Introduction to Social Anthropology: Exploring Cultural Diversity
| Module title | Introduction to Social Anthropology: Exploring Cultural Diversity |
|---|---|
| Module code | ANT1005 |
| Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Geoffrey Hughes (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 100 |
|---|
Module description
This module will introduce you to the methods and perspectives of socio/cultural anthropology. You will encounter a broad range of case studies in different social and cultural settings, from kinship in a Malay fishing community, to witchcraft in post-apartheid South Africa, to ways of reading the landscape among the Apache of North America. Although the focus is on the study of human cultural diversity and social organisation, we will also consider the historical processes and colonial legacies that have shaped the discipline.
This module does not require any prior knowledge, but a general curiosity about how people live in different parts of the world is helpful. The module is a core module for those students taking Anthropology as part of Flexible Combined Honours or Combined Honours degrees, but can be taken as an option module by students taking any degree.
Module aims - intentions of the module
You will gain a foundational knowledge of anthropological theory and concepts, and learn how to think critically and analytically about key questions and problems in studying the worlds of other people and our own. You will also start to appreciate the unique methods of ethnographic fieldwork, which are increasingly used in a variety of organisational and professional contexts.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. show a basic understanding of the extent and nature of human diversity and commonality as seen from a socio-cultural perspective;
- 2. show a basic understanding of the relationship between specific social and cultural forms in relation to broader global and historical processes;
- 3. demonstrate - in tutorials, formative work and in the exams - some facility in the use of the repertoire of key concepts and approaches of anthropological analysis.
- 4. display, in written and oral form, the ability to question cultural assumptions;
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. critically evaluate contemporary anthropological and related texts;
- 6. display - in written and oral form - an understanding of the discipline's relation to, and difference from, from other approaches and explanations offered in the social sciences;
- 7. show an appreciation of key issues relevant to the contemporary world, and develop critical, comparative and cross-cultural insight;
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 8. demonstrate transferable skills in formulating, researching and addressing focused questions;
- 9. prepare focused and comprehensive written and oral presentations, and in discussing ideas and interpretations with others in a clear and reasoned way;
- 10. plan and execute work independently and in collaboration with others; and
- 11. demonstrate skills in cross-cultural understanding, translation and comparison, which will be of advantage in a broad range of professional settings.
Syllabus plan
Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics:
- Kinship and the construction of relatedness
- Gendered difference
- Of witches and fallen gods: thinking in different modes
- Senses of place, qualities of time: questioning ontologies
- Race and colonialism in the ethnographic encounter
Typical questions for formative assignments and tutorial presentations are:
1. Why study kinship? How would social anthropologists answer this question?
2. Why did Captain Cook have to die? And why have anthropologists argued about it?
3. People across the world perceive different qualities of time. Without clocks, would we be living unstructured lives?
4. What does it mean to say that the belief in witchcraft is rational?
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 27.5 | 122.5 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching | 16.5 | 11 x 1.5-hour weekly lectures |
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching | 11 | 11 x 1-hour tutorials |
| Guided independent study | 40.5 | Weekly reading for lectures and tutorials |
| Guided independent study | 10 | Preparing tutorial presentation individually or in pairs |
| Guided independent study | 27 | Peer workshopping of reading responses via ELE |
| Guided independent study | 20 | Essay writing (reading, library-based research) |
| Guided independent study | 25 | Preparing reading responses portfolio for submission |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading Response Workshop | 1,000 words (5 weekly 200-word responses) | 1-11 | Oral and written |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 50 | 1,500 words | 1-6, 8, 10 | Written |
| Portfolio | 50 | 1,200 words | 1-11 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay (1,500 words) | 1-6, 8, 10 | August/September reassessment period |
| Portfolio | Portfolio (1,200 words) | 1-11 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Boyarin, J. (ed.) 1994. Remapping Memory - The Politics of Timespace. Minneapolis and London, University of Minnesota Press
Butler, J. Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. London: Routledge
Carsten, J. (ed.), Cultures of Relatedness: new approaches to the study of kinship. Cambridge: CUP.
Deloria, P. 1998. ‘Literary Indians and Ethnographic Objects’. Playing Indian. London: Yale University Press
Feld, S. and K. Basso (eds). 1997. Senses of Place. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.
Fields, K. and B. Fields. 2014. Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life. London: Verso
Gupta, A. and J. Ferguson (eds) 1997. Anthropological Locations: Boundaries and Grounds of a Field Science. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kuper, A. 1996. Anthropology and Anthropologists: The Modern British School (3rd edition). London and New York: Routledge.
Mead, M. 1928. Coming of Age in Samoa. New York: Harper
Roscoe, W. 1994. ‘How to become a Berdache: toward a unified analysis of gender diversity’. In H. Gilbert. (ed). Third sex, third gender: beyond sexual dimorphism in culture and history. New York: Zone Books
Sahlins, M 1985. Islands of History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wagner, R. 1981. The Invention of Culture. London: University of Chicago Press
Yanagisako, S. and C. Delaney. 1995. Naturalizing Power: Essays in Feminist Cultural Analysis. New York: Routledge.
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 4 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 01/12/2012 |
| Last revision date | 23/02/2022 |
