Visual Anthropology MA

Year of entry: 2025

Course length: 13 months Full-Time

About the course

The MA in Visual Anthropology course is designed to meet the needs of different levels of interest and experience in anthropology and audio-visual practice, whether you have substantial or little to no background in formal anthropology, film production, visual methods and photography.

Established in 1987, the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology (GCVA) is widely recognised as the world's leading centre for visual anthropology. Our graduates have produced more than 500 ethnographic films seen globally and at international film festivals. The Centre is now at the forefront of the emergent dialogue between art and anthropology, including sensory ethnography and sound, experimental and practice-based methods, photographic and digital media, and museum and gallery installations.

The MA in Visual Anthropology provides a combination of the theoretical application of anthropology with practical training in filmmaking, editing, visual methods, photography, sensory ethnography and sound.

You will have access to professional-standard filmmaking and sound recording equipment, and one-to-one technical support from a team of AV technicians.

You will also have access to the professional-standard GCVA edit suite lab to complete assessments. Technical support and maintenance for the edit suites are also provided for by a faculty team of technicians and one dedicated technician who delivers personalised advice.

Our GVCA lab includes a screening room equipped with a 5.1 Surround Sound Audio system, which is perfect for showcasing your work to other students and enhancing your collaborative creativity. With over 3500 films in the GVCA’s library, you could even host your own immersive film screening events.

The GCVA hosts a regular series of guest speakers including filmmakers, photographers, visual and sound artists and cultural producers who also provide an insight into the creative fields they work within.

By the completion of the course, you'll produce a portfolio of multimedia work, comprising a minimum of five short films, photographic essays and soundscape recordings, that together can be assembled to represent themselves for potential future commissions and employment.

See the full course profile on our website >

Study at a university ranked top 10 in the UK and top 30 in the world for Anthropology

(QS rankings by subject 2023)

For more than 30 years, our Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology has been widely recognised as the world's leading centre for Visual Anthropology

We're one of the top 10 departments in the country for Social Anthropology research

(REF 2021)

Compulsory Units

MAVA Dissertation
Elemental Media: Documentary and Sensory Practice
Ethnographic Documentary
Beyond Observational Cinema

Core Units

Anthropology of Vision, Senses and Memory
Screening Culture
Images, Texts, Fieldwork

Optional Units

Key Approaches in Social Anthropology

These are examples of units offered and are subject to change.

See the full list of units and find out more on the full course profile >

Where will your degree take you?

The MA in Visual Anthropology allows you to develop a variety of highly transferrable skills, including analytical, research, problem-solving and communication skills, which are in high demand for a wide variety of different roles.

Our graduates have also produced TV series, documentaries and films, some have been seen on the BBC, Netflix and the UK's Channel 4, and some have won awards. Other graduates have pursued successful careers as academics, filmmakers, photographers, artists, educators, and journalists as well as in non-governmental and development sectors.

Chandni Brown

Visual Anthropology MA

"There is so much to gain from this course. Before I started I had never even picked up a film camera, now my final film has gone on to win several awards. It's opened my eyes to the different ways research can be done."

Jose Luis Cote

Visual Anthropology MA

“I studied alongside an international community of lawyers, biologists, musicians and visual artists like myself and became part of a community of peers and tutors that were genuinely interested in each other, and empathetic, offering support and critical views to each other in respectful and sensitive ways. I had access to high quality professional equipment, an editing suit room and a projection room. The programme encouraged us to develop projects collaboratively and learning to assume different roles, negotiating and learning how to overcome obstacles as an individual and as a team. As an alumni I am still able to request access to these facilities and equipment.“

Shiro Hasegawa

Visual Anthropology MA

“The MAVA programme gave me the perspective to re-examine what I had seen, heard, and experienced through the lens of social anthropology. It encouraged me to question the very foundations of my own values and worldview. Beyond the technical aspects of filmmaking and sound recording, MAVA taught me how to work collaboratively with participants and explore ways to situate our creative process within anthropological significance. Through this, I learned that reconsidering my values while creating something together with others is a skill that contributes to living more meaningfully with people. Above all, what I value the most from the programme is the time spent with world-class professors and fellow students from across the globe. I am now working as a director at NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, drawing on all that I learned at MAVA.“

Dr Angela Torresan

Lecturer in Visual Anthropology

Angela is a diasporic Brazilian visual anthropologist, born in Rio de Janeiro and living in the UK. She has been teaching Visual Anthropology at The University of Manchester Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology since 2007. Having worked with indigenous peoples in Brazil, Brazilian immigrants in London and Lisbon, and slum gentrification, her current research interest focusses on processes of securitization and police violence in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Her main ethnographic and theoretical interest lies on processes of emergence, maintenance, and revitalization of identities in situations of physical and cognitive movement, and cultural change. She is also interested in the use of film in ethnographic research, as a catalyst of social relationships and an instrument for the development of anthropological knowledge.