Subject overview
Anthropology at Sussex is the largest UK department that focuses solely on social anthropology, and ranked in the top 5 social anthropology departments in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 90 per cent of our research was rated as recognised internationally or higher, with over half rated as internationally excellent or higher, and one-quarter rated as world leading.
Sussex is ranked among the top 10 universities in the UK for anthropology in The Times Good University Guide 2013 and The Complete University Guide 2014, and 16th in the UK in The Guardian University Guide 2014.
We have developed a strong tradition of socially and politically engaged anthropology that focuses on real-world issues. Our research and teaching degrees reflect this engaged stance.
We have particular research expertise in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and South Asia, and also cover Latin America, the Caribbean, Amazonia, South East Asia and China. Our key research themes are development, migration, religion, rights citizenship and conflict, and science technology and policy.
The Department is located within the School of Global Studies, which brings together anthropology, development studies, geography, and international relations. The School houses a number of interdisciplinary research centres.
Our faculty have undertaken consultancy and commissioned work in a range of fields, including immigration and asylum, international development, and museums and heritage. Many of our graduates find employment in these fields, within which we have very strong international networks.
Programmes
- PhD in Social Anthropology
- MPhil in Social Anthropology
We welcome enquiries from students wishing to undertake research in any areas of faculty interest. Anthropologists at Sussex also provide interdisciplinary doctoral supervision in subject areas such as contemporary European studies, development studies, and migration studies.
All research students are required to complete an appropriate programme of research methods training. This may involve enrolling on the MSc in Social Research Methods – a stand-alone Masters degree – before proceeding to the PhD. This is known as a 1+3 course.
Students who have already completed a programme of research methods training can apply for the three-year doctoral degree leading to a PhD.
Coursework and supervision
Whether you start the three-year PhD or the 1+3 MSc/PhD degree, you will normally be required to complete some research methods training modules and possibly some specialist thematic modules drawn from the MA degrees.
All students are allocated two academic supervisors with whom they work for the duration of their research degree. Supervisors are allocated according to their regional and thematic expertise, to provide a complementary match with your research.
Fieldwork
Research degrees usually involve fieldwork away from Sussex during the second year of the PhD. Supervision continues during fieldwork, while you gather data to be written up in the final year. Students on the 1+3 degree can normally go to the field by the middle of their second year.
Recent thesis titles
Decentralised network democracy: prefiguring horizontality and diversity in the alterglobalisation movement
Embracing trauma: youth, human rights and political engagement in ‘post-war’ Guatemala
‘Hak verilmez, alinir’ (rights are not granted, they are taken): the politicisation of rights in the case of the Muslim-Turkish minority in Greece
Knowledge, identity, place and (cyber)space: growing up male and middle class in Bangalore
Land restitution in District Six, Cape Town: ‘community’, citizenship, and social exclusion
Producing beauty: the social politics of mass production at a special economic zone in South India
Things falls apart?: a political ecology of 20th-century forest management in Edo State, Southern Nigeria
Entry requirements
- MPhil in Social Anthropology
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UK entrance requirements
A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in anthropology or a related discipline, but applicants from other backgrounds may be considered. Applicants should submit an outline (two to three pages) of their research interests.
Overseas entrance requirements
Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
- PhD in Social Anthropology
-
UK entrance requirements
A Masters degree in anthropology, although those with a degree in a closely related discipline may also be considered. Applicants should submit an outline research proposal (two or three pages) indicating the nature, ambitions and primary questions of the research project.
Overseas entrance requirements
Please refer to Overseas qualifications.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
Visas and immigration
Find out more about Visas and immigration.
For more information about the admissions process at Sussex
For pre-application enquiries:
Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
For post-application enquiries:
Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk
Related subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
- MPhil in Social Anthropology
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Home UK/EU students: £3,9001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,9002
Overseas students: £13,00031 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
- PhD in Social Anthropology
-
Home UK/EU students: £3,9001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,9002
Overseas students: £13,00031 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
To find out about your fee status, living expenses and other costs, visit further financial information.
Funding
The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.
To find out more about funding and part-time work, visit further financial information.
Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Postgraduate Study (2013)
Region: UK
Level: PG (taught), PG (research)
Application deadline: 1 October 2013
The Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust are offering bursaries to Postgraduate students following any postgraduate degree courses in any subject.
Faculty interests
There is a close academic collaboration between Anthropology, other schools and departments, and interdisciplinary research centres at Sussex. We have particularly strong links with the Department of History, the School of Media, Film and Music, and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS).
Our faculty and students are members of the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, the Centre for World Environmental History, the Justice and Violence Research Centre, the Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies, and the Sussex Centre for Migration Research.
Research interests are briefly described below. For more detailed information, visit Department of Anthropology: People and contacts.
Dr Paul Boyce Gender, sexualities, health, South Asia.
Professor Andrea Cornwall Participation, development, gender, sexuality, citizenship.
Professor Jane Cowan Greece; southern Balkans; nationalism, memory and identity; conceptualising and administering ‘difference’ in Balkan contexts; culture and rights.
Dr Dimitris Dalakoglou Albania, Greece, the Balkans; migration; social and political protest movements. Editor of (with A Vradis) Between a Present Yet to Go and a Future Yet to Come: Revolt and Crisis in Greece (2011).
Dr Geert De Neve India, Tamilnadu; informal labour; caste and kinship; industrialisation; globalisation.
Dr Nigel Eltringham Human rights, conflict, genocide and the Great Lakes region of Africa.
Professor James Fairhead Africa south of the Sahara, UK; agriculture and ecology.
Dr Anne-Meike Fechter Indonesia, South East Asia; corporate expatriates, transnationalism, development practitioners.
Professor Katy Gardner Bangladesh, UK; anthropology of migration and development. Currently researching the social consequences of mining development in Bangladesh.
Dr Elizabeth Harrison Sub-Saharan Africa, UK; anthropology of local and international development; ageing and the social consequences of economic recession.
Dr Raminder Kaur Kahlon India, UK; politics and popular culture; nationalism; diaspora; nuclear issues.
Dr Pamela Kea Gambia, West Africa; globalisation, child labour and education; gender; migration.
Dr Evan Killick Amazonia, Peru, Brazil; anthropology of development and natural resource extraction; the social and economic consequences of the timber trade.
Dr Mark Leopold Uganda, Sudan; violence, peacemaking and memory, conflict.
Dr Peter Luetchford Costa Rica, Spain; the economics and morality of fair trade production; alternative food chains. Author of Fair Trade and the Global Economy (2008).
Dr Lyndsay McLean Hilker Conflict and violence, reconciliation, ethnicity, Rwanda.
Dr Jon Mitchell Malta; history, memory, politics and national identity; religion and belief.
Dr Filippo Osella Kerala, South India; migration and globalisation; masculinity; consumption.
Dr Rebecca Prentice Trinidad, UK; work and industrial relations. Author of ‘Looping the value chain: designer copies in a brand-name garment
factory’ in Research in Economic Anthropology (2008).
Dr Dinah Rajak South Africa, UK; the relationship between the state, business and civil society. Author of ‘Uplift and empower: the market, morality and corporate responsibility on South Africa’s platinum belt’ in Research in Economic Anthropology (2008).
Dr Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner China, Japan; genomics, biobanking practices, genetic testing and population policy-making, stem-cell research in Asian societies.
Dr Maya Unnithan India, Rajasthan; fertility and reproductive health; medical anthropology.
Careers and perspectives
Many of our graduates find employment in the fields of immigration and asylum, international development, and museums and heritage.
For more information, visit Careers and alumni.
School and contacts
School of Global Studies
The School of Global Studies aims to provide one of the UK's premier venues for understanding how the world is changing. It offers a broad range of perspectives on global issues, and staff and students are actively engaged with a wide range of international and local partners, contributing a distinctive perspective on global affairs.
Anthropology,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9SJ, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877107
E globalresearch@sussex.ac.uk
Department of Anthropology
Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions
You’re welcome to attend one of our Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions. These are held in the spring and summer terms and enable you to find out more about postgraduate study and the opportunities Sussex has to offer.
Visit Discover Postgraduate study to book your place.
Other ways to visit Sussex
We run weekly guided campus tours every Wednesday afternoon, year round. Book a place online at Visit us and Open Days.
You are also welcome to visit the University independently without any pre-arrangement.