Department of Anthropology

In Russian

The department’s curriculum combines the ideas and methodology of ethnography, social and cultural anthropology, folklore studies, linguistics and semiotics. Coursework and research are grouped around the three above-mentioned disciplines. Students have the opportunity to explore all three subject areas and thus avoid confining themselves to their own specialization. After familiarizing themselves with the basics of all three disciplines, master’s students are able to make an informed choice about the next destination on their academic journey, based not only on thematic but also methodological preferences.

The department’s graduate students most often research one or another aspect of a contemporary community (e.g., an ethnic, religious or professional group, pensioners, the hearing impaired, native speakers of a particular language, etc.). However, historically oriented research projects based on archival materials, as well as research based on contemporary recordings and classic collections of folklore, are also common.

Teachers and researchers

Mikhail Lurye

Professor, Department of Anthropology; Scientific director of the project, Center for Applied Research

Alexander Panchenko

Professor, Department of Anthropology, Head of the Center for Anthropology of Religion

Nikolai Vakhtin

Founder, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Head of Center for Arctic Social Studies

Events and news

Nikolai Vakhtin lectures at the Pushkin Museum

On January 18, Professor of the Faculty of Anthropology Nikolai Vakhtin gave a lecture "Writing on Birch Bark, or How to Negotiate without a Common Language" at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The meeting was held as part of an educational program timed to coincide with the exhibition “Universal Language” (December 16, 2022 – March 19, 2023).