What would be a good culture to study to do an Anthropolgy Masters/PhD thesis on?

Question

i am thinking about going back to school for cultural anthropology master or Phd program, what would be some good cultures to study and what is interesting to study about them?? i got my BA from TTU, it was a decent program...

Thanks!!

Answer 1

You could learn about the inca and aztec cultures of mexico; or about Egypt. Egypt is quite broad to study-their religion, their civilization and it's quite interesting.

Answer 2

Noyesno has an excellent point:

"Lack of imagination and independant thought in modern university graduate culture" use yourself as an example."

I can add that the research can be historical and can include all levels of instutionalized study from elementary thru PhD level.

Include the effects on the general society.

Answer 3

If you don't have an interest, you're not yet prepared to begin a research degree.  Look for a program that begins with classroom courses and then apply when you understand yourself well enough to know what you like and have a general idea of a region or topic of interest to you.

Answer 4

Bobow, it sounds as though you should give this some more thought. Graduate school is demanding, requires a whole-hearted commitment of several years of your life, especially for a PhD program. Even if you have a passionate desire to study a topic, it can be a rough go. Only you can decide what topic will hold your interest so strongly that you're willing to invest that much of yourself in studying it.

Answer 5

"Lack of imagination and independant thought in modern university graduate culture" use yourself as an example.

Answer 6

Because you want to do origional research, I'd be contaminating your research by suggesting a direction.  I can only suggest you find a subject of interest, narrow your research field, then narrow it again. Be sure you are not following someone else's footsteps.

My field of study was pattern recognition (computer) & artificial intelligence as applied to automated manufacturing.  I narrowed the field to sorting fruit & vegetables by color & size.

Answer 7

well, the internet culture comes to mind.

and there is the Y/A culture, which seems to be unique, but worldwide.

but i would be interested in studying native American culture - you would have to narrow it down more than that, of course.

Answer 8

Your going about it the wrong way.  What you need to do first is find somebody who has research you find interesting.  Then approach that person about becoming their student.  

Especially in MA programs, you may not be given the opportunity to do a study.  Some programs only require a research paper (and I mean library research).  I have yet to hear of a PhD program that doesn't require some research but a lot of programs are getting away from independent research and you almost always need to work on your mentors work.  So, concentrate of finding a mentor, not a study.