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More about Anthropology

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Research-Led Teaching

 

Anthropology at Queen's University Belfast is an internationally renowned teaching and research unit comprising both Anthropology and Ethnomusicology with integral research links to the Institute of Irish Studies and the Institute of Cognition and Culture. A complementary teaching programme across the four areas offers a unique range of courses. 

*Top Ten*: Guardian League Table for Anthropology 2014

Recent results show that Anthropology at Queen’s University is at sixth place in the top ten UK departments according to the Guardian League Table for 2014.The table further highlights that Anthropology at Queen’s has the highest percentage score of all UK universities for students satisfied with feedback in all UK Anthropology degrees.

See:http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2013/jun/04/university-guide-anthropology

The 2008 RAE results have confirmed Queen’s University’s reputation as a world leading centre for research in Anthropology. The exercise shows that 35% of research in Anthropology is world leading (4*). Only two other Anthropology departments in the UK performed at this top level. For more detail see our News Section. 

Currently, the research strengths of staff focus on five key themes

  • Borders, Migration and Conflict Transformation
  • Emotions and aesthetics and performance
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Cognition and Morality
  • Public Policy Research

Research and research-led teaching conducted on these themes explores questions such as how do humans engage emotionally with their environments; how do rituals shape social histories; how do artefacts embody emotive artistry; to what extent are there cognitive specialisations that are unique to humans; how are state interests in borders influenced by local perceptions of movement, migration and emplacement; and how can symbols mediate conflicts over public and civic space?

The research foci of staff from the five units include Ireland ,Pakistan, Japan, Europe, the Caribbean, South America, Malaysia, Australia and Melanesia. Our thematic and regional interests are also reflected in the work of our postgraduate research students. Postgraduate research topics include conservation and marine management in Queensland; asylum seekers in Britain; Polish migrants in Belfast; medical programmes for HIV in Africa; grief and martyrdom in Palestine; and Hmong Settlers in Australia.

 The John Blacking Prize

The aim of the John Blacking Prize is to perpetuate the memory and mark the contribution to Anthropology and Ethnomusicology of John Blacking who was Professor of Social Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast from 1971 until his death in 1990.

Two bursary prizes of £500 each will be awarded annually for the top two MA dissertations by QUB anthropology and ethnomusicology students at Queen’s who enrol to do a PhD in Anthropology at Queen’s. Students should have completed an MA over the previous two years. The aim of the bursary prizes is to assist the top PhD applicants in anthropology with fieldwork. One bursary will be offered in general Anthropology and Ethnomusicology and one will be in the field of Conflict Studies, broadly conceived. The bursary prizes will be announced in September and awarded following the students’ enrolment in the PhD. The prizes will be advertised annually by Anthropology at Queen’s.

The bursary prizes shall be awarded on the basis of the two best dissertation marks in any given year. Where more than two dissertations achieve the same mark, these marks will be considered in relation to the overall degree marks of these students and ranked in descending order.

The bursary prizes will be judged by the Anthropology and Ethnomusicology postgraduate exam board held at Queen’s in September.

 

Performance Room

The School has a dedicated Performance Room with sound and media equipment for the following:

  • Seminars
  • Dance Classes
  • Music Workshops
  • Gamelan Sessions
  • Drumming Circles