 I really like to think of anthropology not as a certain body of knowledge that you have to learn, but really as a way of being present in the world, as a way of asking questions, asking why are things the way that they are. An implicit of course in this question is the idea that maybe things could be different from the way they are. Anthropology has taken me on a journey in which learning has been applied in fields as diverse as international development working for Oxfam or UK aid and mental health care in the NHS. The relevance of anthropology to things that matter, its engagement with society is what makes it a fascinating and important subject to study and so has. Margaret Mead, the founding mother of American anthropology, spoke the following famous words everything is anthropology and anthropology is about everything and one of the disciplines trademark cliches is that we make a familiar strange and a strange familiar. We question things that are often taken for granted and we make the strange so-called exotic rituals in far away places familiar and that process of questioning that process of turning things upside down that is what anthropologists are very good at. Timing Gold calls anthropology philosophy with the people in it and that's exactly what it is it's the study of the biggest questions that face us as humans what makes us human what makes us similar what makes us different but answered through actual human cultures out there in the world. We teach and research about social worlds looking at how economics politics culture kinship and cosmology are entangled in people's everyday lives. For me anthropology involves at least three things first having a comparative perspective seeing the world from different points of view so as to question the taken for granted second anthropology involves a holistic perspective that finds connections between different aspects of social life third anthropology has a method that prioritizes knowledge from direct experience understanding something by being a part of its unfolding. An anthropological approach addresses the underlying ideas and assumptions what orients and structures knowledge politics how do different points of view come into play when all of those different perspectives are brought together the view from a delta the view from a desert the view from a post-colonial city built on the coast your view of these questions varies this program encourages you to ask well what about the social what about the potential for revolution how about alternative forms of politics what is the relationship between the future and human ideas of progress destiny and utopias so as anthropology really is a unique mix you get perspectives from different subfields of the discipline we have medical anthropology we have the anthropology of development the anthropology of food we have specialists that work on africa the middle east china and japan so if you're interested in these regions so is really the place to study anthropology well like most about so is that our research interests are reflected in the course that we teach so if you want to learn more about anthropology about africa about ethnographic field research about religion and if you want to learn how to make a real difference in the world then come to sell us