Module ANT1004 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
ANT1004: Introduction to Social Anthropology-Theorising the Everyday World
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
This module will deepen your foundational knowledge of anthropological theory and concepts, and expand your ability to think critically and analytically about key questions and problems in studying the worlds of other people and our own. You will also begin to develop a sensibility for the practical and ethical issues arising in the context of ethnographic fieldwork (and related qualitative social research) whose methods are increasingly used in a variety of organisational and professional contexts
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. show a solid understanding of the extent and nature of human diversity and commonality as seen from a socio-cultural perspective; 2. demonstrate - in written and oral presentations and the exams - the relationship between specific social and cultural forms in relation to broader global and historical processes; 3. show facility in the use of the repertoire of key concepts and approaches of anthropological analysis; 4. display, in written and oral form, the ability to question cultural assumptions; |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 5. critically evaluate contemporary anthropological and related texts; 6. display - in written and oral form - an understanding of the discipline's relation to, and difference from, from other approaches and explanations offered in the social sciences; 7. identify and assess key anthropological issues relevant to the contemporary world, and develop critical, comparative and cross-cultural insight; |
| Personal and Key Skills | 8. demonstrate transferable skills in formulating, researching and addressing focused questions; 9. prepare focused and comprehensive written and oral presentations, and in discussing ideas and interpretations with others in a clear and reasoned way; 10. plan and execute work independently and in collaboration with others; and 11. demonstrate skills in cross-cultural understanding, translation and comparison, which will be of advantage in a broad range of professional settings. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Lecture topics for this module include:
- Studying the ‘other’: the emergence of the anthropological perspective
- Anthropology and its colonial legacies
- People and things: houses, objects, materials
- Worlds in and out of control: order, disorder and dirt
- Power and resistance
- Embodied culture
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | 123 | 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 & Teaching | 22 | Eleven 2-hour lectures, involving group discussion and film screenings |
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching | 5 | Five 1-hour tutorials |
| Guided independent study | 33 | Weekly reading for lectures and tutorials |
| Guided independent study | 18 | Preparing tutorial presentation individually or in pairs |
| Guided independent study | 27 | Research and writing of formative essay |
| Guided independent study | 40 | Exam preparation (reading, library-based research) |
| Guided independent study | 5 | Web-based activities |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
ARD - Anthropology Review Database
Internet Anthropologist
Anthrobase
SOSIG: Social Science Information Gateway
Anthropology Resources on the Internet
Other Learning Resources
ethnographic film
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 presentation | 15 Minutes | 1-7, 9-11 | Oral |
| Essay | 1500 words | 1-10 | Written |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 100 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Examination | 100 | 2 hours | 1-6, 8, 10 | Written |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examination | Examination (2 hours) | 1-6, 8, 10 | August/September 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.
Appadurai, A. (ed.) 1986. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in cultural perspective. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Barnard, A. and J. Spencer (eds) 1996. Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. Routledge.
Benda-Beckmann, K. von & F. Pirie (eds) 2007. Order and Disorder: Anthropological Perspectives. Oxford and New York: Berghahn.
Carsten, J. 2004. After Kinship. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press
Douglas, M. 1966. Purity and Danger. London: Routledge.
Dumont, L. 1980. Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gell, A. 1998. Art and Agency in Anthropological Theory.Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Mauss, M. 1990 (1924). The Gift: The form and reason for exchange in archaic societies. London: Routledge.
Miller, D. (ed.) 1993. Unwrapping Christmas. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Turner, V. 1969. The Ritual Process: structure and anti-structure.
ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
