UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
SPECIALIZATION IN SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
MA/PHD PROGRAM GUIDELINES
GUIDELINES FOR THE
GRADUATE PROGRAM
Revised Fall 2005
Subject to Revision
Graduate
students in anthropology at UCSB follow the Sociocultural, Biosocial, or
Archaeology track. The following
guidelines apply only to students specializing in sociocultural anthropology.
The PhD as ultimate objective. Our
department offers both the MA and PhD, but we do not admit students who intend
to leave the program when they have completed the Masterıs degree. The ultimate objective of the students
who enter this program is to receive the PhD.
Getting
to know the faculty and other graduate students. Students should
familiarize themselves with the research of the entire sociocultural faculty. This involves meeting personally with
them, taking their courses, and participating in departmental activities such
as informal seminars and guest lectures.
Students are encouraged to keep the faculty informed of their progress
and plans. It is also important
for the students to know one another because this contributes to the
intellectual life of the department, and connections made during graduate study
remain important throughout the personıs career.
Grades.
Graduate seminars must be taken for a letter grade, regardless of the
department in which they are taught. No graduate seminars may be taken for a
Pass/Not Pass grade. A graduate
student must earn a B or better in all classes that he or she takes, and the
department regards anything lower than a B as inadequate. The Graduate Division requires graduate
students to maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (on a 4-point scale). Department fellowships and teaching
assistantships will not be granted to a student with an incomplete on his or
her record. There is a one-quarter
limit on making up incompletes.
Annual
Student Report. Before the end of spring quarter each year students not yet
advanced to candidacy and those requesting department support must submit an
Annual Student Report, discussing their academic performance, professional
development, research, teaching, service, and attainment of goals.
At the end of each year the
committee chairperson and student will meet to discuss the studentıs Annual
Report. The chairperson signs the
report and attaches his/her written comments to the form before it is submitted
to the Graduate Program Assistant.
The completed form will be reviewed by the faculty representatives of
the Graduate Committee in determining departmental financial support for the
following year.
Forms.
Completion of most of the steps leading to the MA and PhD degrees
involves the filing of forms: departmental forms are filed with the departmental
Graduate Program Assistant. Graduate
Division forms are filed with the Graduate Division with a copy to Graduate
Program Assistant for your department file.
Previous
Master of Arts Degrees. After completing at least two quarters
in the program, students who entered with an MA in anthropology from another
institution may petition to drop the MA degree objective and to proceed
directly to the PhD program. The
student must have the recommendation of his or her advisory committee in order
to drop, and the decision has to be approved by the Sociocultural faculty as a
whole. A memo from the studentıs
chair recording and justifying the decision must be filed with the Graduate
Program Assistant. The student
will also need to file a Graduate Student Petition (appendix page 45) for
change of degree objective. Next,
the student should immediately form a PhD committee by submitting the PhD Form
I, Nomination for Qualifying Examinations for the Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy (appendix page 41), to Graduate Division with a copy to the Graduate
Program Assistant.
The
MA program in sociocultural anthropology is divided into two years, the first
concentrating on anthropological and social science theory, the second on
research design and methods.
Students are encouraged to read as widely as possible beyond the core
courses.
Requests to defer or delay any of
the following requirements must be submitted in writing to the department for
consideration, and approval will be granted only in extraordinary
circumstances. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the
student being asked to leave the program.
I.
MA Committee.
During winter quarter of the first year the student will ask three UC
ladder faculty members to serve on his or her masterıs committee. At least two members of the committee
must be from the Anthropology Department, the third may be from another
department or another UC campus.
The chair of the committee must belong to the sociocultural subfield,
but the other departmental committee members may belong to any subfield related
to the studentıs interests.
Additional members may be added and may even be outside the above
restrictions, if appropriate.
Committee membership may be changed at a later date if, say, plans for
the dissertation change.
A.
The committeeıs purpose is to assess the studentsı special
needs, strengths, and weaknesses and to assist in developing the best program
possible. Students are expected to
work closely with their committees throughout their graduate careers and to
keep their members informed about activities and plans. This information is necessary if the
committees are to represent the studentsı interests in the department and to
provide advice.
B.
Once the committee members have been contacted and have agreed
to serve, the student will complete the departmentıs MA Committee form
(appendix page 27), which provides a written record of committee
membership. The form is submitted
to the Graduate Program Assistant.
C.
By the end of winter quarter of the first year each student
will arrange an assessment meeting with all the members of the committee, the
purpose being to discuss the individualıs background qualifications and
interests and to help set up a suitable program of study and research. The
student will prepare for the assessment interview by writing a brief summary of
his or her background in anthropology and presenting a draft of the contract to
the committee. The guidelines for
writing the Ph.D. Competency Contract can be found below and a sample contract
can be found in the appendix on page 33.
D.
If students decide to change their committees they must have
the consent of the new member, inform all members of the current committee, and
secure the approval of the department chair. When changing MA committee member(s), the student needs to
fill out the departmental Change of Committee Member form (appendix page 28) and
file it with the Graduate Program Assistant. Changing a PhD committee member(s) requires a Graduate
Division Change of PhD Committee form (appendix page 42).
E.
The contract. This document lays out the studentıs program of
study through the completion of the PhD, and it is drawn up in close
consultation with the studentıs advisory committee. A sample is appended to
these guidelines. The Competency Contract for PhD Program in Sociocultural
Anthropology (appendix page 33) must be filed with the Graduate Program
Assistant towards the end of the spring quarter of the first year.
F.
The contract includes the following parts:
a.
A list of general background courses that will be taken
or that have been taken in the past.
1.
Sociocultural courses
2.
Breadth requirement courses in
i. Biosocial
anthropology
ii. Archaeology
b.
A list of specialized study courses.
1.
Topical courses dealing with the studentıs research
interests
2.
Area courses dealing with the studentıs research interests
c.
A list of courses that will provide facilitative
skills, such as courses in statistics, field methods, and language.
d.
MA draft research proposal topic.
e.
PhD candidacy research paper topics.
1.
Theory paper
2.
Area paper
f.
PhD candidacy research proposal.
G.
Typically many of the items listed under sections a, b, and c
consist of courses that were taken when the student was an undergraduate,
consequently the amount of work to be completed under these headings may not be
large.
H.
Sections IV, V, and VI should form a logical progression. The
MA draft research proposal should be an exploration of the PhD research topic,
even though the student may later decide to change the project. The PhD
research paper should lead directly to the research proposal, and the latter should
be directed toward the doctoral dissertation. These items are discussed at
greater length below.
I.
Each member of the committee will be given a copy of the
approved version of the contract, and the original will be given to the
Graduate Program Assistant to place in the studentıs academic file.
J.
Whenever a student changes his or her committee the contract
must be renegotiated with the new members and, if necessary, a new contract
placed on file with the Graduate Program Assistant.
II.
Course work
A.
It is a university requirement that graduate students register
for a minimum of 12 units of workload each quarter. The minimum required coursework for the MA is 36 units;
under this category are included graduate seminars; upper division courses
numbered 100-199; and 596s up to a maximum of 12 units. Units that count towards registration
but not towards the MA unit requirement include lower division courses numbered
1-99, TA practicum (501), and all courses in the 500s range except 596s.
1. At
least two of the three courses taken per quarter must be graduate courses,
while the third may be an upper division undergraduate class that is chosen
with the goal of enhancing the studentıs background in his or her field of
specialty. Lower division language
classes are encouraged if they are necessary in preparation for fieldwork, but
do not count as units for the MA/PhD degrees.
2. Students
must take at least one graduate seminar a quarter.
3. A
maximum of 12 units of 596, Directed Reading and Research, may be counted
toward the degree.
4. During
quarters in which students serve as teaching assistants, Anthropology 501,
Teaching Assistant Practicum, may serve as the third course.
5. The
five core courses (see below) of the sociocultural MA program are required.
B.
The MA program includes five required core courses, three in
the first year and two in the second. The first year courses are intended to
provide a solid grounding in theory, and those in the second are designed to
provide background for the development of a research project.
1.
The three core courses in the first year are Anth 229A, ³History
of Anthropology²; Anth 229B, ³Foundations of Modern Social Theory²; and Anth
229C, ³Issues in Contemporary Anthropology.²
2.
The two in the second year are Anth 239S, ³Research Design and
Writing in Sociocultural Anthropology,² and Anth 240, ³Research Methods in
Cultural Anthropology.²
C.
Students must complete the breadth requirements, which consist
of at least one course, at the graduate level or at the upper division
undergraduate level, in each of the two other subfields of anthropology
(archaeology and biosocial anthropology).
These courses may have been taken before joining the graduate program at
UCSB, and the requirement may also be fulfilled by serving as a teaching
assistant in those courses.
D.
Spring Quarter Proseminar
This course is offered every year and is listed as Anth
232. Students need to register for
this variable unit class as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. The department expects all first and
second year graduate students to enroll in this class in addition to your
regular course load. The aims are
to expose all of first and second year students to examples of current research
in the different subfields of anthropology, to provide opportunities to meet
with eminent scholars from other institutions, and to provide a forum for
collegial interactions among faculty members and graduate students. Students
are required to complete the readings for each lecturer and attend the Thursday
afternoon roundtable discussion and the Friday afternoon presentations.
F. Faculty Proseminar
This course is offered every fall quarter and is
listed as Anth 250FP. Students
need to register for the four unit class as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. The department expects all first year
graduate students to enroll in this class in addition to your regular course
load. The purpose of the course is
to expose students to the theoretical interests and the current research being
conducted by our department faculty as well as affiliated faculty. Students are required to complete the
readings for each faculty lecture and attend each Friday afternoon
presentation. The faculty
proseminar will fulfill one breadth requirement for the MA degree in
Sociocultural Anthropology.
III.
First-year Exam.
After one year in the MA program the student must pass the First-year
Examination. The exams are taken
and results given just before the beginning of fall quarter of the second year.
A.
The aim is to evaluate whether or not the student has
assimilated and is able to synthesize the information contained in the core
courses. Students are encouraged to draw on the material from their other
seminars in writing the comps, but will not be examined specifically on these
other courses.
B.
The exam consists of a set of take-home questions based on the
content of the three theory core courses.
C.
Based on the results of this exam students will be assessed as
Pass, Retake, or Fail. The department will recommend dismissal to the Graduate
Dean for students who receive a Fail grade. Students who receive the grade of
Retake will have to retake and pass the exam the following year in order to
qualify for the MA.
IV.
Second-year dossier.
Towards the end of the spring quarter of the second year the student
will submit to his or her committee a dossier that provides the basis for
evaluating the studentıs progress and that indicates where he or she is headed
in the future.
A. The dossier includes the following:
1. A
self-assessment, similar to the First-year Self-assessment described above.
2. A
complete list of courses taken with grades earned.
3. A
draft research proposal; this is to be on a topic that the student has
developed in collaboration with his or her advisory committee. By this point the student has taken the
first of the two second-year core courses and is nearly finished with the
second, and a draft proposal will be a product of both of these seminars. Its purpose is to enable the MA
committee to see what the student intends to do, to offer guidance, and to
evaluate the studentıs progress. The goal of the exercise is to encourage
students to identify appropriate themes for their PhD research.
4. A
complete set of seminar papers that the student has written at UCSB.
B.
The studentıs MA committee will review the dossier and offer
its evaluation at a general faculty meeting. Based on the evaluation the faculty will recommend awarding
the MA with permission to proceed to the PhD program, awarding a terminal MA,
or not awarding the MA. If it is decided that a student merits more than a
terminal MA but is not quite ready to proceed to the PhD program, he or she may
be asked to rework the dossier during the summer following the review.
V.
Check-list. The
following is a check-list of items that the student must attend to during the
first two years in the program:
A. First year
1. Set
up an MA committee during winter quarter and file the appropriate form with the
Graduate Program Assistant.
2. Draw
up the contract and file the appropriate form.
3. Take
the three first-year core courses.
4. Take
the Faculty Proseminar offered in fall quarter.
5. Take
the Spring Proseminar
6. Complete
a total of 36 units.
7. Submit
self-assessment before the end of spring quarter.
8. Take
courses making up the breadth requirement, if necessary.
9. Take
the First-year Exam at the end of the first summer in the program.