Course Overview
Anthropology explores the fundamentals of what it means to be human. It takes the whole world as its point of interest and brings one face to face with the eye-opening variety of human behaviours both in the present and from the past. Anthropologists examine the daily and mundane, the rare and 'exotic', and the local alongside the global to help address the pressing social issues our world faces nowadays. Doing a degree in anthropology forces you to question ideas and assumptions about right and wrong and good and bad by giving ethically sophisticated consideration to the sustainability of human practices. This makes anthropology the most dynamic, challenging and rewarding discipline one can study in the humanities.
The other part of your degree in Ancient History allows students to study a wide range of modules covering not only fascinating figures like Alexander the Great, but also basic aspects of everyday life, such as ancient myths, politics, warfare (both on land and at sea) and the economic and trading networks of Ancient Greece. You can also explore broader questions about how Rome grew into an empire, how Sparta became the legend that it is today and how religion shaped everyday life two thousand years ago. In the first year of study, modules can be taken on a wide range of periods and themes; in the second and third years, the School offers specialised modules on all aspects of Greco-Roman history so that you can gain in-depth knowledge in areas of particular interest to you. Options are also available to select modules in ancient Chinese History, Classical Archaeology or Theology. The culmination of the degree is the dissertation, where you are free to pursue a topic of your choice in line with the research interests of your tutor.
Key Features
Reasons to choose this course include:
- Students are able to draw comparisons and differences over a large time stretch and between what seem on the surface to be fundamentally different societies and cultures.
- Fieldwork opportunities are available in Kenya and Canada.
- Teaching is done in small groups.
- Volunteering opportunities
Modules
Typical modules include:
- Greek and Hellenistic History
- War in History
- Rise of Rome
- Armies and Navies
- The City of Rome
- The Legends of Alexander the Great
- Infamous and Damned: Nero and the Julio-Claudians
- The Empires of Iran
- Chinese Religion and Culture
- The Body, Culture and Society
- Imagining the Other
- Anthropology in Context
- Approaches and Methods in Anthropology
- Materiality of things
- Material Worlds: Approaches to Economic Relations
- Reading Cultures
- The Body, Culture and Society
- Sacred Journeys and Holy Sites
- Water and Society
Course Tutor(s)
- Dr Errietta Bissa
- Dr Matthew Cobb
- Dr Kyle Erickson