Master in Cultural and Social Anthropology

• Faculty of Humanities.
• Awards: Master of Humanities in Anthropology.
• Amount of credits: 80 credit points or 120 ECTS.
• Accreditation: study programme is accredited (to be revised in 2024).

The programme offers an outstanding opportunity to acquire analytical tools with which to approach contemporary global and local social processes and trends. These include issues such as migration with its corollaries of increasing cross-cultural contact and new diaspora politics, financial crises and advancement of neo-liberal (and other) policies, both internationally and locally, transformation of political subjectivities in the context of shifting ideas about development, state-building and nation.

The programme provides students with a solid theoretical and methodological basis with which to critically explore a variety of pressing issues in (post)modern society. Through lectures, seminars and independent reading, students gain knowledge in social, and specifically anthropological, theory. A variety of compulsory and optional courses help students to develop a thoroughly anthropological approach to the themes of self and agency, gender, state and power, borders/migration, consumerism, art/performance. Working with texts is accompanied by ethnographic fieldwork whereby students not only advance their skills of data gathering but also learn to test and creatively develop their theoretical frameworks.

The programme is mostly orientated towards public anthropology and the Baltic region, but students are encouraged to develop and explore their own research topics with the support of experienced supervisors within our department.

The programme is open to graduates from other fields, seeing their previous academic and professional experience as a potential for productive interdisciplinary work. Our staff holds doctoral degrees from world’s best ranking universities. They apply high standards both in teaching and public discussions, thus encouraging critical analysis beyond the academic realm.

The programme uses its ERASMUS exchange agreements to send students to other European universities and welcomes students from abroad to Latvia.

Living in Latvia

Latvia is a member state of the European Union and Schengen area. Its capital, Riga is the metropolis of the Baltic region. Riga is listed among the world’s best student cities. It is a safe city. Life in Latvia is not expensive compared with Western European countries. Latvia offers affordable education. You can find more information in the practical handbook for international students.