College of Social Sciences and International Studies

Sociology and Anthropology of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula
Module ARAM236 for 2021/2

Postgraduate Module Descriptor

ARAM236: Sociology and Anthropology of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, the syllabus will cover all of the following topics:

Introduction: Deconstructing Gulf exceptionalism
Origins of Social Hierarchies: Historical Circulations & Introduction of Nationality
Contemporary Dynamics of Tribes and Tribalism
“Transit States”: Migration, Kafala, Labour Market
Impossible Citizens: Social Changes, Mobilities and the Myth of Temporariness
Theorising the Organisation of Gulf Societies: Marxist and Anthropological Perspectives
The Production of Gulf Cities: Segregation and Interactions
Seeing from the Margins: Social Ordering and Subversive Practices
Family and Gender Transformations in the Arabian Peninsula
Bodies, Norms and Transgressions
Narratives and Counter-Narratives of Gulf Modernity

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
22	128	0

...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	22	11 x 2-hour seminars
Guided independent study	32	Essay (20 hours reading, 12 hours writing)
Guided independent study	28	Individual presentation (18 hours researching, 10 hours preparing presentation)
Guided independent study	40	Weekly reading (10 x 4 hours per week)
Guided independent study	28	Project (18 hours researching, 10 hours writing/preparing presentation)

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

The International Crisis Group’s reports at www.crisisgroup.org;

Human Rights Watch (Middle East) produces good reports on the states of the Arabian Peninsula: http://www.hrw.org/en/middle-east/n-africa