Undergraduate Studies in Anthropology at Maynooth University
Undergraduate Coordinator: Dr. Abdullahi El-Tom
Room 2.19, Rowan House
Tel: 01 7083668
E-mail: abdullahi.eltom@mu.ie
The Department of Anthropology offers a 3-year programme of modules. In the first year, students can take either 2 12-week lecture modules, accompanied by a tutorial stream (15 ECTS) or 4 12-week modules, also accompanied by a tutorial stream (30 ECTS). In the second year, modules are 12-weeks long; double honours students take a core lecture module each semester that is accompanied by a tutorial stream, and also select two more topical lecture modules from a range of options (30 ECTS), while single honours students select all the options (50 ECTS). In the third year, double honours students take a core module each semester and also select two more seminars on special topics (30 ECTS), while single honours students select four seminars (50 ECTS). There is no tutorial stream in the third year, but there are special events and workshops for third year students.
Click on the tabs below for information relevant to your programme.
DIG IN TO ANTHROPOLOGY - OUR FIRST YEARS INTERVIEW SOME LEADING ANTHROPOLOGISTS
Dr. Jean Comaroff
Dr. Mark Maguire begins the First Year programme with a single integrated course, AN151 (Intro), that explores the many faces of human culture, and introduces students to the practice of anthropology through lectures (three one-hour classes per week), film, discussion and practical assignments. Further discussion, skills training and practical assignments are delivered in a one-hour tutorial group that all students must participate in. When you register for a tutorial you will be assigned to a Teaching Assistant in groups of between twenty and twenty-five students; the TA will work with you in even smaller groups of approximately five students.
Following AN111 (Intro) in Semester 1 there will be a module called AN152 (Intro 2), delivered by Dr. Steve Coleman, which is accompanied by discussion, skills training and practical assignments in your one-hour tutorial slots.
Additionally, there are also two optional modules – AN153 Visual and Material Culture, delivered by Dr. Pauline Garvey, and AN154 Food and Culture, delivered by Dr. Abdullahi El-Tom.
Essay coversheets for all modules can be found on the relevant moodle page.
While in your first year you had a set course of modules, in the second year we give you a wider range of options, so you have some choices to make. Your lectures will be a bit smaller, and also a bit more intense. By this time, we expect you to have the basics of anthropology under your belt, and to be ready to delve a bit more in depth into the subject. You will begin to have more opportunities to speak out in your lectures, and we will have higher expectations of your written and exam work.
Alongside your lectures, as in first year, you will register for a weekly one-hour tutorial with the Second Year Tutor. Tutorials are a critical element of the second-year programme, and attendance at all tutorials is mandatory.
Essay coversheets for all modules can be found on the relevant moodle page.
Third Year Anthropology takes you deeper into the critical theory and rich ethnography of the discipline. We challenge you with seminars developed out of our own anthropological field research and invite you to engage actively with the material, offering your own interpretations and theoretical explorations in your essays. There are no tutorials associated with Third Year Anthropology, but we periodically arrange writing workshops that encourage peer critique of your ongoing writing projects.
There is an option to spend a year at a university abroad. Students who choose this option are awarded a BA International degree.
Maynooth University is the only university in Ireland to offer a specialised degree in Anthropology. As such, you will have a unique opportunity to gain a thorough grounding in the discipline. Anthropology is divided into specialities that focus on particular areas of human experience, e.g. medical anthropology, economic anthropology, linguistic anthropology. As a student, you will be encouraged to make connections across these disciplines in your comparisons of cultures and societies. You will also develop writing and communication skills as you carry out research on a topic that you develop, and write a BA thesis.
As a specialised BA degree, Anthropology is taken with two other subjects in First Year, and with one other (minor) subject in Second and Third Year. There is an option to spend a year at a university abroad, taking courses and doing field research for a thesis. Students who choose this option are awarded a BA Anthropology - International degree.
Programme Overview
First Year
Take Anthropology as a Double subjects (30 ECTS) and 2 other subjects, 15 ECTS (credits) in each.
Second Year
Take two subjects, 50 credits in Anthropology, 10 credits* in another subject
Compulsory modules:
AN 221: History, Theory, and Practice - 5 credits
AN 227: Research and Writing - 5 credits
Single Honours students are required to do a BA thesis in Third year, so you should begin to formulate your project while you are in Second Year.
Remaining Second year modules:
In addition to the compulsory modules, Single Honours Anthropology students must take another 40 credits in Anthropology, and 10 credits in another subject.
It is not necessary to take the 10 non-anthropology credits* in the same subject as was taken in First year.
Third Year
Take two subjects, 50 credits in Anthropology, 10 credits* in another subject
Compulsory modules:
AN 307: Thesis I - 5 Credits
AN 301: Contemporary Theory & Ethnography I - 5 credits
AN 304: Contemporary Theory & Ethnography - 5 credits
Highly Recommended:
AN318: Thesis II - 10 credits. It is highly recommended that Single Honours Anthropology students take a thesis in Third year.
Remaining third year modules:
In addition to the compulsory modules, Single Honours Anthropology students must take another 35 credits in Anthropology and 10 credits in another subject.
It is not necessary to take the 10 non-anthropology credits* in the same subject as was taken in Second year.
*In general, Anthropology Single Honours students are encouraged to use these 10 non-Anthropology credits for language study in their Second and Third Years.
The maximum mark awarded to a piece of continuous assessment submitted for the Autumn repeat examinations is 50%. This will apply except upon presentation of a medical certificate covering the relevant period or in other extremely extenuating circumstances, which must be communicated to, and accepted by, the lecturer prior to, or immediately after, the relevant deadline.
Where applicable, Autumn repeat students may submit continuous assessment work by a date before the Autumn examination, which will be specified by the department. Students are responsible for familiarising themselves with this deadline. If students do not submit by the deadline, the existing continuous assessment mark will be carried forward to the Autumn. No continuous assessment work will be accepted after this date.
