Italian and Social Anthropology

Italian and social anthropology brings together the study of one of Europe's richest cultural and linguistic traditions with an academic discipline that examines human societies, cultures and ways of life across the full range of human diversity. Italian, as a language and as a cultural tradition, opens the door to a civilisation of extraordinary depth in literature, art, history, politics and music. Social anthropology asks how human communities organise themselves, how they make meaning, how they relate to the natural and social world around them and what varies and what is shared across radically different ways of life.

Studying them together develops both linguistic precision and a genuinely comparative perspective on what it means to be human.

At the University of St Andrews this four-year, full-time programme allows you to develop Italian to a high level of proficiency while also engaging with specialist topics in Italian literature, culture, history, politics and film. The social anthropology strand introduces you to the discipline's core concepts and methods, including ethnographic fieldwork, kinship, religion, political organisation, exchange and the anthropology of the contemporary world. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to live and study in Italy or another Italian-speaking environment, transforming your linguistic fluency and cultural understanding in ways that the classroom cannot replicate.

The small-group teaching culture at St Andrews means you work closely with scholars whose research interests span both disciplines.

Graduates of Italian and social anthropology pursue careers in international development and humanitarian work, diplomacy and the foreign office, journalism, broadcasting, cultural organisations, NGOs, education, research and the civil service. The combination of deep language competence and anthropological thinking equips you for roles requiring cultural intelligence, research skill and the ability to engage with different communities and perspectives. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in anthropology, Italian studies, international relations, development studies or area studies.