Anthropologists are interested in people everywhere, in how society works, how people live, what are their beliefs, customs, ideas, religions, myths, prejudices and aspirations. Studying anthropology teaches people to think critically about their own society – to see it in relation to the many other cultures and societies there are in the world and to understand how it has come to be the way it is.
Malta has moved from being a site of anthropological fieldwork to a location from where anthropological teaching and research is vigorously conducted. Since its inception in 1992, the Department has hosted a steady stream of eminent academic visitors who have given courses and presented research papers.
Our undergraduate programme exposes students to the major theoretical approaches of British, French and American anthropology. The course is intellectually demanding and by the end of their course students are expected to have a solid theoretical grounding in the four main areas of socio-cultural anthropology (politics, kinship, belief systems, economics) as well as a facility in contemporary social theory.
Students are also exposed to a number of topical specialisations including historical, feminist, legal, visual, psychological and medical anthropology and the anthropology of migration among others. Following the specialisations of our staff, students will be exposed to the ethnographic literature of a number of cultural regions including North Africa and the Middle East, the Far East, Europe and the Mediterranean as well as a number of different regions thanks to our visiting academic staff. Undergraduate and postgraduate students can also take advantage of Erasmus exchanges to spend a semester or a year at various European partner universities.
People with anthropology degrees have gone on to work in education, government, diplomacy, advertising, NGOs, politics, international aid, museums, charities, health services, development, the media, organisations, and TV.
Our Department has a strong tradition in postgraduate research and training with our research students going on to research topics of both national and global interest. The anthropologists at the University form a cohesive, research-active, group and regularly presents its research in seminars and conferences at the University.
