Cultural and Social Anthropology University of Amsterdam

Overview

The Cultural and Social Anthropology programme of the University of Amsterdam deals with questions surrounding migration and mobility, sexuality and gender, infrastructure and labour, environment and sustainability, globalization and identity, political activism, STS, race and care.

About the programme

Contemporary Cultural and Social Anthropology aims to understand and explain particular ways of living and behaving in societies all over the world, among different groups of people. How do people relate to each other and their social and material environment?

The Master’s in Cultural and Social Anthropology is a broad, one-year programme in which you design and conduct your own high quality anthropological research. After completing a period of twelve weeks of fieldwork, you are expected to write a well-argued thesis. This programme is designed to transform you into an active participant in the production of anthropological knowledge and the principles and practices of the discipline. A distinctive feature of this programme is the relative freedom in choosing the topic for your Master’s thesis. As there is a wide range of regional, thematic and theoretical specialisations among the Cultural and Social Anthropology staff who will support and supervise your project, almost all interests can be accommodated within the programme.

For students who wish to conduct research that has an applied character, we offer the possibility to specialize in Applied Anthropology. If you wish to apply for the specialization Applied Anthropology, please follow the normal steps for an application for the MSc programme Cultural and Social Anthropology. In your motivation letter you can indicate that you wish to specialize in Applied Anthropology. A second track we offer is Visual Anthropology.