If you, on the other hand, are doing an internship/fieldwork practicum, you must sign an internship agreement. The internship agreement is subject to the approval of your supervisor. To ensure an acceptable basis for the agreement, including any requirements and obligations from the internship host organisation, the internship agreement must be finally approved and signed by the head of the Department of Anthropology.

• Internship agreement (PDF)

Remember that you can apply for a travel grant from the Faculty of Arts if you are going to study abroad. You can read more about the Arts travel grant application criteria, advance approval and deadline(s) for application.

A supervisor will be allocated to you in connection with your fieldwork/fieldwork practicum and Master’s thesis in the middle of the first semester.

All Master’s students at the Department of Anthropology are offered the chance to talk to a mentor at the beginning of the first semester with a view to allocating a supervisor to them for their fieldwork or fieldwork practicum.

The meeting is arranged by the line coordinator (responsible for general or visual anthropology, for instance) and gives you the opportunity to consider ideas and topics for your fieldwork/ fieldwork practicum and to suggest a possible supervisor.

The line coordinators and head of department arrange for the final approval and allocation of supervisors for all students. In other words, you do not have to apply for a supervisor – although you are allowed to suggest one at the mentor meeting.

Please note that the introductory meeting with your supervisor does not take place until the start of the second semester (early February). Suggested and/or allocated supervisors must be assistant professors, associate professors or professors at the department. The supervisor allocated to you will automatically be your thesis supervisor on the fourth semester.

When choosing and planning the topic for your fieldwork, please remember that you will develop many competences during this fieldwork:

• Regional competence: You will gain specific knowledge about the place where you do your fieldwork.
• Thematic competence: The themes you explore during your fieldwork can be used in many other connections and not just during your fieldwork. So it is important to think carefully about which themes your fieldwork should deal with.
• Theoretical competence: Like the themes of your fieldwork, your theories can be used in many other contexts and will give you competences extending beyond your regional and thematic focus.

The academic regulations for the Master’s degree programme explain the formal requirements applying to your fieldwork/ fieldwork practicum.

You need to focus on three things in your fieldwork:

• Ethnographic issues: During your fieldwork, you are expected to independently use ethnographic methods to collect ethnographic material that makes sense in an academic context and in relation to the anthropological issue on which you focus in your project.
• Reflection on your material: You need to be able to discuss and reflect on your methodical approach as well as presenting your ethnographical material and assessing the nature of the material you collect.
• Analytical issues: You need to be able to identify the general issues, theoretical background and central analytical concepts, and to identify analytical themes in the material you collect.

Fieldwork practicum  

Basically, there is no distinction between fieldwork practicum and fieldwork. All the requirements applying to fieldwork apply to fieldwork practicum as well.

The following applies to fieldwork practicum:

• You must contact a company yourself and base your study on the company’s contacts and/or existing projects.
• The company at which you do your internship will collaborate with you to establish the framework for the fieldwork you are to do.
• You need to find a professionally qualified person at the host institution who is to be approved as a responsible partner, and you must sign aninternship agreement. The agreement must state your tasks clearly, as well as stating that the information you collect may be used in your field report and Master’s thesis (and perhaps in articles at a later date). The Department of Anthropology has a fieldwork agreement form which you must use.
  Intership agreement (PDF)  

NB: Fieldwork practicums are not intended as ordinary internships in which you are employed at a company. They are more like a job-related way of doing fieldwork.

Students do no longer need to pass 'Ethnographic Methodology and Field Preparation' to take the examination in 'Fieldwork 1: Creating your field'. The change has been made to avoid unnecessary delays for you as a student. Instead, a prerequisite requirement has been introduced in connection with the examination in 'Field work 1: creating the field'. The change has been made to ensure that all students are ready to go into the field (both those who have passed "Ethnographic Methodology and Field Preparation" and those who have not).

What you need to do as a student:

1. The exam requirement for the course "Field Work 1: Creating the field" now means that you as a student must have your project description approved by your supervisor.

2. The approval form must be signed by your supervisor as documentation that your preliminary project description has been approved by the supervisor. You might talk with your supervisor about this.

You can find the approval form here

If you have any questions, please contact either your supervisor or department consultant Sofie Raun, sofie.raun@cas.au.dk