The first lecturer appointed to the Department at Wits was the world famous scholar A.R. Radcliffe-Browne in 1921. The Department itself was established in 1923. It became the Department of Social Anthropology and African Administration in 1957. Over the years it has played a significant role in the history of the discipline world-wide, and in South Africa. The first head of department, Agnes Winifred Hoernlé, was one of South Africa's major ethnographers and a pioneering student of what was called 'race relations'. In the thirties, Audrey Richards, one of the leading British Africanist scholars, joined Mrs. Hoernlé, and their students included some of the most famous Africanist anthropologists of the next generation, notably, Max Gluckman, Ellen Hellman, Hilda Kuper, and Eileen and Jack Krige. In the sixties, the department was led with distinction by Max Marwick and John Blacking. Prof. Blacking was also a pioneering figure in ethno musicology. During the 70s and 80s the department was led by David Hammond-Tooke, a fine ethnographer and prolific scholar, who maintained the international standard of research and publications that have characterised the department since its inception. The department has published a considerable body of empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated research and made numerous other contributions to international and national forums. Different members of the department have mounted major exhibitions, recorded audio CDs, made videos, and participated in numerous interviews with public media printed in newspapers and magazines or broadcast on radio and television. Over 75 conference presentation in South Africa and abroad have been delivered during the 1990s, with numerous instances of educational outreach through public lectures, consultancies with government and NGOs, performances and talks for a wide variety of audiences. The department's main objective is to teach anthropology to its undergraduate students, and to train future researchers in its post-graduate programme. This involves a close integration of teaching with research activities. In general we aim to train students of social anthropology so as to enable them to analyse, discuss and write about cultural issues critically. Our teaching aims to achieve the following specific goals: to impart knowledge of classic and contemporary anthropology literature; to impart a knowledge of the ethnography of Africa, especially southern Africa; to make students aware of contemporary anthropological theory, debates, and trends; to teach the methods, techniques and ethics of anthropological research; to teach writing skills, including mechanics of scholarly discourse and fundamentals of expression and clarity in reports and essays; to inform students in the arts, ethics and practices of informative display of cultural knowledge and materials in keeping with contemporary museum practice; to promote analytical skills and independent, creative thinking. The Anthropology Museum and Resource Center contains unique collections of material culture and photography, including student exhibitions and material culture from staff field expeditions over many years. The Department's collections began in the 1920s and continue up to the present. The Department has recently revived the Museum not only as a dynamic exhibition space, but also as an important teaching and research resource. The Museum is now a vibrant multi-functional space used by staff and students from this department and others for a range of teaching, research, social and outreach functions. This development has generated a great deal of interest both within and outside of the University. The department has a distinguished record of research and scholarly publication spanning many decades, while its new young group of staff and student researchers are engaged at all levels of the university, within the discipline and with the community and the world at large. We look forward to vigorous research, a high standard of teaching, and a strong research output in the future.