A very warm welcome to Sociology, Philosophy, Anthropology and Criminology ("SPA" for short) at the University of Exeter and congratulations on gaining a place to study here!
We teach several Single Honours degree programmes, including BA Anthropology, BSc Criminology, BA Philosophy, BA Sociology and BSc Sociology. Our Combined Honours programmes include BA Sociology and Criminology, BA Sociology and Anthropology and BA Philosophy and Sociology. In addition to this, there are a number of Combined Honours programmes taught jointly with Archaeology, History, Politics, Modern Languages and Theology. We also teach students on Flexible Combined Honours (FCH) degree programmes with an Anthropology, Criminology, Philosophy or Sociology component.
We are part of a larger Department of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy and Anthropology (SPSPA), which is itself part of the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS).
You will soon get to know us as we move into the semester, especially those staff who will be teaching you. In the meantime you can find out a bit more about us and our specialisms through our staff profiles.
Key contacts
You will each be assigned a personal tutor whom you will meet as part of your academic induction in Welcome Week. This person will be your first port of call for any questions you might have. Other key contacts include:
- Director of Education and Student Experience for SPA: Charles Masquelier
- Senior Tutor for SPA: Dr Paul O’Connor
- Head of Department for SPSPA: Professor Robert Lamb
- Academic Employability Rep for SPA students: Dr Hannah Farrimond
Expectations for attendance and engagement
We expect you to attend all your timetabled classes. If you are unable to attend a class because you are ill, you should report your absence via the iExeter absence reporting tool. You should also email your lecturer directly to let them know that you will not be able to attend, and to find out what work you will need to do to make up for your absence. If you have a longer illness and are absent for more than 7 days in a row, you will need to get a doctor’s certificate and lodge this with the Amory Hub.
Information for students of SPA
The SPA section of the HASS Student Gateway (on ELE) contains a range of information about life at the University of Exeter and your studies within the SPA department. You'll only be able to visit the page once you have activated your university IT account, but you may wish to make a note of the page to visit later.
What can I do to prepare for my degree?
We don’t expect you to complete any preparatory work before you get here, but if you’re keen to acclimatise yourself to your course and do a little reading before term starts, we’ve put together some suggestions to whet your appetite for things to come. You are not expected to read all of these works – just pick and choose the titles that appeal most.
Sociology:
- Abercrombie, Nicholas. 2004. Sociology: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Polity Press.
- Alexander, Jeffrey C., Kenneth Thompson, and Laura Desfor Edles (eds). 2012. A Contemporary Introduction to Sociology: Culture and Society in Transition (Second Edition). Boulder, London: Paradigm Publishers.
- Bauman, Z. and May, T. (2001) Thinking Sociologically. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Polity
- Elias, N. (1978) What is Sociology? New York: Columbia University Press
- Giddens, Anthony (ed.) 1992. Human societies: An Introductory Reader in Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Lemert, C. (2012) Social Things: An Introduction to the Sociological life, 5th edition, London: Rowman & Littlefields
- Halsey, A. H. 2004. A History of Sociology in Britain: Science, Literature and Society. Oxford Scholarship Online. [ebook]
Anthropology:
- Abu Lughod, Lila. 1986. Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Astuti, Rita, Jonathan Parry and Charles Stafford. 2007. Questions of Anthropology. London: Routledge.
- Berry, Maya, Claudia Argüelles, Shanya Cordis, Sarah Ihmoud, and Elizabeth Estrada. 2017. “Toward a fugitive anthropology: Gender, race, and violence in the field.” Cultural Anthropology, 32(4), pp.537-565. https://journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/article/view/ca32.4.05 ;
- Engelke, Matthew. 2017. Think Like an Anthropologist. London: Penguin.
- Graeber, David and David Wengrow. 2021 The Dawn of Everything. London: Penguin.
- Pink, Sarah. 2009. Doing Sensory Ethnography. London: Sage.
- West, Harry. 2007. Ethnographic Sorcery. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Philosophy:
- Rebecca Buxton and Lisa Whiting (eds), The Philosopher Queens
- Lisa Gannett, Echoes from the Cave: Philosophical Conversations since Plato
- Richard Kim: Confucianism and the Philosophy of Well-Being
- Michela Massimi (ed), Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone
- Mary Midgley, What is Philosophy For?
- Bertrand Russell: A History of Western Philosophy
- Nigel Warburton: Philosophy, The Basics
- Timothy Williamson: Tetralogue
Criminology:
Peter Joyce: Criminology: A complete introduction (2020)
Our community
You will have Department Officers and student reps for Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy and Anthropology who you may meet in Welcome Week. You can contact them if you would like to provide feedback on any aspect of your teaching, learning or wider student experience. There will also be the chance to become a student representative for your year group yourself.
We would also encourage you to look out for our subject societies, the Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology Society (SAC SOC), and Philosophy Society. Both societies will advertise their events in Welcome Week and throughout the year. These are friendly subject societies who run social events and other activities including student staff events.
Activity: Introduce yourself!
n the meantime, we would love it if you could start getting to know one another by posting a brief introduction in the Forum, telling us one reason why you’ve chosen to study a degree in SPA or one thing you’re excited to learn about.
To post, simply click 'REPLY.'
Please be aware that any comments and contributions in this forum are open to the general public and NOT just other students in the cohort.
Once you have finished reading about your department(s), you can skip to end of this section rather than clicking next and reading through all department pages.