This mutually enriching Joint Honours programme equips students in identifying historical and contemporary patterns of social organisation, human-environment relationships, ethnic and cultural divisions, varieties of inequality, and patterns of change over time across diverse societies.
Anthropology is the study of human diversity around the world and studying Anthropology together with Archaeology allows you to develop an understanding of how this diversity has changed over long periods. In studying Anthropology and Archaeology, you will learn how different societies live and have lived together, and think about such topics as family, sex, religion, art, politics and economics, as well as gaining skills increasingly in demand in a globalised and automated world.
The BA in Anthropology and Archaeology at Queen’s will allow you to examine some of the deepest and most pressing questions about human beings. Issues addressed in our modules include:
• What are the roots of social inequality?
• Does globalisation mean the end of cultural difference?
• Can a post-conflict society heal?
• How do societies and their environment shape each other?
• How do ritual traditions, musical performances, and art shape cultural identities?
• How do some people become willing to die for a group?
Studying Anthropology and Archaeology at Queen’s progressively develops general and specific knowledge and skills, through fieldwork, classroom modules, optional placements, overseas fieldtrips, performance ensembles, laboratory and practical work. A wide range of career options are available to our graduates, drawing on the valuable skills they develop in this course, including critical thinking, cross-cultural understanding, researching, interviewing, writing, and presenting.
In the Guardian University Guide 2021, Anthropology at Queen’s was ranked 2nd in the UK overall. In the Complete University Guide 2022, Archaeology at Queen’s was ranked 1st in the UK for Student Satisfaction.
Anthropology and Archaeology highlights
Student Experience
Studying both Anthropology and Archaeology brings together the study of human diversity with the study of human change over time. Studying these at Queen’s means you benefit from the commitment to fieldwork in each discipline.
Queen's currently has over 3,000 international students from 85 different countries.
Global Opportunities
Undergraduate Anthropology students, as part of their training, have carried out ethnographic field research around the world. Projects have focused on orphanages in Kenya; AIDS in southern Africa, education in Ghana; dance in India, NGOs in Guatemala, music in China, marriage in Japan, backpacking in Europe, and whale-watching in Hawaii.
Undergraduate Archaeology students benefit from a broad range of study-abroad and international placement opportunities, e.g. in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.
The purpose-built Archaeology & Palaeoecology Centre boasts the internationally renowned 14CHRONO Centre for Radiocarbon Dating, the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, departmental collections and laboratories for study of artefacts, human, animal and plant remains and other scientific materials and instruments, access to GIS, laser scanning and specialist teaching laboratories. A major upgrade of these facilities in 2021–2 included £5m investment from the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland, and UKRI-AHRC Capability for Col-lections Fund.
The McClay Library brings together library, computing, and media services in one excellent, modern building. It can accommodate more than 2000 readers at a time and boasts a collection of more than 1,200,000 volumes: books, manuscripts and periodicals collected over 160 years. It is a superb study-space for anthropologists and archaeologists. https://www.qub.ac.uk/about/Campus-and-facilities/The-McClay-Library/
Career Development
In Anthropology, through the different stages of the dissertation module (preparation and research design, fieldwork itself, and post-fieldwork writing-up), students develop a range of skills (organizational skills, interpersonal skills, in-formation-handling skills, and project management skills) that prepare them for later employment. Many of our students work with NGOs and other organisations (e.g. Operation Wallacea; Belfast Migration Centre) as part of their fieldwork.
In Archaeology, we regularly consult and develop links with a large number of employers including, for example, the Historic Environment Division at the NI Department for Communities, National Trust, Ulster Wildlife Trust, who provide snapshot advice on their work that helps us keeping our teaching relevant for the job market. We also run a careers seminar programme with guest-speaker employers and further-study coordinators (teacher training, Masters and PhD degrees).
Further Study Opportunities
Further study is also an option (eg MA Anthropology, MA Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, MRes Arts and Humanities); see the School website for details.
Internationally Renowned Experts
Anthropology at Queen’s has international renown in the following areas: Ethnomusicology and performance; Conflict and borders; Religion; Cognition and culture; Migration and diasporas; Irish studies; Material culture and art; Human-animal relations; The cross-cultural study of emotions.
Industry Links
This degree programme offers a module pathway that is fully accredited by the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) and University Archaeology UK (UAUK). https://www.archaeologists.net/careers/degrees
Student Experience
Archaeology at Queen’s stands out for its sustained excellent teaching record, having scored 95% overall student satisfaction in the UK National Student Surveys 2019 and 2021, and 100% overall student satisfaction in the UK National Student Surveys 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2023.
In the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021, Anthropology at Queen’s was ranked 2nd in the UK, including:
• 2nd in the UK for: Teaching Quality
• 5th in the UK for: Student Experience
• 3rd in the UK for: Graduate Prospects
Internationally Renowned Experts
In Archaeology at Queen’s you will be taught by academics who are internationally renowned experts at the top of their respective fields, covering many different sectors of global archaeology, from the last Ice Age to the modern period.
Student Experience
A number of Prizes and Awards are available during the programme of study.
Anne Maguire Memorial Prize
The prize is awarded to an Anthropology student who, in the judgement of the Board of Examiners for Social Anthropology, produces the best dissertation for this module in any year.
Improved Performance Undergraduate Prize
The Improved Performance Undergraduate prize is awarded by the Board of Examiners of
the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics to the student registered on any HAPP UG programme with the most improved performance between Level 2 and Level 3.
The Joint Honours Undergraduate Prize
The Joint Honours Undergraduate Prize is awarded to the student with the highest final
degree mark in a School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics owning
Joint Degree programme, excluding any combination with History or Politics.
Student Testimonials
“Queen’s enables you to feel confident around professors and lecturers who are the top in their field, and you wouldn't get that anywhere else. At the end of the day you should go somewhere that makes you happy, and Queen's has done that. My best friends are within the department, my entire life is basically this department, but I love that and, you know. If there's something you're passionate about, just go do it.”
Kirsten Cottey https://mediasite.qub.ac.uk/Mediasite/Play/930e6f32c55c47c095dc323602ce94ff1d
This programme is designed to provide students with training in Anthropology and Archaeology. The programme allows students to delve into each discipline's unique body of knowledge, subject matter, and research skills.
Social Anthropology is the analysis of culture and society, using comparative methods and ethnography, which entails engagement and participation in the field. This promotes an understanding of diversity across a range of cross-cultural fields, including kinship, economy, ecology, religion, gender, art, music and morality.
Archaeology explores a wide range of evidence that documents the human past – from artefacts, monuments and settlements to entire landscapes – and from these interprets how societies have adapted and developed over time.
The exceptional strength of this joint programme lies in the promotion of mutually-enforcing skills, which transcend discipline-specific paradigms. The two disciplines enable students to think critically outside the confines of their own culture and to learn about the human experience across time and space. Through the two disciplines, students acquire knowledge and develop skills that enable them to evaluate a wide range of sources. The programme is also designed to equip students with a range of skills which promote self-motivated, independent learning. In addition to written outputs, emphasis is placed on creative tasks including digital and print media, and research projects in collaboration with academic and non-academic collectives and institutions.
Stage 1
Themes covered in Stage 1 include what it is that makes us human, looking at evolution, culture and society, and also provide students with a general introduction to world archaeology .
Stage 1 Optional Courses
Optional courses at Stage 1 explore, amongst other themes, historical and anthropological approaches to globalization, the relationship between in-groups and out-groups, the impact of environmental change, European prehistory, archaeological fieldwork techniques and the historic archaeology of Europe.
Stage 2
At Stage 2, students explore in more detail the themes introduced at Stage 1 and develop both their theoretical background knowledge and their practical skills, with some scope for specialisation. In particular, Stage 2 courses provide competencies and concepts necessary for the dissertation that is normally taken at Stage 3, and for future employment in Anthropology, Archaeology and a wide range of other fields.
Stage 2 Optional Courses
Optional courses at Stage 2 are generally survey modules seeking to convey an understanding of the role of anthropological and archaeological approaches in our own society. Other optional modules at Stage 2 focus on anthropological, archaeological, palaeoenvironmental and geospatial field techniques.
Stage 3
At Stage 3, students dedicate a substantial part of their time to their chosen dissertation project, building on the knowledge and skills they have acquired through Stages 1 and 2.
Stage 3 Optional Courses
Students at Stage 3 have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of optional courses, covering fields as diverse as the role of ritual and religion in past and present societies, identity, human-animal relations, prehistoric monuments and population studies.
SNBE Dr Patrick Gleeson is an archaeologist interested in the later prehistoric and medieval archaeology of Europe. His current research focus is the archaeology of cult, rulership, kingdoms and governance in the first millennium AD of northern Europe. He currently has ongoing field projects examining later prehistoric and early medieval power centres, cult and royal landscapes in Ireland and Scotland, including Kedrah Fort, Lagore Crannog, Navan Fort, the Rock of Cashel and Knockainy.
Email: p.gleeson@qub.ac.uk
Telephone:+44 (0)28 9097 3238
Contact Teaching Hours
Medium Group Teaching
33 (hours maximum) In addition to the direct teaching hours per module, each student will normally be expected to spend approximately 80 hours on individual study time per 20 CATs module.
Learning and Teaching
At Queen’s, we aim to deliver a high quality learning environment that embeds intellectual curiosity, innovation and best practice in learning, teaching and student support to enable each student to achieve their full academic potential.
The teaching and learning methods in this course vary with the module being taught, the overall aims of the module and the balance between theory and practice. These methods may include lectures, tutorials, seminars, workshops, problem-centred techniques such as case studies, computer/software practical demonstrations and applications, non-book media (videos and podcasts), individual research, oral presentations, group projects, field visits and practitioner workshops. This combination allows students to have a high degree of involvement and participation in the learning process.
E-Learning technologies
Information associated with lectures and assignments is often communicated via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). A range of e-learning experiences are also embedded in the degree programme through the use of, for example, interactive support materials, podcasts and web-based learning activities.
Fieldwork
Some anthropology students will have the opportunity to study research methods and carry out anthropological fieldwork for an 8-week period. This crucial period of skill-formation and research forms the basis of a dissertation they write up in the first semester of their third year.
In Archaeology, students gain practical fieldwork experience through a four-week teaching excavation at Stage 1 and will normally have the opportunity to build further experience through volunteering on staff-led field projects throughout Stages 2 and 3.
Lectures
Lectures introduce foundation information about new topics as a starting point for further self-directed private study/reading. Lectures, which are normally delivered in large groups to all year-group peers, also provide opportunities to ask questions and seek clarification on key issues as well as gain feedback and advice on assessments.
Self-directed study
This is an essential part of life as a Queen’s student. It is during self-directed study when a student completes important private reading, engages with e-learning re-sources, reflects on feedback, and completes assignment research and preparation.
Seminars/tutorials
A significant amount of teaching is carried out in small groups (typically 10-12 students). These sessions are designed to explore in more depth the information that has been presented in the lectures. They provide students with the opportunity to engage closely with academic staff, to ask questions of them and to assess their own progress and understanding with the sup-port of their peers. During these classes, students will be expected to present their work to academic staff and their peers.
Assessment
A variety of assessment methods are used throughout the programme
The way in which students are assessed will vary according to the learning objectives of each course. Some courses are assessed solely through project work or written assignments. Others are assessed through a combination of coursework and exams. Details of how each course is assessed are explained in the general course catalogue and in the handbook for each individual course available to students.
Feedback
As students progress through their course at Queen’s, they will receive general and specific feedback about their work from a variety of sources including lecturers, module co-ordinators, placement supervisors, personal tutors, advisers of study, external examiners and peers. University students are expected to engage with reflective practice and to use this approach to improve the quality of their work.
Feedback provided via formal written comments and marks relating to work that students, as individuals or as part of a group, have submitted.
Placement employer comments or references.
On-line or emailed comment.
General comments or question and answer opportunities at the end of a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
Pre-submission advice regarding the standards students should aim for and common pit-falls to avoid. In some instances, this may be provided in the form of model answers or exemplars which students can review in their own time.
Feedback and outcomes from practical classes
Comment and guidance provided by staff from specialist support services such as Careers, Employability and Skills or the Learning Development Service.
Once students have reviewed their feedback, they are encouraged to identify and implement further improvements to the quality of their work.
Face-to-face comment. This may include occasions when students make use of the lecturers' advertised office hours to help address a specific query.
The information below is intended as an example only, featuring module details for the current year of study (2024/25). Modules are reviewed on an annual basis and may be subject to future changes – revised details will be published through Programme Specifications ahead of each academic year.
This course is designed to introduce students to social anthropology through a discussion of the key concepts in the discipline, and a consideration of the principles which underlie family life, kinship, sexuality and gender relations, and gaining a livelihood in different parts of the world.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students will have been introduced to social anthropology, and should be aware of how social and cultural differences constitute variations on a number of basic themes. Students should also be aware of the ways in which anthropology is useful for the understanding of their own society as well as for the understanding of others.
Skills
Skills in literacy, oral communication, the organisation of arguments, effective presentation of written work, critical reflection on one's own cultural assumptions and biases.
Archaeology seeks to understand past human culture through the systematic study of material remains. This module serves as an introduction to the incredible scope of the global discipline of archaeology. Two seminars introduce contentious issues in archaeology and demonstrate differences of interpretation and approach by different scholars. Four practicals provide an introduction to key skills including archaeological site recording and the analysis of past material culture.
The module is divided into two parts. In Part 1 students will gain an introduction to different techniques and practical approaches used by archaeologists to learn more about the past. Lectures will explain how sites are located and excavated, how the discoveries are scientifically dated and what happens to the remains – environmental samples, human and animal remains and material culture – that are discovered. In Part 2 a collection of case studies have been selected from around the world – Borneo, China, Egypt, Italy, Russia, the Americas, amongst others – and will demonstrate how key archaeological discoveries have played a contribution in the understanding of key issues of the past.
Learning Outcomes
• To develop an understanding of the application of key archaeological concepts and methods
• To foster awareness of the scope of archaeological enquiry
• To build awareness of current issues and debates in global archaeology
• To instil an appreciation of the range of sources examined in archaeology
• To develop the ability of critically assessing competing hypotheses in archaeology
• To equip students with core study skills for archaeology
Skills
• Critical thinking and oral expression
• Critical thinking and written expression
• Time management and self-directed learning
• Structured academic writing
• Ability to properly cite references and to create bibliographies
• Ability to systematically undertake library research
• Ability to synthesise complex information
• Ability to undertake practical tasks
• Experience of working within a small group
• Observational skills
This module introduces students to the evolution of hominins in changing global environments, from primate origins to the beginning of settled societies. Lectures and practicals introduce the timeframes of changing environments in which people evolved, patterns of evolution, the appearance of our own species, dispersal throughout the world and the ancient beginnings of human impact on the planet.
Knowledge gained in the lecture course will be assessed by multiple choice tests and two written assessments. The practical programme will introduce skills in bibliographic and literature search, graphical display, and the analysis of research data relating to the investigation of early humans. Skills relating to the analysis and documentation of artefacts and stratigraphy and sedimentology will be introduced.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to
• Show an understanding of the environmental, chronological and cultural context for human evolution [assessed mainly by essay, but also CT and portfolio]
• Show an understanding of records of ancient humans and landscapes [assessed mainly by essay, but also CT]
• Demonstrate a knowledge of the key evidence and terminology relating to environmental and human evolutionary changes throughout the Quaternary [assessed mainly by CT]
• Show an ability to handle and present data, and to undertake basic statistical analysis [assessed by portfolio]
Skills
Skills
Subject-specific skills
You will be able to search, extract and use data from a range of academic literature. You will be able to use the MS Excel program to display, describe and carry out simple analysis of archaeological data, including basic statistics.
You will be able to analyse artefacts and document them photographically and by drawing.
Cognitive skills
You will be able to explain (i) the patterns and process of hominid evolution and (ii) the background pattern of global climate change.
Further details, including a full breakdown of Transferable skills and Module Guide example, can be found at the following link:
https://archaeology-palaeoecology-qub.com/gap1001-ancient-humans-landscapes/
Excavation of an archaeological site; recording of stratigraphy and features; understanding the reasons for excavation. Daily attendance on an excavation approved by the department for a prescribed period (up to four weeks, normally in June) is required.
Learning Outcomes
Introduces students to one of the basic methods of acquiring archaeological data and studying the techniques involved.
Skills
Understanding the reasons for the methodology used on the excavation and experience in use of that methodology. Understanding and experience in recording the stratigraphic sequence uncovered.
This module provides an introduction to the principles and techniques used to reconstruct past environments and detect environmental change mostly during the last 2.6 million years, the Quaternary. It looks at the history of palaeoecology and the underlying theory and ecological principles that enable the interpretation of information from ancient deposits. The primary palaeoecological techniques and their limitations are described. Case studies show how some techniques have been applied to provide a range of palaeoenvironmental information.
Learning Outcomes
Students will acquire a knowledge and understanding of the principles of palaeoecology and will be able to understand the main methods used to reconstruct past environments.
Skills
Synthesis of information; Presentation of academic argument. Written self expression. Data interpretation and presentation. Library use. Website investigation. Time management.
The course examines major themes in historical archaeology in a global context. It examines the ways in which material evidence is used to understand societies of the historic period, from the birth of Christ to the present day. It will examine the use of historical sources in the study of the past, archaeological approaches to myth, religion, the growth and collapse of Empires, archaeologies of conflict, warfare and propaganda. Students will gain understandings of how to challenge historical paradigms through the use of material evidence, and examine current debates in historical archaeology worldwide.
Learning Outcomes
To introduce students to the study of the physical remains of historical periods globally within context.
To challenge their preconceptions of the historic period and the application of archaeology.
The course provides a background to understanding the major developments and debates in historical archaeology in recent decades.
Skills
Introducing students to assessing the evidence of the material remains of the past against the documents.
Evaluating the power and truth of the images popularly associated with historical periods globally.
Us And them: Why do we have ingroups and outgroups?
Overview
Drawing theoretically on both cognitive and social anthropology and utilizing a wide range of case studies, from personal passions for particular sub-cultures of music and sport to national politics in Northern Ireland to global divides of religion and class, this module will introduce students to social groups.
We will explore what makes human social groups different from those of other animals, psychological explanations of group commitment, and anthropological literature on symbols, rituals, and politics to examine how particular social groups are created and sustained and how some individuals become willing to fight and die for their fellow group members.
Learning Outcomes
Be able to describe and consider the implications of:
1) The importance of social groups for individuals.
2) How group identities and traditions are created.
3) How groups continue from generation to generation.
4) The similarities and differences between national, religious, sporting, class, and interest groups.
5) How groups can convince individuals to die for them
6) Why intergroup prejudice and conflict is so common.
Skills
The module will help foster the students’:
Ability to consider the findings of multiple disciplines in addressing questions of human society.
Ability to present ideas clearly in both oral and written formats
Ability to research and analyse material from multiple disciplines
Ability to debate and defend arguments
Ability to engage in civil discourse about strongly held convictions
Ability to prepare concise and focused presentations
'Understanding Northern Ireland: History, Politics and Anthropology'
Overview
This level 1 module will use a variety of historical, political, sociological and anthropological perspectives to look at key issues relating to Northern Ireland. The course will provide an overview of the history and politics of the state of Northern Ireland. It will use anthropological understandings of ethnicity and nationalism to examine how Unionism and Irish Nationalism developed. It will look in detail at the various political solutions which have been applied to ‘the Province’, with a particular focus on the Peace Process. It will examine the realities and legacies of the conflict since the signing of the 1998 Agreement. It will explore the development of cultural and political 'traditions' examining, in particular, change and continuity in Irish society.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should
•be aware of how to utilise a range of disciplinary approaches (historical, political, sociological and anthropological) in helping to develope an understanding of division and conflict within Northern Ireland.
•be aware of how to examine how contemporary political communities use the past to construct traditions, ideologies and identities.
•understand how to explore the role of history in understandings of Northern Ireland.
•To develop a broad understanding of the politics of the state.
•understand and look at key contemporary issues in Northern Irish society.
•be able to assess and highlight various research approaches to Northern Ireland, and to explore how academic work can be applied.
Skills
Students will acquire skills in understanding written material, skills in weighing evidence and skills in debating controversial topics. The ability to read material, weigh judgements and engage with the topics being discussed. They should also develop oral presentation skills, essay writing skills and skills in accessing and analysing information, research evaluation. They will also gain experience of coping with controversial topics.
A World on the Move:Historical and Anthropological Approaches to Globalization
Overview
This modules provides an anthropological introduction to the study of globalisation, using comparative case studies from the contemporary and the historical record, and outlining links with perspectives in the field of history. Among the issues discussed are: global and local linkages in a world of economic, cultural and political connectivity; cultural convergence and the expression of cultural difference; migration, refugees, trafficked people, tourism; diasporas, the idea of home and national borders; transnational family networks in the contemporary world; global and local regimes of power and resistance.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, student should be aware of the complex ways in which globalising forces have influenced people's everyday experiences in different socio-cultural settings and changing historical contexts.
Skills
Students should develop skills in literacy; oral communication; the organisation of logical arguments; effective presentation of written work; and teamwork.
This module examines the later prehistory of Europe, from the beginnings of settled farming society in the Near East (c. 10,000 years ago) to the European Iron Age and the dawn of historic times (c. 50 BC). Geographically, the scope of the module spans across Europe and the Mediterranean, from Russia and the Levant to Ireland and Spain. The material and ideas presented provide an important base for subsequent modules on the history and prehistory of Europe, Britain, and Ireland, setting a chronological scene against which to understand the emergence of complex human society.
Two themes run through the course: human adaptation to change (climate, environment, food, technology, social structure) and the emergence of different cultural responses through time and space (such as settlement, economic strategies, material culture, art, burial, status, trade and ethnicity). Prehistoric archaeology is interested in recording how humans deal with change over time and in understanding how to measure time in the remote past through a variety of chronological methods (14C and dendro-dating, other scientific and material culture-based dating techniques). Later prehistoric archaeology also examines the origins of new technologies and social structures, such as domestication of plants and animals, metals, writing and urban life, and seeks to understand the many factors that trigger change and development.
The aim of the course is to provide students with an introduction to the major themes of study and the principal issues of European prehistory. It includes many of the classic sites and cultures that typify the early history of the continent, and some of the theories and models that have resulted from their study.
Learning Outcomes
- A broad understanding of the development of human societies in Europe from c. 10,000 years ago to the 1st century BC.
- An understanding of the nature and range of the archaeological record.
- An awareness of the complexities and limitations of archaeological interpretation.
- An awareness of present debates and controversies in prehistoric archaeology.
- An understanding of the multi-disciplinary nature of archaeology, the wide variety of sources, and evidence on which modern archaeology draws, e.g. environmental, historical and ethnographical.
Skills
- Critical thinking and oral expression.
- Time management and self directed learning.
- The ability to write structured academic style essays, presenting clear unbiased arguments.
- Ability to cite references and create bibliographies.
- The ability to undertake library-based research, making full use of bibliographic sources.
- Critical analysis of competing hypotheses of text and other media.
- Critical synthesis of diverse information.
Anthropologists have analysed how people with different cultures' express themselves in a variety of ways through sound, text and image. Who is involved in specific expressive practices, who controls these practices, and which media are emphasised by different groups? Can textual, verbal, musical and material forms of expression be communicated across cultural boundaries? How do processes of cultural translation affect their meaning and impact on different lifeworlds? In this module, we will explore performative genres including musical activities and rituals; language-based forms of expression and processes of visual and material expression around artworks, objects and film documentation.
Learning Outcomes
Students should have acquired a basic understanding of key issues relating to the performative dimensions of cultural expression through a comparative analysis of ethnographic studies pertaining to sound, text and image. Students should be able to discuss how anthropology has approached expressive cultures and understand a range of cultural differences between themselves and others in this arena. The module should prepare them for further study in the fields of performative, textual and visual analysis.
Skills
Students should develop skills in literacy; oral communication; the organisation of logical arguments; effective presentation of written work; critical reflection on their own cultural assumptions and biases; and teamwork.
This module will examine the theme of culture from an anthropological perspective. Focusing on an assortment of critical thinkers and formative texts, it addresses the relation of culture to race, society, history, practice, embodiment, emotions, power, the politics of identity, the state, and globalization. The course examines some of the foremost anthropologists who have contributed to these topics, drawing on functionalist, structuralist, Marxist, reflexive and other traditions of thought.
Learning Outcomes
One objective of the module is that the students acquire a firm grasp of the key principles and theoretical perspectives of social and cultural anthropology. A second objective is that the students develop an ability to apply these principles and perspectives to a broad range of ethnographic and other materials. In its emphasis on the development of critical thinking, the module will therefore make a larger contribution by equipping students in relation to other anthropology - and non-anthropology - modules to take.
Skills
To develop critical reading skills with respect to anthropological texts, and to develop debating skills in class. To develop the critical faculties of the students with respect to cultural discourses.
Thinking through Things Theorizing Global Archaeology
Overview
This module introduces students to the range of archaeological thought. Many of the theoretical issues currently being debated have a long history, and their placement in a broader social and political context is a necessary adjunct to a fuller understanding of where the discipline is now. In addition, the module will focus in more detail on a selected number of key topics for further exploration, such as the nature of archaeological assemblages, the concept of culture, the processual-postprocessual debate, gender, and the so-called 'interpretative' approaches. The module will also introduce students to methodological concepts and the techniques of research design, in preparation for their thesis.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be expected to have acquired:
- A broad knowledge and understanding of archaeological interpretation, and its social and political context
- An appreciation of the relationship between archaeological theory and practice
- An understanding of current issues and debates in archaeological theory, and of the major terms used in such debates
- An understanding of how to appraise archaeological research;
- An understanding of how to prepare a substantial research project or thesis
Skills
Ability to undertake guided library and web-based research
- Ability to present a succinct summary of arguments in written format
- Ability to critically assess complex and competing hypotheses
- Ability to summarise and discuss key points from selected readings and to communicate these to a seminar group
- Ability to assess and design a research project
Hanging out on Street Corners: Creative, Public and applied Anthropology
Overview
The module is designed to introduce students to qualitative, ethnographic, methodologies, explore creative methods, and examine the applied use of ethnographic methods in the social sciences and policy analysis. It will discuss the differences between qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. This will enable students to argue for the utility of ethnographic methodologies in further modules (dissertation).
Introducing the students to a range of ways of engaging with and understanding the social world, the module will look at the utility of ethnography and anthropology in applied situations. In doing so it will present an understanding of environments in which ethnography can be used in ‘problem solving’ and as a critical tool for ‘policy’ understanding.
Students will be exposed to specific case studies and examples and asked to develop their own skills through presentations, analysis of case studies, and workshops. The course will encourage internships and act as a preparation for dissertation modules in semester 2 (year 2) and semester 1 (year 3).
Students should develop an awareness of how qualitative/anthropological methods – ethnography and participant observation - might provide skills that have practical applications away from the academy.
Learning Outcomes
• To develop and understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
• To engage with creative methods
• To develop skills necessary in the utilisation of anthropology such as report & proposal writing, team work, presentation and communication skills.
• To develop confidence and ability to work within a team and under pressure of time.
• To develop a critical understanding of ethnographic research when applied to areas of policy.
• To critically analyse ethical issues related to ethnographic fieldwork.
• To analyse the relationship between anthropology and other disciplines and professional areas.
• To develop early engagement with dissertation topics, possibly through internships.
Skills
• Ability to consider the findings of multiple disciplines in addressing questions of human society.
• Ability to utilise interpersonal skills
• Ability to work in teams
• Ability to present ideas clearly in both oral and written formats
• Ability to research and analyse material from multiple disciplines
• Ability to debate and defend arguments
• Ability to engage in civil discourse about strongly held convictions
• Ability to prepare concise and focused presentations
This module will bring together staff from a range of disciplinary fields including anthropology, film studies, and museum studies, in an examination of media, visual, and digital anthropology. The aim of the module is to offer students analytical skills to engage with the notion of the ‘visual’ and ‘media’ in research practice. A key focus will be placed on visual ethnographic methods, from ethnographic film, to photography, museum display and performance, as well as an examination of digital/social media and their anthropological significance. Some additional key themes will be those of the crisis of representation in anthropology, globalization and the dominion of the ‘visual’, sensorial and digital methods in the field, media and the social, the ethics of visual/digital anthropology and virtual/collaborative practices in ethnographic fieldwork.
Learning Outcomes
On completion, students will:
· be familiar with key issues in the study of the ‘visual’ and media in anthropology
· be able to recognize and critically assess the role of visual and other media in different cultures
· understand how visual methods can be utilized in ethnographic fieldwork
· understands the ethics and responsibilities involved in the use of visual and virtual/digital methods in ethnographic fieldwork
· be able to historicise the development of visual and media anthropology
· be able to employ different visual media (photography, ethnographic film, visual blogs, visual material) in interactive critical discussions with peers and employ visual methods in the practice of ethnographic fieldwork.
Skills
Academic reading and writing
Oral communication of theoretical and ethnographic data
Media literacy and criticism
Effective presentation of written work
Critical reflection on ethnographic films, museum displays and photography in anthropology
Creative work with electronic audio/visual media.
Northern Ireland’s peace process, the legacy of conflict and enduring divisions present a range of ongoing challenges for politics and society. Drawing on expertise from across the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics – combined with that of relevant practitioners, where possible – this interdisciplinary, team-taught module will examine a range of thematic challenges with respect to conflict, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, community relations, public representations of the past, and democratic governance. Rooted in the case of Northern Ireland, the module will also routinely consider broader comparisons with other cases and possible generalisation to other cases. It will be structured into three main parts. First, it will critically engage with Northern Ireland’s past. What were the underlying sources of division, and what can we learn about the complexities and nuances of identity over time? Second, it will explore how the past continues to interact with contemporary Northern Ireland. How is this past represented and understood in today’s public history landscape? Is it possible for Northern Ireland’s contested past to be publicly represented in ways that promote mutual understanding? Can Northern Ireland now be characterised as a ‘post-conflict’ region? Finally, the module will look ahead. Does the current political settlement represent a sustainable form of governance for the region? What do internal developments, such as demographic change, and external challenges, such as climate change, mean for Northern Ireland’s future? By critically engaging with these interrelated themes through relevant disciplinary perspectives, this module ultimately seeks to better understand contemporary Northern Ireland, the history that has shaped it, and the future directions that are possible.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module the successful student should be able to demonstrate in assessed essays, coursework and tutorial contributions:
- A familiarity with a range of topical issues and debates in Northern Ireland, including their historical roots, their contemporary political significance, and their relevance for the region’s future;
- An understanding of the Northern Ireland conflict and the peace process, including the factors that contributed to both;
- A critical appreciation of the challenges associated with conflict transformation, peacebuilding, community relations, public representations of the past, and democratic governance in a divided society from a variety of disciplinary perspectives in the humanities and social sciences;
- Awareness of the role that arts, culture, heritage and public engagement with the past can play in reducing political and social divisions;
- A heightened sense of the complexity of identity, politics and place in Northern Ireland.
Skills
Intellectual skills
• Managing & Prioritizing Knowledge: identify relevant and subject-specific knowledge; manage such information in an independent manner;
• Analytical Thinking: identify, understand, interpret and evaluate relevant subject-specific arguments made by others; construct independent arguments;
• Critical & Independent Thinking: ability to think critically and construct one’s own position in relation to existing and ongoing debates in the field.
Professional and career development skills
• Communication Skills: ability to communicate clearly with others, both orally and in writing;
• Teamwork: ability to work with others in a team, negotiate conflicts and recognize different ways of learning;
• Diversity: ability to acknowledge and be sensitive to the range of cultural differences present in the learning environment;
• Self-Reflexivity: ability to reflect on one’s own progress and identify and act upon ones own development needs with respect to life-long learning and career development;
• Time Management: ability to negotiate diverse and competing pressures; cope with stress; and achieve a work / life balance .
Technical and practical skills
• Information Technology: demonstrate the knowledge and ability to use contemporary and relevant ICT.
Organizational skills
• Efficient and effective work practice: demonstrate ability to work efficiently to deadlines;
• Clear organisation of information: show efficiency in the organisation of large amounts of complex information and the ability to identify, describe and analyse the key features of the information;
• Organisation and communication: demonstrate ability to use evidence to develop logical and clear argument; show aptitude for the effective use of information in a direct and appropriate way;
• Enterprising thinking: Demonstrate ability to think and argue in novel and enterprising ways, to display originality of thought and argument and the ability to clearly support arguments in innovative ways.
Through a series of lectures and practicals, this module will provide students with a flavour of some of the leading techniques and proxies used to reconstruct past environments. Lectures will present an overview of the methodological principles and applications, showcasing relevant scientific studies to illustrate the potential of the techniques. A field trip and practicals will provide students with hands-on experience, including coring, stratigraphic recording, proxy identification and analysis, and sample preparation. Relevant statistical and graphical techniques to interpret fossil proxy time series and put them onto secure time-scales will also be introduced. The practicals are intended to give students a taster for a range of palaeoenvironmental techniques that could be employed for their Level 3 dissertations.
Learning Outcomes
By completing this module, students will:
-obtain a greater understanding of past events of abrupt climate and environmental change, -obtain a greater understanding of how these events have been reconstructed from a range of fossil evidence, -be aware of the potential and limitations of fossil proxy evidence in informing us about environmental change, and -be able to put current climate change into a longer-term context.
Skills
Subject-specific skills
Hands-on experience with the most important proxies, produce and interpret fossil proxy diagrams, work with relevant software Cognitive skills Students will be able to assess, interpret and evaluate evidence from fossil proxy deposits for past events of abrupt climate change.
Transferable skills
Students will be able to use different pieces of software, and write succinct summaries of research.
Apocalypse: Cultures, communities, and the end of the world
Overview
The aim of the course is to introduce students to historical and anthropological reflection on millennial / millenarian beliefs and movements across space and time. Taking a long view of historical events and using case studies of present-day groups that attend to ideas about the end of the world, taking advantage of the interdisciplinary character of the School, and using a wide range of primary sources, including novels, film, websites, and ethnographic case studies and film, this course will invite students to consider the ancient roots of millennial theory; its foundational texts, exponents / prophets and movements; examples of well-known failed and successful millennial claims and movements, including the Crusades, radical puritans, Mormons, Jewish Zionists, American evangelicals, new religious movements, including UFO and suicide cults, and radical Islamists; the use of millennial theory as presentist critique; the development of millennial majorities, and the social, cultural and political implications of their dominance; millennialism’s place in utopian theory; and a final consideration of theoretical rejoinders, in which the course leaders encourage students to consider whether millennial claims might be right – for example, in terms of global warming – and whether that might change the way in which historians and anthropologists should approach the subject.
Learning Outcomes
An understanding of the broad history and anthropology of millennial movements across space and time; An ability to discuss millennial ideas and movements using heuristic tools from history and anthropology; An ability to use electronic resources and to develop key research skills; Effective communication skills; An ability to write an informed analysis of historical problems discussed in the module; An ability to work independently.
Skills
Enhanced ability to think critically, reason logically, and evaluate evidence; Further develop communication skills, both written and oral; Critical appraisal of, engagement with, and effective use of a variety of historical and anthropological sources.
Preparing and guiding students for a period of personal research in the long vacation. Includes the selection of a research topic, documentary and bibliographical search, training in quantitative and qualitative research techniques. In addition, students will consider the ethical implications of their research, as well as show awareness of the risk factors involved.
Learning Outcomes
Students should develop the ability to devise an anthropological research topic and plan field research using existing social skills and standard research techniques. Students should also be able to assess the potential risks involved in their chosen research, and assess the ethical implications of their planned work.
Skills
Skills in devising a research proposal and in collecting and sorting information. Students should develop skills in the following areas:
- bibliographical research;
- design a manageable research project;
- assess usefulness of different research techniques
- assess ethical implications of research
- oral and written presentations
- time management
Being the most complex social species, human beings possess many competencies to deal with social interaction, including the capacity to make moral judgments that evaluate and regulate human behaviour (i.e., judgments on whether an action is right or wrong, and on whether someone deserves reward or punishment). Drawing from the anthropological and psychological literature on the matter, the module introduces the student to the various aspects of human morality, discussing the following types of issues:
- Are moral judgments totally relative to one’s culture or are there universal components of human morality?
- Is human morality based solely on religion?
- Are moral judgments framed by distinct concerns such as care/harm, justice/injustice, loyalty/betrayal, hierarchy/subversion, and purity/impurity or are they always related to a specific concern with basic human rights?
- Can the configuration of different moral concerns shed light on different political attitudes and ideologies, such as conservatism and liberalism, and their disagreement on a variety of topics, such as abortion, homosexuality, and economic equality?
- Although the intentional causation of harm is normally prohibited, why in many situations (e.g., in the punishment of heinous crimes, in the interrogation of suspected terrorists, or in the context of wars and revolutions) people have conflicting intuitions about the boundaries of such prohibition?
Learning Outcomes
Be able to describe and consider the implications of:
- current anthropological and psychological approaches to the various aspects of human morality;
- the interplay between cultural learning and basic psychological dispositions in the domain of morality
- moral judgments to politics and the law.
Skills
The module will help foster students’:
- Ability to consider the findings of multiple disciplines in addressing the topic of morality.
- Ability to present ideas clearly in both oral and written formats.
- Ability to research and critically analyse material from multiple disciplines.
- Ability to debate and defend arguments.
From St Patrick to the Plantation: The Archaeology of Historic Ireland
Overview
The study of Ireland from the 5th to 17th centuries through the physical remains of the past rather than documentary history. Early Christian crafts and settlements; the impact of the Vikings; the lordships of the Anglo-Normans and the problems of the later Middle Ages.
Learning Outcomes
1)An understanding of the key areas of archaeological evidence of the period; 2)appreciation of the relationship between archaeological and documentary evidence; 3)appreciation of the role of excavation in the study of the period; 4)an understanding of Ireland's position in medieval Europe.
Skills
1)Identifying evidence cited by authors holding different views on issues within the period; 2)An introduction to assessing the results published in primary sources, especially excavation reports.
This course surveys the archaeology of Ireland from c. 8000 BC to the coming of Christianity. The course begins with the background to human colonisation of this island. It traces the evidence for Ireland’s first colonists and their cultural development, seen in such sites as the hunting-fishing camp at Mount Sandel, up until the arrival of the earliest farming communities. The settlements, economies, megalithic tombs such as Newgrange and other ritual structures of Ireland’s first farmers are examined within the framework of both their environmental and social context. The course then takes up the earliest metal-using communities of the Bronze Age and follows the rise of bronze- and iron-using elites in Ireland. Special attention is given to sites such as Navan Fort, the problem of the origins of the Irish, to what extent earliest Irish traditional literature provides a ‘window on the Iron Age’, and consideration of the main debates in Irish prehistory.
Learning Outcomes
• An awareness of major issues in the study of prehistoric Ireland
• Initiative in the acquisition and synthesis of evidence-based archaeological material, using a range of library and digital sources
• Proficiency in oral and written communication skills, including academic referencing
• A familiarity with the material cultural of prehistoric Ireland
Skills
Critical thinking; Oral and written communication skills; Digital presentation skills; Independent study; Group work; Use of library and digital resources
This module focuses on the acquisition of fundamental skills needed in Archaeological Practice. Students will develop core practical, computing and digital data skills used in archaeological assessments, survey, excavation and reporting. While these are essential for those going on to practice as archaeologists, many of the skills acquired will be useful in careers outside the archaeological and heritage sectors and for dissertations. Learning will be through weekly lectures, practicals, directed and independent weekly reading and digital-portfolio tasks. Students will be introduced to the legislative framework for U.K. commercial archaeology, the basic principles of site and soil formation and sampling, landscape survey, artefact analysis and curation, illustration, photography and data management. They will undertake weekly practical sessions to develop skills in a wide array of techniques from flotation to the use of differential GPS equipment and fieldwalking. The overarching aim is for students to achieve a basic understanding and competence in core techniques which will provide them with a solid basis for professional accreditation with e.g. The Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland (IAI) or the Institute of Field or Archaeologists (IfA), and the ability to plan their continued professional development independently.
Learning Outcomes
Having completed this unit the student is expected to have developed and demonstrated:
• Familiarity with legal, policy, and ethical archaeological frameworks in the UK
• Familiarity with the principles of the archaeological process in professional practice including: desk-based assessment, survey and excavation and the appropriate use of techniques.
• The ability to find and interrogate relevant digital datasets
• A basic appreciation of what causes variation in different evidence classes (e.g. taphonomy; recovery procedures) and the effect of these on interpretations.
• An appreciation of the importance primary data recovery and new information through practical/field experience
• An understanding of the fragile and non-renewable nature of the archaeological resource and the need for sustainable approaches to its use and conservation
• Familiarity with the diverse sources of evidence used by archaeologists
• An understanding of where to find jobs in the archaeology and heritage sectors and sound knowledge of the skills and experience required for professional accreditation.
Skills
On the completion of this module students should:
• Understand the key components of a desk based assessment
• Be able to practise, under supervision, core archaeological and landscape survey fieldwork techniques
• Be able to practise, under supervision, core post-excavation/post-survey techniques including: basic stratigraphic interpretation, phasing, data archiving, processing and sorting of environmental samples.
• Have developed basic skills graphics software, GIS and web-design
• Have a basic understanding of landscape, stratigraphic and soil formation processes and sampling strategies.
• Be able to discover and recognise the archaeological significance of material remains and landscapes.
• Have developed basic skills in the analysis of spatial data to determine where archaeological traces survive in present day landscapes.
• Be aware of the interactions of biological, environmental and socio-cultural
influences in human ecology
Transferable Skills
Generic and employability skills include:
• Effective time management
• Collaborating effectively in a team via experience of working in a group, through fieldwork, laboratory and/or project work
• Demonstrating a positive and “can do” approach to practical problems
• Preparing effective written communications for different readerships
• Making effective and appropriate graphic visual outputs
• Making effective and appropriate use of information technology including web page design
• Making critical and effective use of information retrieval skills using paper based and electronic resources
• applying numeracy in practical contexts
• Technical expertise and transfer of learning between performance situations
• Analysis, critical thinking and interpretation skills - especially of spatial data
The Archaeology of Islands (Residential Fieldtrip Module)
Overview
This module will introduce students to the archaeology of islands. Opening weeks will provide an overview of the conceptual issues surrounding the study of islands including the physical geography of islands, theories of island colonisation, concepts of insularity, material adaption and evolution in insular environments, and social resilience and decline on islands. This section of the course will be assessed through an essay. Following this, students will explore concepts through specific island case studies presented by staff and through directed leaning and seminars. This will be assessed via short projects/ posters. The module will have a substantial residential field work component; so the penultimate weeks will focus on preparation, exploring in depth issues specific to the fieldwork destination (currently Malta). Students will also receive training in basic recording methods prior to the fieldtrip and presentations to the class on sites (with an accompanying prepared fact sheet).
Learning Outcomes
- An understanding of themes central to island archaeology including colonisation, insularity, adaptation and material evolution, climate resilience and collapse of island cultures;
- Critical interpretation of monuments, architecture, building materials and artefacts, within an island context;
- An awareness of current debates in island archaeologies;
- Critical understanding of how heritage Is presented as part of contemporary island identities;
- An understanding of the relevance of studying islands to current society.
Skills
· Observation and interpretation of material culture in the field and landscape
· Discussion skills
· Research skills
· Preparation of site reports and effective writing
· Presentation skills
· Critical understanding of popular archaeological media
From national anthems to Hip-Hop, and from K-Pop to the Proms, music is a means of performing and contesting power. Drawing on perspectives from ethnomusicology, sound studies, and the anthropology of music, this module provides students with the opportunity to work intensively on a series of topics related to music, power, and conflict in both historical and contemporary contexts. We will explore a range of key themes, including sounds of protest and resistance; music, conflict, and reconciliation; and the performance of race and gender. This will be carried out through interactive class sessions and innovative assignments, as well as listening to and reflecting upon music itself. As anthropologists, we are less concerned about the ‘notes on the page’. Instead, we will focus on music as a social and cultural practice, as a site of contestation, and a source for ways of (re)imagining, (re)conceptualising and (re)organising society.
In this module, we will use music as a window into the lives of others (and ourselves), which will help us understand different social, cultural, and political agendas and the issues that matter most to people in society. In so doing, we will grapple with a range of questions, including: how does music reflect the cultures that produce it? How is music used to represent a nation or group of people? Can music play a role in conflict transformation? How does musical performance intersect with identity? Can music be used as a tool for social justice? Should some music be banned? Does music need to be decolonised? Our classes will engage with diverse case studies such as: western classical music and the legacy of white supremacy; musical populism in Latin America; nationalism and identity politics in the Eurovision song contest; soundscapes of torture and detainment; and rap, drill, and moral panic.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students will:
• understand anthropological and ethnomusicological theory associated with the study of music and humanly organised sound(s)
• be able to identify and critically assess a variety of music and sound cultures
• understand how performance and aesthetics impacts the construction of sociocultural identities and political circumstances
• have written critical texts engaging with academic and popular debates about diverse music and sound scenes
present work in a variety of formats, including a synthesis of class readings and discussions, oral presentations, and a well-crafted research paper that demonstrates a firm understanding of the connections between music, power, and conflict.
Skills
By the end of the module, students should have developed the following key skills:
Generic
• Effective presentation of written work at a level appropriate to the year of studies.
• Competency in presenting orally findings from readings and primary research.
• The ability to research both independently and as part of groups.
Module-Specific
• have created and curated a digital playlist on a topic related to music, power, and conflict
• have written an ethnographic vignette on the use of sound as a creative practice
• have written critical texts engaging with academic and popular debates about diverse music and sound scenes
The Archaeology of Ancient Greece (Residential Fieldtrip Module)
Overview
This module will introduce students to the archaeology of ancient Greece. It will provide students with an experience of Greek landscape, monuments and material culture, facilitating a greater understanding of the societies with emerged in the region from the prehistoric through Byzantine periods. It consists of a 10-day study tour to Greece followed by related class sessions during Semester 1. The tour will be led by academics from the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens (IIHSA) while class sessions will be in QUB, and will focus on building skills associated with field-based research including site recording techniques and approaches, and individual research projects on places visited during the fieldtrip.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the module, students will be able to:
• Understand the sites of ancient Greece in their landscape context;
• Demonstrate a good understanding of key periods of Greek prehistory and history;
• Analyse archaeological evidence in the field and record information on sites from first-hand observation;
• Communicate effectively about archaeological sites and their contexts both orally and in writing;
Skills
• Prepare detailed reports based on field-based observations and scholarly research;
• Record monuments in the field using a notebook, including characterisation and interpretation of archaeological and built structures;
• Communicate research clearly and effectively in both written reports and oral presentation.
The aim of this course is to offer students a comprehensive introduction to key themes and issues emerging from the anthropological study of Roma, Gypsies and Traveller communities.
We will start by critically examining some of the main ideas through which Roma communities have been imagined and represented in popular discourse and academia.
We will do this by engaging with key anthropological studies of Roma, highlighting the connection between the study of Roma and central anthropological themes: such as kinship, exchange, personhood and cosmology.
We will then look at what happens when broader processes of globalisation and Europeanisation take place, with a focus placed on migration and political mobilisation.
Finally, we will engage with new approaches to the anthropological study of Roma, with a focus placed on the analysis of representation, misrepresentation and collaboration between anthropologists and Roma communities.
Some of the key themes the course will explore are: cosmology and personhood, marginality and identity, migration and borders, politicisation of Roma issues and religious mobilisation, hybridity and collaboration.
Learning Outcomes
The main objectives of this course are to:
- Enable students to familiarise themselves with ethnographic studies of Roma communities
- Enable students to engage with some of the main anthropological themes in the study of Roma and other minority groups
- Help students draw on different ethnographically informed studies in order to critically challenge homogenising representations
- Use ethnographic studies on Roma in order to engage with anthropological theory and debates in the discipline
- Consolidate students’ knowledge of anthropological methodology with a focus on minority groups
- Familiarise students with the socio-political changes brought about by the process of Europeanisation in relation to minority groups in Europe
- Enable students’ comparative analysis of anthropological themes in relation to marginalised communities
- Develop basic conceptual tools for approaching the subject and analysis of the assigned texts
Skills
Transferable skills:
- Ability to critically engage with ethnographic texts
- Develop basic conceptual tools for approaching the subject and analysis of the assigned texts
- Develop presentation skills
- Ability to research critically and analyse material from multiple disciplines
- Ability to debate and construct arguments
- Ability to present ideas clearly in both oral and written formats
This module is not a standard option but is provided: (i) to accommodate visiting students at Stage 3 and (ii) to provide an alternative to the double-weighted Archaeology / Palaeoecology dissertation module under exceptional circumstances, as advised by supervisor; compulsory if a dissertation module is not taken; not otherwise available.
The Individual Project allows the student to work on an area of archaeology or palaeoecology which interests him/her by critical analysis of a particular problem. The module will enable students to conduct a line of independent research in the field of archaeology or palaeoecology and thus contribute to knowledge in the chosen discipline. The project will often involve collecting and analyzing primary data. Normally, the material has either never been published or the student brings analytical techniques to bear on it which have not been used before. By undertaking the Independent Project, students will consolidate analytical and critical skills developed during the degree programme, whilst learning “how” research is done.
The Independent Project is to be seen in terms of half of the standard undergraduate dissertation, taking up one module instead of two. As such, it can be used to demonstrate to future employers or third level institutions that a student has conducted an independent piece of research. Much of the information in this module guide is therefore common to both this module and the standard ArcPal Dissertation module.
Learning Outcomes
An in-depth understanding of a specific area within the disciplines of archaeology and/or palaeoecology; An understanding of the development of the growth of archaeological thought or palaeoecological debate; through reading past literature on a topic; The application of critical or organisational skills in an individual research context; An understanding of the context of a piece of research in relation to other information on the area or period
Skills
Designing, researching and completing a substantial piece of individual research; Understanding of the way data-gathering relates to the later analysis and conclusions; Bibliographic research; Time management of a project over an extended period
Remembering the Future: Violent Pasts, Loss and the Politics of Hope
Overview
The module will draw on social theory and ethnographic case studies to examine the role of memory in conflict and post-conflict contexts. Most inter-group conflicts involve contestation over competing pasts and losses. Such contestation plays an important role in how and whether societies can move forward, recover from violence, and deal with reparations. Memory therefore is instrumental not only in how the past is mobilized but also how the future is imagined and constructed -as equal or unequal, shared or divided. By looking at relevant concepts such as loss, nostalgia, remembering, forgetting, expectation, and hope, the module will investigate on one hand how memory politics operate in our post-truth era and in phenomena of nationalism, populism, racism, and exclusion. On the other hand, we will look at how social movements, groups, and communities use memory across the world to build sustainable and inclusive futures.
Topics covered in the module will include: The politics of memory and forgetting: ‘Official’ Histories and ‘Voices from the Edge’; Transnational Narratives of Violence and Justice; Nostalgia, Competing Losses, and the Rise of Populism on both sides of the Atlantic; Displacement as Space and Time; On ‘Speaking Out’: Truth Recovery, Transitional Justice and Human Rights; Social Movements, Alternative Futures, and the Politics of Hope.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students will:
• be familiar with social theory on memory, violence, loss, and futuricity.
• be able to describe and critically engage with ethnographic examples from across the world in relation to these themes.
• understand the role of memory in the construction and mobilization of contested pasts and futures.
• be able to explain some current debates on the role of nostalgia, longing, loss and hope in the construction of collective identities, contestation, and social justice agendas.
Skills
By the end of the module, students should have developed the following key skills:
Generic
• Effective presentation of written work at a level appropriate to the year of studies.
• Competency in presenting orally findings from readings and primary research.
• The ability to research both independently and as part of groups.
Module-Specific
• produce written work engaging critically with academic and popular debates on the issues of violence and memory.
• have demonstrated presentational skills both in online and offline learning environments, and learnt how to address different audiences .
• be able to employ fieldwork skills in working in memory sites locally
• have written public engagement pieces for the module’s blog.
The Politics of Performance: From Negotiation to Display
Overview
This module brings together the ecological, sensorial and political relations of performance in comparative analyses of intercultural practices from around the globe. We will explore how human and other-than-human aspects of sound, image and movement generate various modalities of ‘attunement’ between oneself and one’s environment to inform a politics of performance. By attending to the particularities of sound, voice, affect, reaction and resonance, we will analyse differentiated ‘atmospherics’ (Eisenlohr 2011) of negotiation, display and contestation. We will then examine how the politics of sound, image and movement give rise to expressions of resistance, resilience and reconciliation. Central to critically engaged performativity is a diversity of environments, environmental change and the ecological relations that they entail. Taking space, place and the effects of climate change seriously, we will further examine how the politics of being and belonging stem from different ways of knowing, sensing and performing self, other and the ‘other-than-human’ in these environments. Using a series of key settings, the module will reveal the political effects of sound, language, voice, positionality and performativity.
Some case studies that will exemplify this environmental and performative politics include i). an analysis of indigenous protest and resistance in song, theatre and public display, focusing on processes of fragmentation, recombination and reclamation; ii). art as a process of reconciliation, negotiation and spectacle, foregrounding identities, rights and policy agendas; iii). political imagery e.g. street art and graffiti; and iv). improvisatory music-making in refugee camps and conflict zones, addressing tension, liminality and resilience. Finally, the module will take into account the ongoing effects of Covid19 as artists and performers reposition their voices in a digitally interconnected world. We will examine how expanding technologies are transforming the power of performance and reshaping how processes of creativity are politically motivated and communicated.
Learning Outcomes
We will be using informal self and group assessment methods during the module to monitor learning outcomes and to reflect on the development of conceptual skills of the following:
• Knowledge of key approaches to the anthropology of the senses, the anthropology of music, arts and performance and music in peacebuilding.
• Ability to discuss critically the importance of multi-sensoriality and performativity in case studies from different cultural contexts.
• Knowledge of the role of performance, poetics in protest, politics, nationalism and expressions of Indigenous rights.
• Ability to work critically with central concepts in the politics of performance.
• Ability to analyse the relationship between different arts/performance genres across distinct performative arenas, e.g. parliamentary, theatrical, ritual and staged events.
• Competence in dealing with issues of cultural diversity in academia.
Skills
• Ability to analyse performative issues and their political implications through relevant anthropological and ethnomusicological frameworks.
• Ability to research and critically analyse a range of information sources effectively.
• Demonstrate skills development in conducting music and arts research online.
• Ability to express anthropological ideas clearly and logically.
• Ability to debate and defend arguments.
• Ability to work with other students in groups.
• Experience in musical participation and reflection.
A dissertation based on a personal project which may be fieldwork, laboratory-, museum- or library-based (or a combination), prepared over the summer vacation and written up for submission during the second semester of Level 3.
Learning Outcomes
To introduce students to independent research; to provide training and experience in the application of Archaeological and/or Palaeoecological techniques.
Skills
Field skills and experience, including self-reliance and decision-making. Observation, recording and analysis of data. Report writing.
The writing and presentation of a dissertation normally based on first-hand field research.
Learning Outcomes
To organise and analyse research data and to be self-reflexive.
Skills
Students should develop skills in the following areas:
- bibliographical research and documentary analysis;
- organising and retrieving information;
- writing a long piece of work;
- time management
In this module, we will look at a range of often controversial arguments within and outside Archaeology and Palaeoecology, and focus on ways of reasoning and logical fallacies within those arguments. Topics discussed include ‘fringe’ science where a degree of archaeology is involved, such as the so-called ‘crystal skulls’ or the existence of giants or extremely long-lived humans as supposedly documented within religious texts, but also wider debates using Earth-(pseudo)science such as the age of the Earth, supposed evidence for a global flood, flat Earth, chemtrails and global warming denial.
While discussing these topics, we will look at the nature of arguments made, and identify logical fallacies. We will also look at hypothesis testing. It is hoped that this module will equip the students with enhanced capabilities to apply critical thinking during and after their studies.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, the student will:
- have acquired knowledge on lines of reasoning
- have applied critical thinking to a range of topics inside and outside archaeology
- be able to identify logical fallacies in arguments
Skills
• Written and oral self-expression
• Group work
• Website investigation
• Time management
• Critical thinking
In Gods We Trust: The New Anthropology of Religion
Overview
Drawing on new scientific advances, this religion course examines foundational questions about the nature of religious belief and practice.
The course is based on the idea that religion is a naturalistic phenomenon — meaning it can be studied and better understood using the tools of science. Religious belief and practice emerge naturally from the structure of human psychology, and have an important impact on the structure of societies, the way groups relate to each other, and the ability of human beings to cooperate effectively.
Topics to be covered will include traditional and contemporary theories of religion, with a special emphasis on cultural evolutionary models, as well as how scientific and humanistic scholarship can benefit from mutual engagement.
The module will have an emphasis on contemporary issues in the study and practice of religion (e.g. new scientific theories of religion, the current debates between atheists and theists, and the role of religion in violent conflicts).
Learning Outcomes
Be able to describe and consider the implications of:
1) Evolutionary and cognitive scientific approaches to the study of religion
2) The origins of religion, and its role in human life
3) How religion relates to morality, spirituality and atheism
4) The role of religion in current events and conflict hotspots around the world
5) The role religion may have played in the origin of civilization
Skills
The module will help foster the students’:
(1) Ability to consider the findings of multiple disciplines in addressing questions of human thought and behaviour.
(2) Ability to present ideas clearly in both oral and written formats
(3) Ability to research and critically analyse material from multiple disciplines
(4) Ability to debate and defend arguments
(5) Ability to engage in civil discourse about strongly held convictions
(6) Ability to prepare concise and focused presentations
The module will have three main themes - human osteoarchaeology and its contribution to our understanding of life in the past, the study of funerary monuments and disease and its impact on past societies. In the first theme, students will be introduced to the study of archaeological human remains and what the osteological and palaeopathological analysis of past people can contribute to the studies of societies. Four practical sessions will provide an opportunity to identify human bones
and to determine the age, sex and stature of a human skeleton. Theme 2 will focus on the information that can be gained from the study of funerary monuments and, in particular, Post-Medieval grave memorials. Fieldtrips will be made to Friar's Bush and Balmoral cemetries and students will be required to undertake a project on an aspect of grave memorials. The final theme will investigate a number of diseases of considerable antiquity, including leprosy and tuberculosis, which have had a strong impact on past human societies.
Learning Outcomes
An appreciation of human osteoarchaeology and palaeopathology
An understanding of some of the contentious themes in osteoarchaeology
An appreciation of multidiscplinary research
An ability to critically evaluate scientific reports/papers
An understanding of Post-Medieval grave memorials
Competence in communicating ideas and arguments clearly to others
Skills
Undertanding of the basic techniques of human osteoarchaeology
Practical analysis of Post-Medieval grave memorials
Written self-expression
Critical analysis of reports/papers
A maximum of one BTEC/OCR Single Award or AQA Extended Certificate will be accepted as part of an applicant's portfolio of qualifications with a Distinction* being equated to grade A at A-Level and a Distinction being equated to a grade B at A-level.
Irish Leaving Certificate
H3H3H3H3H3H3/H2H3H3H3H3
Access Course
Successful completion of Access Course with an average of 70%.
International Baccalaureate Diploma
33 points overall, including 6,5,5 at Higher Level
BTEC Level 3 Extended/National Extended Diploma
QCF BTEC Extended Diploma (180 credits at Level 3) with overall grades D*DD
RQF BTEC National Extended Diploma (1080 GLH at Level 3) with overall grades D*DD
Graduate
A minimum of a 2:2 Honours Degree
Note
All applicants must have GCSE English Language grade C/4 or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University.
There are no specific Level 3 subject requirements to study Anthropology and Archaeology.
How we choose our students
Applications are dealt with centrally by the Admissions and Access Service rather than by individual University Schools. Once your on-line form has been processed by UCAS and forwarded to Queen's, an acknowledgement is normally sent within two weeks of its receipt at the University.
Selection is on the basis of the information provided on your UCAS form. Decisions are made on an ongoing basis and will be notified to you via UCAS.
For entry last year, applicants for this degree offering A-Level/ BTEC Level 3 qualifications or equivalent must have had, or been able to achieve, a minimum of 5 GCSE passes at grade C/4 or better (to include English Language). The Selector will check that any specific entry requirements in terms of GCSE and/or A-level subjects can be fulfilled.
Offers are normally made on the basis of 3 A-levels. Two subjects at A-level plus two at AS would also be considered. The offer for repeat applicants is set in terms of 3 A-levels and may be one grade higher than that asked from first time applicants. Grades may be held from the previous year.
Applicants offering two A-levels and one BTEC Subsidiary Diploma/National Extended Certificate (or equivalent qualification), or one A-level and a BTEC Diploma/National Diploma (or equivalent qualification) will also be considered. Offers will be made in terms of the overall BTEC grade(s) awarded. Please note that a maximum of one BTEC Subsidiary Diploma/National Extended Certificate (or equivalent) will be counted as part of an applicant’s portfolio of qualifications. The normal GCSE profile will be expected.
For applicants offering Irish Leaving Certificate, please note that performance at Irish Junior Certificate is taken into account. Applicants must have a minimum of 5 IJC grades C/ Merit. The Selector also checks that any specific entry requirements in terms of Leaving Certificate subjects can be satisfied.
For applicants offering a HNC, the current requirements are successful completion of the HNC with 2 Distinctions and remainder Merits. For those offering a Higher National Diploma, some flexibility may be allowed in terms of GCSE profile but, to be eligible for an offer, the grades obtained in the first year of the HND must allow the overall offer to be achievable. The current entrance requirements are successful completion of the HND with 2 Distinctions, 10 Merits and 4 Passes overall. Any consideration would be for Stage 1 entry only.
The information provided in the personal statement section and the academic reference together with predicted grades are noted but, in the case of BA degrees, these are not the final deciding factors in whether or not a conditional offer can be made. However, they may be reconsidered in a tie break situation in August.
A-level General Studies and A-level Critical Thinking would not normally be considered as part of a three A-level offer and, although they may be excluded where an applicant is taking 4 A-level subjects, the grade achieved could be taken into account if necessary in August/September.
Applicants are not normally asked to attend for interview, though there are some exceptions and specific information is provided with the relevant subject areas.
If you are made an offer then you may be invited to a Faculty/School Open Day, which is usually held in the second semester. This will allow you the opportunity to visit the University and to find out more about the degree programme of your choice and the facilities on offer. It also gives you a flavour of the academic and social life at Queen's.
If you cannot find the information you need here, please contact the University Admissions Service (admissions@qub.ac.uk), giving full details of your qualifications and educational background.
International Students
Our country/region pages include information on entry requirements, tuition fees, scholarships, student profiles, upcoming events and contacts for your country/region. Use the dropdown list below for specific information for your country/region.
If you need to improve your English language skills before you enter this degree programme, INTO Queen's University Belfast offers a range of English language courses. These intensive and flexible courses are designed to improve your English ability for admission to this degree.
Academic English: an intensive English language and study skills course for successful university study at degree level
Pre-sessional English: a short intensive academic English course for students starting a degree programme at Queen's University Belfast and who need to improve their English.
International Students - Foundation and International Year One Programmes
INTO Queen's offers a range of academic and English language programmes to help prepare international students for undergraduate study at Queen's University. You will learn from experienced teachers in a dedicated international study centre on campus, and will have full access to the University's world-class facilities.
These programmes are designed for international students who do not meet the required academic and English language requirements for direct entry.
Studying for an Anthropology and Archaeology degree at Queen’s will assist students in developing the core skills and employment-related experiences that are valued by employers, professional organisations and academic institutions. Anthropology and Archaeology graduates have successfully pursued careers in the following areas: consultancy, the civil service, development, NGO work, international policy, the public sector, journalism and the media, community work, creative industries, performance, heritage, museums, tourism, market research, teaching in schools and academic teaching and research.
Employment Links
Typical companies looking for graduates in this field:
• National Trust
• Local Councils
• National Heritage organisations
• Governmental Bodies
• NGOs
• Intergovernmental organisations who may seek expertise about heritage & tourism, human behaviour and responses to major world challenges, such as endemic poverty, climate change and global health.
Degree Plus/Future Ready Award for extra-curricular skills
In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised from a world leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall. We call this Degree Plus/Future Ready Award. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.
1EU citizens in the EU Settlement Scheme, with settled status, will be charged the NI or GB tuition fee based on where they are ordinarily resident. Students who are ROI nationals resident in GB will be charged the GB fee.
2 EU students who are ROI nationals resident in ROI are eligible for NI tuition fees.
3 EU Other students (excludes Republic of Ireland nationals living in GB, NI or ROI) are charged tuition fees in line with international fees.
The tuition fees quoted above for NI and ROI are the 2024/25 fees and will be updated when the new fees are known. In addition, all tuition fees will be subject to an annual inflationary increase in each year of the course. Fees quoted relate to a single year of study unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Tuition fee rates are calculated based on a student’s tuition fee status and generally increase annually by inflation. How tuition fees are determined is set out in the Student Finance Framework.
Additional course costs
All Students
Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs which are not covered by tuition fees, which students will need to consider when planning their studies.
Students can borrow books and access online learning resources from any Queen's library. If students wish to purchase recommended texts, rather than borrow them from the University Library, prices per text can range from £30 to £100. Students should also budget between £30 to £75 per year for photocopying, memory sticks and printing charges.
Students undertaking a period of work placement or study abroad, as either a compulsory or optional part of their programme, should be aware that they will have to fund additional travel and living costs.
If a programme includes a major project or dissertation, there may be costs associated with transport, accommodation and/or materials. The amount will depend on the project chosen. There may also be additional costs for printing and binding.
Students may wish to consider purchasing an electronic device; costs will vary depending on the specification of the model chosen.
There are also additional charges for graduation ceremonies, examination resits and library fines.
How do I fund my study?
There are different tuition fee and student financial support arrangements for students from Northern Ireland, those from England, Scotland and Wales (Great Britain), and those from the rest of the European Union.
Application for admission to full-time undergraduate and sandwich courses at the University should normally be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Full information can be obtained from the UCAS website at: www.ucas.com/students.
When to Apply
UCAS will start processing applications for entry in autumn 2025 from early September 2024.
The advisory closing date for the receipt of applications for entry in 2025 is still to be confirmed by UCAS but is normally in late January (18:00). This is the 'equal consideration' deadline for this course.
Applications from UK and EU (Republic of Ireland) students after this date are, in practice, considered by Queen’s for entry to this course throughout the remainder of the application cycle (30 June 2025) subject to the availability of places. If you apply for 2025 entry after this deadline, you will automatically be entered into Clearing.
Applications from International and EU (Other) students are normally considered by Queen's for entry to this course until 30 June 2025. If you apply for 2025 entry after this deadline, you will automatically be entered into Clearing.
Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as is consistent with having made a careful and considered choice of institutions and courses.
The Institution code name for Queen's is QBELF and the institution code is Q75.
Additional Information for International (non-EU) Students
Applying through UCAS
Most students make their applications through UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) for full-time undergraduate degree programmes at Queen's. The UCAS application deadline for international students is 30 June 2025.
Applying direct
The Direct Entry Application form is to be used by international applicants who wish to apply directly, and only, to Queen's or who have been asked to provide information in advance of submitting a formal UCAS application. Find out more.
Applying through agents and partners
The University’s in-country representatives can assist you to submit a UCAS application or a direct application. Please consult the Agent List to find an agent in your country who will help you with your application to Queen’s University.
