Social Anthropology is the comparative study of human conduct and thought in their social context. Societies around the world vary enormously in their social, cultural and political forms, and their individual members display a wide diversity of ideas and behaviours. The study of these variations, and the common humanity that renders them intelligible to sympathetic outsiders, lies at the heart of Social Anthropology. This course is intended as a general introduction to social anthropology. It begins with a brief consideration of what social anthropologists do; thinking about their unique means of finding out about the world - participant observation and fieldwork.

The course will follow two themes. First, the life course conceived in relation to key moments – birth, marriage and death. Second, how concepts and ideas that have driven anthropology help us to shed new light on debates that are at the heart of contemporary questions about how our societies work.

To do this, the course examines important issues facing us today in relation to the life cycle: assisted contraception, gender identity and marriage, and the relation between death, the afterlife, and organ transplantation.