Module ANTM112 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
ANTM112: Animals and Religion
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
- To enable the student to engage with the range of human, animal, and environmental encounters according to the religious, mystical, and supernatural contexts that continue to have significance in the contemporary world.
- To engage critically with the concept of religion and its manifestations in different times and places, and to appreciate the complex categorical distinctions and uses of language which shape the way we can and do talk about religion and the place of animals within religion.
- To critically evaluate the position of human-animal encounters within the context of religion and in diverse sociocultural schemes globally and historically, and how this shapes the ethical treatment of either specific animal species, or non-human animals generally.
To consider how contemporary representations of animals through religious doctrine and ceremony can inform wider theoretical/philosophical debates such as ecology and conservation, approaches to ethics and animal welfare, and of non-human animal entities as participants in the wider religious and political landscapes.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Develop an understanding of the diversity of human interactions with animals in the context of religion with particular reference to the many dimensions that religiosity might take (ritual, belief, texts, narrative, ethics etc); 2. Identify and evaluate the place of animals within the cultural history of religion and draw common themes using cross cultural analysis. |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Demonstrate a clear understanding of the extent and limitation of social and cultural categories (e.g. religion) and their application within an academic context; 4. Demonstrate an ability to evaluate ethically relevant behaviour within a wide range of cultural contexts with clarity and well justified arguments. |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. identify a research problem and conduct independent research to test the research problem; 6. clearly and concisely convey complicated ideas to academic and non-academic audiences; and 7. prepare for writing papers suitable for publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal. |
Module Content
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:
– What is Religion? What’s it got to do with animals? (module description, assignment description, the problem of using ‘religion’ as a concept and the peculiar role of Protestantism).
– Prehistoric and Oral Traditions (archaeology and anthropology, shamanism, animism, totemism, appeasement, Australian dream time, shifting boundaries).
- Early History and ‘civilisation’ (mythology, farming, structural origins, economics, domestication, classical literature).
- The Indian Subcontinent (The variety of ‘Hindu’ traditions, reincarnation and animal sacredness, asceticism, Jainism and Buddhism).
- East Asia (Dao vs social order, pre-Han traditions, Shinto and syncretism).
- Abraham (The origins of Jewish traditions and the emergence of Christianity and Islam, world order and hierarchy, biblical vegetarianism, stewardship).
- A Bad Rap (Christianity in the middle ages, was it all bad? Inhuman daemons and witches, angels, St Francis, Protestant purity and property).
- Enlightenment, Science and Machines (Descartes’ legacy, Human as an animal, a return to philosophy, big economics, global mixing).
- New Age, Vegetarians and Animal Rights (full circle – world religions and neo-shamanism, animals as sentient, anthropomorphism).
- Death, burial and other themes (drawing it together, picking out common themes from disparate traditions).
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
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22 | 128 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 10 | 10 x 1 hour podcast audio lectures with accompanying PowerPoint presentations |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 10 | 10 x 1 hour discussion/seminar participations on the VLE discussion forums (Including formative assessments) |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 2 | 2 x 1 hour assessment preparation tutorials |
Guided Independent Study | 30 | Preparation for formative assessments |
Guided Independent Study | 98 | Research and writing of summative assessments |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
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 assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Tutorial Participation | Weekly, as part of group Discussions (9 hours excluding introduction) | 1-6 | Peer-assessed and oral feedback during tutorial |
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.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Critical analysis of key concepts | 25 | 1,00 words | 3, 4, 6 | Written feedback |
Academic Research Paper | 75 | 3,000 words | 1-7 | Written feedback |
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 assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
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Critical analysis of key concepts | Critical analysis of key concepts (1,000 words) | 3, 4, 6 | August/September reassessment period |
Academic Research Paper | Academic Research Paper (3,000 words) | 1-7 | August/September reassessment period |