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Anthropology of Contemporary Britain

Module description

This module provides an insight into how anthropologists, alongside other social scientists, contribute to understanding the key social and political issues shaping contemporary British society. For example, we will scrutinise the ways in which anthropologists, and other social scientists, have analysed the impact of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic on British society, including how these events have exposed inequalities of race, ethnicity, nationality, class, gender, place, region, generation, and migration status. We will also critically discuss public media and intellectual discourses on core social issues.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will illustrate to students how anthropological approaches and methods are mobilised to critically engage with and interpret contemporary social and political issues that are in process, and that are shaping the fabric of British society. In so doing, students will be introduced to some of the core themes that constitute a body of literature that has become known, not unproblematically, as ‘the anthropology of Britain’. A central aim of the module is to interrogate how anthropological approaches contribute to wider academic, intellectual, media and political discussions and debates on the social and political constitution of British society. Our focus will be on how anthropologists and other social scientists address questions of identity and inequality in the face of social and political uncertainty and turmoil. The module will also ask students to reflect upon the ways in which anthropological study can be made of interest and relevant to the public, policy makers, and politicians.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge of and critically engage with anthropological, sociological and related work on contemporary social and political issues shaping British society.
• 2. Demonstrate a clear appreciation of theories, concepts and methodologies deployed to analyse key contemporary social and political issues.
• 3. Think critically about public discourse, including media, intellectual and political representations of contemporary British society.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Display - in written and oral form - an analytic and critical understanding of the relationship between anthropological, sociological and related methodological approaches and explanations offered in the social sciences.
• 5. Appreciate key issues relevant to the contemporary world, and develop a comparative insight from anthropological and sociological perspectives.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate transferable skills in engaging critically with new bodies of literature.
• 7. Ability to work independently but also collaboratively as part of a team.
• 8. Prepare focused written work and oral presentations.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• The anthropology of Britain
• Social Scientific approaches to the study of Brexit
• Class and Brexit
• Race, Migration and Brexit
• Empire, Nationhood and Brexit
• Social Scientific approaches to the study of Covid
• Inequalities of race, class, generation, place, migration status and Covid
• Film, the Media, literature and intellectual discourses on Brexit and Covid

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Racism in Britain and Europe. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(13):2211–2228.
• Degnen, C and Tyler, K (eds) (2017) Reconfiguring the Anthropology of Britain: Ethnographic, Theoretical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, The Sociological Review Monographs Series, March 2017
• Edwards, Jeanette (2000). Born and Bred: Idioms of Kinship and the New Reproductive Technologies in England. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Koch, Insa. 2017. What’s in a Vote? Brexit Beyond Culture Wars. American Ethnologist, 44(2):225– 230.
• Rapport, N. (eds) (2002) British Subjects: An anthropology of Britain. Oxford, UK: Berg.

Key words search

Contemporary, Anthropology, Britain