Department of Anthropology and Sociology

Department Overview

The Department of Anthropology and Sociology was established in 1970. For over five decades, the Department of Anthropology and Sociology has succeeded in making a name for itself locally and overseas. The main objective of our department is to generate knowledge of man and society and educate students to fully understand the change and development in all aspects of human processes. The combination of three academic disciplines in the department: Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology gives this department its strengths and specialties. The combined disciplines can provide a foundation for students to understand and manage the problems affecting man and society.

Specifically, the curriculum offered in this department includes social inequalities, diversity of identities, cross-cultural ethnography, visual anthropology, religion, race, ethnicities, demography, personality, organisational development, and human growth. This department also offers theoretically oriented courses, qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, and advanced statistics in social sciences. Students are introduced to research skills, data collecting and analysis and leading to presentation of their findings. Students can obtain experience through participating in field research activities that incorporate learned theoretical and methodological principles. 

The main vision of the department is to produce competent and efficient graduates with critical thinking abilities that can help them to overcome social problems, not only through learned theories but also through practical solutions. Until now, our department has produced prominent figures such as Datuk Dr Hj. Mohd. Taib Hj. Dora, Dato’ Ahmad Farid Abd Jalal, Datuk Dr. Roziah Omar, Datin Sri Hajah Nor Zamani Abdol Hamid dan Datuk Seri Panglima Sukarti Wakiman.