This Department was established by the University of Calicut under its Faculty of Humanities in 1986 and started functioning at Calicut University Centre, Palayad, Thalassery, in March 1986. The first batch of students was admitted in 1988. The Department of Anthropology was brought under the newly formed Kannur University in 1997. This is the one and only Department of Anthropology for the whole state of Kerala offering M. A. ;M. Phil; and Ph. D. Degrees in Anthropology. 

Eligibility for Admission to   M. A.:

       For admission to MA degree course in Anthropology, the candidates should have bachelor’s degree in any discipline with minimum 45 percent marks.  The admission is strictly based on an entrance test and interview. The number of seats sanctioned for the M. A. course is 12. The seats sanctioned for the M. Phil degree course is four.

Eligibility for Admission to M. Phil.:

       For admission to M. Phil. Degree in Anthropology, the candidate should have passed   M.A. degree in Anthropology.  The selection is based on an entrance test.

Field work and Dissertion

        The fieldwork for 30 days in a tribal, rural or urban area, with financial assistance from the University and the preparation of a dissertation based on the fieldwork, is one of the requirements for M.A. and M. Phil. degrees in Anthropology.

Ph. D. Programme

        The Ph.D. programme in the Department was started in 1989. Four candidates have, so far, secured their Ph. D. degrees in Anthropology from this Department. Three of them had obtained their M. A. Degree in Anthropology from this Department, under the University of Calicut, and the other secured his M.A. Degree from Poona University. All of them got their degrees awarded under the supervision of Dr B. Ananda Bhanu.  Currently there are a dozen candidates pursuing their research for Ph. D. degree in Anthropology.  Five faculty members are approved guides of Kannur University.

Lectureship/fellowship

        136 students have taken post-graduate degree with 90 first classes and 46 second classes since 1990.  Five students could continue their studies for M. Phil., degree in other Universities such as Central University, Hyderabad, and Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.

        Thirty-seven students of this Department have passed NET examinations conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) New Delhi, of whom thirty have been qualified for Lectureship and three for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). More than 50 students have qualified for SET of Kerala State.

Anthroplogy in Plus Two

        Anthropology has been included in two of the combinations in Humanities in the Plus Two Courses as 1) History, Economics, Political Science and Anthropology and, 2) Economics, Statistics, Anthropology and Social Work

National Seminars

        This Department has organized three National Seminars - on ‘Anthropology of Food-gathering Techniques’ sponsored by the UGC, New Delhi, at Thalassery in 1988, ‘Ethnomusicology’ sponsored jointly by the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore and the University of Calicut in 1993, and ‘Cultural Heritage and Development of Kerala’ sponsored by the Kannur University as a part of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Centre in 2001.

National and International Projects

        The Department has completed four National Projects – one with the UNESCO-IGNCA, New Delhi for Kerala State on the ‘Village India’ project, which mapped various Cultural Zones of India and also associated with another National Project on ‘Rural Infra-Structure’ of NCAER, New Delhi.  The UGC has sanctioned a Major Research Project to the Department on November 2004.  Another Project was sanctioned to the department by the state Government (DPEP) in 2000.

Faculty of the Department