Module HUSS2231: THE LIFE CYCLE

Department: ANTHROPOLOGY (HUMAN SCIENCES) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

HUSS2231: THE LIFE CYCLE

Prerequisites

• Understanding Society and Culture.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To introduce students to the anthropological study of the stages and processes of human life.

Content

• Part 1: processes of maturation and the stages of childhood and youth, primarily from a social perspective but with some attention to biological processes.
• Lectures include topics such as the biological processes of growth, the notion of social identity, socialisation, education and initiation.
• Part 2: processes of decline and death and the stages of old age and death, primarily from a social perspective but with some attention to biological processes.
• Lectures include topics such as the biological processes of ageing, inter-generational conflict and displacement, social understandings of death, becoming an ancestor.
• A substantial amount of course time is devoted to student presentations, which are an integral part of the course.

Learning Outcomes

• An understanding of the anthropological approaches to human growth, maturation, decay, old age and death.
• An appreciation ogf the variety of ways in which human maturation and ageing is given form and meaning in different cultural and historical contexts.
• Awareness of the ways that social and cultural forces shape human biography over the life-cycle.

• Recognise different theoretical approaches used in the study of the human life-cycle.
• Carry out small piece of qualitative research on a specific aspect of the life-cycle.
• Use in-depth interviews to collect biographical data on life-cycle events.

• Communicate through written work.
• Show initiative.
• Plan, organise and manage time.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures
• Tutorials
• Essay
• Project.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Analytical summary of readings of about 1000 words.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University