About us

Department of Anthropology and Ethnology in Poznań is one of the leading centre for ethnographic research and teaching in Poland. In 2021, we were awarded the national teaching excellence certification.

The history of the Department goes back to 1919, when after the First World War, the University was established in the city of Poznań. An original part of the Poznań University, ours is the oldest Department of Ethnology in Poland. Since the Department’s beginnings, scholars have specialised in Ethnology, consisting of ethno-history, regional studies and folklore studies. The Department of Ethnology was renamed the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology in 1992 and Department of Anthropology and Ethnology in 2019. These changes of name reflected the broadening of research fields. The Department  is composed of four sections: Cultural Anthropology; Social Anthropology; Ethnology and Anthropological Theory and Methodology.

Education

We maintain a strong tradition of broad-based undergraduate and graduate education.

In the Undergraduate Degree Programme we offer the core coursework in Cultural Anthropology, with a wide range of research-led optional courses and the opportunity to write a field-based thesis. At the graduate level, we offer a Master’s Degree Programme and a Postgraduate Research Programme leading to the Ph.D. The Department has also the right to award postdoctoral degree in Ethnology (i.e.habilitation – a qualification as a university professor).

Adam Mickiewicz University follows the Bologna system of education. International exchange and Erasmus students, as well as guest students, can choose from the wide range of course units taught in English and occasionally in other languages. Additionally, courses in Polish language are available for the duration of either one or two semesters. Courses in European Societies & Cultures are also offered by the university [ https://international.amu.edu.pl/].

Since 2017, we are offering a Master’s Program in Anthropology. It focuses on Cultural Differences and Transnational Processes and is a Joint-Master’s Program in the network of CREOLE. Applications are possible from May 2021. A description of the program and application requirements are available here

In Poland, the Department established a long-term cooperation with:

• other Departments of Anthropology
• associations, foundations, journal editorial offices
• ethnographic and open-air museums

Abroad, the Department maintains close ties with the following research centres and organisations:

• European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder
• Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology, Halle/Salle
• Vienna University
• Central European University, Budapest
• Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca
• Georgetown University, Washington DC
• Universidad de Chile, Santiago
• Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP), Peru

Within the Erasmus + programme we have established cooperation with the following universities:

• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• Masarykova Univerzita (Masaryk University), Brno, Czech Republic
• University of Jyväskylä (Jyväskylän yliopisto), Jyväskylä, Finland
• Univerza v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana), Lublana, Slovenia
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Monachium, Germany
• Universidad del Pais Vasco (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea), San Sebastian / Bilbao, Spain
• Istanbul Bilgi University (Istanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi), Istanbul, Turkey
• Universität Wien, Wiedeń, Austria
• Maynooth University (National University of Ireland Maynooth), Maynooth, Ireland
• Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
• University of Basel, Switzerland
• University of Bern, Switzerland
• Eötvös Loránd Tudomanyegyetem, Budapest, Hungary
• Department of European Ethnology, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany
• Université Lumière Lyon 2, France
• University of Belgrade, Serbia
• University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal

We constantly develop international co-operation with foreign academic centres and scholars. In August 2019, we successfully organised the Inter-Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) in Poznań.  October 15-16, 2009, we hosted the European Association of Social Anthropologists’ conference, “The Anthropology of Europe”, that attracted over 50 scholars from both Eastern and Western Europe, as well as the Unites States, including Ulf Hannerz, Chris Hann and Kirsten Hastrup [https://etnologia.amu.edu.pl/go.live.php/PL-H449/program-i-abstrakty-konferencji-anthropology-of-europe.html]. The Department’s director, prof. Michał Buchowski, the president of EASA between 2009 and 2010, is currently vice-chair of World Council of Anthropological Associations, and has been the head of the Polish Ethnological Society (PTL), the biggest professional organization of anthropologist in Poland, founded in 1895.