BA Anthropology

In 2010, the then Department of Sociology, one of the oldest departments in the University of Cape Coast, was transformed into the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. This initiative was taken in order to incorporate the newly developed Anthropology Programme, initiated in 2009, born out of a growing interest in the discipline and in response to the broad institutional interests of the University, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Department of Sociology. Anthropology at this time was seen to augment the sociological offerings of the University, as well as to fill a missing component within the Faculty of Social Sciences. The breadth and scope of Anthropology was seen to be a necessary addition to the curriculum of the Faculty, which then offerred Economics, Geography and Regional Planning, Development Studies, Population and Health, Hospitality and Tourism Management, as well as Sociology. This was a response to the increasing degree of of interdisciplinariry in both scholarly research, practice and policy. The Anthropology is directed at enhancing students’ understanding of their socio-cultural environmenet across space and time predicated on study the social change, culture, social institutions and very practical realities of humanity. In the programme, students are encouraged, not only to acquire knowledge, but to reflect critically and analytically on behaviors, patterns of interactions and social structures in a world which is increasingly diversified yet highly integrated global order. They are exposed to anthropological theories, as well as practice, in the study of various cultures and peoples of the world. The Anthropology Programme is designed to give students the necessary expertise and skills with which to understand the world and thus to be in a position to know, and possibly to transform it.