Queen's University Belfast

Source: https://www.qub.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/anthropology-english-ba-ql36/ Parent: https://www.qub.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/

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Undergraduate 2027

Undergraduate 2025

BA | Undergraduate

Anthropology and English

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Entry year : Academic Year 2027/28

Entry requirements : ABB

Attendance : 6 years (Part-time) \ 3 years (Full-time) \

UCAS Code : QL36

Overview
Course content
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Students undertaking Anthropology and English at Queen’s explore the variety and richness of human experience. \ \ Anthropology is the study of human diversity around the world. In studying anthropology, you will learn how different societies live together and think about such topics as family, sex, religion, art, politics and economics and gain skills increasingly in demand in a globalized and automated world\ \ Students undertaking English at Queen's explore literatures in English in the widest possible sense and work with some of the leading writers working in the UK and Ireland. From the earliest writings in Anglo-Saxon to contemporary Irish, British, and 'global' literatures, students study English in its historical, cultural, and material contexts. Our language modules explore the history, structure, and function of English; its day-to-day usage, including in the media; and the major influences that have shaped its development. Our creative writing modules allow students on that programme to specialise in prose fiction, poetry, and scriptwriting.\ \ Together, Anthropology and English open windows onto worlds, real and imagined, that differ from our own.

In the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023, Anthropology was ranked 10th in the UK for graduate prospects. English Studies was recognised as a Global Top 150 English department in the QS World University Rankings (2023).

Course highlights

Global Opportunities

Undergraduate anthropology students, as part of their training, have carried out ethnographic field research around the world. Projects have focused on on narratives and memory in the Scottish highlands; , 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.\ \ English at Queen’s offers a range of Study Abroad opportunities, from the Erasmus programme with a range of European partners, to the chance to study at a number of partner institutions in the United States.

https://www.qub.ac.uk/Study/international-students/study-abroad/

Industry Links

Anthropology students develop a range of skills (organizational skills, interpersonal skills, information-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; Heavy Sound) as part of their fieldwork.

The School of English regularly consults and develops links with a large number of employers including, for example, BBC Northern Ireland who provide sponsorship for our course in Broadcast Literacy (currently offered at postgraduate level but soon to be offered at undergraduate level also).

Career Development

Anthropology combines an understanding of cultural diversity through human behaviour and expression, with a hands-on method of study that focuses on lived experience.\ Queen's offers the only anthropology course in the UK that combines the study of expressivity (through art and music) with thematic strands on conflict, religion, cognition, and applied anthropology.

In the Complete University Guide 2025, Anthropology was ranked 19th in the UK by subject.

World Class Facilities

The Performance Room includes a variety of musical instruments from around the world, a collection that has grown since the 1970s when Ethnomusicology was first established as an International Centre at Queen’s by the late Prof John Blacking. These instruments, together with the sprung performance room floor, facilitate music and dance ensembles, enabling our unit to remain one of the leading departments in Ethnomusicology.

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.\ \ It also maintains close connections with the following research institutes: The Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice; Institute of Cognition and Culture; Institute of Irish Studies.

English Studies at Queen's has an extraordinary literary heritage, as represented by globally esteemed writers, such as Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, who gives his name to the Seamus Heaney Centre, and T.S. Eliot Prize recipients Paul Muldoon and Ciaran Carson.

A new generation, including Forward Prize-winning poets Prof Leontia Flynn and Dr Stephen Sexton (2019 for 'Best First Collection'), continue this proud tradition which will be recognised by the opening of an amazing new building for the Seamus Heaney Centre in 2024.

https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/happ/subject-area/anthropology/research/

Student Experience

From Personal Tutors to peer mentoring, we work closely with students to ensure they are supported at every stage of their degree. A thriving cultural scene organised by our undergraduate and postgraduate communities, from the English Society and Poetry and Pints to the Lifeboat and the Yellow Nib, makes studying English at Queen’s a unique proposition.

In the Complete University Guide 2023, Anthropology was ranked 5th in the UK for student satisfaction.

A number of prizes and Awards are available during the programme of study.\ \ The School of HAPP provide financial support up to a maximum of £400 for the Anthropology dissertation fieldwork research.\ \ 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.

A vibrant, exciting curriculum offering students full choice across a wide range of modules in English language, literature and creative writing, spanning the globe, historical periods, genres, and themes and approaches.

Queen’s currently has over 4400 international students from over 90 different countries (Queen’s Planning Office, 2024).

https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/seamus-heaney-centre/study/StudentShowcasesandOpportunities/

Further Study Opportunities

Further study is also an option (eg MA Anthropology, MA Conflict Transformation and Social Justice); see the School website for details.

‘’Recently the dissertation experience has been really useful in my job search. Because it involves different research methods and demonstrates good written and verbal communication skills, it's great for the CV and even better for coming up with examples for competency questions in interviews. It's also brilliant for networking because it provides easy conversation and an awareness of social issues etc.” \ Lucy Proudlock

"The fieldwork and dissertation have been central to my experience as an Anthropology student. While I am sure it will stand me in good stead in my future search for employment, its central value was as a practice which revealed what Anthropology is really about; through fieldwork, the abstract and theoretical concepts which we had absorbed in two years previous study became immediate and concrete; the subject came alive. Observing and analysing patterns of human action and thought, and later attempting to relay any inferred information (in the form of a dissertation) was a stimulating and challenging process, which seemed to me to be of value in and of itself." \ Samuel Ward

‘’Doing an anthropology dissertation is great for allowing you to use your own creativity and actually apply your knowledge rather than simply learning from others. It is a fantastic way of building confidence for any future career as it gives you the opportunity to expand on something independently and looks great on the CV!’' \ Genevieve Bigger

‘’Recently the dissertation experience has been really useful in my job search. Because it involves different research methods and demonstrates good written and verbal communication skills, it's great for the CV and even better for coming up with examples for competency questions in interviews. It's also brilliant for networking because it provides easy conversation and an awareness of social issues etc.” \ Lucy Proudlock

"The fieldwork and dissertation have been central to my experience as an Anthropology student. While I am sure it will stand me in good stead in my future search for employment, its central value was as a practice which revealed what Anthropology is really about; through fieldwork, the abstract and theoretical concepts which we had absorbed in two years previous study became immediate and concrete; the subject came alive. Observing and analysing patterns of human action and thought, and later attempting to relay any inferred information (in the form of a dissertation) was a stimulating and challenging process, which seemed to me to be of value in and of itself." \ Samuel Ward

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History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics

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