BA (Hons) Sociology & Social Anthropology

Core units:

• Introduction to Social Theory: You’ll be introduced to key social theory that has informed classical and contemporary sociology, anthropology and criminology, and is embedded in the historical and philosophical context of the analysis of Western society and its social forms.
• Introduction to Social Research: This unit offers a broad introduction to social scientific approaches and methodological issues in research. You will be introduced to the parameters and scope of social scientific enquiry, focusing on the relationship of individuals to society, explored using published examples, including those carried out by BU researchers. Various approaches will be examined and practised with a view to you gaining the ability to develop your own social scientific research.
• Families & Kinship in Contemporary Society: The overall aim of this unit is to introduce you to the complexity of family constellations and their meanings in contemporary societies. You will be introduced to the sociology of families, competing definitions, social policies relating to families, and comparative international family practices as they constitute and are constituted by their members, drawn from sociological and anthropological research and literature.
• Becoming a Social Scientist: This unit aims to help you transition from school or college to university-style work and the skills needed to achieve at university. You will use the skills learnt in lectures to carry out a small group project.
• Social Inequality & Exclusion: Explore the nature, lived experience, impact and possible causes of discrimination, inequality and social exclusion, using sociological, criminological and social anthropological approaches. You’ll apply relevant sociological, criminological and social anthropological enquiry to explore social exclusion, community cohesion, inequality, discrimination, marginalisation and oppression, together with an understanding of how this might be addressed and tackled.
• Introduction to Social Anthropology: This unit will develop your understanding of social anthropological concepts, questions and methods of investigation. You will explore what is distinctive and valuable about social anthropological ways of seeing the world and addressing global issues.

Core units:

Students are required to complete all core units and choose two option units. Option units will run if selected by a minimum of 10 students. Some combinations of optional units may not be available depending on the semester of delivery and timetable configurations.

Core units:

• Qualitative Research Skills: You will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to enable you to carry out entry-level qualitative research and analyse the qualitative research of others. The unit will assist you in your preparation for your final year dissertation.
• Contemporary Social Theory: Introducing social theory that informs contemporary sociology, criminology and social anthropology, you’ll explore theories embedded in the contemporary and philosophical context of Western society and its social forms.
• Understanding Cultures: This unit considers classic and contemporary debates about how culture should be understood, theorised and studied; and what theoretical concepts lend themselves to a critical and sensitive approach to understanding cultures and cultural practices considered different from our own. You’ll also explore cultures which are considered controversial or ‘deviant’ such as gang culture and cultures defining the body, personhood, life and death in different ways.
• Doing Ethnographic Research: You’ll gain experience of designing and undertaking an ethnographic research project in the Bournemouth area, investigating sociological and anthropological research questions, and critically reflecting on the benefits and challenges of qualitative research. The skills and experience developed from this unit will assist you in your preparation for the primary qualitative research you may wish to carry out as part of your final year dissertation. You will also have the opportunity to present your research findings at BU’s annual Student Undergraduate Research Conference.

Option units (choose two):

• Growing Up and Growing Old: This unit explores sociological and anthropological perspectives and theories of childhood, youth and ageing. You’ll examine the variety, changes, and categories of the life course and the impacts of these constructions on people’s experiences of growing up and growing old.
• Understanding Globalisation: Globalisation is a concept that refers to economic, political and technological forms of global interdependence and alignment in today’s world. In this unit you’ll explore the debates about globalisation within sociology and associated social science disciplines.
• Crime, Health and Society: Discover the rich and complex findings of social science in the sphere of health and how it relates to crime. You’ll also investigate the sophisticated inter-relation between these fundamental concepts, and how their relationship continues to change.
• Impact of Crime: Examine the various forms of crime, particularly criminal acts within relationships, as well as sex offending and sex work. Alongside the established ‘legal’ definitions of crime, you’ll also explore the broader concept of social harm and related theoretical frameworks such as zemiology, environmental criminology and risk society. Consider the obvious and less obvious ‘costs’ and impact of crime and harm on individuals, on communities and on society at large, as well as the role and impact of the media on social attitudes and stereotypes, which might determine how we perceive crime and harm.
• Policing & Society: This unit considers the institution of the police and the social practice of policing society. It will cover the colonial origins of policing and the introduction of the Metropolitan police in London in 1829, as well as key events. You will also explore the creation and maintenance of 'police culture', the policing of protest and address contemporary issues around technology and media. 
• Youth Crime, Gangs & Youth Justice: This unit explores the specific context of youth offending within the wider context of on-road subculture and gang involvement. You will gain a broad understanding of the context around youth offending and criminality, as well as the policing and punishment of youth crime. On-road subculture will be explored using examples such as involvement in the drug trade, drug transportation (county lines), and the criminalisation of grime music.
• Human Trafficking and Criminality: You’ll consider the relationship between human trafficking, migration and criminality by looking at the different forms of trafficking across a number of countries. You will also explore human rights’ issues and develop critical skills in understanding migration, human trafficking, organised crime, as well as a series of emotions around trauma, violence and loss from criminological, sociological and social anthropological perspectives.
• Quantitative Skills: You will develop your understanding and evaluation of a range of quantitative methods and the underlying philosophical and ethical principles of their application within social science research. This unit will assist you in your preparation for your final year dissertation, in case you wish to include quantitative, e.g. statistical, methods.
• Placement Learning Unit: You will have the opportunity to develop your graduate employability and career management capabilities by studying and experiencing an area of work relevant to your academic and professional interest in sociology and its relationship to wider society through participation in a 20-day or 150 hours placement-based learning unit.
• Criminological Psychology: Develop your understanding of the contribution of psychology to issues relating to crime and criminal justice. You’ll be introduced to a range of theoretical perspectives on offending behaviour, drawing from cognitive, developmental, social and biological psychology. The unit will explore aspects related to criminal investigation and detection, such as offender profiling, eye-witness testimony, police interviewing and false confessions. It will also consider the psychological impacts of crime, through exploring issues such as fear of crime and the psychology of victimisation.
• Being Human in a Posthuman World: The Sociology of AI: The aim of this unit is to explore whether the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) perpetuates social inequalities and creates new ones using sociological evidence. You will gain a broad understanding of how everyday use of AI shapes how you think and behave, and the unit will also offer a global perspective on how AI is shaping society by looking at international businesses utilising and developing AI today.
• Contemporary Theory in Archaeology and Anthropology: You’ll be introduced to the key themes, debates and philosophical/ontological frameworks and positions that underpin contemporary disciplinary practices and perspectives.

Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year.

You can opt to take a longer sandwich placement (30 weeks) for the third year of an extended four-year degree. This gives you the chance to gain experience and make contacts for the future.

Core units:

Students are required to complete 2 core units equivalent to 20 credits each, and the dissertation unit, which runs over two semesters and carries 40 credits. Additionally, students are required to choose 2 option units. Option units will run if selected by a minimum of 10 students. Some combinations of optional units may not be available depending on the semester of delivery and timetable configurations.

Core units:

• Dissertation: The final-year project provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate your intellectual, analytic and creative abilities and research competence through sustained, independent inquiry into a chosen topic within the broad parameters of sociology or social anthropology.
• International Interventions and Humanitarianism: Following crises, conflict, war or regime change, many populations and states become subject to large-scale military or humanitarian interventions, global knowledge transfer and development projects, which has led to a recognition of the importance of understanding local knowledge and involving local stakeholders in order to ensure the success of projects intending securitisation and democratisation, peace and state-building. During this unit, you’ll be familiarised with critical anthropological and multi-disciplinary debates and insights on international intervention policies and practices in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and you’ll also develop your critical and creative thinking for improving such development projects.
• Politics & Ideology:  To improve, change and transform the situations and lives of individuals and communities, it may be necessary to influence government and decision makers in order to seek positive change. Therefore, this unit will provide you with an understanding of politics, political processes and the ideologies that may be key drivers in the development of policy and governance at the local, societal and global level.

Option units (choose two)

• Drugs, Crime and Society: Examines the phenomenon of illicit drug use and drug supply within the UK and internationally. It critically evaluates policing and policy regimes that have attempted to reduce the availability and consumption of drugs, whilst considering possible alternatives. The module explores theoretical explanations around drugs and drug addiction and considers the benefits of harm reduction and treatment programmes.
• Seekers, Believers and Iconoclasts:  Explore belief systems as a sociological phenomenon contextualised within a cultural and social analysis, as well as a philosophical and historical one. You’ll also consider belief systems as phenomena subjects to social change and transformation in terms of influencing social structures, interactions and shared or diverse social and cultural understandings, influencing societies in transition.
• Terrorism, Protection and Society: The aim of this unit is to introduce you to many of the complex issues involved in conceptualising and responding to terrorism and protection in contemporary societies. You will be introduced to protection and counter terrorism as a form of social regulation and control of individuals and ‘deviant’ groups (micro and meso issues) and ways in which society is ordered in an age of terrorist threat (macro-political issues). You will develop a deep critical understanding of the ways in which meanings are constructed and how these impact on social life.
• ’Troubling’ Gender: This unit will explore gender as socially constructed and historically variable aspect of societies, past and present. You will examine the ways in which gender informs and structures social inequalities, and analyse the interrelationships between gender, power and other social categories (e.g., class, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, age, and nationality).
• Crime and Criminal Justice in the 21st Century: Build on your understanding of how crime is differentially defined within different sociological traditions, its possible causes, and how crime and criminal acts can impact on individuals, communities and societies. You’ll consider how crime can be addressed and whether wider policy changes in education, mental health, and drug policy can make a difference.
• Intersectional Criminology: This unit will introduce you to the intersecting relations of crime between different social groups. You’ll critically explore the social construction of crime by looking at the media and the creation and construction of divergent images, identities and attitudes towards different social groups, together with social policies and laws relating to crime and victimisation. You’ll consider the representation of marginalised communities within the criminal justice system and the contribution of intersectionality to criminological research.
• Criminology of Organisations: This unit will introduce you to organisational crime and how this type of crime is currently being policed and regulated through means of law and social control. You’ll explore critically, the reasons why only a small percentage of this type of crime is prosecuted and adjudicated by the criminal justice system.
• Capitalism’s crimes, contracts, and crises. Decolonial perspectives in the social sciences: This unit will introduce you to decolonial perspectives in sociology, social anthropology, and criminology. You will be encouraged to question and deepen your understanding of the world, including looking at the origins of capitalism in colonial slavery, the social and environmental impacts of global supply chains and tax havens, the links between racism and class divisions, climate change and fossil fuel capitalism.
• Sport and Leisure Cultures: Critical Perspectives: You will critically explore the socio-cultural, political and economic aspects of sport and leisure. This unit will analyse many societal concepts, including discrimination, exclusion, inequality, social justice, and theories of the body, gender, class, race, sexuality, agency and globalisation, as well as considering specific contexts such as physical education, football, Olympic and Paralympic Games, Gay Games, and gym culture.
• The Sociology of Health & Illness: Health pervades all aspects of human experience and is defined by the World Health Organisation as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being" and not solely the absence of illness. However, at the global, national and community levels there are inequalities in how long we live, how healthy we are in older age, the types of illnesses we develop across the life course, and the healthcare we receive. You will critically explore the social context of health and illness and contrast this with the dominant bio-medical perspective of health and illness.
• Cultural Ecology: This unit aims to provide a thorough understanding of the main theoretical foundations of human ecology. You will develop a comparative understanding of human geographical variation in response to environmental factors, as well as an understanding of human subsistence systems and social organisation.

Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year.

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry.

If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

• SCA (Social Care Agency Social Enterprise, Hampshire)
• Monkton Wyld (an education centre for sustainable living)
• Insight & Engagement Team, Hamshire County Council
• Bournemouth Foodbank
• Bournemouth Churches Housing Association (BCHA)
• Citizens Advice, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
• Footprints Project (supporting men and women leaving prison)
• Independent age
• Microsoft, as a Marketing Intern.
• House of Fraser, as a Training Support Administrator
• Universiti Sains Malaysia, partner university
• Civil Society organisations in Malaysia (the Peace Learning Centre; House of Hope; AIDS Action and Research Group).)
• Programme for Gender Studies and Research, University of Prishtina, academic partner in Kosovo
• Civil Society organisations in Kosovo (Association for Regional Development, ARDA North; Humanitarian Law Centre; Action for Mothers and Children)

This course provides the opportunity to undertake a 20-day placement as an optional unit in your second year, or to complete a minimum 30-week placement in-between your second and final year studies to be eligible for a sandwich award. We provide you with support to help you achieve a rewarding and satisfying placement. 

"Since starting at university I always wanted to take part in a placement. The main reason for this is because the skills and experience you can gain from the opportunity can really increase your employability and make you stand out to future employers.

"I was given the opportunity to become part of the Training Support Team at House of Fraser for a year’s placement. Over my time in the company I was able to contribute to the administrative role and also to the product academy. My duties included working with the team on ad hoc projects and hosting Virtual classrooms that were attended by staff in every store. I have also had the opportunity to travel across the UK meeting people from all parts of the business- from the CEOs to the distribution centres. I had the chance to be involved in exciting projects within all areas of the business, resourcing, learning and development and also training.

"Overall I have had a fantastic time working at House of Fraser and I believe it has provided me with invaluable experience and would recommend anyone to undertake a placement. In the future I see myself in a similar role in a fashion orientated company or back with HOF- fingers crossed!

"I think the placement will impact my degree as I will be able to see the impact of research and policy development in real life scenarios."

Amy Donelan, former student​.

A placement year is a vital part in developing well-rounded and industry-ready graduates. Why not read about some of our students’ experiences?

In addition, students can get involved in other projects such as the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR). Read more about some of our students experiences.

The faculty running your course will offer the support of a Placement Co-ordinator.   

Through timetabled sessions and one-to-one appointments, they’ll help support you in your placement search including advice on finding a placement, information and advice on all aspects of job searching and job applications, as well as ensuring your proposed placement meets the requirements of your course.    

Our CareersBU service is also available throughout your time at BU, offering services like CV checking and careers fairs to meet employers.  

Placement Development Advisors will support you once you have started your sandwich placement – so you will be able to maintain contact with the university throughout.  

As a student, you will be required to use your IT skills to utilise the web-based resources that are designed to support your study, write assessments, perform literature searches and create presentations

We have three different anthropology courses at BU, which offer a balanced foundation in the discipline at large. The three anthropology courses differ only in the weighing of the archaeological, biological, or social and cultural perspectives on studying human life and human experience in past and present.

When making your choice, we suggest that you consider the following specialisations:

• BSc (Hons) Anthropology: emphasises historical, biological and environmental perspectives
• BA (Hons) Archaeology & Anthropology: emphasises human history and prehistoric perspectives
• BA (Hons) Sociology & Social Anthropology: emphasises contemporary, social and political perspectives.

Want to study an Anthropology course but not sure which pathway to take? Watch this video to hear what students Nura and Alex have to say about the similarities and differences between their two Anthropology courses and why they chose to study them. 

Once you have completed an undergraduate Honours degree, you can further develop your education by studying for a postgraduate degree. For example, there is the possibility to develop your undergraduate research into a Master of Research with us.

Please visit our postgraduate section for further details about our range of Master’s degrees.

Our course alumni are pursuing careers in a variety of sectors, such as:

• Youth, social and community work
• Civil service
• Advocacy and human rights work
• Health services
• International development and business
• Teaching.

Once you have completed an undergraduate Honours degree, you can further develop your education by studying for a postgraduate degree. For example, there is the possibility to develop your undergraduate research into a Master of Research with us.

Please visit our postgraduate section for further details about our range of Master’s degrees.

If you need to repeat one or more units during your studies (with or without attendance) the pricing will be pro-rata of the full-time fee.

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

• Materials for laboratory and mandatory field-based teaching activity
• Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and fieldwork, and non-financial support whilst on placement if this is part of your course of study
• A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service
• The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces
• Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, integrated social media and advanced video features.
• IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow
• Free software download to your personal device of Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus while you are studying, as well as access to applications provided on AppsAnywhere, subject to licensing and compatibility restrictions
• Disability and additional learning support, according to individual circumstances 
• The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills
• 24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

• Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
• Textbooks, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of textbooks and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shop stocks a wide range of stationery supplies.
• Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website. 
• Travel costs to and from the University campus. An annual bus pass is included in your rent if you are living in halls of residence/Unilet accommodation or may be purchased separately.
• Travel costs to and from your placement (both in the UK and overseas). Information about funding your placement year can be found on our website.
• You will need to meet the cost of any Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check if required by your placement setting, including any Post Office verification changes. 
• Clothing or equipment costs required for your placement if this is part of your course of study.
• SportBU membership.

If you need to repeat one or more units during your studies (with or without attendance) the pricing will be pro-rata of the full-time fee.

My doctoral research was on Guatemalan vigilantism, and while I still consider the anthropology of violence my primary field of research, since completing my PhD at Sussex in 2008 I have written and researched on topics spanning from the Antiques Roadshow, human group size relating to brain physiology, ghost walks, horror films and gambling advertising. My most recent book (with Natalie Djohari) explores the history of anthropology through controversies, aiming to introduce those new to anthropology to its history without glossing over the more problematic areas. Since 2021 I have been conducting research for the British Academy/Leverhulme funded project ‘Watching the Coast’ looking at non-state vigilance on the South coast of the UK.

I took what many would consider a teaching route into academia beginning as an Associate Tutor in 2004 during my DPhil at the University of Sussex, and as an Associate Lecturer from 2007-9. In 2009 I became a Teaching Fellow at Durham University, before moving to Goldsmiths. Teaching remains central to my academic practice today. This can be seen in my recent appointments as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy as Editor in Chief of the Royal Anthropological Institute's Teaching Anthropology journal and my recent appointment to the RAI’s Education Committee. As can be seen in relation to my research on gambling adverting and The Antiques Roadshow, I actively seek spaces in which teaching and research can be brought together, where students can gain hands-on experience doing meaningful research and where research skills-led training is an organic part of a project and where mutual support can be built into the fabric of a staff/student team.

Sam Porter is a sociologist by academic training and a nurse by profession. His wide research interests reflect this combination. His main areas of interest are palliative and end-of-life care; supportive care for cancer survivors and carers; maternal and child health; the sociology of health professionals; and the use of arts-based therapies. Recently, he has combined his interests through leadership of a randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of music therapy in improving the well-being of children with behavioural problems, and a current pilot trial examining whether music therapy can reduce the anxiety of people reaching the end of their lives. In line with existing research strengths in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences relating to the experiences of older people, he is taking an increasing interest in issues around palliative care for the elderly.

Sam has adopted a wide range of methods in his research, ranging from the above-mentioned randomised controlled trials to the use of qualitative approaches such as ethnography. He is a strong advocate of realist approaches to knowledge, which provide a robust rationale for the use of mixed methods. In his advocacy of a realist philosophy of science, he has enjoyed a number of contentious debates.

Sam teaches on social theory, research methods and the sociology of health.

After teaching at the University of Bath for four years whilst doing her PhD, Joo joined the Sociology team at Bournemouth in 2012. Since then, she has been teaching a range of undergraduate courses, as well as developing her research, exploring issues around identity, ethnicity/’race’, culture, and gender, focusing on East Asians in the UK.

Joo has conducted a number of research projects inspired by her personal experiences of migration to Britain from South Korea in 2000. Thanks to her cross-cultural experience, she has become fascinated by the considerable cultural differences between Korea and Britain and how these impact on individuals’ lives within these countries, as well as on those who cross cultural boundaries.

Joo’s PhD, titled: ‘The Intersection of Motherhood Identity with Culture and Class: a Qualitative Study of East Asian Mothers in England’, explored the accounts of first generation East Asian mothers living in England by using life history interviews. It aimed to examine how these women perceived their national and/or cultural heritage to have affected their experiences and identity formation, focusing on the gendered division of household labour within the family and discourse around motherhood and employment

Joo is currently working on her next research project on North Korean defectors in the UK.

Patrick completed a Magister Artium (pre-Bologna reform) in Cultural Anthropology, Indonesian Philology, and Philosophy from the University of Cologne and a PhD in Social Anthropology from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. His research, writing and teaching seek to advance our understanding and critique of colonial, plantation-driven racialised capitalism and postcolonial, sweatshop-labour driven neoliberal capitalism. Patrick works on the historical political economy of colonial plantation regimes, racialised capitalism, gendered super-exploitation, and neoliberalism in postcolonial special economic zones. His publications further cover the invention of tradition debate, the anthropology of tourism, secular rituals, and prospects for an antifascist anthropology.

Patrick is lead-editor of FocaalBlog, one of the longest-running blogs in social anthropology, and serves on the editorial boards of Focaal – Journal for Global and Historical Anthropology and Social Analysis as well as for Marxism & Sciences, a journal edited by colleagues in Turkey and across the Global South. He is also co-founder and current President of the Commission on Global Transformations and Marxian Anthropology in the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences/World Council of Anthropological Associations.

Stephanie studied social anthropology and Balkan studies at Free University Berlin, conducting her first ethnography in Albania in 1992, when the country had only just emerged from isolation and state socialism.

Stephanie became fascinated with the translocal evocations of local pasts in the rapidly, often violently, changing period of post-socialist transition. Social actors mobilised these pasts to construct new identities and social statuses and to negotiate conflicts over scarce resources. From 2000, Stephanie extended her research to the politics of memory and identity in post-war Kosovo.

From 1997 to 2003, Stephanie served as the first Nash Fellow for Albanian Studies at SSEES, UCL. Subsequently, she worked as an independent academic consultant with international agencies including the OSCE, World Bank, NATO, IOM and the ICTY. Stephanie was also called upon as an academic expert by police and social services, the Crown Court and immigration tribunals in the UK in cases involving blood feuds, homicide, war rape, trafficking, ethnic and sexual minorities and migrant family conflicts. This work sharpened her interests in applied anthropology, ethics and the relation between local and global culturist representations and their impact on social realities in practice.

Stephanie’s current research investigates local responses to the international paradigms of peace-building and state-building in post-war Kosovo. She explores how pre-war and war experiences in Kosovo are symbolically and ritually codified and transmitted through the generations; how these cultural reproductions underpin private and public memory, emotions, ideals and perceptions in the present; and who contests these.

Stephanie joined Bournemouth University in autumn 2013. She teaches undergraduate units on gender, childhood and youth, the life course, kinship and family. 

A core theme in Rosie’s work has been anthropological exploration of care in different social and cultural contexts. Much of her research is how people come to have ideas about what defines good care, who is most deserving of it, and who should have responsibility for providing it, along with all the implications this carries for social identities and inequalities, particularly of gender and class.

Rosie has explored the social boundaries between paid and unpaid care work, and how those boundaries change over time. She is interested in how ageing societies, restructured welfare systems and globalised labour markets create new challenges for the provision of care in the contemporary world.

Rosie gained her doctorate in social anthropology from Manchester University in 2002. Her PhD study explored the involvement of religious groups in Czech elderly care provision, following the privatisation of health care in the 1990s. More recent research projects, funded by the British Academy, the NSPCC and UK Research Councils, have explored various forms of volunteering and community action in the Czech Republic and Britain.

Since 2006, Rosie has worked as a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University. She has taught undergraduate courses on Globalisation and Marginalisation, Culture and Society and Introduction to Anthropology, amongst others.

My doctoral research was on Guatemalan vigilantism, and while I still consider the anthropology of violence my primary field of research, since completing my PhD at Sussex in 2008 I have written and researched on topics spanning from the Antiques Roadshow, human group size relating to brain physiology, ghost walks, horror films and gambling advertising. My most recent book (with Natalie Djohari) explores the history of anthropology through controversies, aiming to introduce those new to anthropology to its history without glossing over the more problematic areas. Since 2021 I have been conducting research for the British Academy/Leverhulme funded project ‘Watching the Coast’ looking at non-state vigilance on the South coast of the UK.

I took what many would consider a teaching route into academia beginning as an Associate Tutor in 2004 during my DPhil at the University of Sussex, and as an Associate Lecturer from 2007-9. In 2009 I became a Teaching Fellow at Durham University, before moving to Goldsmiths. Teaching remains central to my academic practice today. This can be seen in my recent appointments as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy as Editor in Chief of the Royal Anthropological Institute's Teaching Anthropology journal and my recent appointment to the RAI’s Education Committee. As can be seen in relation to my research on gambling adverting and The Antiques Roadshow, I actively seek spaces in which teaching and research can be brought together, where students can gain hands-on experience doing meaningful research and where research skills-led training is an organic part of a project and where mutual support can be built into the fabric of a staff/student team.

Sam Porter is a sociologist by academic training and a nurse by profession. His wide research interests reflect this combination. His main areas of interest are palliative and end-of-life care; supportive care for cancer survivors and carers; maternal and child health; the sociology of health professionals; and the use of arts-based therapies. Recently, he has combined his interests through leadership of a randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of music therapy in improving the well-being of children with behavioural problems, and a current pilot trial examining whether music therapy can reduce the anxiety of people reaching the end of their lives. In line with existing research strengths in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences relating to the experiences of older people, he is taking an increasing interest in issues around palliative care for the elderly.

Sam has adopted a wide range of methods in his research, ranging from the above-mentioned randomised controlled trials to the use of qualitative approaches such as ethnography. He is a strong advocate of realist approaches to knowledge, which provide a robust rationale for the use of mixed methods. In his advocacy of a realist philosophy of science, he has enjoyed a number of contentious debates.

Sam teaches on social theory, research methods and the sociology of health.