BAEcon Accounting and Finance

Who do you think you are? Kinship is at the heart of social life in every society, and kinship has been a central concern of social anthropologists since the beginning of the discipline. Kinship is inextricably bound up with issues of personal identity, concepts of personhood, and the formation of households. In this course we will examine how relatedness, relationships and identities are differently constructed and imagined. Anthropologists’ theoretical interests in kinship lead also to the interrogation of the relationship between sex and gender and open a window on to various understandings of masculinity and femininity - offering important insights into such topics as marriage, parenting, adoption, the family, and the role of the state. Matters of historical interest to social anthropologists will be investigated together with questions of contemporary concern.

• Interrogate the biological bases of kinship, gender, and sex;
• Chart contemporary trends in the anthropology of kinship which have brought issues of sex and gender to the fore;
• Situate the anthropology of kinship, gender, and sex in wider anthropological debates and issues;
• Engage in a careful and critical reading of anthropological texts;
• Productively discuss with classmates the key anthropological theories and debates in the anthropology of kinship, gender, and sex;
• Apply anthropological approaches to kinship, gender, and sex to analyse and/or challenge understandings in the news, popular media, and films;
• Write well-structured, clearly argued, and analytical essays engaging the anthropological literature on kinship, gender, and sex.

Having successfully completed the module, students will be able to:

• Understand key readings and theories
• Evaluate existing scholarship
• Produce critical analyses

Lectures and tutorials

• Small Activities - (30%)
• Final Essay - 2,000 words (70%)

You will receive formative feedback continuously throughout the course through participation in tutorials, as well as written summative feedback on your assignments. Students are also invited to make office hour appointments with their lecturer to receive feedback and discuss their progress.

Carsten, J. (2000) Cultures of Relatedness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Information
Length of course: 10 weeks

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £34,800 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

Learn more about student finance options for UK students.

Learn more about fees and finance for international students.

As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships. This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026.