Postgraduate Studies in Anthropology

Prospective postgraduate students are expected to have obtained a recognized competency in the discipline of Anthropology such as an Honours degree in Anthropology prior to undertaking a higher research degree. Anthropology at the University of Adelaide offers a M.A. Qualifying program to facilitate a transition into the discipline for those students who have allied backgrounds and/or training – see below.

The Discipline may, from time to time, offer coursework modules as part of the Applied Anthropology program – see below.

Postgraduate Studies in Anthropology
Available Degrees
Prerequisites for Research Degrees
How to Enrol to be a Postgraduate Student at the University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide Graduate Administrative Structure
The Structured Program
Fieldwork Research Funding
Grants/Prizes
Supervisors
Space and Facilities
Past Theses
Guidelines for Postgraduates
Contact Us

Postgraduate Studies in Anthropology

Postgraduate degrees represent the culmination of student training in anthropological knowledge. They are the point where students are given the opportunity to make positive and significant contributions to anthropological knowledge through their own research.

In its postgraduate programs, the Discipline of Anthropology seeks to provide a lively and vibrant research community in which postgraduates can take an active role in the furthering of anthropological knowledge. The Discipline offers a wide range of expertise to support and encourage the fieldwork research of postgraduate students; the ethnographic regions of Melanesia, Australia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ireland and the United Kingdom are all covered. Specific research interests within these regions are also broad; from ritual, kinship and gender to nationalism, conflict and social movements; from class, community and political formations to representation, identity and political cultures. The Discipline is unique in Australia for its strengths in the areas of representation, communication and performance, various forms of media, and in the application of anthropology to poverty, international development and heritage in Australia and the way in which members have developed strong interests in rising to the challenges of doing anthropology ‘at home' alongside more traditional areas. Although Discipline expertise can be understood in terms of ethnographic regions, in research and teaching at all levels members have always worked to push the bounds of analysis in anthropology – new community and post-development theories, theories of subjectivity and place, medical anthropology, social discourse and politics, theories of social transformation, action research and applied anthropology, an anthropology of the environment, and analysis of the fundamental role of representations of all kinds have emerged to challenge both staff and postgraduate students in their work. This has produced a lively environment for all researchers in the Discipline, encouraging debate on the status of anthropological knowledge itself.

Postgraduate students in the Discipline of Anthropology are first and foremost students of the University of Adelaide. Not only does this mean that you graduate with a higher degree from the University, not the Discipline, but it also means that the University, not the Discipline, generates a lot of the bureaucratic administration that you will encounter. On the other side, this also means that the resources of the University, not just those of the Discipline, are available to you. You should take advantage of this wherever possible.

Available Degrees

The Discipline of Anthropology offers three research degrees, Professional and Graduate Certificates and a Graduate Diploma:

1. The Master of Arts (Research) is a three year (full time) degree, in which students make a significant contribution to anthropological knowledge through a piece of critical research which applies and evaluates anthropological theory and methodology.
   
2. The Doctorate (Ph.D.) is a four year (full time) degree, in which students are expected to display critical and original thought and make a significant contribution to the discipline of anthropology through a thesis based on the results of original investigation.
   
   Anthropology is a fieldwork-based discipline, so these higher degrees usually incorporate a significant fieldwork component as part of their research program, i.e. 6-8 months for the M.A. and 12-15 months for the Ph.D. In both cases, the outcome is a research thesis.
   

Prerequisites for Research Degrees

1. M.A: prerequisite for a M.A. is a B.A. (Hons). Students enrolling for an M.A. may be considered for an upgrade or transfer to Ph.D. subject to approval.
2. Ph.D: prerequisite for a Ph.D. is at least a B.A. Honours, Class IIA or higher, or a Master's by research degree or equivalent qualification accepted by the University.  For students in the U.S. system, this is a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 (out of 4).

How to Enrol to be a Postgraduate Student at the University of Adelaide

Australian/New Zealand Students

If you are an Australian citizen, permanent resident of Australia, or from New Zealand you will need to fill out an application form from the Adelaide Graduate Centre or call (08) 8303 5882.

International Students

The University's International Student Centre is responsible for the admission, enrolment, orientation and ongoing support of international students. The Office works closely with student groups, the University administration, and external agencies to ensure that the experience of all international students is a positive and successful one.

For further information please contact the international office on 8303 4828.

The University of Adelaide Graduate Administrative Structure

The Discipline of Anthropology postgraduate school fits into a University wide graduate studies structure. Postgraduate students come under the auspices of the Adelaide Graduate Centre. The Board of Research Education and Development has the responsibility for overseeing all higher degree research matters, including the legal responsibility for the award of Ph.D. and M.A. The Board is chaired by the Dean of Graduate Studies and consists of 7 members, including 2 postgraduate representatives elected by the Postgraduate Students Association. On general policy matters, the Board acts in consultation with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Higher Degrees Committee. There is also a postgraduate representative on this committee.

The Scholarships Section of the Adelaide Graduate Centre administers the application and distribution process for the scholarships available for postgraduate study by research. There are two major kinds of scholarship available: Australian Postgraduate Awards and University of Adelaide Scholarships. The closing date is normally 31 October of each year. Scholarships currently open are listed in the Scholarships "Update" which is available electronically and on the Scholarships website and in the University newspaper ‘The Adelaidean'.

The Structured Program

All commencing students must complete a structured programme within the first year of candidature. This will be a combination of a Discipline Structured Programme and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Structured Program for research higher degree students. The Faculty's programme runs for 6 weeks and covers information on Faculty resources and services, doing research, maintaining bibliographic references, management of research relationships and the thesis proposal. The program consists of a main (core) program with extension workshops and practical sessions run in conjunction with each other. The Discipline's program is designed to be discipline-specific and to complement the Faculty's programme.

Fieldwork Research Funding

The Discipline provides assistance for students going into the field to do the ethnographic fieldwork component of their degree. Students are required to submit detailed budgets, estimating all relevant costs and indicating relative importance of budgetary items. Students' own prioritisations will be used in deciding the actual contribution that the Discipline is able to make to the student's projected costs. Obviously the Discipline's contribution depends on numbers of students entering the field and other budgetary considerations in any one year. A major priority is given to getting students into and out of the field.

Grants/Prizes

There are many grants designed to support students at various stages in their research. Students should make themselves aware of the grants available, since they will not be notified of them all. Either talk to someone at the Adelaide Graduate Centre or consult the Postgraduate Studies Section of the University of Adelaide website.

There are also various prizes awarded by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. One in particular that is relevant to Anthropology is The Mountford Award aimed at promoting studies in the anthropology of Aboriginal Australians and valued at $5,000.

Given the fieldwork component of anthropological postgraduate research, available travel grants are particularly useful. There are a variety of these including: the Research Abroad Scholarship, the Faculty of Arts Postgraduate Conference Support Grant, the Australian Federation of University Women scholarship and the Ruth Gibson Memorial Award (for women). Consult the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences website and the Graduate Centre website for details of these and other scholarships available.

You can also consult the SPIN programme which is a database on postgraduate awards/fellowships ( http://australia.infoed.org/spin_start.html )

Supervisors

Your relationship with your supervisors is one of the central relationships in your career as a postgraduate. As a mark of the significance of this relationship, the Discipline will not accept the candidature of any postgraduate for whom it cannot provide adequate supervision. This is an undertaking that the Discipline makes when it accepts a student. The primary responsibility for allocation of supervisors lies with the Discipline, but prospective students may approach possible supervisors before applying in order to gauge support for their project.

For further information on staff research interests click here.

Space and Facilities

As a postgraduate student in the Discipline of Anthropology you are entitled to the following facilities:

• a desk or cubicle;
• access to a computer with Internet and email;
• printing;
• photocopying;
• stationery;
• envelopes and postage requirements;
• various resources within the Discipline .

Past Theses

Past Theses topics have included:

• Sensual Extensions: Joy, Pain and Music-Making in a Police Band
• Re-engineering Indigeneity: Cultural Brokerage, the Political Economy of Tradition, and the Santa Rosa Carib Community of Arima, Trinidad and Tobago
• Becoming and Unbecoming: Abject Relations in Anorexia
• Rethinking the ‘Migrant Community': A Study of Latin American Migrants and Refugees in Adelaide
• In the Shadows of Consciousness: Uncanny Composures in the City of Adelaide
• Down on the Farm: Soap Opera, Rural Politics and Thatcherism
• Sacred Worlds. An Analysis of Mystical Mastery of North Indian Faqirs
• Per Alienus Per Intimus: Agency and the Dialectics of Identity in Adoption
• A Life of Its Own: The Social Construction of the Tour de France
• Contested Authenticity: Identity and the Performance of the Anastenaria

Past PhD Theses

For a full list of PhD and Master of Arts theses click here. Copies of PhD and Master of Arts theses are kept in the Discipline area and the Barr Smith Library. For further information please call the Anthropology Discipline Office 830 35730.

Guidelines for Postgraduates

Please click here for information on guidelines for Postgraduates.

Contact Us

Please Contact the Discipline of Anthropology office on: 8303 5730