Anthropology and Language & Linguistics

About this programme

Anthropology at Aberdeen is the study of the diversity of human communities and cultures around the world. It brings together theories about ‘being human’ from a wide range of Western and non-Western thinkers to understand human action, culture and thought, as studied through long-term international research with the communities themselves. You can study it with Language and Linguistics to give you a unique range of learning and opportunities and careers. Did you know? Anthropology at Aberdeen is ranked 1st in the UK for Overall Student Satisfaction (National Student Survey 2024) Language & Linguistics will introduce you to, among other things, how human language and speech may have evolved, the complex functions and structures of language in its role as a bridge between sound and meaning. You will study the ways in which we acquire languages as children and adults, the ways in which languages vary and the mechanisms by which they change over time. Through your Anthropology courses you will be able to 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. You will also develop essential skills in critical thinking and analysis, and gain a deeper understanding of human behaviour, all of which can be applied in business and many other fields. Many of our graduates now work in research, teaching, media, politics, or in business or public s