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KU Leuven Master of Social and Cultural Anthropology
KU Leuven

KU Leuven

Master of Social and Cultural Anthropology

MSc

2 years

English, Dutch

Full time

EUR 2,533 / per year *

On-Campus

* for non-EEA; EUR 1157 for EEA | for the most recent – and only official – information on tuition fees, please check the KU Leuven webpage

Key Summary

    About : The Master of Social and Cultural Anthropology provides an in-depth understanding of social and cultural dynamics. You'll explore various methodologies and gain critical analytical skills in diverse cultural contexts. The program emphasizes research and practical application, preparing you for both academic and professional pathways.
    Career Outcomes : Graduates can pursue careers in academia, cultural resource management, community development, and international organizations. Other potential roles include cultural policy advisor, humanitarian aid worker, and positions in NGOs focusing on social justice and human rights.

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About the programme

What is the impact of globalisation on family life? What kind of symbols and rituals shape our daily lives? What is super-diversity and what does it mean for the social dynamics of the city and its infrastructure? How do people shape their religious identity using social media? This is just a small selection of questions that the programme engages with.

As an aspiring anthropologist, you study issues such as the impact of colonisation, the making and unmaking of identity, the relation between people and their environment, and the calibration of agency with institutions and political economies. You will be taking the perspective of the actors involved, emphasizing their daily experience. This angle adds a different dimension to phenomena such as globalisation, ecology or migration.

Such a power-sensitive, agency-driven, collaborative approach is reflexively practised in the Master of Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven. The programme offers students exciting pathways and critical insights into the fundamentals of the discipline and invites them to pursue their own scientific interests and societal concerns in individual research projects. Drawing on the cutting-edge research conducted at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, the master provides an ample research outlook, informed by – but not limited to – its regional focus on Europe, and Northern and Central Africa.

Strengths

  • The programme trains you in empirical and comparative research methodologies, which challenge your familiar ways of being-in-the-world and the prejudices you hold about yourself and others.
  • Throughout the programme you develop your own research focus by conducting fieldwork, critically analyzing data and writing on this particular topic in your final master's thesis.
  • Depending on your research topic, students have the opportunity to engage in qualitative research in many different locations around the world, possibly in combination with an Erasmus exchange or a summer school.
Read more on the institution's website