As part of its collaboration in a £1.94 million AHRC-funded project – Cultural and Scientific
Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions – the University of Roehampton is offering five
fully-funded PhD studentships (two AHRC studentships and three Roehampton ViceChancellor’s Studentships) in social anthropology. The studentships will be held in the
Department of Life Sciences and students will become members of the Centre for Research
in Evolutionary and Environmental Anthropology
http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/Research-Centres/Centre-for-Research-in-EvolutionaryAnthropology/Members
All studentships include payment of fees and cost of living bursaries. Each studentship will
consist of an individual research topic:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Chicken cultures and Masculinities in Cuba (AHRC Studentship)
Women and Chicken Husbandry in Ethiopia (AHRC Studentship)
Amateur Chicken-Keeping in Modern Britain (Roehampton Studentship)
Pedigree Chicken Breeding, Display and Exhibition (Roehampton Studentship)
Chickens in Religious Cosmologies and Practices (Roehampton Studentship)
However, the research for each of these individual anthropology projects will be pursued in
the context of the overall project that is multi-university (Bournemouth, Nottingham, York,
Durham and Leicester) and multidisciplinary (archaeology, zoöarchaeology, history,
anthropology, genetics, biological sciences).
The central aim of the project is to explore the multi-faceted significances of chickens in
human cultures. The chicken is native to Southeast Asia but over the last 8,000 years it has
been transported by people around the world - no other livestock species is so widely
established. The chicken's eastward spread from Asia to the Americas has been the subject of
many studies; however, its diffusion to the West has received much less attention. There
have been a few small-scale surveys documenting the spread of chickens across Europe but
there has been no comprehensive review about the rapidity of the spread and its cultural and
environmental impacts. No ancient (and little modern) DNA work has been published for
European chickens, nor have there been any isotopic studies focussed specifically upon their
diets or whether they were bred locally or traded. Given the social and cultural significance of
this species (whether as a provider of meat, eggs or feathers, its widespread use in
cockfighting or its association with ritual, magic and medicine), a detailed analysis of the
natural and cultural history of chickens in Europe is long overdue and has genuine potential
to provide cultural data of the highest quality and relevance for a range of disciplines and
audiences. The social anthropological projects have been carefully selected to generate social
and cultural understandings of human-chicken interactions that will feed into the overall
objectives of the project.
Applications are invited from researchers with a strong interest in anthropological
approaches to the study of human-animal relations. Applicants should hold a Master’s
degree (or equivalent) in social anthropology or a closely-related disciplinary field.
Applicants for the AHRC Studentships (fees and bursary) should check their eligibility by
going to the AHRC website:
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funding-Opportunities/Pages/Funding-Opportunities.aspx
then go to the link Student Funding Guide in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen for
the PDF.
The Roehampton Vice-Chancellor’s Studentships are open to all suitably-qualified
applicants. Fees will be covered and the bursaries will be offered at standard research council
rates.
Applying
Applicants should go to this page of the Graduate School
http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/Courses/Graduate-School/Applying/
and download the application for MPhil/PhD
Completed applications should be sent to:
Home applications: pgadmissions@roehampton.ac.uk
International/EU applications: internationaladmissions@roehampton.ac.uk
Postal address: University of Roehampton Admissions Department, Erasmus House, Digby
Stuart College, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5PU, UK
Applicants should include a one-page letter explaining what interests them about the
particular research topic for which they are applying. Applicants may apply for more than
one of the topics but must make a separate application and write a separate letter for each.
Applicants should also clearly indicate which application is their preferred choice.
Applications should be received by 22nd November 2013. Interviews are expected to be held
in late November/beginning December 2013 and successful applicants should be available to
commence in January 2014.
All applicants are advised to discuss their interest in the project with Professor Garry Marvin
(g.marvin@roehampton.ac.uk) who will direct the anthropological part of the research project.