ANTHROPOLOGY

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

TBA

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

Anthropology is the comparative study of human ways of life. In this course we introduce some of the key topics of contemporary anthropological inquiry. What do people in different societies consider a ‘person’ to be, how do they define their kin, and what count as ‘social relations’? How does culture affect the ways we think about sex and gender? How are people linked together in systems of gift-giving and exchange? How do people shape their lives in the course of consuming material things? How has colonialism affected social relations between peoples and structured notions of racial difference? How have the politics and policies of development affected third-world and indigenous peoples?

Structure

1 one-hour lecture weekly, 1 additional guest lectures/alternative pedagogic methods/other exercises weekly, 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

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

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination.

Formative Assessment

Tutorial presentations and discussions.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor J Leach

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

The course will provide an extended introduction to the discipline of social anthropology focussing on how anthropologists understand cultural difference. Topics covered include theories of culture and difference, perception and culture, language and culture, interpretation, time and history, and understanding violence and witchcraft. Lectures and tutorials will encourage students to relate anthropological ideas and perspectives to a broad range of social and cultural issues. Taking the course will develop students’ listening, comprehension and note taking, other study skills include critical reading and review of written materials, their abilities to express their ideas in speech and writing and their powers of critical thinking.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, 1 additional guest lectures/alternative pedagogic methods/other exercises every other week, 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%), in-course assessment (40%): one book review, one essay.

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination.

Formative Assessment

Tutorial presentations, tutorial discussions.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M A Mills

Pre-requisites

Either AT 1003 or AT 1502, or at the discretion of the Course Co-ordinator.

Notes

Available to students in Level 2 and above.

Overview

This course will introduce students to the principal schools of anthropological thought on political institutions, movements and state formation. Through an examination of both modern and historical case studies from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we will examine theories of power, class, social action and identity. Particular attention will be paid to the study of non-modern state systems, the impact of colonial histories and the rise of 'fundamentalisms' in the contemporary context.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week.
1 one-hour seminar every two weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%). In-course assessment (50%).

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

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Rasanayagam

Pre-requisites

Either AT 1003 or AT 1502, or at the discretion of the Course Co-ordinator.

Notes

Available to students in programme year 2 and above.

Overview

This course discusses contrasting theoretical perspectives anthropologists have employed in the study of religion and provides students with the conceptual tools to critically interrogate the topic. To what extent is religion a social or a cultural phenomenon? How might we understand the notion of belief? How might we understand emotion or experience in the context of religion? The course will also question the usefulness of 'religion' itself as an analytical category.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week;
1 one-hour tutorial every 2 weeks (6 over the semester).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%), continuous assessment (50%).

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

Formative Assessment

Tutorials,
Presentations in tutorials
Meetings with the course coordinator and/or tutor in case of need, initiated by the student or coordinator/tutor.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr N Wachowich

Pre-requisites

Either AT 1003 or AT 1502, or at the discretion of the Course Co-ordinator.

Overview

This course will explore contemporary colonial expressions from an anthropological perspective. It will be split into two main themes: Material Histories; and Mediated Histories. Within these themes it will address topics such as the 'capturing' of cultures in museums, kinship and politics, gendered colonialism, economic development, media, aboriginal rights and contemporary resistance movements.

Structure

1 weekly lecture (1 hour) and 1 fortnightly tutorial (1 hour).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment (50%). Continuous assessment is comprised of one 1,500 word essay.

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

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Brown

Pre-requisites

Either AT 1003 or AT 1502, or at the discretion of the course coordinator.

Overview

This course will explore the synergy between anthropology and history as it has been situated in a colonial world order. It will be split into two main themes: Intellectual Histories; and Environmental Histories. Within these themes we will address topics such as: cross-cultural contact and colonialism, evolutional theory in anthropology and notions of the 'other' and historical visions of personhood, environmental histories and ethnohistory.

Structure

1 weekly lecture (1 hour) and 1 fortnightly tutorial (1 hour).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment (50%). Continuous assessment is comprised of one 1,500 word essay (40%) and two short commentaries (10%).

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

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Bolton

Pre-requisites

Must be in Level 3 of the Anthropology single honours programme.

Notes

This course will be available in the first half-session of 2012/13 as AT 3021.

Overview

This course is intended to acquaint students with the practical, methodological and theoretical issues associated with anthropological research. We will look critically at different methodological approaches and the relationship between fieldwork experiences and ethnographic production. The course will run as a combination of lectures and methodological workshops. Each weekly module will address a different element of ethnographic practice and focus on the changing dynamics of ethnographic research. Topics will also include interviewing, taking fieldnotes and other skills and techniques of anthropology in the field. While lectures for this course will cover intellectual currents and debates relating to methodological issues in anthropology, tutorials will have a strong practical element. In tutorials, lecture themes will be discussed by students and given practical relevance. Students will identify issues of particular importance to methodological practice with regards to such practical areas as preparing for fieldwork, framing research questions, collecting ethnographic data and presenting ethnographic interpretations. The research assignment will cover both practical and written elements of ethnographic production.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: Project proposal, 600 words (10%) of the final grade

Research assignment, 2,000 words (50%) of the final grade
final exam, two-hours (40%) of the final grade.

Resit: Final exam, three-hours (100%) of the final grade.

Feedback

Feedback will be provided to students throughout the continuous assessment exercises and in tutorials. Work on the ethnographic research projects begins in week 1 of the course and students will be able to discuss aspects of their project and receive verbal feedback during the weekly practicals.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr R Wishart

Pre-requisites

Open to all student at level 3 and above. Must have at least 15 credits in Anthropology or the permission of the Head of Department.

Notes

This course will be available in the first half-session of 2012/13 as AT 3022.

Overview

The course interrogates the distinction between society and nature by examining several topics including wildlife management, protected places, ritual regulation, climate change, energy, and animal rights. Each topic will be examined to provide a historical examination of anthropology?s engagement with it as well as the challenges it presents today.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500 word essay (50%) and 1 three-hour written exam (50%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written exam (100%).

Formative Assessment

Students will be able to develop their ideas and learning by presenting a tutorial on problem solving related to one of the course topics.

The essay will be formative by providing feedback.

Participation in tutorials will be formative as students will receive instant feedback on their ideas.

Tutorials on essay planning will help the students form researching and writing strategies.

Feedback

Both the tutor and fellow students will provide feedback on tutorial presentations.

Essays will have written feedback for the student so that they can revise problem areas for their final exam.

Oral feedback on essay ideas and research will be provided during tutorials.

Students can request feedback on their exam.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr N Wachowich

Pre-requisites

Open to Honours students in Level 3 of the programme.

Notes

This course will be available in the first half-session of 2012/13 as AT 3523.

Overview

The course will familiarise students with a range of different ethnographic genres, such as: realist, critical, experimental, phenomenological, and historical. Through careful attention to the range and scope of ethnographic reading and writing, the course will address the ways in which anthropologists, both historically and in the present-day, have chosen to conduct fieldwork, establish ethnographic authority, and present cultural realities. We explore how, as they are read, ethnographies are able to stimulate comparative theoretical thinking. As the course proceeds, anthropology emerges as both a science and an art form.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment:
Essay 1 (25%), 1,500 words,
Essay 2, book review assignment, (25%), 800-1,000 words,
Essay 3, (40%) 2,000 words,
5 short ethnographic descriptions (10%), 300 words each

Resit: Essay 1 (25%), 1,500 words,
Essay 2, book review assignment, (25%), 800-1,000 words,
Essay 3, (50%) 2,000 words.

Feedback

Written feedback will be given on all continuous assessment. Work on the ethnographic descriptions begins in week 1 of the course and students will be able to discuss aspects of their project and receive verbal feedback during the weekly practicals.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A D King

Pre-requisites

15 credits in anthropology at Level 2 and Level 3 standing or permission from course coordinator.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2012/13.

Overview

This course provides an advanced introduction to the critical analysis of discourse from an anthropological perspective. ?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 the ethnography of speaking, language change and its social consequences, power and authority in language, gender issues in speech, creativity and performance, psycholinguistics and the linguistic relativity principle, and discourse. The topics will be addressed through case studies drawn from a global perspective on languages and societies.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%);
continuous assessment - 2,500 word essay (50%).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Introductory quiz designed to identify students' assumptions about language and language use
feedback on tutorial presentations.

Feedback

Feedback on summative assessment will be given through extensive marginal notes on the essay and the standard Social Science school feedback form
formative assessment feedback will be oral and written comments on tutorial presentations & performance.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr N Wachowich and Dr A Brown

Pre-requisites

At least one Level 1 Anthropology course.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2012/13.

Overview

The course will address the central themes in visual anthropology and the analytical challenges brought to the discipline by the development and proliferation of film, photography and other visual form. Filmic and photographic texts, once seen as purveyors of ethnographic truths, are now studied for their ability to stimulate and foster new types of social relationships between individuals and communities. The central themes covered will include: the compatibility and interplay between anthropology and visual media technology, politics and practice of knowledge production and visuality, the power and authority of media forms, image politics and social activism, transnational circuits and cross-cultural ideas of value and aesthetics. Ethnographic case studies will be drawn from regions around the world and address a variety of media forms including: art, film, photography, video, the internet and others.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: This course is assessed by one project of 2,500 words (40%) and 1 two-hour examination (60%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be given on essays and projects. Work on the project begins in week 1 of the course and students will be able to discuss aspects of their project and receive verbal feedback during the weekly practicals.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Arnason

Pre-requisites

15 credits in anthropology at Level 1 or 2.

Notes

This course will be available in the second half-session of 2012/13 as AT 3526.

Overview

The course will address the anthropological study of emotion and self. It will cover different theoretical approaches in this area of anthropology. It will discuss the question of the cultural construction of emotion and selfhood. It will discuss the politics of emotion in general and compassion in particular. Questions will be raised about the construction of mental illness and therapy. Throughout an emphasis will be put on the links between subjection and power.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment of 2,000 word essay (40%).

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

Feedback

Written and verbal feedback will be given on students essays.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Arnason

Pre-requisites

15 credits in anthropology at Level 1 and 45 credits in Anthropology at level 2.

Notes

The course is compulsory for Level 3 students in Anthropology. This course will be available in the first half-session of 2012/13 as AT 3027.

Overview

The course explores theoretical developments and current debates in anthropology. These are explored thematically. An emphasis is placed on students using theoretical ideas to analyse empirical, ethnographic material.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and one tutorial to be arranged per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment - annotated bibliography (10%), research journal (10%), research essay (20%) - (40%). Word limit for the bibliography is 300-500 word introduction and annotation to 8-10 academic articles/books. There is no word limit for the journal. The word limit for the research essay is 3,000-3,500 words.

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

Feedback

Feedback will be provided on School forms and verbally.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Vergunst

Pre-requisites

At least one Level 1 Anthropology course.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2012/13.

Overview

This course will introduce students to the main themes of medical anthropology. Western biomedicine will be explored as just one ?medical system? amongst others, in which people who are ill, healers, and healing practices interact. We will investigate the cultural understanding of the body, ideas of health and illness, the history of biomedicine and its relations with other medical systems, and a number of case studies in indigenous health and healing. We will also trace the development of theoretical approaches in medical anthropology, from structural-functionalism to recent notions of embodiment and narrativity, and explore how far anthropologists can get involved in applied and clinical research.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: This course is assessed by one project of 2,500 words (40%) and 1 two-hour examination (60%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Feedback

Written feedback will be given on essays and projects. Work on the project begins in week 1 of the course and students will be able to discuss aspects of their project and receive verbal feedback during the weekly practicals.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Arnason

Pre-requisites

Available only to level 3, single honours students in Anthropology.

Notes

Junior honours students must pass this course to progress to senior honours.
This course will be available in the second half-session of 2012/13 as AT3529.

Overview

Seminars/workshops will address issues regarding:
the formulation of viable research questions; literature searches; the the writing of literature reviews; the importance of research questions being informed by the existing literature. Students having identified the reseach project they hope to carry out will be supervised by a member of staff while they write a proposal for their honours research.

Structure

Two hours a week, a combination of seminars and workshops, divided roughly into four weeks of seminars and 8 weeks of workshops.

Assessment

In course assessment, specifically detailed research proposal of 4000 words proposing the research the student intends to carry out for their honours dissertation. The proposal has to include a review of the relevant literature, an explanation and justifcation of the proposed research methods, a consideration of safety and ethical issues the research may raise. (100%)

Students need to pass this course to progress to senior honours.

Formative Assessment

Students write a statement of intent for their research project (600 words) on which basis supervisors are allocated. Students write a 1000 word ethnographic description and 2500 word ethnographic descripiton and analysis. Students write a Students will write drafts of their proposal that they will receive written and verbal feedback on.

Feedback

Feedback will be given both by the course coordinator and the individual supervisor that students will be allocated.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Arnason

Pre-requisites

Permission from the Head of 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 AT3020.

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 experiences, 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 the 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

Continuous assessment: Research proposal 1,000 words leading to research project 7,000 words (100%)


Two hour written examination (100%).

Feedback

Written and verbal feedback will be given on students research proposal.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Bolton

Pre-requisites

AT 3517 or by permission of the Head of Department.

Notes

This course will normally only be available to 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%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Argounova-Low

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2012/13.

Overview

This course will explore cultures of the circumpolar Arctic and sub-Arctic focusing on ethnographies from various northern regions: Scandinavia, Canada, America, Russia. We will investigate the idea of the North with reference to the concepts of frontier, movement, flow. We will critically assess stereotypes applied to describe diverse areas of the circumpolar region. The central themes of the course enquiry include: environment; exchange and food; alcoholism; identity; movement.

Structure

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

Assessment

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

Formative Assessment

Feedback

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 2012/13.

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%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Vergunst

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will be available in 2012/13 in the second half-session as AT 4511.

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; 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%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

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 2012/13.

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%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Whitehouse

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2012/13.

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 art 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%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M J Rasanayagam

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2012/13.

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%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr R Wishart

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-to-one supervision meetings between students and staff assigned to supervise their independent study.

Assessment

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

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor J Leach

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will be available in the second half-session of 2012/13 as AT 4520.

Overview

This course will explore some of the history, meanings, and uses of 'Intellectual Property', a concept of increasing importance in anthropology and beyond. The series of lectures and seminars will provide students with theoretical tools to approach contemporary issues of innovation, ownership, 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 precedents 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 two-hour lecture/seminar per week.

Assessment

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

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr N Wachowich

Pre-requisites

This course will be available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by permission of the course coordinator.

Notes

This course will not run in 2012/13.

Overview

From charter myths and epics to reminiscences and eyewitness accounts, stories are an integral part of talk and the sociality of everyday life. Oral traditions have a social life situated in the nexus of relationships among persons. The anthropology of oral traditions focuses on historical oral narratives and the interplay between orality and textuality in contemporary social life. Analysis proceeds from the assumption that form and content are intertwined in the production of meaning and that an attention to performance and medium is important to understanding the message. This course will be of interest to anthropology students, as well as to students in linguistics and history.

Structure

Two 90-minute seminars per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 essay (20%), 1 project (40%) and 1 three-hour exam (40%).

Formative Assessment

Seminar presentations and discussions.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Argounova-Low

Pre-requisites

AT 3004 / AT 3504 Anthropological Theory

Notes

Available only to students in Programme Year 4. This course will run in first half-session of 2012/13 as AT 4026.

Overview

The course will investigate the themes of mobility and migration, topical issues in contemporary world. Through the course, we will explore phenomenon of roads and focus on the relationship between roads and other anthropological concepts, such as landscape, environment, narrative, knowledge and memory, gradually building up towards theoretical conceptualization of roads. The course will mainly rely on ethnographic material from the North, including Scotland.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, 1 one-hour tutorial per week, and three hours fieldwork per student.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%), continuous assessment (40%): including one 3,000 word essay (30%) and ten short written assignments based on required readings (10%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Bolton

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

Available only to students in programme year 4. This course will run in the first half-session of 2012/13 as AT 4027.

Overview

The theoretical focus of this course is on technology and uses of materials and the way that these intersect with questions of political power. The course will cover symbolic and Marxist approaches to technological choices; theories of embodiment, skills and learning; theories of inscription; and approaches to technological change, innovation and expertise from science studies (e.g. through actor-network theory). The theoretical concerns are addressed by introducing the anthropology of the Andean region – with the rationale that approaches to working with materials in this region differed markedly from those of Europe until (and also beyond) the Spanish conquest of the 16th century. Different areas of technology and material culture are addressed through examining both historical material and contemporary ethnographic studies – from prehispanic metallurgy to contemporary agricultural development and the role of scientifically trained experts in bringing about changes in practices. Four main technological areas are addressed in the course: mining and metallurgy; fibres and Andean textuality; medicine and the body; and working the land.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st attempt: One 2,500 word essay and one 2,500 project (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Brown

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4, of Anthropology Degree programmes, or with the permission of the Course Co-ordinator.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2012/13.

Overview

The interplay between historical representational practices and, the construction of identity has long been of interest to anthropologists. The peoples of the Plains region of North America have arguably been subjected to more cultural stereotyping than any other indigenous 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 indigenous peoples on the Plains today as well as how they feed into broader anthropological concerns relating to the politics of representation. Themes to be covered may include the impact of stereotypes, sovereignty, relations between museums and first nations, the social and political implications of defining 'Indianness', new economic developments, the reintroduction of the buffalo 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%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Gatt

Pre-requisites

Level 4 standing in Anthropology or permission of co-ordinator.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2012/13.

Overview

The anthropology of myth highlights the social and cultural contexts of myths as sacred narratives. This course draws upon a wide range of cultures, from ancient Greeks, Mesopotamia and China to contemporary Africa, Asia, and the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Boasian approaches to Native American myths as oral literature and windows into cultural values can be contrasted with the functionalist theories of Tylor and Malinowski. This course emphasizes the performative qualities of myth, drawing upon the work by Dell Hymes, Albert Lord, Dennis Tedlock, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Edmund Leach, Ruth Finnegan, Peter Gow and others. The course concludes with a discussion of the relevance of myth in contemporary society, such as found in the fiction by Tolkien or novels by Native American writers like Alexie, Silko, or Welch.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

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

Resit: Examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Seminar presentations and discussions.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided for continuous assessment work. This will normally be provided within three weeks of the submission date. Oral feedback on class presentations will also be provided where appropriate.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Brown

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 of Anthropology Degree programmes, or with the permission of the course co-ordinator.

Notes

This course will be available in the first half-session of 2012/13 as AT 4038.

Overview

Museums are often seen as the public face of anthropology but have increasingly become sites of tension. This course provides an introduction to museums as a field site for anthropology. Using case studies and current debates within critical museology it draws attention to aspects of the culture, history and functions of museums, and to their emerging role within projects of cultural revitalization. Themes to be covered may include how artefacts are defined and valued in different contexts; how meaning is negotiated in exhibitions; relationships between museums and indigenous peoples; digital technologies and 'knowledge repatriation'; traditional care and curation; ownership and appropriation.

Structure

1 two-hour seminar (to be arranged) per week.

Assessment

1st Atttempt: In-course assessment (100%); essay (60%); artefact study and presentation (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Informal verbal feedback will be given on the artefact studies during class presentations.

Feedback

Written feedback will be given to students on all summative assessments in line with the University's guidelines.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Whitehouse

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4, as part of an MA programme in Anthropology or, as disciplinary breadth, at the discretion of the course co-ordinator.

Notes

This course will be available in the second half-session of 2012/13 as AT 4538.

Overview

The course is focussed on relations between humans and nonhumans, particularly animals and plants. A range of disciplinary approaches will be explored, including history, cultural geography, natural science and science and technology studies, as well as anthropology. The course will involve advanced themes in environmental anthropology and will examine research that has emerged during the recent 'more-than-human' trend in the social sciences and humanities. Topics covered will include the role of the more-than-human in the development of social theory, hunting and its rituals, science and the politics and ethics of the nonhuman, nonhumans in art and the media, how humans perceive nonhumans and the wider implications of a more-than-human anthropology.

Structure

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

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%): essay, 3,000 words (30%); tutorial review, ten 300 words (30%); project, 4,000 words (40%).

Feedback

Feedback will be provided in a timely manner, in line with university guidance on assessment. The aim of feedback will be to explain to students how their mark was arrived at, what they have done well and what they can improve on.