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for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Introduction to Social Anthropology |
| Unit code |
ANTH10001 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
C/4
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Professor. Jordan |
| Open unit status |
Open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
Across the world, human societies display remarkable diversity - and remarkable similarities. In this unit students will be introduced to the major theoretical, methodological and empirical ideas in the discipline of social anthropology.
AIMS
- To introduce social anthropology as a discipline and communicate the importance and history of the discipline within anthropology and the human sciences.
- To cover major theoretical developments in the history of anthropology to the current day.
- To introduce the methodology of social anthropology through the twin tools of fieldwork and ethnology.
- To survey a wide range of ethnographic material, including classic texts/films and recent work.
- To introduce theory through case studies in classic domains of social life: culture, religion, kinship, politics, economics, as well as more recent or interdisciplinary areas of interest: classsification, social control, personhood, gender, ethnicity, globalism.
- To foster both a critical and comparative approach to claims about cultural diversity.
Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit a successful student will be able to:
- Describe central theoretical issues in modern social anthropology and in the history of the discipline
- List key figures and explain their contributions to the history of, and modern, anthropology
- Describe important ethnographic case studies and explain why they are important to the history of anthropology
- Describe the connections between ethnographic materials and theoretical positions.
- List and explain important cross-cultural similarities and differences in a number of social and cultural domains.
- Discuss the relevance of social anthropology for 21st century citizens,
and students practise critical thinking skills for:
- a non-ethnocentric and relativist position on cross-cultural differences
- bringing an anthropological perspective to their further studies
Teaching Information
10x 2-hour lectures 8x 1-hour seminars e-learning: Class blog entries by students
Assessment Information
Summative assessments:
One two hour examination (50%): aimed particularly at learning outcomes 1-5, 7.
One 1500-2000 word essay (40%): aimed particularly at learning outcomes 3-8
One tutorial blog-post assignment (10%): aimed particularly at learning outcomes 5-8
Formative assessments:
Tutorial feedback on non-assessed but compulsory seminar presentations
Reading and References
Some useful introductory books:
- Carrithers, M. 1992. Why Humans Have Cultures: Explaining Anthropology and Social Diversity.
- Eriksen, T. H. 2010. 3rd Ed. Small Places, Large Issues. Pluto Press: London.
- Hendry, Joy. 2008 An introduction to social anthropology: Sharing our worlds. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Ingold, T. Ed. 1994. Routledge Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology
- Keesing, R & Strathern, A. 1998. Cultural Anthropology: A contemporary Perspective.
- Monaghan, J & Just, P. 2000. Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction
