Unit name | Hunter-gatherers |
---|---|
Unit code | ARCH20052 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Professor. Gibson |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit focuses on hunter-gatherers. It will provide an introduction to the study of interactions between foraging peoples and their physical and social environment, with a focus on the behavioural ecology of recent hunter-gatherers. The unit encompasses anthropological approaches to the study of hunter-gatherer ecology, foraging and subsistence, egalitarian vs non-egalitarian societies, gender, group size and organisation, spatial patterns and the relationship of foragers with the outside world.
Aims:
A successful student on this unit will be able to demonstrate:
1. the ability to discuss and critique different anthropological theories explaining the diversity of hunter-gatherers
2. understanding of the main ecological factors that affect hunter-gatherer societies, using modern groups to typify each of them
3. the ability to evaluate and explain the extent to which social characteristics of hunter-gatherers are influenced by their subsistence economy
4. an anthropological approach to critical evaluation of the predicted future of modern hunter-gatherers.
Weekly 2-hour interactive lecture.
2500 word essay (50%). ILO 1-3
Individual 10 min presentation, and one-page handout detailing key points and references (25 %). ILO 1-4
1 hour exam (25%). ILO 1-4
Kelly, R. 2013. The lifeways of hunter-gatherers: the foraging spectrum. Cambridge: CUP.
Lee, R. and Daly, R. 2004. The Cambridge encyclopaedia of hunters and gatherers. Cambridge: CUP.
Gowdy, J. (ed). 1998. Limited wants, unlimited means: a reader on hunter-gatherer economics and the environment. Island Press, Washington DC.
Moran, EF. 2007. Human adaptability: an introduction to ecological anthropology. Colorado, Westview Press.
Panter-Brick, C., Layton, R and Rowley Conwy, P. 2001. Hunter-gatherers: an interdisciplinary perspective. Biosocial Society symposium series 13. Cambridge, CUP.