Department of Anthropology - Welcome

Anthropology is the study of the rich and diverse societies and cultures that contribute to a global world. Its focus on both sameness and difference links it to those branches of philosophy that analyse what it is to be human. The view from Anthropology is that human beings interpret a material world through their social relations, and through their capacity to think imaginatively – to see the world in different ways. Comparative studies in society and culture, the familiar and the strange, reveal the way in which different groups – from local communities to nations states – define themselves and influence others. The subject stands at the crossroads of social science and the humanities. Anthropology shares much of its theory and method with Sociology and Cultural Studies, but remains distinct in its emphasis on fieldwork and comparison.

Anthropology allows students to adopt discerning views on major issues in the world today. Once a study of small-scale societies, Anthropology now involves mainly the analysis of modern nation states and trans-national relations. This includes diverse ethnic and religious conflicts, gender relations in cultural context, migration, globalisation, and the importance of indigenous peoples in national and international politics.

The Department of Anthropology is administered by the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS), under the Faculty of Arts. If you’ve already enrolled in an undergraduate degree, or are about to start one, you can explore what we have to offer in the Undergraduates link to the left. If you haven’t already applied for entry to the University of Sydney, check out the links on your right to see how you can go about securing your place at Sydney.

If you’ve already completed your undergraduate degree, click on Postgraduates and explore the options you have for returning to study. You need not have studied your first degree here – everyone is welcome to apply.

Research Strengths

The Department’s research strengths, reflected in publications, funded grants, postgraduate student projects and collaborative activities, span both ethnographic regions and topical areas informed by a variety of theoretical orientations in conjunction with critical social and philosophical inquiry.

The main areas of regional expertise are contemporary Australia including Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander anthropology, South and Southeast Asian Anthropology, the anthropology of Melanesia and comparative cultural anthropologies. There is also an emerging strength in the anthropology of Latin American and the Caribbean.

The strong areas of topical specialisation are phenomenology and psychoanalysis, the anthropology of development and globalisation, rural and regional areas, history and metatheory of anthropological thought, medical anthropology, urban studies, and environmental change.