Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

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Co Requisite Comment

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Aims

Anthropology is the 'study (logos) of humanity (anthropos)'. For some, this means charting human diversity, for others it also means describing and explaining human universals (e.g. do all humans experience the same emotions?). And throughout time, anthropologists have engaged with one another and with other academic disciplines to understand why certain things are the way they are, and/or what they mean, and why that matters.

In this module we explore a series of topics, on which academics have disagreed. We explore the different positions to understand how these debates came about. We’ll ask what is it about the historical context, the research method, the theoretical background and maybe even the life experiences of a scholar that makes them look at a cultural phenomenon in one way, while another looks at it in a different way? Through these critical explorations we learn more about doing research and developing academic knowledge, about ethnography and anthropology, and along the way, among others, about emotions, ‘natives’, museums, Captain Cook (indicative topics), and about ourselves and one another.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module is organised into fortnightly themes, each of which is represented through an academic debate or conversation. Each theme is presented in its historical context and wider significance, which is followed by enquiry-driven in-depth explorations of different sides of the arguments relating context, evidence, theory, disciplinary standpoint and argument.

Each theme/ debate will be explored through present-in-person timetabled, synchronous lectures and whole group workshops. Around these timetabled sessions, students will draw on guided reading and research, and will have at their disposal additional online resources, where relevant, such as pre-recorded mini lectures, blogs, vlogs, interviews, films, and similar.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of the module the successful student will be able to:
1.       Demonstrate understanding of anthropology and key aspects of its intellectual history
2.       Be able to describe the method of ethnography in anthropology
3.       Define and discuss some core theories in anthropology
4.       Understand academic texts as products
5.       Be able to name aspects that affect scholar’s academic arguments and theorising

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of the module the successful student will be able to:
1.       Demonstrate critical thinking about the world and about cultural diversity
2.       Critically interrogate academic arguments and texts in relation to the context of their production
3.       Critically think through research methods
4.       Critically read academic texts, especially ethnographies
5.       Apply concepts and academic ideas to ethnographic evidence
6.       Understand self-reflection and practice self-reflective writing

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The module is taught in fortnightly blocks each focusing on a specific theme. The themes themselves represent points of disagreement, debate or question within the academy, which students explore to understand how each viewpoint came about. We will consider the academic’s discipline, their epistemological standpoint, their methods, the historical context and biography.

Each block is delivered through a synchronous in-person lecture and two in-person workshops during which students work through a series of tasks that allows them to research and explore the different aspects shaping each debate. The workshops will be organised flexibly, at times giving more space to independent but supervised research, reading and learning, and at others to informal presentations and group discussion. Each theme will be fleshed out further by asynchronous online materials which students can consult at any time. The module is introduced in week 1 and concluded in week 11 in a 1 hr long interactive lecture.

To enhance the learning experience and provide an additional space that can feed into the assessment, there will be a stand-alone workshop (group activity), in which students and teaching staff go 'out and about' to a local, on-campus venue, to practice ethnographic thinking and exploration. The task brings together various themes and skills from the module and feeds into the assignment. Students will then share the experience back in class, again with the support of the teaching team enhancing their understanding of the ethnographic method and enabling the practice and understanding of self-reflexivity.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The self-reflective learning journal will itself support student learning and reflection on study materials, as well as enable teaching staff to see how well both teaching methods and assessment strategy are working. It will further students’ understanding of the benefits and limits of self-reflexivity in social research and in ethnographic texts. Students will be supported to develop this reflexivity during the out and about exercise. The to-be-submitted piece will further be supported through detailed guidance on what to include and how to structure the write up as well as sample learning journals available on Canvas.

The case-study write up will constitute the outcome of the supervised and guided explorations in the workshops, which in turn are informed by the lectures. Students will choose one of the cases explored in the module to discuss the debate, its context, the different arguments and their contexts (method, theory, biography etc). Each workshop will help students understand better what aspects they need to explore and discuss, and enrich their ability to critically read and think through authoritative texts.

The Zine will allow students to draw one aspect from the written report and turn it into a representation that is readable by a wider public and visually engaging. It will allow students to engage and develop different types of writing and visual skills and practice finding media and language that communicates complex problems to non-academic audiences while being based in rigorous work and sound understandings. It is specifically designed to enhance different and more labour-market focused aspects of the skills portfolio.

General Notes

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