Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ANT3094: When Things Fall Apart: Social Infrastructures

This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.

Module Aims

The intentions of this module are to understand the importance of infrastructure to societies globally and from there understand the priorities that infrastructure maintenance indicates. What happens when infrastructure breaks down will be a key focus, as will the systemic inequalities that infrastructure encodes. How are utilities funded, maintained, and repaired? What happens when crises, such as global pandemics, alter infrastructure on a mass scale? 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate strong familiarity with what infrastructure is and how it is maintained
2. Show an in-depth understanding of the impact of infrastructure on equity and marginalisation
3. Display a critical awareness of the relationship between politics and the provision of public services
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Show an in-depth understanding of how qualitative social scientific approaches can be used to study infrastructure
5. Evaluate cross-cultural differences in construction and maintenance of infrastructure from a social scientific standpoint
Personal and Key Skills6. Communicate effectively in written and oral form
7. Conduct specialist research on a topic and organize findings in written form in a compelling manner