Module ANTH2041: KINSHIP AND BELIEF SYSTEMS

Department: Anthropology

ANTH2041: KINSHIP AND BELIEF SYSTEMS

Prerequisites

• People and Cultures (ANTH1061).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This module develops a broad intermediate level appreciation of some of the central topics of Sociocultural anthropology in ethnographic context.
• It adopts a regional perspective in covering core topics such as economic anthropology, political anthropology, kinship and marriage, and the anthropology of religion and belief systems.
• It draws on the cultures of selected regions: such as Latin America, Mediterranean, Middle East, Northern Europe, Pacific, South Asia, Caribbean, South East Asia, or other regions as reflect staff specialisation.
• It explores major theoretical issues from a regional perspective.
• A ethnographically-based approach that complements thematic knowledge gained in other modules.
• The module provides a basic ethnographically focussed knowledge of anthropology to prepare for third-year dissertations, field research, and/or appropriate third-year modules.

Content

• Content: Sociocultural Anthropology II examines selected core topics in Sociocultural anthropology, including economics, politics, kinship and religion, with reference to examples from ethnographically-defined regions of the world - such as the Caribbean, Latin America, Mediterranean, Middle East, Northern Europe, Pacific, South Asia, South East Asia - or other regions which reflect staff specialisation.
• The study of specific societal data, institutions, and cultural-historical adaptations will amplify the themes explored in Sociocultural Anthropology I (ANTH2051) and lead further to detailed comparative knowledge and regionally-focused understanding of issues.
• The module will demonstrate how anthropological approaches are modified by regional factors.
• Synopsis: To ensure a broad intermediate level appreciation of some of the central topics of Sociocultural anthropology in ethnographic context.
• This module adopts a regional perspective in covering core topics such as economic anthropology, political anthropology, kinship and marriage, and the anthropology of religion and belief systems.
• It co-ordinates coverage of key themes with the associated module Socio-cultural Anthropology I (ANTH2051), which adopts a thematic focus on various core topics.

Learning Outcomes

• Factual Material: Apply relevant anthropological concepts to specific regional material.
• Have acquired an overview of a wide range of societies, cultural influences and historical processes within selected regions.
• Gained a knowledge of a selection of ethnographic monographs as analysed using relevant anthropological theory.
• Integrate and evaluate a range of information and data from ethnographic sources in association with a thematic perspective given in Sociocultural Anthropology I (ANTH2051).

• Knowledge of a region of the world which is unfamiliar to most students.
• Gain an anthropological perspective and understanding of some of the many important issues which effect specific regions.
• Retrieve, sift and select information from a nuanced reading or regional literature.
• Plan, undertake and report a bibliographically-based regionally focussed assignment.
• Apply key anthropological theories and concepts to the analysis of other cultures.

• Structure and communicate ideas effectively from oral, visual and written sources.
• Plan work schedules and management of time.
• Participate constructively in tutorial discussions.
• Work independently and be self-reliant.
• Find information by using bibliographical, visual and electronic sources.
• Assess the relevance and importance of the ideas of others.

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

• Students are expected to attend the weekly lectures to cover factual material and subject-specific skill and are required to attend a total of four tutorials and four video sessions during the year.
• This module extends further on level 1 core modules exploring key socio-cultural themes essential to an anthropological education in ethnographic context.
• It relates anthropological ideas to ethnographic research, and demonstrates how regional factors modify anthropological approaches.
• It introduces comparative studies in anthropology.
• Lectures and tutorials in Sociocultural Anthropology I and II will give an integrated approach to theoretical and regional studies.
• Teaching is via lectures, practicals and tutorials.
• Lectures provide a traditional method of communicating not only fact but clear understandings of process and the relationship between issues.
• They are used for the primary delivery of material in Sociocultural anthropology because they allow clear transmission of information in an active learning environment where students can question and seek clarification.
• For anthropology students this medium cannot simply be replaced by texts or websites, though both are important adjuncts.
• Tutorials.
• Difficult, sensitive and unresolved issues can all be approached successfully through discussion in tutorial classes.
• An additional medium for tutorial discussion is asynchronous e-mail through module mail-lists.
• E-mail discussion brings its own constraints (and gender biases) but it can be a very supportive medium for students who are reticent in front of their colleagues, or who prefer to offer opinions formulated after reflection.
• Summative assessment is a two-and-a-quarter hour written examination (80%) and two essays each of approximately 2,000 words (20% total), one in each of the first 2 terms, each counting towards summative assessment.
• Formative feedback on summative essays and tutorial notes to be submitted.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative feedback on summative essays and tutorial notes to be submitted.

■ 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