Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ANT2003: Current Debates in Anthropology

This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

These lectures will focus upon specific themes relevant to the contemporary global era. They will focus upon the role of anthropology in interrogating such themes, and will examine the insights that the discipline can bring to our understanding of how the current globalised world functions. The final lecture will focus upon the course exam and revision.

Possible lecture topics covered by this course, in addition to others not listed here are:

 

1. Time I: The temporal turn
2. Time II: Anthropocene
3. Morality I: The ethical turn
4. Morality II: Everyday morality
5. Being I: The ontological turn
6. Being II: Things
7. Feeling I: The affective turn
8. Feeling II: Social suffering
9. Horizons I: Uncertainty and doubt
10. Horizons II: Creativity and imagination
11. Turning in circles, or moving ahead? Anthropological trajectories 

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
221280

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity11Weekly 1 hour lectures
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity11Weekly 1 hour seminars
Guided independent study33 Reading of the set texts for weekly lectures and the tutorials
Guided independent study33 Additional reading under the guidance of the lecturer
Guided independent study20 Preparation and writing of the essay
Guided independent study30 Recapitulation of reading done throughout the term; preparation of essay plans; mock exam writing, etc.
Guided independent study6 Background research conducted by the student depending on need and interest

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

ELE - http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

How this Module is Assessed

In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.

Form of assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Individual oral presentation relating to one of the debates. Topics will be allocated during the first session.10 minutes in the context of the seminars2, 3, 8, 9Oral, including peer observation and assessment
Participation in non-assessed exercises in lectures10 minutes per lecture2, 3, 8, 9Oral, in class

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
50500

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
One unseen examination502 hours1,2,3,4,7Written and oral feedback
One essay502,000 words1,2,3,4,5,6,7Written and oral feedback
0
0
0
0

Re-assessment

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
EssayEssay (2,000 words)1,2,3,4,5,6,7Next reassessment period
ExaminationExamination (2 hours)1,2,3,4,7Next reassessment period

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic reading:
Bear, Laura. 2016. Time as Technique. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 45

Cooper, E & D. Pratten. 2014. Introduction. In Cooper, E & D. Pratten (eds.) Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa (London: Palgrave).

Crapanzano, Vincent. 2004. “Imaginative Horizons” in Imaginative Horizons: An Essay in Literary-Philosophical Anthropology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Latour, Bruno. 2014. “Anthropology at the Time of the Anthropocene: A Personal View of What Is To Be Studied.” Distinguished lecture, Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC, December 6.

Laidlaw, J. 2002. For an anthropology of ethics and freedom. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 8(2): 311-332.

Viveiros de Castro, E. 2004. Exchanging Perspectives: The Transformation of Objects into Subjects in Amerindian Ontologies. Common Knowledge, 10(3), 463-484.

Navaro-Yashin, Yael. 2012. The Make-Believe Space: Affective Geography in a Postwar Polity. Durham & London: Duke University Press.