Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ANT2097: Environment and Society

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

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 assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Participation in seminar discussions Weekly1-8Verbal feedback
4 x Reading responses 200 words each1-8Verbal and written peer feedback
4 x Feedback to responses200 words each1-8Verbal feedback

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.

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
10000

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Essay proposal/plan20700 words1-8Written feedback
Research essay602,500 words1-8Written feedback
4 x Reading responses (200 words each)20800 words1-8Verbal and written peer 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 assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
Essay proposal/planEssay plan/outline (700 words)1-8August/September reassessment period
Research essayResearch essay (2,500 words)1-8August/September reassessment period
4x Reading responsesReading responses (800 words)1-8August/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.

Yearley, Steven (2008), 'Nature and the Environment in Science and Technology Studies', in The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, Third Edition, eds. Edward J. Hackett, et al., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 921-47.

Jasanoff, Sheila (2005), Designs on Nature; Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, Chapters 4&5.

Beck, U. (1992) Risk Society, London Sage

Gusterson, Hugh (2005), 'Decoding the Debate on 'Frankenfood'', in Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties, eds. Betsy Hartmann, Banu Subramaniam, and Charles Zerner, Lanham, MA: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 109-33.

Latour, Bruno (2007), 'A Plea for Earthly Sciences', keynote lecture for the annual meeting of the British Sociological Association, East London, April 2007.

Smith, Neil (2005), 'There's No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster', in Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences. SSRC Forum, New York, NY: Social Science Research Council.

Murphy, Michelle (2006), Sick Building Syndrome and the Problem of Uncertainty: Environmental Politics, Technoscience, and Women Workers; Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Chapters 4 & 5.

Cronon, William (1995), 'The Trouble with Wilderness or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature', in Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature, ed. William Cronon, New York: W.W. Norton and Co, pp. 69 - 90.

Helmreich, Stefan (2005), 'How Scientists Think; About ‘Natives,’ for Example: A Problem of Taxonomy among Biologists of Alien Species in Hawaii', The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 11 (1), pp. 107-27

Thompson, Charis (2002), ‘When Elephants Stand for Competing Philosophies of Nature: Amboseli National Park’, in Complexities. John Law and Annemarie Mol, eds. (Duke UP), pp. 166-90.

Hinchliffe, Steve (2001), 'Indeterminacy In-Decisions: Science, Policy and Politics in the BSE Crisis', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26 (2), pp. 182-204.

Adam, Barbara (1998), 'Industrial Food for Thought', in Timescapes of Modernity: The Environment & Invisible Hazards, London: Routledge, pp. 127-62.