A degree in social anthropology can take you many places!
It’s a discipline which encourages you to pursue your own interest areas because (as we highlight in our Practicing section) it gives you a transferable skill-set: from critical thinking, to interviewing, to writing techniques. Because of this, anthropologists are found not only in Universities (as a base for research and teaching), but employed in non-profit and community organisations, in government ministries, and in business and industry too.
Social/cultural anthropologists are interested in whatever it is that humans do, so it equips you to study social issues and ares of life relevant to people’s everyday lives – whether it’s researching the social importance of Facebook (like anthropologist Daniel Miller does in this 5 min video) or studying what it’s like to live with Haemophilia in NZ (which is just one of the research projects Professor Julie Park describes in this 3.5min video).
Tricia Wang, for instance, is a “global-tech ethnographer”, helping turn ‘business questions’ into ‘human’ ones. She talks about what she does in this 3.5 min video. Lots of anthropologists are also at the forefront of innovative research in technology and the digital. Here, Professor Genevieve Bell is asked about the future of AI, and this video features Amber Case, a Cyborg Anthropologist, describing her area of expertise.
If you feel like seeing more about the many places anthropologists end up, the careers page from the American Anthropologist Association is a great place to start. For a more local flavour, check out the following links:
- This careers page from Otago University features Moragh Loose, talking about how her Masters degree in social anthropology led to her working as a Policy Development Manager for the UK General Dental Council in London.
- This page from Auckland University features Dr. Julie Spray discussing her award-winning doctoral thesis, The Practices of Childhood: Coproducing Health in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- This blog post provides a list of links to topical public writing by social anthropologists at Victoria University of Wellington, as featured in places like The Spinoff and The Wireless.
