Course content and focus areas
The MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology offers students the opportunity to devote themselves intensively to their own social and cultural anthropological research project over four semesters.
Social and cultural anthropology deals with a wide range of contemporary and historical topics: How do people live in a globalized world? How do social orders, cultural practices, and power relations arise—and how do they change?
Building on the self-image and academic debates of British social anthropology, American cultural anthropology, and German-language ethnology, the discipline critically examines the actions, thoughts, and feelings of humans (anthropos) and man-made institutions in dynamic social and cultural contexts – locally, globally, and comparatively. The focus is on qualitative methods, in particular ethnographic field research with participant observation, but also on ethnohistorical, digital, and many other methods.
The master's program in social and cultural anthropology is strongly research-oriented and offers students the opportunity to independently develop and implement a research project. Students are supported in working on a topic of their choice, allowing them to specialize academically. In doing so, they deepen their theoretical, methodological, and content-related subject-specific, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary knowledge, as well as their intercultural, region-specific, and foreign language skills. This includes, among other things, the (self-)reflective handling of concepts, intensive engagement with cultural and social theory debates, and the development of a research concept.
Over four semesters, project development, implementation, and evaluation are individually supervised by a researcher from the Faculty of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Institut für Ethnologie). Students engage intensively with current debates in cultural and social theory, reflect critically on their own methods and those of other researchers, and learn to analyze complex social contexts in a scientifically sound and ethically responsible manner. The results of their research are in conversation with current academic and social discussions and may contribute to these.
The MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology is aimed at graduates with a BA major or minor in social and cultural anthropology (in German: “Ethnologie” or “Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie”), as well as students from related disciplines whose admission is subject to completing certain basic requirements from the BA in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Graduates of the Bachelor's program in Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at Goethe University are admitted without any additional requirements. As a consecutive program, the MA builds on the fundamental knowledge and skills acquired in the BA in Social and Cultural Anthropology, deepening and specializing them. It qualifies students for academic careers as well as for professional fields in which analytical skills, intercultural understanding, and global perspectives are increasingly in demand.
Applicants for the MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology can also optionally apply for the German-French MA program variant. This is offered jointly by the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)/Paris and Goethe University/Frankfurt; participating students study two semesters at each university. For further information on the German-French program, please click here.