Social Anthropology

Societies and cultures in a changing world

Social Anthropology is a dynamic, growing and engaged collective of scholars asking urgent anthropological questions about key challenges facing us in the contemporary world.

We bring our research expertise to questions ranging from energy transitions to bodily remains; food security to media censorship; human-animal relations to the meaning of sacrifice; and forced displacement to reproductive justice.

Our teaching is research-led and we are committed to taking our students along with us on our critical journeys through the comparative study of culture and society.

About

We are among the largest departments in the UK and our research interests are correspondingly diverse.

Programmes

Our teaching is research-led and international in its orientation. Our house research is opening up the discipline into new and urgent terrains.

Research

We have an active and inclusive research environment in which collaborative research practices and individual research trajectories thrive.

People

Find out more about the whole team: the academic staff and their research interests, PhD students and their thesis subjects, and the professional services colleagues who keep it all in working order.

News

See the latest news updates from Social Anthropology.

Contact

You can find us in the Chrystal Macmillan Building in George Square - right at the heart of the central campus.

The Social Anthropology Society

The Social Anthropology Society looks to combine academic and social events to bring people together and make a lovely, welcoming community for those interested in anthropology!

The Edinburgh Anthropology Showcase

Read our newsletter that highlights recent research from staff and students in the subject area of social anthropology.

Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology (EdCMA)

EdCMA is a world leading academic unit dedicated to the anthropological study of the body, health, and medicine.

29/09/2021

Social Anthropology

Social context is key to Covid testing success

Clearer understanding is needed of the social factors that influence participation rates in Covid-19 testing programmes, research suggests.

20/08/2021

Social Anthropology

News from Edinburgh’s Medicine Anthropology Journal

The team at the Medicine Anthropology Theory (MAT) journal, based at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science (SPS), share their latest updates, including new issues, details of the MAT editorial team and becoming indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals.

07/07/2021

Social Anthropology

Celebrated U.S. history scholar delivers Munro Lecture on the history of American fascism

Robin D G Kelley, Professor of American History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and author and activist for black lives and human justice, delivered the first of this semester’s two University of Edinburgh Munro Lectures.

25/05/2021

Social Anthropology

Newsletter showcases new work from Social Anthropology staff and students

The fifth edition of the Edinburgh Anthropology Showcase is out now, celebrating new and recent work from the School of Social and Political Science’s (SPS) Social Anthropology department.

29 October 2021

15:00 - 17:00

Social Anthropology

Social Anthropology Seminar: The Many Faces of Peace: Rule of Law, the Justice of the Peace, and Everyday Life in Haiti

Conventionally, Haiti is seen by foreign funding agencies as a “war-torn,” or “post-conflict,” or “failed,” state that needs “help.”

03 November 2021

14:00 - 16:00

Social Anthropology

COP26 — the view from Bangladesh, Panama and from within the UNFCCC

As the COP26 meetings get underway in Glasgow, we welcome Naveeda Khan, Perry Maddox and Magnús Örn Agnesar Sigurðsson to discuss how they are applying anthropological lenses to policy forums, legal provisions and project implementations as they pertain to climate, land and environmental damage in Bangladesh, Panama and within the UNFCCCC.

05 November 2021

16:30 - 17:30

Social Anthropology

Social Anthropology Seminar: Book talk: Anxious China: Inner Revolution and Politics of Psychotherapy

This talk examines how an unfolding “inner revolution” is reconfiguring selfhood, psyche, family dynamics, sociality, and the mode of urban governing in post-socialist times.

12 November 2021

15:00 - 17:00

Social Anthropology

Social Anthropology Seminar: The Field Officer: Tuberculosis, Technology, Targets

TBC

School of Social and Political Science