Bachelor of Arts (BA) majoring in Anthropology

Summary

The Bachelor of Arts is a flexible degree so you can specialise or study a wide variety of topics. Over the three years of your degree, you will gain the critical thinking, creative problem solving, and communication skills that employers want. Unique practical experiences such as internships are on offer too. The Bachelor of Arts requires a minimum total of 360 points. Each major has specific course requirements, but all consist of a minimum of 135 points in a single Arts subject. Of these, at least 60 points must be at 300-level and at least 45 points at 200-level.

Anthropology is fundamentally concerned with the human condition, and explores this in relation to human evolution, history, ecology, and social life in all its diversity. Traversing the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences, it helps us understand where we came from, who we are, and where we might be headed.

Dedicated to understanding all facets of human being and doing, anthropology takes a comparative approach, through time, and across space. Anthropologists explore human sociality in a distinctive way by immersing themselves in the realities of lived experience – an approach to research known as ethnography.

Why study Anthropology at UC?

The kind of Anthropology taught at UC is known as social and cultural Anthropology. This branch of Anthropology intersects with other academic disciplines taught at UC such as Geography, History, Sociology and International Relations, Maori and Pacific studies, Philosophy, Cultural Studies, and Fine Arts.

Double degrees: It is possible to combine an Arts degree with other degrees.

Further study

The College of Arts has a wide range of options for postgraduate and graduate study with excellent research facilities. Pathways include: Bachelor of Arts with Honours; Master of Arts; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Career opportunities

Anthropology offers insights into many of the social issues and problems facing New Zealand and the world today. Anthropologists therefore have an important role to play in areas of public policy, international relations, foreign affairs and human rights.

For professional anthropologists, there are employment opportunities in research, museum work and university teaching, as well as in certain sectors of local and central government (eg, where research skills are needed) and in non-governmental agencies dealing with issues such as third-world development.

A major in Anthropology will provide you with skills and expertise that can be utilised in a wide variety of employment situations, especially where sensitivity to people, an appreciation of cultural diversity, and an ability to grasp alternative ways of seeing the world are required.