I applied to about 9 anthro programs and 2 religious studies. I applied to UCSD, Stanford, NYU, Boston, Brandeis, Chicago (which I know I stand absolutely no chance with), Penn, Harvard, and UTexas Austin all for cultural anthro.
Don't feel ashamed! That is so specific...
Whatever happens will happen. ❤️
From the Fall 2020 thread, I see we both applied to UCSD (both rejected, /cries) and Stanford! What else did you apply for?
Hey There!
I would say if you can be a little more specific than "postmodernism" in terms of theoretical frameworks in which you frame your research, go for it, but I don't think there's any need to come up with something super complex. For example, in broadly discussing my cultural anthro research approach I would say something along the lines of "I'm very interested in using political ecology to explore questions of x y z."
But, unless you have a good foundation in the theory you hope to use and they ask you about it directly, I wouldn't stress a lot over it. I think interviewers will be much more interested in your research questions and why their program is the best place for you to go to address them.
As a side note, when I had my interview for the program I now attend, theory was not something that came up. For me, and I'm sure for a lot of students entering an advanced program in anthropology, I basically had 0 background in anthro history and theory because it just wasn't something my undergraduate courses ever covered. I think interviewers know you're coming back to school to get that specialized training so they're not going to expect you to be incredibly well-versed in theory from the start. Also as you go through a grad program it can be very likely that your theoretical approaches will change or you will add to them, so that's also something to keep in mind.
Hope that helps!
gls2814 got a reaction from masthana in Fall 2020 Interview Tips/Experiences!
gls2814 got a reaction from NyarkoSan in 2020 Religion Application Thread