Visual Anthropology MA

Year of entry: 2025

Course length: 13 months Full-Time

About the course

The MA in Visual Anthropology course is tailored to meet the needs of different levels of anthropological and filmmaking experience, whether you have little or no background in formal anthropology, film production, visual methods and photography, or if you have substantial experience in one or more of these areas.

For more than 30 years, the University's Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology has been widely recognised as the world's leading centre for visual anthropology. Our graduates have produced more than 500 ethnographic films seen around the world and it 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, museum and gallery installations.

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

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?

Visual Anthropology MA 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 produced more than 400 ethnographic films, seen around the world. Some have gone on to direct TV series, such Tribe and Horizon, and documentaries for BBC, Netflix and Channel 4.

Through the course, you’ll develop transferrable skills relevant to interesting and rewarding careers outside of filmmaking, including journalism, education, working for international institutions like the UN, business and personnel management.

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."

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.