1. Program Overview
The goal of the program is to produce Law School graduates sophisticated in the study of Cultural Anthropology. As students explore the interactions between culture and law, they will find their perspectives on law considerably broadened. From comparative study they will gain a sense of how different societies handle important legal matters, such as maintenance of social order, dispute resolution, and allocation of resources. As lawyers must increasingly deal in an international arena, understanding diverse cultural norms and ideologies can be invaluable to the legal practitioner. Most fundamentally, law students will gain an appreciation of the profoundly cultural assumptions underlying legal doctrine and practice in our own society as well as others. Students will be introduced to methods of cultural research with which to uncover and investigate the nature of these cultural assumptions—methods including the historical analysis of legal institutions and practices, analysis of legal discourse, and the ethnography of communication in legal settings.
2. Admission:
The JD/MA Program admits a small number of carefully selected applicants each year. This policy promotes the contact between faculty and graduate students which is central to the individual plan of study each student will pursue.
Admission to the program is contingent upon admission to the Law School. Admission is not necessarily dependent upon previous anthropological course work or any other specific program of study at the undergraduate level. Students are selected for intellectual promise, skill in spoken and written communication, and conceptual and analytical ability. All prospective students are encouraged to contact the Director of Graduate Studies or advisor of the program before applying, in order to discuss the program and its suitability for their individual goals.
3. Coursework requirements:
The JD/MA student is required to complete a total of eight courses (24 units) and ungraded research (6 units) for completion of the MA degree (a total of 30 units with the Graduate School). Of the eight courses, the student may request permission from his/her advisor to take up to two courses in other departments and up to two independent studies. Students are not required to take the two-sequence theory course (CA 330S & 331S), as required for all PhD students, although they may elect to do so. Students should select courses that enable him/her to gain fluency in a small subsection of issues within the discipline (see Plan of Study). For students electing to write a thesis, work in these areas will form the basis of their Master’s thesis. Please note that the Graduate School establishes specific JD/MA requirements that students should read carefully. These requirements can be found at Requirements for JD/MA/MS.
4. Plan of study:
Upon acceptance into the program, each student must write up a one-page Plan of Study which specifies two subject and/or regional areas in which they will concentrate their studies (i.e., gender, race, human rights, sexuality, Latin America, etc.). This plan of study should also discuss the relationship between these subject areas and the student’s interests in law and legal issues. It should be updated and revised each February, at which time it is submitted to the entire faculty for review.
5. Working with an advisor:
By the spring of the second year, JD/MA students must have a JD/MA committee in place. This committee consists of faculty members whose work intersects with that of the student's elected subfields. The committee must be composed of 3 members; 2 members must have a current primary or joint appointment in Cultural Anthropology and 1 member must have a primary appointment in a discipline other than Anthropology (a Graduate School Requirement). The committee should have a single advisor, who must be a primary faculty member in the department. This advisor should have expertise in one of the concentration areas the student has designated. The committee is chosen with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies and the Dean of the Graduate School.
6. Thesis and Non-Thesis Track:
The JD/MA program in Cultural Anthropology enables students to follow one of two tracks, a thesis track or a course-intensive track.
a. Thesis track: In addition to 6 courses in the department or in related fields, students on the thesis track will take 2 additional independent studies in their second or third years. At the end of the first unit of independent study, the student will produce a 10-15 page annotated bibliography that reviews the major literature of relevance to the thesis. This bibliography can draw on course work done over the previous 3 years, and will be evaluated by the student’s committee. At the end of the second unit, they will be expected to produce a thesis of 30-40 pages in length. Upon completion of the thesis, the student will have an oral defense of the thesis with a committee of 3 professors (her advisor and 2 others). The defense will occur at the end of the 6th semester, after all the other Master’s requirements have been fulfilled, and after the written work has been read and approved by the three committee members. This will constitute the culmination of the Master’s program and fulfillment of all necessary work for the degree
b. Course-intensive track: Students on this track will take 8 classes in the department and/or related fields and register for 6 units of ungraded research. Upon completion of coursework, students in this track will select 3 exemplary papers written during the course of their Master’s program. These papers will be read by the advisor and committee members from the department. The student will have an oral defense with this committee to discuss the papers. This will constitute the culmination of the Master’s program and fulfillment of all necessary work for the degree.
Professor William M O'Barr
