Programme summary for MSc Anthropology, Human Rights and Justice

About the programme

MSc in Anthropology, Human Rights and Justice

In contemporary settings of uncertainties and security fears, many advisors and specialists on human rights and justice are turning to anthropology for insights on how to deal with issues of pressing concerns. This programme will allow graduates and professionals to critically engage with pressing contemporary questions. For instance, how might justice be obtained in volatile public cultures of suspicion? How would you examine competing assertions of human rights amidst new forms of violations? How do people become weapons of war? Are humanitarian workers always welcomed in peace-time?

The programme, uniquely, also offers optional pathways in Law and in Refugee Studies. Three core modules will collectively guide students to develop critical understandings of human rights and justice issues, mapping a complex terrain of power and victimhood. Students will be able to choose from a wide range of optional modules from the LLM in Human Rights, the MA in Refugee Studies and an incoming MSc in Anthropology.

The programme will draw on the expertise of anthropologists who have conducted long-term research in various countries. It also utilises specialists in Law and in Refugee Studies.

The programme will be of interest to graduates as well as professionals working in these areas who seek anthropological expertise on human rights and justice. It will be of relevance to those desirous of adding legal understandings to these perspectives. It will also be of interest to students wishing to proceed to a doctorate in the anthropology of human rights and related areas.

Programme structure

One year full-time for students; two years part time. The programme offers both February and September start dates. Intermediate awards will be available for those completing 30, 60 or 120 credits. The programme has three compulsory taught modules; students will have a choice of optional modules from a wide range of options. Students will select a specialist area of interest and conduct anthropological fieldwork for their research dissertations.

Career opportunities

The Anthropology of Human Rights and Justice has increasing relevance in contemporary settings. Your studies on this programme will be applicable and transferable to a wide range of professions in private and public sectors. It is also likely that some of the candidates who are attracted to the programme will already be working as professionals in various fields and or would be desirous of gaining academic grounding in anthropology, human rights and justice to proceed to doctoral studies.
Details of careers in anthropology can be found on the Royal Anthropological website http://www.therai.org.uk/education/publications/careers-in-anthropology/
The American Anthropological Association (AAA) website also offers ‘Careers in Anthropology DVD’. http://www.aaanet.org/resources/students/CareersDVD.cfm

Support

You will have opportunities to form study groups and have additional tutorials with your supervisors .You will be provided with personal tutors and have opportunities to meet individually with your lecturers in consultative sessions. You will develop independent work in a peer-supported environment guided by anthropologists with international expertise in a range of research areas. You will have opportunities to attend seminars hosted by one of research centres/ groups in the School including the Anthropology and Contemporary Worlds Research Group, the Centre on Human Rights in Conflict and the Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging

Admission

You would normally be required to hold a degree in a related area, including social science, humanities, international politics and socio-legal studies from a UK university or its overseas equivalent. Equivalent professional experience would also be considered. The eligibility of candidates without degree-equivalent qualifications will be assessed individually through a written statement and relevant supporting material such as an essay and an interview. International students may be interviewed by telephone or on skype.

In the case of applicants whose first language is not English, then IELTS 6.5 (or equivalent) is required. International qualifications will be checked for appropriate matriculation to UK Higher Education postgraduate programmes. Students that apply to enter stages of the programme may be admitted through normal Accreditation of Experiential Learning (AEL) or Accreditation of Certificated Learning (ACL) processes, or through an approved articulation agreement. Therefore such applicants must be able to demonstrate evidence that they have the required learning outcomes as listed in the modules for which they are seeking exemption.