A Brief Introduction to School of Ethnology and Sociology(SES), CUN

The School of Ethnological Studies, now the School of Ethnology and Sociology (Institute of Ethnic Research), was established on March 17, 1994, by the approval of State Commission of Ethnic Affairs, on the basis of its predecessor, the Research Department founded in 1951 while the CUN was established by selecting national top scholars in Sociology, Ethnology and History for empowering ethnic minorities’ participation in the newly created People’s Republic of China. Today, SES CUN is a comprehensive teaching and research center in the Central University of Nationalities (CUN), and a hub of social-cultural anthropology and ethnology (applied anthropology) in China.

It has 2 Departments and 2 Institutes: the Department of Ethnology, the Department of Sociology and Institute of Taiwan Study, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology with an undergraduate program of Museumology.? There are also 9 other research centres attached to SES, including the Rock Art Association of China, the Research Centre of European Culture and the Research Centre of Visual Anthropology, etc. It is strong in the fields of basic theories and methodology of anthropology and sociology, ethnography of China, applied anthropology (Ethnic research and Social Assessment), the Islam study, study of ethnicity, culture change and China study as a whole. Half faculty members are fluent in English and some are specialized in Russian and Japanese as well.