Course information

Course highlights

• Opportunities for learning a South American language, such as Quechua or Spanish.
• Provides an understanding of the highly complex social, political and cultural experiences of the historic populations of South America.
• Equips you for a wide range of extension, development and support activities in relation to Amerindian and South American peasant and urban communities.

Teaching format

The MRes in Social Anthropology and Amerindian Studies is a full-time taught postgraduate programme run by the Department of Social Anthropology within the School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies.

The programme aims to prepare you for a range of related activities in different parts of the world, to participate in national and regional debates, and to provide the delivery of academic and extension talks and courses in different countries of the Hispanic world.

Over two semesters, students take two compulsory and two optional modules. Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, tutorial supervisions and reading groups. Lecture class sizes range from five to ten students and tutorial sizes range from two to six students. Modules are assessed through coursework consisting of two essays per module.

Over the course of the year, with particular focus during the summer months, you will devise a research project culminating in a 15,000-word dissertation. Every taught postgraduate student is assigned an individual supervisor from among the Anthropology staff who works with them closely to develop a topic and direction for the end of degree dissertation.

The Department of Social Anthropology provides postgraduates access to a museum collection of ethnographic objects and a common room that includes a general anthropological class library, providing a space that is shared by both staff and postgraduates. The departmental libraries, along with the main library which holds a fine anthropology collection, include materials from all ethnographic regions of the world.

Further particulars regarding curriculum development.

Modules

Each module typically comprises:

• Four contact hours per week (including lectures, seminars, tutorials and reading groups)
• 100% coursework assessment consisting of two essays.

For more details of each module, including weekly contact hours, teaching methods and assessment, please see the latest module catalogue.

Students may substitute up to 30 credits from 3000 or 4000 level modules, with the approval of the course coordinator.

Compulsory modules

• The Anthropology of Connections: Interdisciplinarity as Methodology: through lectures and seminars, students are shown how anthropology can be extended and illuminated by working with methodologies and concepts drawn from history, social science, philosophy, language and the arts.
• Research Methods in Social Anthropology: examines the methodology of anthropological research through close attention to the relationship between method and fieldwork experience.

Optional modules

Optional modules are subject to change each year, and attendance may be limited (see the University’s position on curriculum development). Students also have the option of choosing other modules available within the Department.

• Amerindian Language and Literature: introduces students to different forms of oral and written expression in Amerindian Societies, with Quechua and Spanish as the commonest languages taught.
• Amerindian History and Ethnography: examines the South American continent in time and space, with emphasis on the evidential and methodological bases of specialised and comparative knowledge.
• Special Subject (Amerindian Studies): available for students with a well thought out and specific research interest in a particular topic; chosen in discussion with the supervisor.

The modules listed ran in the academic year 2015-2016 and are indicative of this course. There is no guarantee that these modules will run for 2016 entry.

Take a look at the most up-to-date modules in the module catalogue.

Dissertation

Student dissertations will be supervised by members of the teaching staff who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation of not more than 15,000 words must be submitted by a date specified in August.

If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MRes, there are exit awards available that allow suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma. By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGCert or PGDip instead of an MRes.

STAR programme

The Scottish Training in Anthropological Research (STAR) consortium brings together social anthropologists from the universities of St Andrews, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow to support innovation in research and teaching.

In addition to co-hosting international conferences and workshops, the consortium runs two free week-long residential training courses each year in anthropology for postgraduate students and early career researchers. The first course is for students at the pre-fieldwork level and the second is for those at an advanced stage of research writing.

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Admission to the University of St Andrews is governed by our Admissions policy.

Curriculum development

As a research intensive institution, the University ensures that its teaching references the research interests of its staff, which may change from time to time. As a result, programmes are regularly reviewed with the aim of enhancing students' learning experience. Our approach to course revision is described online. (PDF, 72 KB).

Tuition fees

The University will clarify compulsory fees and charges it requires any student to pay at the time of offer. The offer will also clarify conditions for any variation of fees. The University’s approach to fee setting is described online. (PDF, 84 KB).