Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ANT1003: Imagining Social Worlds: Texts

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

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Through a series of interactive lectures and seminars which focus on the published work of established anthropologists and sociologists students will be introduced to the practical and theoretical issues associated with conducting, evaluating and disseminating social research. Topics covered include:

- Preparing for the field (looking at researchers such as Nigel Barley who provide candid accounts of how they chose their fieldsites, and what motivated them in the first place)

- Negotiating access (looking at the process from a range of perspectives, for example Lila Abu-Lughod's introduction to the Bedouin via her father, and Judith Okely's difficulties gaining access to her traveller informants)

- Culture shock (comparing experiences of 'difference', e.g. Chagnon's confrontation with armed Yanomami)

- Working with informants (exploring the relationships with gate-keepers, e.g. Foote-Whyte's collaboration with Doc)

- Analysing data (exploring different ways to theorise research findings)

- Dissemination (looking at different ways of presenting research findings, such as Turner's work on Kayapo film making)

Hostile receptions (looking at how some ethnographic work has been challenged by the research subjects, e.g. Scheper-Hughes' work on mental illness in rural Ireland).

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
27123

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

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activity 222 hour weekly lectures, including some use of ethnographic film material.
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activity 5Fortnightly 1 hour tutorials, including some use of ethnographic film material
Guided Independent Study72Preparatory reading in advance of lectures and tutorials
Guided Independent Study5Watching films linked to via ELE
Guided Independent Study8Preparation of formative assignments
Guided Independent Study38Preparation of summative assignemnts

Online Resources

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

Other Learning Resources

Other resources:
Ethnographic and feature films