Welcome

The mission of the Centre for Anthropology and Mind (CAM) is to generate ground-breaking scholarship in the cognitive scientific study of culture.Certain aspects of human culture and behaviour appear to be universal, whereas other features vary significantly from one population to the next. Research at CAM is directed to explaining cultural regularity and variation. At least some human universals appear to be shaped and constrained by implicit (unconscious) cognitive mechanisms. Explaining how cultural differences came into being entails close tracking of the way cultural phenomena are created and transformed through processes of transmission. The invention and communication of ideas and practices within and across generations requires tools – not just physical artefacts, like books and buildings, but also mental tools, such as the ability to acquire new concepts and to recognize their potential applications.

CAM staff contribute to teaching in ICEA, ISCA, and the Human Sciences and the research of both staff and students in CAM likewise spans a wide range of fields in the School, in some cases also involving collaborations with other departments and divisions of the University and beyond.

Doctoral projects in CAM similarly cover a broad spectrum of topics. All doctoral researchers in the School of Anthropology are admitted to a generic “DPhil in Anthropology”. While the particular field of anthropology is unspecified in the title of the DPhil, different doctoral research programmes in the School have varying requirements. Research students in CAM normally enter the DPhil programme via the MSc in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology or the MSc/ MPhil in Social Anthropology.  Students may also be admitted to CAM’s DPhil having completed an alternative Master’s degree in a relevant area (e.g., social anthropology, linguistics, human evolution, cognitive science, experimental psychology, etc.).  In exceptional cases students may be admitted to the DPhil programme without first completing a relevant Master’s degree, but in such cases applications would need to demonstrate clearly how previous education and experience render our Master’s degrees largely redundant or unnecessary for the course of research envisaged.  Because doctoral research in CAM has a scientific orientation, students without previous scientific training (including quantitative research methods) will normally be asked to compensate for this lack of training during the course of their doctoral studies, in some cases lengthening the overall time required to complete the DPhil.

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