Son interested in studying Anthropology.

zef

Hi,
My son is doing his LC this year and is recently interested in anthropology in Maynooth. (I think this is the only course?)
He asked me 'What job could I get with an Anthropology degree?' - which I didn't have an answer of the top of my head for.
Do any of you have any ideas?
Thanks

Cailleachdubh

Hi

My first reaction was to say "no job!", but that's not very helpful!

Maynooth is the only place that does anthropology in Ireland to my knowledge. However, in the US, the study of "anthropology" also covers archaeology, which means that many anthropology graduates from the US tend to gravitate towards the archaeological discipline for work. So there's an overlap between anthropology and archaeology. Unfortunately, employment in the archaeological sector is at a 12 year low at the moment, so I wouldn't really recommend relying on that as a career.

I would imagine the study of anthropology also covers some sociology, so maybe there are career posibilities or further training possibilities within the social science sector? Someone with more knowledge of the course will probably be able to enlighten you more on this...

zef

Thanks for the reply. looks like an interesting thing to study- wouldn't mind doing it meself!
I saw a facinating report or thesis done by someone from Maynooth on "Addictions in the Canal communities in Dublin 8"
CAO time coming up so he's just checking out all his options.

Odysseus

zef wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. looks like an interesting thing to study- wouldn't mind doing it meself!
I saw a facinating report or thesis done by someone from Maynooth on "Addictions in the Canal communities in Dublin 8"
CAO time coming up so he's just checking out all his options.

That could have been Jamie Saris [sp] I know he has done similar work up in Cherry Orchard. I haven't seen him in years but I think he was head of the Dept at that time.

As to areas of work, I think I could be wrong but would it be similar to having a degree in Sociology. I used to share classes with the anthropology classes in DSB during my degree, well I only had to do two of their classes.

However, in my understanding Anthropology has something to add to whatever area of mankind we are studying.

Holly Golightly9

Hi Zef,

I'm a past Anthropology student of Maynooth, I did an International B.A. in anthropology and Spanish. In first year, I took history, Spanish, and anthropology. As a flaky 18 year old without a clue of what I wanted to anthropology seemed fun and interesting. It was a really good course and I think if I took it now at the age of 26 I'd get more out of it but if your son is so focussed as to know he wants to do it I would definitely say go for it.

I've currently gone on to do an M.A. in Linguistics so have taken the language route more-so as my career (though anthropology is without a doubt of relevance) but I have to say anthropology did educate me and has made me come to look at the world very differently.

Some careers which anthropology can lead to are careers in academia, research or NGOs. NGOs are a prominent employer at the moment. Policy-making and ethnographic research are important to the EU, the UN and local governments. If a degree in anthropology is accompanied by qualifications in marketing or sales, international companies have been known to hire anthropologists to identify population trends etc.

For the year after my degree I was berating myself for not having chosen a more obviously beneficial degree, in something more specific like an area of IT or engineering rather than humanities. I believe that there are different types of people and I know I wouldn't be happy to have studied something other than what I did. People criticize humanities degrees as they aren't as obviously routed to a career path. But like everything, if a person has enough interest and love of whatever it is they focus on, they will find success if they look for it.

On a side note, I would whole-heartedly recommend NUIM, it's an amazing university, the staff are so willing to help and there's a great atmosphere and learning environment when compared to other top universities from my experience.

Best of luck to your son, I'd love to be going back and starting again!

zef

Thank you for all the encouraging and informative replies.
I applied as a mature student to do this course myself and got thru the written exam ok, now have an interview in May. Fingers crossed!

Toshi101

I'm currently finishing my first year in maynooth studying anthropology. An amazing subject which i highly reccomend. The jobs prospects worried me aswell first before hand so I asked a few of my dads friends who told me many business look quite highly upon anthropology degrees. Hope your son picks it!

belcampprisoner

http://www.aaanet.org/profdev/careers/