Module ANTH2287: Markets and Exchange

Department: Anthropology

ANTH2287: Markets and Exchange

Prerequisites

• People and Cultures (ANTH1061) OR Being Human (ANTH1111)

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To develop students’ knowledge and ability to think critically about themes in the anthropology of economic life
• To explore the role of anthropology in theorising the diverse forms of markets and exchange across cultures and societies
• To equip students with competencies to apply and extend their knowledge of economic anthropology to other fields of anthropological inquiry

Content

• Topics may vary but will include, inter alia: exchange and reciprocity; capitalist and non-capitalist markets, money, and value; production and commodities; globalisation; the social lives of the gift, including religious giving, charity, philanthropy, and corporate social responsibility.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the nature and role of economic activity in human social and cultural life
• Understand the diverse forms of market activity and exchange and how they manifest in social and cultural practice
• Understand the interconnections between economic anthropology and other fields of social anthropological inquiry

• Familiarity with the concepts and methods of socio-cultural anthropological analysis as applied to economic life.
• Familiarity with, and ability to access, sources of anthropological knowledge on economic life.
• Ability to analyse critically and evaluate literature and arguments in economic anthropology.
• Discern and establish connections between ethnographic data and theoretical arguments in economic anthropology.

• Library research
• Debating skills
• Note taking
• Essay writing
• Critical reading and analysis

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

• Lectures and seminars introduce students to the material and enable discussion of it, informed by wider reading.
• Seminars allow students to explore and discuss material from the lectures and readings in depth with their tutors and peers.
• Formative assessment is by one 500 word written assignment.
• Summative assessment is by one 2000 word essay.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

500-word written assignment

■ 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