system, which means that students on this MSc benefit from direct and sustained contact with members of staff.
• The programme is an ideal preparation for research work in anthropology and related fields, and many graduates go on to complete PhDs. Other graduates find employment in a wide range of national and international organisations, including those concerned with international development.

This programme is intended for graduates with a good first degree in any discipline, including those who may have studied anthropology within the context of a more general degree. Scheduled teaching normally includes three hours of lectures and three hours of seminars per week (depending on options selected), supplemented by regular academic tutorials. 

You take a compulsory core course, a choice of options to the value of two full units, and complete an essay (dissertation) to be submitted by early September.

The MSc Social Anthropology (Learning and Cognition) offers students the opportunity to specialise in the anthropological study of human learning and cognition.

• Students engage in the study of cross-cultural cognitive development in a Department which combines a strong tradition of fieldwork based research with innovative experimental research.
• Students benefit from our links to internationally based initiatives and research on culture and cognition.
• We offer a full academic tutorial system, which means that students on this MSc benefit from direct and sustained contact with members of staff who are specialists in the anthropology of learning and cognition. 
• The programme is an ideal preparation for research work in anthropology and related fields, especially for those with interests in the areas of learning, child development, schooling and cognition. 

This programme is intended for graduates with a good first degree in any discipline and an interest in the cross-cultural study of human learning and cognition. Scheduled teaching normally includes three hours of lectures and three hours of seminars per week (depending on options selected), supplemented by regular academic tutorials. 

The programme involves completing two compulsory core courses and one optional course, as well as preparing a long essay (dissertation) to be submitted by early September.

Compulsory courses for MSc Social Anthropology

• Anthropology: Theory and Ethnography
• Dissertation

Options 

(* half unit)

Choose courses to the value of one unit from the following:

• The Anthropology of Religion
• The Anthropology of Kinship, Sex and Gender
• Anthropology of Politics*
• Anthropology of Economy (1): Production and Exchange*
• Anthropology of Economy (2): Development, Transformation and Globalisation*  

Choose courses to the value of one unit from the following:

• An additional unit from the options listed above
• The Anthropology of Christianity*
• The Anthropology of South-East Asia* 
• The Anthropology of Industrialisation and Industrial Life*
• The Anthropology of Melanesia*
• The Anthropology of South Asia* 
• The Anthropology of Southern Africa*
• The Anthropology of Development*
• Anthropology of Learning and Cognition
• Law in Society: a joint course in Anthropology and Law
• Anthropology and Human Rights*
• Investigating the Philippines: New Approaches and Ethnographic Contexts*
• China in Comparative Perspective  
• Children and Youth in Contemporary Ethnography*
• Anthropology and Media*
• Anthropological Approaches to Questions of Being*
• The Anthropology of Post-Soviet Eurasia*
• The Anthropology of Borders and Boundaries*
• Ethnography of a Selected Region*  
• The Anthropology of Schooling*

Compulsory courses for MSc Social Anthropology (Learning and Cognition)

• Anthropology of Learning and Cognition
• Anthropology: Theory and Ethnography
• Dissertation

Options for MSc Social Anthropology (Learning and Cognition)

Any full unit, or any two half units from the lists above.

Please note that only a limited selection of the optional courses will be available each year. Of these, some will be on anthropological themes and some will be on ethnographic regions; when you are offered a place you will be advised about availability for your year of study.