Anthropology

About this programme

What is it to be human? How do people understand the world around them and build lives with others? What do we share, and how are we different? Anthropology studies the diversity of communities and cultures around the world to bring insights and understandings to the human condition and the possibilities of human flourishing. Anthropology – because we are not all the same. Aberdeen is ranked 8th in the UK for Anthropology and Archaeology (Guardian University Guide 2026) and in the Global Top 100 for Anthropology (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026) Our courses examine the connections among all aspects of life – family and kinship, economic systems, political and religious institutions, human-animal and ecological relations – and the way in which they come together to create whole ways of living within an increasingly global and postcolonial world. Anthropology at Aberdeen is not just the study of human society and culture, it is a skills-focused degree built around training in social research, including ethnographic fieldwork methods, research design, report writing, interview, survey and museum skills. This training culminates in a fieldwork or library-based dissertation project of student’s choice, supported by a specialist supervisor. Our degree draws on the extensive expertise of staff who specialise in communities around the world: from Scotland and Siberia to Canada, and from North Africa, Tibet and South Asia to the Pacific. The skills you will develop in critical thinking and analysis will provide you with a deeper understanding of human behaviour wh