Visual Anthropology (Research)

The Department of Anthropology offers supervision in a wide range of areas at MPhil and PhD level.

The MPhil/PhD in Visual Anthropology can be achieved through two main strands:

• Research projects that centre on the study of visual cultures, such as various forms of media representation or art
• The use of specific visual methodologies as a central feature of the research project itself

The programme focuses on the visual as a vital and defining factor in the research project as a whole.

Additional practical training can be provided, alongside some access to department audio-visual equipment and facilities, but we generally expect MPhil/PhD candidates to have an appropriate level of practical visual production skills and to be largely self-sufficient in this area.

MPhil/PhD students are currently carrying out visual projects in Mexico, India, Argentina, Lebanon, Israel, and the UK.

Your first year
In the induction week before the beginning of the academic term in September, Goldsmiths provides an Induction Programme for all new research postgraduates. You will be introduced to Goldsmiths-wide and departmental facilities and procedures, and attend sessions on what is involved in doing a research degree, as well presentations of current research across Goldsmiths and the Graduate School.

In the first year, you are registered as an MPhil student initially and will work on your own research project and your 'upgrade material' for the transfer to the PhD status in conversation with your supervisors. You will also be expected to take or audit taught courses in the department and across Goldsmiths, including sessions provided for research students by the Graduate School.

Training offered to all students on the MPhil/PhD includes:
Research Design
Doing Ethnography
Visual Anthropology Training (MPhil/PhD Visual Anthropology only)
Core Qualitative Research Methods
Modelling Social Data I

You may also take other modules depending on your specific training needs – such as learning a language, or auditing an MA course – either in the department or elsewhere, of particular relevance to your research project. You are encouraged to attend seminars in other parts of the University of London, attend conferences, and go on outside modules such as those organised by SeNSS (South East Network of Social Science) or CHASE (Consortium for the Humanities and Arts South East England).

From the beginning of your programme you will receive regular supervision, and you will be expected to produce work to be discussed in supervision sessions. Your progress and any outstanding training requirements will be formally reviewed by the Graduate School annually in conversation with your supervision team.

Fieldwork, upgrade from MPhil to PhD, and writing up your thesis
Your fieldwork or other process of data collection will typically start sometime between the summer term of your first year and the start of your second year. This always requires ethical clearance in the course of the 'upgrade' process from MPhil to PhD before the research has started.

The upgrade is part of your PhD process and usually takes place in the first year of registration by means of 'viva' examination based on material related to your project that includes a literature review, a detailed discussion of your project, an extended ethics form and the oral exam conducted by an internally appointed panel of examiners. This formal assessment (also referred to as 'upgrade') sanctions your transfer from MPhil to PhD registration.

Assessment for your PhD will be via a combination of a written dissertation thesis (40,000-60,000 words) and a portfolio of multimodal work presented as an integrated whole examined by a viva voce.