About the Department of Social Sciences
Social Sciences at Zayed University is a premier research department with a major focus on the fields of social sciences and humanities.
Our courses feed into the Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in the disciplines of Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural Studies, History and Sociology, as well as Research and Applied Methodology courses.
About our courses
Students benefit from the research-led teaching we offer combined with the insightful experiences of local and global contexts among our faculty. Our core and specialty courses reflect contemporary debates encompassing culture, humanity and the world at large, through different regional and humanistic approaches, and a focus on real-world challenges: be it globalization, migration, international development, sustainability, heritage or cultural management.
The department is also developing new programs to help the country and the region achieve its vision of developing a knowledge economy in those aspects of history and society that impact on innovation, improved sustainability, a stronger global awareness and a rigorous ability to think and act critically.
A sample of our exciting courses:
- Introduction to Culture and Society
- Cities: Culture, Space, Sustainability
- Critical Thinking
- Popular Cultures
- World Cinema
- Comparative Literature
- History of the UAE
- World History
- Beduin Society
- Applied Research Methods
- Comparative Intellectual Traditions
- World Regions: Africa, Americas, Europe, The Middle East, Asia
- Comparative Sociology
- Development and Underdevelopment
About our research
Our researching faculty publish in the following disciplines, including many interdisciplinary collaborations in all the different world regions:
- Anthropology of dance, visual anthropology
- Anthropology of emotions
- Arab cinema,
- Comparative Literature
- Conflict Studies
- Cultural history, Indigenous history
- Emirati heritage
- Emirati women studies
- Experimental archaeology, maritime history
- Documentary Studies and Theatre
- Feminist literary theory
- Forced migration, collective trauma
- Gender Studies
- Globalisation and development studies
- Role of Intellectuals
- Islamic Archaeology
- Islamic History, Prophetic literature
- Migration, migration diplomacy
- Multiculturalism
- Oral traditions and writing
- Postolonial studies
- Religion studies
- Sociology of religion
- State building
- Traditional economic institutions
- Urban studies, Urban social movements
Our scholars are active in:
Africa (North, Sub-Saharan and South Africa), The Americas (North and Latin America); Asia (India and South Asia); Europe (Southern Europe) and The Middle East (UAE, GCC, Palestine, Arabian Gulf, Indian Ocean).
