History and Anthropology

History and anthropology explore human life across time and across cultures, and they do so in ways that complement each other. History examines how societies change over time, using documentary evidence to understand the past on its own terms while also asking what the past can tell us about the present. Anthropology takes a different angle, studying human diversity across cultures in the present and recent past, asking what it means to be human in different social and cultural settings.

Together, they produce a distinctive intellectual formation: one that is sensitive to both time and cultural difference, critical of assumptions about normality, and attentive to the perspectives of people who might otherwise be overlooked.

At Goldsmiths' College, this three-year degree develops your skills in both historical research and ethnographic inquiry. In the history strand, you will work with primary sources and historical scholarship across a range of periods and regions, developing the critical thinking and writing skills that characterise the discipline. In the anthropology strand, you will engage with ethnographic methods, social and cultural theory, and debates about representation and fieldwork.

Goldsmiths has a strong tradition of critical and interdisciplinary work in the social sciences and humanities, and the degree reflects that culture, encouraging you to think across boundaries and question received wisdom.

Graduates find roles across many fields where research skills, cultural understanding, and the ability to think critically about evidence are valued. The public sector, including civil service roles, local government, and work with international organisations, draws graduates whose breadth of perspective is an asset. Journalism, publishing, and documentary work offer pathways for those who want to communicate historical and anthropological ideas to wider audiences.

The charity and development sectors benefit from graduates with anthropological sensitivity and historical awareness. Teaching at secondary or higher education level and postgraduate research in history, anthropology, or related fields are further routes.