Jenny's student perspective (studied in 2008/2009)

'I had studied anthropology before – as an undergraduate at Oxford University – yet it is only since enrolling on Sussex's MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation that I've begun to get a real sense of just how exciting contemporary anthropology can be. The breadth of material covered by the course is sometimes daunting but always fascinating; far from focusing narrowly on the development industry, we have been invited to critically examine all of our assumptions about the complex, entangled forces which affect societies throughout the postcolonial world. 

'There are so many Masters courses out there. I remember trawling through what seemed like hundreds of course descriptions, all of which started to look more or less the same on paper. But, looking back, I'm so grateful to have chosen this one. My friends and I have often discussed how this year has changed the way we think about development, about anthropology, about everything! I couldn't recommend it highly enough.'

Willa Zehn's student perspective (studied in 2007/2008)

'My year at Sussex studying on the MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation was critical in helping me get to where I am today. Firstly, the course taught me to think like an anthropologist in deconstructing ideas and beliefs to understand the "real" issues in development and the world.  Secondly, the course lecturers and staff were extremely supportive of my desire to continue to further studies in anthropology, and offered me tremendous advice and support in my transition from MA studies to PhD research. 

'This course played an essential role in furthering my academic development. It exposed me to a variety of theories, practices, and beliefs about the world, and challenged everything I had previously known about development. It made me re-think how development is approached and allowed me to see through the rose-coloured propaganda to understand the actual issues facing peoples in much of the world. The course encouraged all of us to think critically and carefully, so that my peers and I can fix the real problems facing development.'

Sam Kutnick's career perspective (studied in 2005/2006)

'At the moment I am completing an internship at Plan UK, a child-centred charity. I am working in the development education and advocacy department specialising in school linking. This has been a good learning experience, but many of the pitfalls of working in development have been made clear to me. With my internship finishing in about a month I am now looking to get some overseas experience working in the field on a development type project. I also just had an interview with VSO and I will find out whether I got the placement in around a month...'
samkutnick@hotmail.co.uk

Alex Nading's career perspective (studied in 2005/2006)

'After leaving Sussex, I moved on to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I am now a PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology. In November 2007, I begin research for my dissertation, entitled Dengue in the Landscape: Waste Management and Disease Ecologies in Urban Nicaragua. I study the interactions and conflicts that have emerged among the residents of Ciudad Sandino, a low-income suburb of Managua, who are struggling to deal with the related problems of waste control and dengue fever epidemics. I work with three groups: participants in an informal 'garbage economy' who collect, sell, and recycle waste; garbage collectors in a struggling public collection service; and a civilian public health corps coping with epidemics not only of dengue but also of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. The mosquito, which breeds in the piles of scrap metal, plastic, and rubber that dot the landscape and acts as the animal vector for dengue fever, is another key player in the story. My interests in public health, environment, risk, and infrastructure were stoked during my time in the ADST Program, and I remain glad to have completed the MA course before beginning my PhD.'
nading@wisc.edu

Irem Arf's career perspective (studied in 2004/2005)

'Presently, I am working at the Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey (Tarih Vakfi) – a non-governmental organisation that aims to open up ways in which people can form a direct, truly comprehensive and non-instrumentalist relationship with their own history and to make the subject of history a field for civic action. I am directing an EC funded project – Human Landscape of Mardin – which aims at establishing a virtual cultural centre for the city of Mardin in the south-eastern Turkey that will represent the cultural history of Mardin through the eyes of its inhabitants. I am volunteering at Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, Refugee Legal Aid program (RLAP) in Istanbul one day per week, providing information on the refugee status determination process of UNHCR, doing country of origin research and helping asylum seekers write testimonies and petitions. I am also an advisory board member of a project that aims at combating with discrimination and social exclusion migrant children in Istanbul face in primary education.'

Leonie Gordon's career perspective (studied in 2004/2005)

'I did my MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation at the University of Sussex in 2004/2005 (I had been a lawyer and film-maker previously). In May 2005 I started working with the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, a NGO under the umbrella of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and am now a team leader, writer and editor for this fantastic organisation reporting on the UN negotiations on environment and sustainable development. That summer I also applied for a case studentship at the University of Kent and started my PhD in Anthropology there in the October. Being a "case student" means that I am co-sponsored by a so-called non-academic partner – the Overseas Development Institute – and took on a specific research proposal. However, I have been able to put my own stamp on the proposal and my focus is international environmental policy processes, a case study on the UNEP-UNESCO Great Apes Survival Partnership Project. My fieldwork is multi-sited in the UK, Kenya and Cameroon, over the next year, and I am planning to complete by the end of 2008. Find out more at the Earth Negotiations Bulletin's webpage and team page. As I write this I am covering the Global Environment Ministers Forum in Nairobi and next week I go to Cameroon to continue my fieldwork. I have continued my connection with Sussex (I still live in Brighton) through contributing a chapter to an edtied volume called "Beyond the Incorporated Wife: Gender and Social Reproduction among Mobile Professionals" based on my Masters thesis.'
leoniegordon@gmail.com

Tabitha Ross's career perspective (studied in 2004/2005)

'After leaving Sussex I got a job working as coordinator of a peace-building programme in Israel and Palestine for an organisation called Responding to Conflict (RTC). As part of this job I spent time in the Middle East, organising training workshops in "conflict transformation" (negotiation, dialogue, mediation, strategy building) for civil society organisations, as well as the more "behind-the-scenes" work such as fundraising, writing reports to donors, trying to develop ways of monitoring the impact of peace work at the local level against a backdrop of an escalating conflict. At times frustrating, at times very upsetting as the situation has undoubtedly deteriorated, it was yet amazing and inspiring working with people committed to non-violence and an equitable peace, even in the midst of the worst of the conflict, and I learned masses. I would say that the MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation directly contributed to my getting the job, as although I had programme management experience before, having written my dissertation on Israel and Palestine was definitely an advantage. Working for RTC seemed a very natural progression of my thinking from my dissertation, developing my ideas about violence, equality and social change. I've enjoyed the dialectic between approaching such issues "academically" and "practically". At the moment I'm enjoying the practical application, but I can't say I've ruled out a PhD yet.'

Catherine Platt (studied in 2003/2004)

'After completing the MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation in September 2004, I moved to Chengdu in Sichuan Province, South-West China with my family, and I am still based here seven years later. During this time I have worked as a consultant and volunteer with local and international NGOs, including fundraising and grant management for community-based groups in Tibetan areas, and writing reports, workplans and project management documents for Winrock International. Since September 2009 I have been Vice-Chair of Sichuan Quake Relief (SQR), a small non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by the 12 May 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Following on from two years of relief work, SQR now facilitates the work of local community groups and grassroots NGOs, building their capacity to work with people whose long-term livelihoods were affected by the earthquake. This work has been more interesting and substantive as a result of my MA. The non-profit sector in China is undergoing rapid development, and what I learned from the course about processes and theories of social transformation, and about social, political and development discourses, has allowed me to observe and engage with ongoing change in a more nuanced and meaningful way. I chose the MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation after working in development for seven years, because I wanted a course that looked critically at the context, history and efficacy of development work. The coursework and reading provided a thorough deconstruction of the development enterprise, putting my past experience into context and challenging me to rethink many previous assumptions, while the final semester classes provided a useful overview of practical tools for project cycle management, enabling me to since run workshops on this subject. I found researching and writing the term papers and dissertation particularly valuable, honing my writing skills and giving room to focus on issues of particular interest.'
cplatt55@hotmail.com

Prashanta Pradhan's career perspective (studied in 2003/2004)

'I am currently working as a United Nations Volunteer in New Delhi, India coordinating a project "Social Mobilisation around Natural Resources Management for Poverty Alleviation" running in 11 districts across three states – Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan.'

Nicole Blum's career perspective (studied in 1999/2000)

'I did the MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation in 1999/2000 and came back to Sussex to do a PhD in Anthropology in 2001. My fieldwork took me to Costa Rica to spend a year in an ecotourism community in the mountains. The research focused on environmental education programmes organised in schools, conservation areas and public education spaces. After finishing my PhD in 2006, I took up a one-year postdoctoral fellowship in Education and International Development at the Institute of Education,University of London. The fellowship was attached to a five-year DFID-funded project on increasing access to education in India,Bangladesh, Ghana and South Africa, and I was able to spend three months doing fieldwork on small, multigrade schools in India. I continued to work on various research and teaching projects at the Institute and Sussex for the next few years before taking up a full-time Lectureship in Development Education at the Institute in 2008. I am based in the Development Education Research Centre where I teach on our Masters course in Development Education and am currently coordinating a research project which aims to develop and evaluate methods to embed learning about global and development issues within degree courses on pharmacy, veterinary science, and human health.'