Rhodes University Anthropology Department Postgraduate Honours
Honours
Anthropology Honours
The honours degree is a year-long course, taken after completion of the 3rd year undergraduate degree. A minimum grade of 65% for Anthropology 3 is the usual entrance requirements for honours, but this can be reconsidered under special circumstances.
The honours course consists ofthree modules and a research essay. The first module, an advanced ethnographic course, usually involves the students spending periods of time in the field (approx 3 weeks) learning various ethnographic techniques and how to analyse data. For the remaining modules, students do mostly self-study work, with guidance from their module coordinator, presenting their work in class seminars. One to two seminars (depending on the coordinator’s preference) take place every week during a module.
Subject to student preferences and the availability of staff, thetopics for the modules are selected from the following:
Advanced ethnographic research (which involves periods of time spent in a small rural community); Anthropology of childhood; Anthropology of the Eastern Cape; Development and resettlement; Environmental anthropology; Marine anthropology and common property regimes; Ethnicity and cultural minorities; Heritage management; Indigenous peoples & knowledge; Landscapes and sacred sites; Matters of spirit in anthropology; Medical anthropology and/or related Fields; Transnational migration; The anthropology of performance.
A research essay of about 15 000 words, incorporating original fieldwork, is written during the year on a topic chosen by the candidate and approved by the departmental research committee.