Module HUSS2121: ANTHROPOLOGY OF ENVIRONMENT

Department: Anthropology (Human Sciences) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

HUSS2121: ANTHROPOLOGY OF ENVIRONMENT

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To focus on issues of space and place introduced in Level One modules;
• To introduce concepts and theories in anthropology relating to the built and natural environment;
• To encourage students to explore the relationships between environmental anthropology and allied disciplinary approaches from within geography, sociology, history and cultural studies.

Content

• Part I (Anthropology of the Natural Environment):
• 1. contemporary and historical material relating to perceptions of ‘nature’, ‘landscape’ and ‘the environment’;
• 2. an examination of key concepts including resource management, environmentalism, conservation and place;
• 3. case studies drawn from the anthropological literature.
• Part II (Anthropology of the Built Environment):
• 1. contemporary and historical material relating to perceptions of space and place;
• 2. an examination of key concepts including ‘the built environment’, ‘design’, ‘surveillance’ and ‘non-places’;
• 3. ethnographic case studies of house and home, hospitals, prisons, government structures, religious structures and stadia.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students will:
• be familiar with key concepts, theories and ethnographic examples developed by anthropologists in studying the built and natural environment.
• have an understanding of the contested nature of environment, both built and natural.

• By the end of the module students will:
• have learnt to recognise the key theoretical approaches developed by anthropologists in their study of the built and natural environment.
• understand, through practice, the rudiments of mapping and annotating their immediate environment.
• be able to write a short report on place-focused fieldwork.

• Communication through written and oral work.
• Report writing and writing under pressure.
• Library research.
• Fieldwork skills.

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

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Term 1 Seminar write-up 1000 words, Term 2 write-up 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