The MA combines an academic programme of lectures, seminars and tutorial assignments with practical experience.
Modules are taken over one academic year if you are studying full-time, and two years if you are studying part-time (part-time study only available to home/EU students).
Full-time students attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays and spend the rest of the week on fieldwork placements and library studies.
Part-time students attend on Thursdays in one year and Tuesdays in the other and spend some of the week on fieldwork placements and library studies
Anthropology components
The Department of Anthropology teaches two of the core components of your degree: Contemporary Social Issues and Anthropological Research Methods.
Module title |
Credits |
Anthropological Research Methods
Anthropological Research Methods
30 credits
This module aims to complement the Anthropological Theory module by introducing you to the research methods used by anthropologists. It will return to some of the key texts used in the previous term to critically analyse the links between theory and methods. The module provides you with experience in working with qualitative and ethnographic methods to support fieldwork and dissertation modules.
It is designed to follow the three stages of research design and report writing: scoping and planning, conducting research and analysing data, and writing it up.
It covers a range of different kind of data and types of method including:
- ethnographic fieldwork
- in-depth interviews
- surveys and questionnaires
- ‘studying up’
- autoethnography
- the use of archives
- images and film
- participatory and collaborative research methods
- conflicts of interest
- ethical codes
- informed consent
You will work in groups to devise team research projects and are encouraged to use this as a springboard for your individual reports, relating to issues raised in the lectures and readings. The report will discuss the research context, data gathering techniques, the merits of the approach used, the data it produced, and any problems encountered within the research process.
|
30 credits |
Contemporary Social Issues
Contemporary Social Issues
30 credits
This module provides a space to encounter and discuss critical perspectives from anthropology and social theory on the contemporary social issues that youth and community work, community development, and community arts practice engage with.
We’ll engage with key themes in anthropology and related social sciences which will allow you to reflect on enduring structures of power and the possibilities of working to create agency and change within them. These include explorations of the intersections between race, gender, sexuality, class, culture, space and the environment, mental and physical health, and the role of digital technology in contemporary societies.
You’ll focus on these topics through readings and multi-modal resources drawn from social and policy focused research in the UK and global settings. You’ll be encouraged to think through these themes in relation to your own practice and life experience and to deploy this grounded knowledge in classroom discussions as well as writing. The module aims to enable you to reflect on the wider politico-economic and social contexts in which youth and community work, community development, and community arts initiatives take place.
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30 credits |
Dissertation
Dissertation
60 credits
The dissertation should link academic work with a theme emerging from practice. You’ll be able to demonstrate a coherent understanding of a Youth Work, Community Development or Community Arts related issue. You’ll link it to relevant debates in Anthropology and other social sciences.
Whilst the dissertation isn’t required to be based on original research, you may illustrate the analysis with case studies obtained through fieldwork material gathered while on your work placement or whilst conducting a project for the Methods in Anthropological Research assignment.
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60 credits |
In addition, we strongly encourage all students, particularly those without a background in anthropology, to sit in on the module Anthropological Theory offered by the Department of Anthropology.
Fieldwork and placements
The Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies runs the three fieldwork modules, which involve placements that are supported by seminars, lectures, workshops and tutorials.
This MA pathway entails a total of 400 hours. This is divided between 20 hours of observations and 380 hours of placements, consisting of three placements with at least two different organisations. The accompanying teaching is divided into three modules.
Module title |
Credits |
Fieldwork Report 1: Perspectives and Approaches
Fieldwork Report 1: Perspectives and Approaches
15 credits
This module focuses on key themes, principles and values underlying youth work, community development and community arts, enabling you to recognise them in competing approaches and perspectives. This includes consideration of the history, principles and competing models and approaches.
You’ll consider your own values, ideological positions and critically reflect on your own practice perspectives. The perspectives specific to faith and voluntary/community sector-based practice will be analysed and considered in relation to key contemporary policies related to civil society and democratic engagement.
We’ll explore the value of experiential learning approaches, critical pedagogy, informal learning, and community-based approaches, alongside group work principles, processes, and theories.
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15 credits |
Fieldwork Report 2: Critical Practice
Fieldwork Report 2: Critical Practice
15 credits
This module enables you to critically analyse the changing context of professional practice. It will help you develop as a critically reflective practitioner and learn how to recognise and challenge discrimination and oppression.
We’ll also explore topics such as youth participation, methods of engaging communities with a view to facilitating ‘empowerment’, along with the ethical dilemmas faced in fieldwork practice.
|
15 credits |
Fieldwork Report 3: Management, Enterprise and Development
Fieldwork Report 3: Management, Enterprise and Development
30 credits
This module will advance your understanding of competing approaches to the management of community and youth work projects, staff and resources.
We’ll learn about sourcing and preparing funding bids, preparing budgets and the issues and processes involved in growing a social enterprise. You’ll gain a critical understanding of project development, management and evaluation.
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30 credits |
All three modules are currently assessed by an essay, documents completed by the student in relation to the placement and community development national occupational standards learning, a report by the placement supervisor and a fieldwork contract form.
The final placement also involves an assessment of the observations. Overall, at least 200 hours of all fieldwork must be face-to-face with the 11-25 year age group.
Download the programme specification. If you would like an earlier version of the programme specification, please contact the Quality Office.
Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.
Between 2020 and 2022 we needed to make some changes to how programmes were delivered due to Covid-19 restrictions. For more information about past programme changes please visit our programme changes information page.