ANTHROPOLOGY

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr N Wachowich

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

Anthropology is the comparative study of human ways of life. In this course we introduce some of the key questions of contemporary anthropological debate. How do societies define their kin and what do we mean by 'blood relations'? How does culture effect the way we think about sex and gender? Do economic systems shape our perceptions of the world? How do symbols, rituals, and religious systems regulate our daily lives? How has colonialism affected social relations between peoples and structured our notions of racial differences? What are the causes of ethnicity and nationalism? Does development aid or abet the plight of third-world or indigenous peoples? These themes will be illustrated through readings and films.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr J Leach

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

This course continues the exploration of key questions of contemporary anthropological debate already begun in 'Introduction to Anthropology I'. Does human nature exist and, if so, how does it relate to cultural variation? How do human beings differ from other animals? How do they make a living? Why do people differ in the ways in which they perceive their environments? What is the relation between the ways people talk and the ways they think? How do people grow up to become knowledeable members of their communities? How, if at all, does traditional knowledge differ from modern science? Can anthropology itself be scientific, or is it more like an art?

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Rasanayagam

Pre-requisites

Either AT 1002 or AT 1501.

Overview

This course examines anthropological concepts of society and social relations through ethnographic studies. How is the person defined in different cultures? How do individuals form their sense of selfhood and identity? What is the relationship between the individual and society? We will discuss the major trends within anthropology that have addressed these questions, including ideas from classical as well as contemporary thinkers. We will also explore issues of morality, power and subjectivity.

Structure

2 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A King

Pre-requisites

Either AT 1002 or AT 1501

Overview

The course develops students' knowledge of anthropology by exploring key topics: concepts of culture, social groups, language use, kinship and gender, symbols, religion and mythology, and ethnographic research. The course also provides basic training in anthropological essay writing.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Arnason

Pre-requisites

AT 3018 or by permission of the Head of Department.

Notes

This course will run in the first half-session of 2008/09 as AT 3004.

Overview

This course explores the development and contemporary significance of theoretical debates surrounding culture and social life. The course will examine the work of major figures in anthropology both past and present and ask questions such as: What is culture? What is society, social life and sociality? How can anthropologists understand historical change? What is kinship in an age of new reproductive technologies? What is it to be human in an age of genetic modifications? How are culture and society linked to issues of embodiment and emotion, technoscience and power?

While the aim is to give students an understanding of the development of theoretical thinking in anthropology, the course will be organised thematically rather than chronologically.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Arnason

Pre-requisites

AT 2003 and AT 2508 or by permission of the Head of Department.

Notes

This course will normally be available only to single honours or designated degree students in Anthropology.

Overview

This course provides an introduction to the formulation of anthropological research questions and research design, discusses anthropological practice in the context of current issues in the philosophy of social science and language, deals with key questions surrounding fieldwork and participant observation, reviews a range of auxiliary study methods and practical techniques of data collection (including audio-recording and ethnographic film) and examines some of the gender implications and political and ethical issues raised by anthropological research.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (40%), research proposal (10%), research assignment (30%) and essay (20%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R Wishart

Pre-requisites

AT 2003 and AT 2508 or by permission of the Head of Department.

Notes

This course will run in the second semester of 2008/09 as AT 35XX. It is also coded as AT 30XX.

Overview

This course examines how the guiding ideas of Western thought and science have emerged historically out of European encounters with the indigenous inhabitants of other lands, and how these ideas have, in turn, influenced contemporary anthropological understandings of ‘other cultures’. We will focus, in particular, on ways of describing and analysing the relations between people and their environment, and between human beings and non-human animals. Through a review of the ways in which the concept of society has been set against that of nature in the work of several prominent anthropologists, the course will lay foundations for subsequent study of history of anthropological thought, while also introducing students to basic techniques of genealogical inquiry, library research and ethnographical writing.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment: two essays (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Vergunst

Pre-requisites

Permission from the Anthropology Department.

Notes

This course is aimed to provide methods training to students who are not anthropology honours students. AT honours students are expected to take AT 3006.

Overview

This is a 6 week intensive course introducing junior honours students without a previous background to anthropology to the skills and techniques of anthropological research. While anthropologists have studied the full diversity of human culture around the world, this course focuses on how anthropology can contribute to understanding a number of urban or European settings such as illness, health and healing, classroom experience, teaching and learning, or outreach work within government ministries. The course begins with an overview of the study of society and culture in anthropology. We then explore further the cultural understanding of personhood, agency and the body, and relate these issues to the qualitative and ethnographic methods of anthropology. A special session will examine participatory action research. A series of workshops designed to give students experience of the methods used by anthropologists will be held in the course. They will cover the key skills of participant observation, interviewing, recording and analysing qualitative data, and ethics of research. Assessment will be by way of one research project, split into a research proposal and a final report.

Structure

2 two-hour lectures and 2 one-hour tutorials (to be arranged) per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Leach

Pre-requisites

AT 3006 or by permission of the Head of Department.

Notes

This course will normally be available only to Single Honours students in Anthropology.

Overview

This course deals with some of the issues involved in writing up the results of an original project of anthropological research. We consider the relative merits of alternative styles of writing for the presentation of qualitative material derived from informal interviews and participant observation, including issues of narrative and representation, tense and voice, and reflexivity. We also look at techniques of drafting and editing, including the preparation of abstracts and bibliographies, and the use of footnotes, references, figures and diagrams. The course also introduces students to the workings of the peer review process, and to the steps that lead from writing to publication.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture/seminar per fortnight with 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight in alternate weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Vergunst

Pre-requisites

AT 3006 or by permission of the Head of Department.

Notes

This course will only be available to Single Honours students in Anthropology. Junior honours students must pass this course to proceed to Senior honours.

Overview

Under close supervision of a member of staff, students develop a research project involving the collection and analysis of original material. In this part of the project, students clarify the problem to be addressed, placing it in its wider comparative and theoretical context. They review the literature relevant to the project and consider the approach and techniques to be adopted in carrying it out.

Structure

A number of ad hoc workshops.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Vergunst

Pre-requisites

AT 3517 or by permission of the Head of Department.

Notes

This course will normally only be available Single Honours students in Anthropology and is a core element of the honours programme.

Overview

In this part of the project, students analyse the material collected and, under the guidance of a member of staff, write the final report. The techniques of analysis vary with the nature of the research problem; however all students are guided in the arts of critical analysis, report planning and report writing. As in Part 1, particular emphasis is placed on helping students develop their own skills.

Structure

1 tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R Wishart

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2008/09.

Overview

This course examines the cultures of the circumpolar Arctic and sub-Arctic, and the history of their ethnographic study, by reference to various metaphors that have been used to unite diverse areas of the circumpolar region. The central themes include ideas of the person, models of ecology, distinctive ideas of social power, ritual specialisation ('shamanism'), and national identity. The study of circumpolar ethnography is also put into the context of the history of colonisation on the following imperial frontiers: Siberia, Scandinavia, Greenland, the Canadian Eastern Arctic, the Canadian Sub-Arctic, and Alaska.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr N Wachowich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2008/09.

Overview

This course critically examines representations of indigenous peoples as they occur through such media as: ethnographic films, museums, art, photography and the internet. It addresses the history and politics of colonial representations as well as the contemporary, politicised efforts of indigenous peoples to gain control over their own cultural productions. Students critically analyse anthropological issues related to visual anthropology, performance theory, ethnographic film and museum studies. They explore how visual representations of indigenous cultures emerge in particular contexts and political economics. Questions raised in the course relate to social theory, to anthropological knowledge construction, to ethical and political concerns raised by cross-cultural representation, and to the role that visual media play in facilitating, mediating, but also complicating intercultural encounters.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 2 hour lab per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor T Ingold

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will be available in 2008/09 in the first semester as AT 4011.

Overview

This course explores the connections between anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture, conceived as alternative approaches to understanding and shaping how people perceive and relate to their surroundings, in currents of space, time and movement. It focuses on: issues of perception, design and construction; on the generation and reproduction of form in natural and 'built' environments; the relation between bodily movements and lived time/space; the significance of craft and skill; activities of depiction and description, and impacts of old and new technologies. The course explores these issues through readings, practical exercises and site visits.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr N Curtis

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will be available in the second half-session of 2008/09 as AT 4512; it is also coded as AT 4012.

Overview

This course examines material culture and anthropological perspectives. It explores the role of collectors and museums in the cultural history of Europe and their place in contemporary societies. Central to the course will be an examination of the meanings attributed to objects; aspects of curiosity, obsession and the ‘fetish’; the representation of ‘others’ in museums; colonialism and cultural encounters; systems of classification; the question of ‘authenticity’ and the ‘heritage industry’; the relationships between museums and European visual culture. Issues of museum conservation, documentation and display will also be addressed.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A King

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2008/09.

Overview

People speaking are implicit in nearly every anthropological endeavour. Linguistic anthropology examines the articulation of language and culture. It focuses on cultural and social implications of language use as well as the linguistic factors involved in action and behaviour. Course topics covered include language change and its social consequences, power and authority in language, gender issues in speech, creativity and performance, oral narratives, psycholinguistics and the linguistic relativity principle, and discourse. The course is structured on a seminar format, where students and teacher collectively explore key texts each week.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment: essays (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Arnason

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2008/09.

Overview

Continuing on from themes covered in AT 3501, Anthropological Theory 1, this course explores theoretical issues and debates on the cutting edge of contemporary anthropology. It begins with a review of how the key concepts of culture and society were rethought, particularly in the 1980s. Following from this, we ask: how can anthropology proceed if the targets of its investigation can no longer to be understood as objective entities? To find possible answers, the course examines current anthropological interests in power and history, political economy and phenomenology, experience, embodiment and practice. While the intent is theoretical these issues and debates will be explored through ethnographic writing on such subjects as emotions and the body, personhood and politics, death, memory and forgetting, landscape and identity.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr D Anderson

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will be available in 2008/09 in the second semester as AT 4515.

Overview

This course examines the concept of aboriginal rights as understood and practised in places colonised by the British, the Russians and the Spanish. Examples are drawn from Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil and Peru. In seminars and written work, students are asked to draw comparisons between these regions. Through examining concrete political struggles, the seminar focuses upon symbolic and cross-cultural understandings of legal ideas within various colonial situations. This comparative approach leads to a critical understanding of fourth world politics, human rights, land tenure, symbolic resistance, religious syncretism and national identity.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Lee

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2008/09.

Overview

The course creatively explores the tensions and overlaps between landscape as physical landform, as scenery, and as the site of human activities and journeys. Developing advanced themes in environmental anthropology, we discuss the central place of landscape in ethnography. Topics covered include walking, the creation of routes, landscape and the body politic, and heritage landscapes. The basis of the course will be historical perspectives (from archaeology, geography and history of are as well as anthropology) and recent ethnographies of landscape.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week, to be arranged.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M J Rasanayagam

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4. This course will run in the second half-session of 2007/08.

Notes

This course will be available in 2008/09, in the second half-session as AT 4517.

Overview

This course examines how Muslims engage with Islam as a system of morality and belief. It discusses the debates within Muslim societies about what constitutes 'real' Islam and how Muslims should conduct themselves. How does belief in Islam as a unitary, transcendent Truth, which is universal to all humanity, relate to the diverse manner in which Islam is actually lived in practice throughout the world? An important issue which will be explored in the course is that of subjectivity and selfhood within a Muslim context, and how we might approach the topic of belief itself.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr D Anderson

Pre-requisites

Only available to senior joint honours students in anthropology.

Overview

Students will decide on a topic of study with their allocated supervisor and carry out readings and research around that topic under the guidance of their supervisor. On the basis of this research students have to write a substantial essay on which their assessment is based.

Structure

The course will be based on one-one supervision meetings between students and staff assigned to supervise their indepdendent study.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (essay of 10,000 words) (100%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Brown

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will be offered in first semester in 2008/09 as AT 4019.

Overview

The interplay between cultural representation, the construction of identity and their influence on contemporary social relationships have long been of interest to anthropologists and cultural historians. The Native peoples of the Plains region of North America have arguably been subjected to more cultural stereotyping than any other aboriginal group; popular representations include warriors and princesses, the 'stoic Indian', and the 'ecological Indian'. Through a study of contemporary issues affecting their daily lives, the lectures and seminars will consider how the tensions created by such imaginaries are negotiated by Native peoples on the Plains today as well as how they feed into broader anthrpological concerns relating to the politics of presentation. Themes to be covered include the impact of stereotypes; sovereignty; the negotiation of self and other; the social and political implications of defining 'Indianness'; new economic developments and cultural tourism.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week, to be arranged.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Leach

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2008/09.

Overview

This course will explore some of the history, meanings, and uses of 'Intellectual Property', a concept of increasing importance an anthropology and beyond. The series of lectures and seminars will provide students with theoretical tools to approach contemporary issues of innovation, owenership, and the value placed upon knowledge. We ask, 'How is knowledge produced?; What are the connections people make between it and other items that can be owned?; How do precendents from one realm of production and ownership appear relevant in another?' The lectures will cover literature from Classical Political Economy, Political Philosophy, Economic Anthropology, and international precedents for attributing authorship and cultural rights to persons and groups. Part of the course will be dedicated to literature within Science and Technology Studies, and studies of Biodiversity, and Genetics, and of software production. The underlying theme is to expose some of the consequences of liberal individualism for the structure and politics of contemporary social realities.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week, to be arranged.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: In-course grades will be carried forward unless the student opts to resubmit course work.