Honours Booklet 2016-17 - University of St Andrews

Department of Social Anthropology Honours Handbook 2016/17 20/01/2017 CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 3 STAFF ROLES ....................................................................................................................................... 4 AIMS AND OUTCOMES OF STUDY IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY .......................................................... 5 MODULE PROGRAMME ...................................................................................................................... 7 MODULES AVAILABLE IN SEMESTER ONE ........................................................................................... 8 MODULES AVAILABLE IN SEMESTER TWO ........................................................................................ 29 GUIDANCE ON ESSAY AND DISSERTATION WRITING ........................................................................ 46 2 INTRODUCTION Honours level Social Anthropology equips the student at an advanced level with the ability both to handle abstract ideas about human social life and to deal with substantial bodies of empirical data from the variety of the world's societies. The relation between theory and description will be stressed in all modules. Many of the modules will be based around research that lecturers are currently undertaking. Some modules are largely devoted to conceptual issues, others to topics which are of pressing concern in contemporary anthropology, and others to issues that have arisen in connection with anthropological study in particular regions of the world. The class enables students to form their own judgment about the relevance, and application, of anthropology to the wider world. Those students taking dissertation projects are invited to explore themes relating to their own particular interests, in the context of anthropological ideas and practice. From specific modules, which explore specialist areas of anthropology, students will appreciate that, in different ways, all the various domains of life can be enlightened and deepened from having studied the subject of social anthropology, and from their own and their lecturers' practical experience of 'doing anthropology' they will appreciate the significance of reflexivity and of ethics in social science research. At the beginning of each module the lecturer will provide you with a detailed written account of the module which will include a clear statement of that module's learning outcomes. The Honours class in Social Anthropology stretches over two years. Students taking the Single Honours degree will be required to attend lectures or seminars on average for five hours per week during the two semesters. For students taking less than the full Honours load there will be proportionate reductions. Essay writing will be an integral part of each module. In addition, all Single Honours students will be required to prepare a dissertation project (optional for Joint Honours students). Students will also be expected to attend general department seminars and a project-­‐writing seminar. You should address any general problems to do with the organisation of teaching to the Director of Honours Teaching. The Honours Advisor will deal with specific concerns to do with the choice of Honours. More specific academic problems should be addressed to your supervisor or lecturer. PLEASE BRING PROBLEMS TO THE ATTENTION OF STAFF AS SOON AS POSSIBLE If you are unsure who to contact regarding an issue please contact the Department Office in the first instance. They will be able to answer many of your queries or to direct you to the relevant member of staff. They also process coursework submissions and manage MMS. The opening hours of the Office are Monday to Friday 8.45am – 1.00pm and 2.00 -­‐ 5.00pm. This handbook is in three sections. First we spell out the aims and outcomes of study in Social Anthropology. Secondly, we provide brief synopses of each module. Finally we offer some hints about writing essays and dissertations. This section offers advice on referencing and is particularly important. 3 STAFF ROLES Honours Secretary Lisa Neilson/Linda Steyn can be contacted by email and telephone as well as directly at the Department Office. Email: socanthadmin@st-­‐andrews.ac.uk Tel: 2977 Director of Honours Teaching Dr Sabine Hyland Room: Top Floor, 71 North Street Email: sph Tel: 2980 Honours Advisor and Study Abroad Dr Stan Frankland Room: First Floor, 71 North Street Email mcf1 Tel: 2979 Exams Officer Dr Mattia Fumanti Room 19, United College Email: mf610 Tel: 2990 Disabilities & Support Officer Dr Mette High Room 58, United College Email mmh20 Tel: 1961 Ethics & Risk Assessment Officer Professor Christina Toren Room: First Floor, 71 North Street Email: ct51 Tel: 2973 4 AIMS AND OUTCOMES OF STUDY IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY The Sub-­‐Honours modules are primarily designed to lay the foundations for further study at Honours level in Anthropology. While the grades earned at Sub-­‐Honours level are not factored into your overall degree classification, they do appear on your official University transcript, which will be seen by any future employers or institutions to which you apply. The Honours modules are designed to build on the foundations laid by Sub-­‐Honours modules in Anthropology, and give students the opportunity to develop and broaden their understanding of Anthropology. In addition, Honours modules are designed to equip students with a broad range of personal and intellectual skills which will not only enable students to successfully complete their degree but will provide a foundation for further training and prepare them fully for their future careers. DISCIPLINARY OUTLOOK Our programme aims at enabling students to learn to think anthropologically, acquiring a distinctive disciplinary outlook. To this end, the programme aims to enable learners to develop the following: • an understanding of social anthropology as the comparative study of human societies and cultures • an appreciation of the importance of empirical fieldwork as the primary method of gathering data and as a basis for the generation of anthropological theory. • a detailed knowledge of specific themes in social anthropology and the intellectual debates concerning them, such as gender, religion, kinship, nationalism, exchange or material culture • a realisation that knowledge is contested; that anthropology by its nature is dynamic, constantly generating new priorities and theories; and that the peoples with whom anthropologists have traditionally worked may have studies of themselves from which we might also learn • an informed awareness of, and sensitivity to, human diversity, an appreciation of its scope and complexity, and recognition of the richness of experience and potential that it provides. • self-­‐reflection regarding both the nature of our knowledge of the social and of the role of the anthropologist or ethnographer in the collection and presentation of data THEORETICAL AND THEMATIC COMPETENCE The learners’ achievement of an anthropological outlook has to be grounded on an understanding of the development of the theoretical and thematic scope of the discipline. Our programme is designed to enable learners to achieve the following: • an acquaintance with the theory and history of anthropology • an ability to recognise, assess and make use of different theoretical approaches within the discipline, and an awareness of links to cognate bodies of theory, such as philosophy, history, linguistics and feminist theory • a detailed knowledge of anthropological work on particular areas of the world presented as regional courses (such as South America and the Caribbean, Europe, Central Asia, the Pacific and Africa). • a familiarity with a range of anthropological methods of representing data, including primary and secondary texts, film and other visual media, and oral sources • an awareness of ethical issues concerned with the study and representation of others 5 •
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an awareness of the ways in which anthropological knowledge can be applied (and misapplied) in a range of practical situations an awareness of social and historical change, and knowledge of some paradigms and modes (including indigenous ones) for explaining it an ability to recognise and analyse contexts in which relations of power, subordination and resistance affect the forms taken by human communities an appreciation of the interconnections between various aspects of social and cultural life, belief systems, global forces, individual behaviour and the physical environment. SUBJECT-­‐SPECIFIC SKILLS Depending upon the proportion of social anthropology within their degree programme, students will be able to demonstrate the following: • an ability to understand how human beings interact with their social, cultural and physical environments, and an appreciation of their social and cultural diversity • the ability to formulate, investigate and discuss anthropologically informed questions • a competence in using major theoretical perspectives and concepts in anthropology • the ability to engage with cultures, populations and groups different from their own, without forgoing a sense of personal judgement. An awareness of cultural assumptions, including their own, and the ways in which these impact on an interpretation of others • a recognition of the politics of language, indirect forms of communication, forms of power, theoretical statements and claims of authority, and an ability to analyse them • the ability to apply anthropological knowledge to a variety of practical situations, personal and professional • the ability to plan, undertake and present scholarly work that demonstrates an understanding of anthropological aims, methods and theoretical considerations. GENERIC SKILLS Depending upon the nature and focus of their degree programme, student attainment will include some or all of the following: • an ability to understand their strengths and weaknesses in learning and study skills and to take action to improve their capacity to learn • the capacity to express their own ideas in writing, to summarise the arguments of others, and to distinguish between the two • independence of thought and analytical, critical and synoptic skills • information retrieval skills in relation to primary and secondary source of information • communication and presentation skills (using oral and written materials and information technology) • scholarly skills, such as the ability to make a structured argument, reference the works of others, and assess evidence • time planning and management skills • the ability to engage, where appropriate, in constructive discussion in group situations and group-­‐work skills • computing techniques. 6 MODULE PROGRAMME Honours Structure in Social Anthropology 2016-­‐17 is presented below. All modules are worth 30 credits. Semester One Modules Semester Two Modules SA3031 SA3055 Anthropological Study of Language and Culture Anthropology and History Professor Peter Gow Dr Sabine Hyland SA3032 SA3057 Regional Ethnography 1: The Anthropology of Sex and Gender Crisis, Europe and Beyond Dr Paloma Gay y Blasco Dr Daniel Knight SA3059 SA3060 Colonial and Post-­‐Colonial Representations Contemporary Issues in Social Anthropology Dr Stan Frankland Dr Adam Reed SA3506 SA3064 Methods in Social Anthropology The Anthropology of Migration Dr Aimee Joyce Dr Mattia Fumanti SA4005 SA4059 The West Indies and the Black Atlantic Living with Material Culture Dr Huon Wardle Dr Aimee Joyce SA4857 SA4855 West Africa Anthropology, Literature and Writing Professor Roy Dilley Dr Adam Reed SA4864 SA4862 Melanesian Anthropology Imagining the World: The Anthropology of Dr Tony Crook Consciousness Professor Christina Toren Year Long Modules SA4098 WEEK SIX OF SEMESTER ONE IS INDEPENDENT Library Based Dissertation LEARNING WEEK. DURING THIS WEEK YOU Dr Craig Lind WILL CONSOLIDATE PREVIOUS LEARNING AND PREPARE YOUR COURSEWORK. SA4099 Primary Research Based Dissertation Dr Craig Lind 7 MODULES AVAILABLE IN SEMESTER ONE SA3031 ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Professor Peter Gow (pgg2) ______________________________________________________________________________________ Semester: Credits: Teaching: Class Hour: Consultation Hours: Course assessment: 1 30 Two hours per week Tuesday 2-­‐4pm, Arts Seminar Room 6 Tuesday 12-­‐2pm, Top Floor, 71 North Street Coursework = 50%, Take-­‐Home Exam = 50% Objectives and Outcomes Students will get to know how natural human languages work and how they vary. Beginning with phonetics and phonology, basic sound oppositions and the genesis of meaning, the course then addresses syntax, basic word order and related inflectional forms, and then discourse, the creative juxtaposition of syntactical ‘shifting’ in generating naturally-­‐occuring speech. In an exercise on learning the Piro language, students learn how an indigenous Amazonian language works, in terms of SUBJECT, OBJECT and VERB order, to show that SOV is not universal. The exercise introduces the students to an Amazonian language characterized by obligatory HEAD-­‐FRONTING of NOMINAL CLAUSES at the phrasal level, as a basic introduction to linguistic variation. The course deals with the key issue of REFERENCE, the issue of how a specific flow of sounds produced by the human vocal tract refers to a specific object. Transferable Skills In terms of transferable skills, the course deals with the key issue of language skills, quite apart from the usual transferable skills normally noted. By actually showing how languages work in general, Students taking the course in a non-­‐native language have their efforts confirmed, while students who think that they are taking it in their native language are presented with their basic proficiency in other languages. 8 Readings Unfortunately no good introduction to the subject exists, although any basic texts on language by Franz Boas or Edward Sapir will provide a start. Students unfamiliar with linguistics should read a general introductory text, of which many exist, such as Stephen Pinker’s The Language Instinct (although bear in mind that modern Chomskian linguistics is largely hostile to the study of human linguist diversity as such). There is of course a very large amount of very high quality ethnography of Native North American peoples available, but there are two easily available texts of great interest: Theodora Kroeber’s Ishi in Two Worlds and Gene Weltfisch’s The Lost Universe. The readings below are the key readings for the course. Those marked with * are in the reading pack. All the rest are available online. 1. Human linguistic diversity *Boas, Franz, “Introduction, International Journal of American Linguistics” in Race, Language and Culture. Whorf, Benjamin Lee, “An American Indian model of the universe” in Language, Thought and Reality. Sorensen, Arthur P., “Multilingualism in the Northwest Amazon” American Anthropologist 69:670-­‐684 2. Linguistic diversity and linguistics as a science Boas, Franz, “On Alternating Sounds”, in George W. Stocking (ed) A Franz Boas Reader. *Saussure, Ferdinand de, “Chapter III: Static linguistics and evolutionary linguistics” from Course in General Linguistics. Sapir, Edward, “The Status of Linguistics as a Science” in Selected Writings in Language, Cuture and Personality. 3. Texts as data in classical American cultural anthropology Sapir, Edward, “The Rival Whalers, a Nitinat Story (Nootka Text with Translation and Grammatical Analysis)” International Journal of American Linguistics, 3/1:76 *Boas, Franz, “‘I Desired to Learn the Ways of the Shaman’” in The Religion of the Kwakiutl Indians. Darnell, Regna, “History and Psychology as Anthropological Problems” in Invisible Geneaologies: A History of Americanist Anthropology. 9 4. Language in cultural and social anthropology: history versus function *Boas, Franz, “The Mythologies of the Indians” from George Stocking (ed) A Franz Boas Reader. Sapir, Edward, “Time perspective in aboriginal American culture: a study in method”, in Selected Writings in Language, Cuture and Personality. Malinowski, Bronislaw, “An ethnographic theory of language and some practical corollaries”, in Coral Gardens and Their Magic. 5. Kinship terms and a key theoretical difference *Rivers, W.H.R., “Kinship and social organization: Lecture 1” * Kroeber, Alfred, “Classifcatory Systems of Relationship” *Tax, Sol, “Some Problems of Social Organization” in Eggan, Fred (ed), The Social Anthropology of North American Tribes. 6. A social anthropologist in American cultural anthropology *Lévi-­‐Strauss, Claude, “The making of an anthropologist” in Tristes Tropiques. *Lowie, Robert, “The Making of an Ethnologist”, in Robert Lowie: Ethnologist. *Lévi-­‐Strauss, Claude, “Structural Analysis in Linguistics and Anthropology” in Structural Anthropology. 7. The structural study of myth *Lévi-­‐Strauss, Claude, “The Story of Asdiwal” Douglas, Mary, “The Meaning of Myth: with special reference to ‘La Geste d’Asdiwal’” in Edmund Leach (ed.) The Structural Study of Myth and Totemism. *Lévi-­‐Strauss, Claude, “From Mythical Possibility to Social Existence”, in A view from afar. 8. The new textual approach to myth *Hymes, Dell, “The “wife” who “goes out” like a man: Reinterpretation of a Clackmas Chinook Myth” in “In vain I tried to tell you”: Essays in Native American Ethnopoetics Urban, Greg, “A lock of hair in a ball of wax” in Metaphysical Community: 10 the interplay of the senses and the intellect. Lutin, Herbert, and Leanne Hinton, “The Days of a Life: what Ishi’s stories can tell us about Ishi,” in Karl Kroeber and Clifton Kroeber (eds.) Ishi in Three Centuries. 9. From text to talking, and beyond. *Sherzer, Joel, “Language and speech in Kuna society” in Kuna ways of speaking: An ethnographic perspective. *Basso, Ellen, “Sound as symbol: Orders of animacy”, in A Musical view of the universe: Kalapalo Myth and Ritual Performance. Seeger, Anthony, “Suyá vocal art: from speech to song”, in Why Suyá Sing. 10. History as speaking and being heard Harkin, Michael E., “Contact Narratives” in The Heiltsuk: Dialoques of Culture and History on the Northwest Coast. Basso, Ellen B., “Kambe’s Testimony” in The Last Cannibals: A South American Oral History. Palmer, Andie Diane, “A Brief History of Responses to Colonialism”, in Maps of Experience: The Anchoring of Land to Story in Secwepemc Discourse. 11 SA3032 REGIONAL ETHNOGAPHY I: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CRISIS, EUROPE AND BEYOND Dr Daniel M. Knight (dmk3) ______________________________________________________________________________________ Semester: 1 Credits: 30 Teaching: Two hours per week Class Hour: Monday 9-­‐11am, St Mary’s College, Lecture Room 3 Consultation Hours: Monday 11.30am – 1.30pm, First Floor, 71 North St Course assessment: Coursework = 50%, Exam = 50% Europe is in an era of social, political, economic upheaval; a period brimming with promises of dramatic change and revolutionary futures (utopian and dystopian), filled with hope, speculation, anxiety, apathy. The economic crisis of 2008, the resurfacing of Cold War tensions on the Eastern frontier, frequent terrorist attacks, political extremism and the rise of the far-­‐right, and potential “Bre/Gre/Frexits” have attracted a surge of anthropological attention. There are further concerns with environmental and energy futures with debates around climate change and energy transition continuing to rage. This module explores how anthropologists approach what Veena Das called “critical events” – moments when our informants’ worlds have been turned upside down. How do people understand their experiences of increased social suffering, insecurity, and material poverty? How do individuals, and societies, cope with losing their assumed standard of living and their day-­‐
to-­‐day structure of life? The first part of this module looks at how anthropologists approach “crisis” ethnographically. How do we capture the critical moment? The second section explores some theoretical tools employed to analyse crises, from trauma and social memory studies to irony and visions of the post-­‐apocalyptic future. Objectives •
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To enable students to critically assess anthropological research on contemporary “crises”. To introduce how anthropologists capture the moment of crisis and analyse the after-­‐shocks. To help students link contemporary research to classic theories of memory, trauma and temporality. To cultivate independent skills in defining problems in the fields of crisis studies, economic and political anthropology, and temporality. To encourage the development of expertise in interpreting and evaluating research in diverse fields of anthropology – from economics to environment – and introducing how these fields link together. To consolidate students’ understanding of the links between contemporary data, long-­‐
standing theory and diverse methods. 12 Transferable Skills A key aim of this module is to encourage students to think about critical events in the contemporary world and how these are studied by anthropologists. Students will be asked to think about what anthropology can contribute to events often restricted to the realms of journalism and mass-­‐media. Students will contemplate and analyse the importance of a range of crises to the lives of people in Europe and beyond, thinking about the links between local, regional and global processes. Students will also need to demonstrate: • The ability to think critically about contemporary anthropological issues relating to temporality, trauma, memory and futures. • Ability to consider the integrated and interdisciplinary linkages between different aspects of studying crises. • Understanding issues central to contemporary social life in Europe and beyond: climate change, sustainability, neoliberalism and global markets etc. • Understanding of anthropological methods employed in capturing the moment of crisis and analysing ever-­‐changing social circumstances. • Appreciation of different levels of governance of crisis and associated processes: local, regional, global. • Debate and evaluate strengths and weaknesses of literature in the field of crisis, temporality, memory and diverse subfields of anthropology. • Judge the merits of competing anthropological and more mainstream journalistic representations of crisis and evaluate research findings. Key Readings • Das, V. 1995. Critical Events: An Anthropological Perspective on Contemporary India. Delhi: Oxford University Press. • Goddard, V. 2006. This is History: Nation and experience in times of crisis—Argentina 2001. History and Anthropology, Volume 17, Number 3, pp: 267–286. • Knight, D. and C. Stewart. 2016. Ethnographies of Austerity: Temporality, Crisis and Affect in Southern Europe. History and Anthropology, Volume 27, Number 1, pp: 1-­‐18. Introduction freely available online. (Also available as a Routledge edited volume with new Afterword). • Koselleck, R. 1988. Critique and Crisis: Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern Society. Cambridge: MIT Press. • Loftsdóttir, K. and L. Jensen. (eds). 2014. Crisis in the Nordic Nations and Beyond: At the intersection of environment, finance and multiculturalism. Farnham: Ashgate. • Narotzky, S., and N. Besnier. 2014. Crisis, Value, and Hope: Rethinking the Economy. Current Anthropology Volume 55 (S9), pp: S4–S16. • Roitman, J. 2014. Anti-­‐Crisis. Durham: Duke University Press. • Vigh, H. 2008. Crisis and Chronicity: Anthropological Perspectives on Continuous Conflict and Decline. Ethnos, Volume 73, Issue 1, pp: 5-­‐24. • Žižek, S. 2014. Event: Philosophy in Transit. London: Penguin. 13 SA3060 Dr Adam Reed (ader) Semester: 1 Credits: 30 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY Teaching: Three hours per week Class Hours: Tuesday 12-­‐2pm AND Fridays 1-­‐2pm, Arts Seminar Room 4 Consultation Hours: Wednesdays 11-­‐12am, Fridays 2-­‐3pm, Room 56 Course assessment: One take-­‐home examination = 50% One assessed essay of 3,000 words = 50% (Due 5pm, Monday 14 Nov 2016) This module is a team taught course in which members of staff reflect on contemporary debates in anthropology and contemporary issues in the world through the prism of anthropological analysis. The ‘contemporary’ also denotes reflections on what lecturers are each researching and writing about now. Students will be introduced to a series of pressing issues in anthropology and to the kinds of arguments that anthropologists focus upon today; and also to what are considered new and emergent fields of investigation. Each section of the module, taught by different staff, will be self-­‐standing & represent a specific theme; there is no obvious connection between sections, but students will find correspondences and tensions between themes and debates covered. The module is also intended to illustrate how broad a church anthropology is today, and how differently anthropologists may confront contemporary issues. Students, through one long essay and a take home exam will be expected to demonstrate knowledge of the issues and debates covered across each section of the module. Section Topics: Anthropology of Ethics; Child Displacement in Cold War Europe; Contemporary Anthropological Approaches to Mental Illness; Cosmopolitanism; the ontological and sensory turns in anthropology. Objectives: by the end of this course you should have improved… • Your knowledge of contemporary issues in the world, as identified by anthropologists writing today. • Your knowledge of key contemporary debates in anthropology. • Your knowledge of the terms of debate and argumentation between anthropologists working today (including the different approaches and debates between anthropologists working in the Department at St Andrews) • Your knowledge of the breadth of anthropological research in the Department. • Your knowledge of how professional anthropologists engage with contemporary issues and develop new research interests. • Your capacity to identify points of disagreement and to connect to different styles of ethnographic writing and film. 14 • Your knowledge of how new forms of anthropological analysis lead to the development of new topics of empirical study; and how the identification of new topics of empirical inquiry lead to new forms of anthropological analysis. • Your general reading skills and analytical skills. Transferable Skills and Employability This course will help you develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, in particular skills in text analysis and research project development. In addition, the course revolves around being responsive to events in the contemporary world and to issues as they happen. It will enhance independent research skills and communication skills. Some Key Readings: • Cohen, G. D. 2012. In War’s Wake: Europe’s Displaced Persons in the Postwar Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press. • Danforth, L. M. and R. Van Boeschoten. 2012. Children of the Greek Civil War: Refugees and the Politics of Memory. • Deacon, H. (1996) ‘Madness, Race and Moral Treatment: Robben Island Lunatic Asylum, 1846-­‐ 1890’, History of Psychiatry, 7 (26): 287-­‐297. • Estroff, S.E. (2004) ‘Subjective Subjectivities in Dispute: The Poetics, Politics and Performance of First-­‐
Person Narratives of People with Schizophrenia’, in Jenkins, J.H. and Barrett, R. J (eds.) Schizophrenia, Culture and Subjectivity. The Edge of Experience. pp. 282-­‐301. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. E book • Keane, Webb. 2014b. ‘Freedom, Reflexivity, and the Sheer Everydayness of Ethics,’ Hau 4(1): 443-­‐457. • Keller, R. (2001) ‘Madness and Colonization: Psychiatry in the British and French Empires, 1800-­‐ 1962’, Journal of Social History, 35 (2): 295-­‐326. • Laidlaw, James. 2002. ‘For an Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom,’ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 8 (2): 311-­‐332. • Lambek, Michael. 2010. Ordinary Ethics: anthropology, language and action. New York: Fordham University Press. • Lovell, A.A. (1997) ‘The City is my Mother: Narratives of Schizophrenia and Homelessness’, American Anthropologist, 99 (2): 355-­‐68. • Mattingly, Cheryl. 2012. ‘Two Virtue Ethics and the Anthropology of Morality,’ Anthropological Theory 12(2):161-­‐184. • Pipyrou, S. 2016. Adrift in Time: Lived and Silenced Pasts in Calabria, South Italy. History and Anthropology, Special Issue “Ethnographies of Austerity: Temporality, Crisis and Affect in Southern Europe”, edited by Knight, D. M. and C. Stewart, Volume 27, Issue 1, pp: 45-­‐59. • Price, D. 2016. Cold War Anthropology: The CIA, the Pentagon, and the Growth of Dual Use Anthropology. Durham: Duke University Press. • Rapport, Nigel. 2003. ‘Stanley Spencer and visionary metaphysics of Love,’ in I am Dynamite. London: Routledge. • Rapport, Nigel. 2004. "Envisioned, Intentioned: A Painter informs an Anthropologist about Social Relations". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) 10(4), pp. 861-­‐81. • Rapport, Nigel. 2010. “Apprehending Anyone: The Non-­‐Indexical, Post-­‐Cultural and Cosmopolitan Human Actor”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) 16(1): 84-­‐101. • Rapport, Nigel 2012: “Emancipatory Cosmopolitanism: A vision of the individual free from culture, custom and community”. In G. Delanty (ed.) Handbook of Cosmopolitan Studies, London: Routledge, pp. 101-­‐14. • Robbins, Joel. 2007. ‘Between Reproduction and Freedom: Morality, Value, and Radical Cultural Change’, Ethnos 72 (3): 293-­‐314. 15 SA3064 Semester: Credits: Teaching: Class Hour: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF MIGRATION Dr Mattia Fumanti (mf610) 1 30 Two hours per week Lecture -­‐ Monday 2-­‐3 pm, St Mary’s College, Lecture Room 2 Tutorials – Thursday 2-­‐3 OR 3-­‐4 pm, Room 50, United College Consultation Hours: Thursdays 10am – 12pm, Room 19, United College Course assessment: Coursework = 50%, Exam = 50% This module will offer students the opportunity to examine past and present theoretical debates on migration. It will look at the ways in which major social, political and economic shifts at local and global level have contributed to the making and re-­‐making of migrant subjectivities and identities in a globalized world. The module will focus specifically on a series of interconnected debates on migration, citizenship and multiculturalism. This is intended to increase students’ awareness of the active role played by migrants in wider political, social, and economic transformations, and for current anthropological debates on agency and personhood, on gender and intimacy, on subjectivity and identity. The course will also explore migration in relation to exclusion, violence and bio-­‐politics in relation to current events. The module begins with an introduction to the main anthropological and sociological theories of migration. The first two lectures will analyse some of the classical theories of migration in relation to more recent studies. Themes to be explored will be migration and citizenship, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism, ideas of belonging and intimacy, religion and the aesthetics of diaspora. Aims • To enable students to assess critically contemporary research into institutions and social processes in an age of globalisation. • To cultivate independent skills in defining in defining problems in the fields of ethnicity, multiculturalism, racism, transnational studies, diaspora and globalisation • To encourage the development of expertise in interpreting and evaluating research within the sociology of transnational migration, ethnicity and global religion and politics • To consolidate students understanding of the links between data, theory and methods 16 Learning Outcomes The principal learning outcome of this module is to be able to engage critically with contemporary social anthropological and sociological analysis to evaluate the importance of migrants, diasporas and transnational communities in multicultural societies. Students will be expected to: • Debate and evaluate strengths and weaknesses of literature in the field of ethnicity, race, transnationalism, diaspora and migration • Judge the merits of competing anthropological and sociological explanations and to evaluate research findings in the field of migration, multiculturalism, racism, transnationalism, diaspora and migration Transferable Skills Research: You will develop the capacity to find, compile, filter and synthesis information from a range of different textual and non-­‐textual sources. You will learn to read selectively and critically. You will learn how to organise material into a coherent and clearly expressed argument, in writing and speaking. Personal Effectiveness: The guided learning and practical activities built into this course will help you develop time and project management skills. They embolden you to think creatively and build confidence in your own ideas. Finally, guided learning encourages and rewards self-­‐motivation. Communication: Importantly you will learn how to debate, through careful listening as well as clear expression. You will develop your teamwork skills and continue to develop your ability to build and express arguments. Key Readings • Boccagni, P. (2012) ‘Practising Motherhood at a Distance: Retention and Loss in Ecuadorian Transnational Families’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38:2, 261-­‐277 • Cannell, F. (1999) Power and Intimacy in the Christian Philippines, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press • Constable, N. (1997) Maid to Order in Hong Kong: Stories of Filipina Workers, Cornell University Press • De Genova, N. (2002). ‘Migrant “Illegality” and Deportability in Everyday Life’, Annual Review of • Anthropology 31 (1): 419–447 • De Genova, N., and N. Peutz, eds. (2010) The Deportation Regime. Sovereignty, Space, and the • Freedom of Movement. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. E book • Fassin, D. 2005. Compassion and Repression: The Moral Economy of Immigration Policies in France. Cultural Anthropology 20(3): 362–387. • ——— 2013. The Precarious Truth of Asylum. Public Culture 25(1): 39-­‐63. • Fassin, D. & E. d’Halluin, 2005. The truth from the body: medical certificates as ultimate evidence for asylum seekers. American Anthropologist 107(4): 597–608. • ——— 2007. Critical Evidence: The Politics of Trauma in French Asylum Policies. Ethos 35(3): 300–329. 17 • Fumanti, M. (2010) ‘Virtuous Citizenship, Ethnicity and Encapsulation among Akan Speaking Ghanaian Methodists in London’, African Diaspora, 3, (1-­‐2): 1-­‐30 • Fumanti, M. (2016) ‘Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cultural Citizenship and Migration’, i,Coleman, S. Hyatt, S. and Kingsolver, A. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Anthropology, London, Routledge. • Fumanti, Mattia, and Werbner, Pnina (2013). ‘Aesthetics of diaspora: ownership and appropriation’, with Pnina Werbner, Ethnos: journal of Social Anthropology, 78 (2) • Gomberg-­‐Muñoz, R. (2010) ‘Willing to Work. Agency and Vulnerability in an Undocumented Immigrant Network’, American Anthropologist 112 (2): 295–307. • Gilroy, Paul (1983) There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack. London: Hutchinson. • Gilroy, Paul (1993) The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. London: Verso. • Hall, Stuart (1990) "Cultural Identity and Diaspora." Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. Ed. Jonathan Rutherford. London: Lawrence and Wishart. • _____(1991) "Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities." Culture, Globalisation and the World System. Ed. A.D. King. London: Macmillan Educational, 42-­‐68. • Levitt, Peggy (2001) The Transnational Villagers. Berkeley: University of California Press. • Madianou, M. and Miller, D. (2011) ‘Crafting Love: letters and cassette tapes in transnational Filipino family communication’. South East Asian Research, vol. 19 (2). • Ong, A. (1996) ‘Cultural citizenship as subject making: immigrants negotiate racial and cultural boundaries in the United States’, in American Ethnologist 37(5):737-­‐762 • _____(1999) Flexible Citizenship: The cultural logic of transnationality. London and Durham: Duke University Press. • Parish, Jane (2013). ‘Chasing Celebrities: Akan Witchcraft in New York City’, Ethnos: journal of Social Anthropology, 78 (2) • Rosenthal, A. (2007) ‘Illegality’ and Illness in the Everyday Struggles of Undocumented HIV+ Migrant Workers in Tel Aviv’, International Migration 45 (3): 134–156 • Stoller, Paul (2002) Money has No Smell: the Africanization of New York City. University of Chicago Press. • Tarlo, Emma (2010). Visibly Muslim: Fashion, Politics, Faith Oxford : Berg Publishers • Vertovec, S. (2007). ‘New Directions in the Anthropology of Migration and Multiculturalism’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30 (6): 961-­‐978 • Vertovec, S. (2007) ‘Super-­‐diversity and its implications’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30 (6): 1024-­‐ • 1054 • Werbner, Pnina (2002) ‘The Place which is Diaspora: Citizenship, Religion and Gender in the Making of Chaordic Transnationalism. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 28, No. 1: 119-­‐
133 • ____ (2012) Migration and Culture, Mark Rosenblum and Daniel Tichenor (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Politics of International Migration. New York: Oxford 18 SA4059 LIVING WITH MATERIAL CULTURE Dr Aimée Joyce (aj69) Semester: Credits: Teaching: Class Hour: Consultation Hours: Course assessment: 1 30 Four hours per week Wednesdays: 11am – 12pm – Lecture, Arts Lecture Room 4 12 -­‐ 1pm, Seminar, Arts Seminar Room 4 Fridays: 2 – 4pm, Guided Study (Practical/Film) Arts Seminar Room 7
Monday 10am– 12pm, First Floor, 71 North Street 3000 word course work essay = 50% 3 hour unseen examination = 50% Learning Journal = 0% Since the 1980’s there has been an increasing interdisciplinary concern with “materiality” and “material culture” across anthropology, archaeology, art history, literature studies, and philosophy. Anthropologists in particular have come to suggest that societies are created and reproduced by the ways people make, interact and dispose of things; as much as things are created by societies. Therefore, studying what societies do with things can help us to understand complex and contested social bonds, as well as complicate our understanding of what things are. In this module, we will explore how people live through things in order to develop a critical understanding of the role of material culture in human relations. The aim of this course is to understand the significance of human-­‐made objects, not just as ‘things-­‐in-­‐themselves’ but as they are lived. To that end, we will explore how people use their bodies to transform materials into artefacts; consume and display objects; incorporate them into domestic activities such as home making and life-­‐cycle rituals; remember pasts; create objects that move us. We will also engage with the thorny issue of the subject/object divide through probing the dialectic relationship between people and things and exploring things as objects and subjects. Students will become familiar with key theoretical texts and key debates in material cultures. They will also explore ways of thinking with objects through a series of guided study sessions Key Learning Outcomes Identify and discuss the key theories in the anthropological approach to Material Cultures Engage with, analyse and critique the distinction between material objects and human subjects Formulate an anthropological approach to the study of things within the Material Cultures perspective 19 Transferable Skills Research: You will develop the capacity to find, compile, filter and synthesis information from a range of different textual and non-­‐textual sources. You will learn to read selectively and critically. You will learn how to organise material into a coherent and clearly expressed argument, in writing and speaking. Personal Effectiveness: The guided learning and practical activities built into this course will help you develop time and project management skills. They embolden you to think creatively and build confidence in your own ideas. Finally, guided learning encourages and rewards self-­‐motivation. Communication: Importantly you will learn how to debate, through careful listening as well as clear expression. You will develop your teamwork skills and continue to develop your ability to build and express arguments. Course Outline This course consists of a weekly lecture and seminar, plus a weekly guided study session. These sessions consist of either a practical workshop or film and discussion. Two of these sessions are organised jointly with MUSA’s Learning and access department. Topics covered include: Heritage, Museum Studies, Monuments and Place, Commodities and Gifts, Art Objects and Artefacts, Design , Architecture and the Home, the Fetish, and new turns in the theory of Materiality. Recommended Readings Appadurai, A. (ed) (1988). The Social Life of Things. Benjamin, W. (1936). The Work of Art in the Age if Mechanical Reproduction. Buchli, V. (2002). Material Culture Reader. Candlin, F & Guins, R (eds) (2009). The Object Reader. E. Edwards, C. Gosden, R Phillips (eds) (2006). Sensible Objects. Gell, A. (1998). Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory. Henare, A. Holbraad, M., and Wastell, S. (2007). Thinking through things. Hicks, D & Beaudry M (2010). The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies. Hodder, I. (2012). Entangled: An archaeology of the relationship between humans and things. Hoskins, J. (1998). Biographical Objects: How things tell the story of people’s lives. Howes, D. (1991). The Varieties of Sensory Experience. Ingold, T. (2000). The Perception of the Environment. Latour, B & Porter, C. (2013). An Enquiry into Modes of Existence: An Anthropology of the Moderns. MacGregor, N. (2009). A History of the World in a Hundred Objects Book, Podcasts and Film Mauss, M. (1925). The Gift: the form and functions of exchange in archaic societies Miller, D. (2005). Materiality. Pallasmaa, J (2009). The Thinking Hand. Tarlo, E. (2010). Visibly Muslim: Fashion, politics, faith. Tilley, C (ed) (2006). The Handbook of Material Culture. 20 SA4098 LIBRARY-­‐BASED DISSERTATION Dr Craig Lind (ctl3) This module is compulsory for all senior honours students who intend to submit their dissertation for assessment in Social Anthropology. The sessions combine lectures and small-­‐group workshops in which we will consider a variety of strategies and styles suitable for writing ethnography. Additionally, we will consider a range of general concerns, such as, writer’s block, citing ‘informants’, time management, the scope and scale of a dissertation, the relationship of theory and ethnography, ethnographic reality, and the pitfalls of misleading terminology. This module is not a substitute for individual supervision, nor will it present a ‘step-­‐by-­‐step’ guide to writing a dissertation. Rather, the module provides a forum in which to identify, discuss and find ways of dealing with issues that are commonly encountered when completing a long piece of ethnographic writing. All meetings for this module will be held in the Arts Lecture Theatre; please mark the dates and times in your diary, as they occur irregularly. 1st meeting: 11am – 1pm on Thursday 29.09.2016 In addition to covering important dates and what you can expect from these meetings and your supervision, we will discuss getting started on a long writing project and how the process of writing itself is a useful way of learning about your ethnographic subjects. You should read at least one previously submitted dissertation and come prepared to discuss its positive and negative qualities, in small groups. 2nd meeting: 11am – 1pm on Thursday 13.10.2016 Identifying the scope of your dissertation is crucial; in this meeting we discuss the aspirations of the writer and the expectations of a reader in order to reach a manageable and focused piece of work. You should bring in a short exert from one of your favourite pieces of writing. You should choose a piece that exemplifies narrative or literary qualities that you think are useful or innovative ways of communicating the writer’s intentions. Be prepared to discuss these qualities in small groups. 3rd meeting: 11am – 1pm on Thursday 03.11.2016 Framing and focusing the intention of your project can be a difficult process; today we look at the process of turning your research experiences into a piece of writing that will contribute in one way or another with an ongoing conversation in anthropology. We look at the relationship between theory and ethnography, we question the use of terminology and its impact on representation and we look at the importance of reviewing. You should bring in a short piece (100 – 300 words) of your own writing. Ideally it should be a piece that expresses something central about your approach or your intended point/s. Be prepared to read through these in small groups and discuss how others interpret your written intentions. Please note that a full handbook for this module is available on MMS. 21 Objectives By the end of this course you should have gained or improved: •
Your ability to organise and produce a long and clear research document •
Your ability to identify and deal with issues that present themselves when writing up archival and/or field research •
Identify and engage particular themes and/or issues in contemporary social anthropology effectively •
Your ability to analyse and discuss the effectiveness and appropriateness of various writing strategies and approaches to describing research Transferable skills and employability This course will help you develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, in particular skills essential to organising and taking on a long piece of writing; to critically engage with the ideas and writing of others in an elucidatory way by presenting your own original arguments; additionally, in the process you will have made important steps towards finding your own voice. 22 SA4099 RESEARCH-­‐BASED DISSERTATION Dr Craig Lind (ctl3) This module is compulsory for all senior honours students who intend to submit their dissertation for assessment in Social Anthropology. The sessions combine lectures and small-­‐group workshops in which we will consider a variety of strategies and styles suitable for writing ethnography. Additionally, we will consider a range of general concerns, such as, writer’s block, citing ‘informants’, time management, the relationship of theory and ethnography, ethnographic reality, and the pitfalls of misleading terminology. This module is not a substitute for individual supervision, nor will it present a ‘step-­‐by-­‐step’ guide to writing a dissertation. Rather, the module provides a forum in which to identify, discuss and find ways of dealing with issues that are commonly encountered when completing a long piece of ethnographic writing. All meetings for this module will be held in the Arts Lecture Theatre; please mark the dates and times in your diary, as they occur irregularly. 1st meeting: 11am – 1pm on Thursday 29.09.2016 In addition to covering important dates and what you can expect from these meetings and your supervision, we will discuss getting started on a long writing project and how the process of writing itself is a useful way of learning about your ethnographic subjects. You should read at least one previously submitted dissertation and come prepared to discuss its positive and negative qualities, in small groups. 2nd meeting: 11am – 1pm on Thursday 13.10.2016 Identifying the scope of your dissertation is crucial; in this meeting we discuss the aspirations of the writer and the expectations of a reader in order to reach a manageable and focused piece of work. You should bring in a short exert from one of your favourite pieces of writing. You should choose a piece that exemplifies narrative or literary qualities that you think are useful or innovative ways of communicating the writer’s intentions. Be prepared to discuss these qualities in small groups. 3rd meeting: 11am – 1pm on Thursday 03.11.2016 Framing and focusing the intention of your project can be a difficult process; today we look at the process of turning your research experiences into a piece of writing that will contribute in one way or another with an ongoing conversation in anthropology. We look at the relationship between theory and ethnography, we question the use of terminology and its impact on representation and we look at the importance of reviewing. You should bring in a short piece (100 – 300 words) of your own writing. Ideally it should be a piece that expresses something central about your approach or your intended point/s. Be prepared to read through these in small groups and discuss how others interpret your written intentions. Please note that a full handbook for this module is available on MMS 23 Objectives By the end of this course you should have gained or improved: •
Your ability to organise and produce a long and clear research document •
Your ability to identify and deal with issues that present themselves when writing up archival and/or field research •
Identify and engage particular themes and/or issues in contemporary social anthropology effectively •
Your ability to analyse and discuss the effectiveness and appropriateness of various writing strategies and approaches to describing research Transferable skills and employability This course will help you develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, in particular skills essential to organising and taking on a long piece of writing; to critically engage with the ideas and writing of others in an elucidatory way by presenting your own original arguments; additionally, in the process you will have made important steps towards finding your own voice. 24 SA4855 Dr Adam Reed (ader) Semester: 1 Credits: 30 ANTHROPOLOGY, LITERATURE & WRITING Teaching: Three hours per week Class Hour: Wednesdays 9-­‐11am, Room 50 Fridays 10-­‐11am, Arts Seminar Room 6 Consultation Hours: Wednesdays 11-­‐12am, Fridays 2-­‐3pm, Room 56 Course assessment: One take-­‐home examination = 50% One Assessed essay of 3,000 words = 50% (Due 5pm, Monday 31st October) This module explores the long and varied relationship between Anthropology and Literature. In particular, it examines developments since the discipline’s reflexive turn, that moment when anthropologists started to inspect their role as writer and the literary influences acting upon their anthropological texts. An engagement in debates about the politics of representation has led to an increasing awareness of the links between anthropological and literary endeavours. While most of this debate centres on the act of writing, in this module we will also explore connections with diverse practices of reading fiction. One of the principal aims of the course is to develop an appreciation of what an anthropological theory of literature might look like; this is a relatively under-­‐developed field. Attention will fall on textual analysis, but more importantly on ethnographic interventions in the literary field: investigations of cultures of authorship, solitary and public reading. As well as reviewing the relevant anthropological literature, we will examine attempts outside the discipline to describe cultures of authorship and reading. Participants will also be invited to bring their own fiction reading (& writing) experiences to the course. Across this course small formative exercises will help students think through literary example. Note: you will be expected to read and engage with literary fiction, as well as anthropology, throughout this course. Objectives: by the end of this course you should have improved… • Your knowledge of the way anthropologists have approached literature. • Your knowledge of the ways in which literature can extend or develop anthropological insights and ethnographic knowledge. • Your analysis and use of literary strategies in anthropological writing. • Your understanding of fiction reading and writing as lived practices. • Your knowledge of the ways sub disciplines or new fields of anthropological study might be opened up. • Your understanding of the relationship between anthropology and literary criticism. 25 Transferable Skills and Employability This course will help you develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, in particular skills in text analysis and research skills. The course will also enhance abilities for group participation and presentation of ideas, and develop critical thinking. Some Key Texts: •
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Benson, P. (1993) (ed). Anthropology and Literature. Urbana: U of Illinois P. Boyarin, J. (1993). The Ethnography of Reading. Berkeley: U of California P. Geertz, C. (1988). Works and Lives: the Anthropologist as Author. Cambridge, Polity. Gell, A. (1998). Art and Agency: an Anthropological Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Livingston, E. (1995). An Anthropology of Reading. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Manguel, A. (1997). A History of Reading. London: Flamingo Marcus. G & Clifford, J (1986) (eds) Writing Culture. The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley: U of California P. Narayan, Kirin. 2012. Alive in the Writing: crafting ethnography in the company of Chekhov. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Poyatos, F. (1988) (ed). Literary Anthropology. A new interdisciplinary approach to people, signs and literature. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Rapport, N. (1994). The Prose and the Passion: Anthropology, Literature, and the Writing of EM Forster. Manchester: Manchester UP. Rapport, N. (1997). Transcendent Individual: Towards a Literary and Liberal Anthropology. London: Routledge. Reed, A. 2011. Literature and Agency in English Fiction Reading: a study of the Henry Williamson Society. Manchester University Press. 26 SA4862 Professor Christina Toren (ct51) Semester: 1 Credits: 30 IMAGINING THE WORLD: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS Teaching: Two hours per week Class Hour: Consultation Hours: Tuesday 10am-­‐12pm , Swallowgate -­‐ Archaeology Room (SWA:S4) Course assessment: One Assessed essay of 3,000 words = 50% One take-­‐home examination = 50% Tuesday 2-­‐4pm This course has two major, interconnected, objectives: to provide an approach to consciousness that is grounded in ethnographic analysis and to argue the case for a theory of consciousness as historically constituted. The theories of consciousness that dominate the contemporary social sciences continue to depend on distinctions between biology and culture, and society and individual – ideas that inform cultural construction theory and social construction theory respectively. A new perspective is provided by a theory of consciousness as the artefact of microhistorical processes of making sense, over time, of the peopled world. This approach makes it apparent that the ideas and practices of human scientists are as amenable to ethnographic analysis as those of the Melanesian and Pacific peoples discussed here. By the same token, the human sciences are in serious want of a unified model of human being that has at its heart an understanding of how the historical processes that constitute consciousness provide at once for transformation and continuity. Learning outcomes: by the end of this course you should have improved… Ø your understanding of dominant theoretical approaches to ethnographic analysis
Ø your ability to recognise which approach or combination of approaches informs any given anthropologist’s work
Ø your understanding of the epistemological-­‐cum-­‐ontological implications of different theoretical positions
Ø your knowledge of Melanesian and Pacific ethnography and its significance for anthropology in general
Ø your ability to differentiate between an analysis that is grounded in convincing field data and one that is less than adequate Transferable skills and employability: This course will help you to develop intellectual skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, especially in respect of your ability to recognise assumptions that inform what people say and do … and write. By the same token, a deeper understanding of how your own ideas and practices are constituted in relations with others should enhance your ability to work constructively with other people, and at the same time enable you to make your own arguments more effectively. You should also come away with enhanced reading, writing, and analytical skills. 27 Please note: The articles made available to you on MMS are intended to enable focused discussion in seminars. Small group discussion inside and outside class will address issues raised by the course. Most of the texts on the reading list are articles, but it is recommended that over the course you read three relevant monographs. Some useful monographs: • Crook, Tony. Anthropological knowledge, secrecy, and Bolivip, Papua New Guinea: exchanging skin, Oxford University Press, 2007. • Feld, Steven. Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982. • Goldman, L.R. Child’s Play. Myth, Mimesis and Make-­‐Believe. Oxford. Berg, 1998. • Kulick, Don. Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction: Socialization, self, and syncretism in a Papua New Guinean village. C.U.P. 1992. • Lewis, Gilbert. Day of Shining Red. An essay on understanding ritual, Cambridge University Press. 1980. • Mimica, J. Intimations of Infinity. The cultural meanings of the Iqwaye counting system and number, Berg. 1988 • Munn, Nancy. The Fame of Gawa. Chicago University Press, 1986. • Telban, Borut. Dancing Through Time: A Sepik Cosmology, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1998. • Tomlinson, Matt. In God's image: the metaculture of Fijian Christianity, University of California Press, 2009. • Toren, Christina. Making Sense of Hierarchy: Cognition as social process in Fiji, London, Athlone Press. 1990. • Weiner, J. The Empty Place : poetry, space, and being among the Foi of Papua New Guinea. Bloomington : Indiana University Press. 1991 • Wardlow, Holly. Wayward Women: Sexuality and Agency in a New Guinea Society, Berkeley, University of California Press. 2006 28 MODULES AVAILABLE IN SEMESTER TWO SA3055 ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY Dr Sabine Hyland (sph) Semester: 2 Credits: 30 Teaching: Two Hours Class Hour: Consultation Hours: Thursdays 12-­‐2pm, Arts Seminar Room 4 Tuesdays 12-­‐2pm Course assessment: One take-­‐home examination = 50% One Assessed essay of 3,000 words = 50% Ethnohistory is the study of native and/or non-­‐Western peoples from a combined historical and anthropological viewpoint, using written documents, oral literature, material culture and ethnographic data. Ethnohistory uses both historical and ethnographic data as its foundation. Its historical methods and materials go beyond the standard use of books and manuscripts. Practitioners recognize the utility of maps, music, paintings, photography, folklore, oral tradition, ecology, site exploration, archaeological materials, museum collections, enduring customs, language, and place names. Furthermore, ethnohistorians have learned to use the special knowledge of the group, linguistic insights, and the understanding of cultural phenomena in ways that make for a more in-­‐depth analysis than the average historian is capable of doing based solely on written documents produced by and for one group. They try to understand culture on its own terms and according to its own cultural code. It differs from other historically-­‐related methodologies in that it embraces emic perspectives as tools of analysis. Ethnohistory differs from history proper in that it incorporates the critical use of ethnological concepts and materials in the examination and use of historical source material. James Axtell described ethnohistory as essentially, “the use of historical and ethnological methods to gain knowledge of the nature and causes of change in a culture defined by ethnological concepts and categories”. An important aspect of the field is that it often focuses on previously ignored historical actors. Most ethnohistorians believe that they must fundamentally take into account the people’s own sense of how events are constituted, and their ways of culturally constructing the past. Ethnohistory is a holistic, diachronic approach that is most rewarding when it can be joined to the memories and voices of living people. This module will present readings, lectures and discussions about the relationship of history and anthropology. Topics examined include but are not limited to: microhistory; language and 29 translation; ethnohistory and archaeology; writing systems; archival research; working with images and material objects; and ethics. The required essay MUST be an analysis of original ethnohistorical source material, whether from archives, rare books, maps and/or museum collections. Class will meet for 1 weekly 2-­‐hour lecture/discussion on the readings. Assessment is based on 1 essay (3000 words) due on Friday of Week Seven (50% of the final grade), and one take home exam (50% of the final grade). Learning outcomes: by the end of this course you should have improved… • your knowledge of the codes and conventions of ethnohistorical writing; • your recognition and interpretation of the various styles of ethnohistorical analysis; • your understanding of the relationship between anthropology and history; • your capacity to compare and contrast ethnohistorical writing and other narrative genres; • your ability to discover your own interpretation of historical artifacts, such as letters, diaries, travel journals, maps, etc, based on ethnohistorical theory; • your capacity to evaluate evidence in ethnohistorical writing; and • your general reading and analytical skills. Transferable skills and employability: This course will help you develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, in particular skills in the analysis and deconstruction of texts, secondary sources, images, maps and historical documents. The course also aims to help you develop your critical ability, your capacity to make your own original arguments, and your confidence to find your own voice. Reading List • Barber, Russell J. and Frances Berdan. 1998. “Outline for an Ethical Code in Ethnohistory” In The Emperor’s Mirror: Understanding Culture Through Primary Sources (Arizona), appendix B • Borello, Benedetta, "Family Networking: Purpose and form of epistolary conversation between aristocratic siblings", in Reading, Interpreting and Historicizing: Letters are Historical Sources (2004) • Bricker, Victoria, "Where There's a Will, There's a Way: The Significance of Scribal Variation in Colonial Maya Testaments", Ethnohistory, 62(3), 421-­‐44, 2015. • Burkhart, Louise. 1989. The Slippery Earth: Nahua-­‐Christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth Century Mexico. (Arizona). • Burns, Kathryn. 2010. Into the Archive: Writing and Power in Colonial Peru. (Duke) (optional) • Burns, Kathryn. 2010. Into the Archive: Writing and Power in Colonial Peru. (Duke) (optional) • Carrasco, David and Scott Sessions (eds.) 2007. Cave, City and Eagle’s Nest: An Interpretive Journey though the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan. (New Mexico) (optional). • Christensen, Mark Z. 2014. Translated Christianities: Nahuatl and Maya Religious Texts. (Penn State). • Costa Gomez, Rita, "Letters and Letter Writing in 15th Century Portugal" in Reading, Interpreting and Historicizing: Letters as Historical Sources (2004); • Davis, Natalie Zemon. 1983. The Return of Martin Guerre. (London: Penguin). • DuBois, Thomas, "Ethnomemory: Ethnographic and Culture-­‐Centered Approaches to the Study of Memory", Scandinavian Studies, 85(3), Fall, 2013; 30 • Dym, Jordana and Karl Offen (eds). 2011. Mapping Latin America: A Cartographic Reader. (Chicago). Chs. 1, 4, 5, 12 and 13. • Evans-­‐Pritchard, E. E. 1964. “History and Anthropology”. In Social Anthropology and Other Essays (New York: The Free Press); • Fixico, Donald L. 1996. “Ethics and Responsibilities in Writing American Indian History” American Indian Quarterly, v. 20, n.1, 29-­‐39. • Galloway, Patricia. 2006. “Introduction” Practicing Ethnohistory: Mining Archives, Hearing Testimony, Constructing Narrative. (Nebraska) • Galloway, Patricia. 2006. “Mississippi 1500-­‐1800: Revising the South’s Colonial History for a Postcolonial Museum Audience” In Practicing Ethnohistory, p. 377-­‐ 387. (optional) • Galloway, Patricia. 2006. “Blood and Earth: Native Bodies in the North American Landscape”. In Practicing Ethnohistory, pp. 388 -­‐414. (optional) • Ginzburg, Carlo. 1989. “The Inquisitor as Anthropologist” In Clues, Myths and the Historical Method (Baltimore: The John’s Hopkins University Press); • Ginzburg, Carlo. 1982. The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a 16th Century Miller. • Hume, Peter and Tim Youngs, The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, Cambridge U. Press, 2002. • Hyland, Sabine, The Chankas and the Priest: A Tale of Murder and Exile in Highland Peru (Penn State 2016) • Katsew, Ilona. 2005. Casta Painting: Images of Race in 18th Century Mexico. (Yale). (optional). • LaCapra, Dominick. 1983. “The Cheese and the Worms: The World of a Twentieth Century Historian”. In: History and Criticism. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press). • Leavitt, John, "Philology, Anthropology, and the Language of the Gods", American Anthropologist, 98(3), 1996; • Ridener, John. 2009. From Polders to Postmodernism: A Concise History of Archival Theory (Litwin Books) (optional). • Ridington, Robin, "Narrative Technology and Eskimo History", Ethnohistory, 47(3-­‐4), Fall 2000; • Salomon, Frank, "Unethnic Ethnohistory: On Peruvian Peasant Historiography and Ideas of Autochthony", Ethnohistory, 49:3 (2002); • Schele, Linda and Peter Mathews. 1998. The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs. (Simon and Schuster) (optional). • Sinha, Purnima and D. P Sinha, “Alfred Louis Kroeber: His Contributions to Anthropological Theories, Anthropos, 63/64, 1968/9; • Steward, Susan. 1993. “Preface”, “The Miniature”, “The Gigantic”, “The Souvenir”, In On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. (Duke) (optional). • Whitehead, Neil, "Indigenous Cartography in Lowland South America and the Caribbean", in The History of Cartography, Vol II, Bk 3, 1998. 31 SA3057 SEX AND GENDER Dr Paloma Gay y Blasco (pgyb) Semester: 2 Credits: 30 Teaching: Three hours per week Class Hour: Consultation Hours: Tuesdays 1-­‐2pm AND Fridays 9-­‐11am, Arts Seminar Room 4 (except week 8 = Friday 9am-­‐12pm, Arts Lecture Theatre) Course assessment: 100% continuous assessment Fridays 1 – 2.15pm, Room 2, United College This course provides a cross-­‐cultural perspective on sex and gender, and explores both anthropological and local understandings of the sexed body, gendered identifications, and personhood. The course links gender relations to wider economic and political processes, and to the exercise of power and of resistance. As well as looking at non-­‐Western societies, the course examines the West, and questions the extent to which Western understandings to do with science, biology and the sexed body can be used as analytical tools in cross-­‐cultural comparison. The course relies heavily on two pedagogic tools: • learning journals: to encourage you to take risks and think independently and outside the box. • group work: to take charge of your own learning, help shape the form and direction of the module, learn from each other, and improve your communication skills. Learning Outcomes: Out of this course you should get… • a considerable body of comparative ethnographic knowledge, about the West and about non-­‐
Western societies. • a good understanding of the how and why of a range of ideas and practices to do with sex and gender in non-­‐Western societies, and in the West • the ability to question taken-­‐for-­‐granted ideas about sex and gender, in the West as among non-­‐
Western peoples • a good understanding of the ways gender inequality shapes life for people in Western and non-­‐
Western contexts • a good grasp of the contribution of feminist theory to anthropology • the capacity to understand and use a range of anthropological analytical tools, as well as to question their validity. 32 Transferable Skills and Employability This course will help you develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, in particular skills in text analysis and deconstruction. In addition, the course revolves around connecting individual work and group work and will help you enhance your ability to cooperate with others, share your ideas, and make convincing arguments in public. It will enhance your presentation, negotiation and communication skills. Lectures, Seminars and Group Work Each week there will be a 1-­‐hour lecture, a 2-­‐hour seminar, and a 1.5 hour of independent group work. • For this module, you will have to do independent reading and text analysis every week (two or three articles per week, in advance of the seminars). You will have a worksheet to guide you through the readings. • After you have done the readings and independent analysis, you will meet with 4 or 5 other students in a group. Together you will have to review your individual answers to the worksheet, and prepare a practical task to present at the seminar. • It will be up to the people in each group to set up a regular time and place to meet. Group work is compulsory and essential to the module, and should take approximately 1.5 hours to complete. • Students who have not done all the readings, individual work, and group work in advance will not be allowed to participate in the seminars, and will be asked to leave the class. Assessment 100% continuous assessment: Learning journal (6000 words), composed of 5 entries, each one a maximum of 1200 words, to be submitted regularly throughout the semester = 100% of the final mark. Some Texts A look through these will give you an idea of the material we will be covering in the course. • P. Kaberry. 1939. Aboriginal Woman, Sacred and Profane. London. Routledge • E Leacock. 1981. Myths of Male Dominance: Collected Articles on Women Cross-­‐Culturally. London. Monthly Review Press. • S Ortner and H Whitehead. 1981. Sexual Meanings. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. • R Frankenberg. 1993. White Women, Race Matters. London. Routledge. • G H Landsman. 2009. Reconstructing Motherhood and Disability in the Age of ‘Perfect’ Babies. London. Routledge • S. Bordo. 1993. Unbereable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. Berkeley. University of California Press. • V Pitts. 2003. In the Flesh: the Cultural Politics of Body Modification. Palgrave Macmillan. • G Herdt. 1987. Guardians of the Flutes: Idioms of Masculinity. New York. Columbia University Press. 33 SA3059 COLONIAL AND POST-­‐COLONIAL REPRESENTATIONS Dr Stan Frankland (mcf1) Semester: 2 Credits: 30 Teaching: Four hours per week or more Class Hour: Monday 2-­‐3pm (Lecture) – School VI Tuesday 4pm onwards (Film) – Irvine Lecture Theatre Thursday 2-­‐3pm OR 3-­‐4pm (Tutorial) – Room 50 Consultation Hours: Thursday 12-­‐2pm Course assessment: 100% Coursework -­‐ 2 X 3000 word essays Africa, that elusive place, is continually revivified within the public consciousness and the moralising rhetoric of political discourses. Images of the recent Ebola outbreak and the human misery of one disaster after another have formed the backdrop to the campaign to ‘make poverty history’. Celebrities and aid agencies continually exhort us to be charitable, and to demand for global action. But what is this elusive place that holds such a strong sway over our imaginations? Just how do ‘we’ see Africa? This module tries to unpick these and other questions through a combination of anthropology and visual images. Drawing our examples from both textual and visual medias, we will follow a historical trajectory that covers the key ideas and theories about colonialism, decolonisation, neo-­‐colonialism and post-­‐colonialism. Each week, there will be lecture, a film showing and a tutorial, all covering certain themes covered in the particular topic. PART 1 Colonialism and Neo-­‐imperialism The course itself will be structured in two halves. In the first half of the module, we will look back at the colonial imaginations of Africa and assess how the ideas of that period have shaped and still continue to distort our knowledges of this vast and varied continent. Our aim will be to examine how ideas live beyond the page and how they have a direct relevance to how we ‘see’ the world around us. The topics covered in this part of the course will include: • Said’s concept of Orientalism and the distinct African version that has emerged, particularly through the work of Mudimbe. • The base myth of the heart of darkness and the contemporary idea of Africa-­‐as-­‐victim. • The pervasiveness of concepts of race and evolution and how these have informed contemporary practices in Africa. How the idea of ‘Africa’ both attracts and repulses. • The role of landscape in the visualisations of tourism, conservation and development. The praxis of colonialism and the social constructions of landscapes. • Contemporary nostalgia for an Africa that never was and the disenchantment with the perception of what Africa is. • 21st century encounters between the Euro-­‐American Self and the African Other. 34 Some important readings • Apter A., 2007. Beyond Words: Discourse and Critical Agency in Africa. Chicago: UCP. • Fabian J.,2000. Out of our minds. Reason and Madness in the Exploration of Central Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press. • Mudimbe V.Y. 1988. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. • Spurr D. 1993. The Rhetoric of Empire: Colonial Discourse in Journalism, Travel Writing, and Imperial Administration. Durham & London: Duke University Press. Key film Episode III: Enjoy Poverty by Renzo Martens PART 2 Decolonisation, the Postcolony, and Beyond In the second part of the course, we will explore how Africa has been reimagined in the wake of the death of colonialism. Through the works of Mbembe and others, we will look at how Africans imagine themselves within the ‘postcolony’. Through watching films and reading related literature, the module will look at the vital role that the arts and popular culture play as arenas for political debate and self-­‐critique on the continent. Topics covered will include: • Decolonisation and the vicissitudes of independence. Postcolonial philosophies. • The ‘culture’ of corruption. • The occult and ideas of modernity. • The on going tensions between continuity and change, between tradition and modernity, and how these are played out in urban Africa. • Afro-­‐pessimism and Afropolitanism. • The emergence of class inequalities and the struggles of men and women to achieve economic and social equality. Sex and sexualities. • Mimicry, modernity and membership. Dreams, impossibilities, and dependency. Some important readings • Ferguson J.G. 2002. ‘Of Mimicry and Membership: Africans and the “New world Society”’. In: Cultural Anthropology 17(4), pp. 551-­‐569. • Ferguson J.G., 2006. Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order. Durham & London: Duke University Press. • Mbembe A. 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press. • Newell S. 2006. Estranged belongings: A moral economy of theft in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. In: Anthropological Theory, 6[2], pp.179-­‐203. Key Films Cos Ov Moni: Parts 1 & 2 by Fokn Bois 35 Learning Outcomes: •
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To become familiar with a wide range of material and intellectual attitudes which have defined understandings of ‘Africa’ through time and space. To better understand the consequences of this historical legacy, and the ways that it continues to inform attitudes today. To understand ideas of the ‘postcolony’ and the ways in which Africans shape their own worlds. To become familiar with the works of leading anthropologists and of African intellectuals. To develop your ability to read ethnographic writing critically and comparatively. To develop your knowledge of a range of theoretical positions. To encourage you to extend your visual vocabularies and to be confident in working with media beyond the written word. To acquire a new sense of the multi-­‐facetted nature of ‘Africa’. Transferable Skills: •
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If you engage with materials and expectations of the module with attention, energy and intelligence, this course will help you to develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts. It will help enhance your presentation, negotiation and communication skills, and also your ability to work with others in a cooperative way. It will help you to develop your skills in textual and visual analysis and enhance your research skills. It will enhance your ability for group participation and the public presentation of ideas. The course also aims to help you develop your critical ability, your capacity to make your own original arguments, and to find your own voice. 36 SA3506 METHODS IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY Lecturer: Dr Aimée Joyce (aj69) Peer Review Coordinator: TBC 2 30 Two hours per week Semester: Credits: Teaching: Class Hours: Consultation Hours: Monday 12 – 2pm, Arts Seminar Room 9 Course assessment: -­‐ 2000 word coursework research proposal = 40% -­‐ 4000 word Student Project Proposal = 60% -­‐ Seminar Presentations = 0% -­‐ Ethics and Risk Assessment forms Monday 10am – 12pm, First Floor, 71 North Street This module aims to do two things: to prepare you to do anthropological research and to show how our anthropological research methods can provide an insight to social anthropology as a research discipline. Firstly, the module aims to prepare you for your dissertation research, beginning with research design. You will also be given the opportunity to present your research plans to your colleagues for comment and feedback. Secondly, the module is intended to raise important questions about anthropology as a discipline. As we investigate research methods, we will constantly be returning to the basic questions of methodology: what is it that you want to know, how do you go about knowing it, and what sort of knowledge can you claim to produce? As you work through this course, understanding research practices will offer critical insights into what the discipline of anthropology is. Key Learning Outcomes Design and implement a simple research project Search for relevant sources using libraries and archives. Apply basic research methods appropriately and with regard to issues of ethical and political concern. Critically assess research methods and methodology in anthropology. Present research plans in a number of formats and to different audiences. 37 Transferable Skills Research: You will develop the capacity to find, compile, filter and synthesis information from a range of different textual and non-­‐textual sources. You will learn to read selectively and critically. You will learn how to organise material into a coherent and clearly expressed argument, in writing and speaking. Personal Effectiveness: In lectures and peer review sessions students will develop time and project management skills. Self-­‐motivation is a key element of this courses structure. Communication: Importantly you will learn how to debate, through careful listening as well as clear expression. You will develop your teamwork skills and continue to develop your ability to build and express arguments. You will also learn how to order and present a project proposal Course Outline There will be a mixture of formal lectures and student-­‐led presentations in a weekly session as the main taught component of the course. There will also be peer review sessions. These are small group sessions offering you the opportunity to present you research plans and receive feedback. These sessions are compulsory and will be checked for attendance. Failure to attend will result in permission being withdrawn for progression to fieldwork. See end of handbook for details. Lectures and peer review groups will run parallel to the work you are doing with your supervisors to plan and prepare for your projects. You are also expected to be doing much of the practical groundwork for your projects independently, along with reading up relevant literature for your projects. Recommended Readings Hammersley, M. and P. Atkinson (2007). Ethnography: Principles in Practice. Routledge. Bryman, Alan (2001). Ethnography. Sage Brewer, J. D. (2000). Ethnography. Open University Press. Davies, C. (1999). Reflexive ethnography: a guide to researching selves and others. Routledge. Harris, M. (ed) (2000) The Child in the City. Prickly Pear Rabinow, P. (1977) Reflections on fieldwork in Morocco. University of California Press. Falzon, M-­‐A. (ed) (2009) Multi-­‐sited ethnography. Ashgate Hannerz, U (2003) “Being there…and there… and there! Reflections on Multi-­‐sited Ethnography”. In Ethnography. 4: pp 201 Stoller, P. (1997) Sensuous Scholarship. University of Pennysylvania Press. Wolcott, H.F. (1995). The Art of Fieldwork . Altamira. Stewart, A. (1998). The Ethnographer’s Method. Sage. Agar, M.H. (1980). The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography. Academic Press. Brettell, C. (1993) When They Read What We Write: the politics of ethnography. Bergin & Garvey. Caplan, P. (2003) (ed) The Ethics of Anthropology. Routledge Metcalf, P. (2001). They Lie, We Lie: Getting on with Anthropology. Routledge 38 SA4005 THE WEST INDIES AND THE BLACK ATLANTIC Dr Huon Wardle (hobw) 2 30 Teaching: Two hours per week (plus project sessions to be arranged). Class Hours: Monday 10am – 12pm, St Mary’s Lecture Room 1 Semester: Credits: Course assessment: One three-­‐hour examination = 50% Group Project (20%) and Essay (30%) = 50% Historically, the modern Caribbean region is the product of conquest, slave transportation, indenture and the plantation system. The dynamics of cultural creativity and social organisation in the West Indies have been shaped within and against the overarching structures of a colonial and post-­‐colonial political-­‐economy and the status of the Caribbean as a periphery of US and European political-­‐economic power. In this course we examine the historical-­‐social makeup of the Caribbean as a neoteric and creolising culture-­‐region created out of modern social forces since 1492. Some films relevant to the course: The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry (dir. Ethan Higbee) Marley (dir. Kevin MacDonald) Fire in Babylon (dir. Stevan Riley) Some books relevant to the course: Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (Sidney Mintz) Crab Antics: A Caribbean Case Study of the Conflict Between Reputation and Respectability (Peter J. Wilson) An Ethnography of Cosmopolitanism in Kingston, Jamaica (Huon Wardle) Outcomes: The course will – provide an understanding of core debates shaping the anthropology of the region – explain key ethnographic examples exemplifying major debates – show the relevance of the Caribbean as an anthropological region to understanding contemporary discussions in anthropology more generally – bring anthropological insights developed in other regions to thinking about the Caribbean and vice versa. Transferable Skills: You will learn to build case studies and relevant theoretical tools you can deploy in other modules and aspects of the curriculum and elsewhere. You will develop research and presentational skills for a group project on a theme in Caribbbean studies. 39 You will learn to work as part of a team sharing information and ideas towards building individual and group research plans. You will learn to present your ideas for an audience in a conference-­‐style presentation format. Note on Assessment: The course includes group project work toward a conference-­‐style presentation on a specific topic in Caribbean studies – e.g. Rastafari, Reggae and Ethiopianism; this is followed by an essay report and a sit-­‐down exam. 40 SA4857 WEST AFRICA Professor Roy Dilley (rmd) ______________________________________________________________________________________ Semester: 2 Credits: 30 Teaching: Two hours per week Class Hour: Consultation Hours: Tuesday 2-­‐4pm, Seminar Room 50 Course assessment: Coursework = 50%, Exam = 50% Fridays 2-­‐4pm, by appointment A recent commentator noted that developments in the social anthropology of West Africa are of more than merely parochial interest; indeed, West Africa has been a source of innovative work, much of which is relevant to the broader field of social anthropological theory and practice. It was, for example, the testing ground for kinship theories, for the concept of ethnicity and for anthropological theories of development. Of particular interest for this course will be the way in which anthropologists of West Africa have initiated and shaped debates concerning: for example, conversion to world religions, problems of interpretation of local religious beliefs and practices, the nature of Islam in West Africa, colonialism and post-­‐colonialism, issues connected with experimental styles of ethnographic writing and more. This course has two aims: the first is to introduce a number of central themes relating to the general ethnographic and historical contexts of the region; the second is to focus on a few selected topics whose relevance extends beyond the boundaries of the region. The first part of the course is essentially a general introduction to the region of West Africa, giving the student a basic appreciation of the historical depth, geographical spread and ethnographic variety of the area. The second part of the course deals with a series of topics in greater anthropological depth. Running in parallel with the set of lectures is a series of films, which will be shown in class. This module examines, therefore, some of the central themes in anthropological studies of the history and social organisation of West African peoples. The course will give an appreciation of the cultural particularities of the region as well as an awareness of the wider theoretical importance of the selected topics under study. The subjects to be examined include: • History and development of the region; • Pastoral Fulani and indigenous kingdoms and empires • Impact of world religions: Islam, Christianity and religious conversion; • 'Caste' and indigenous conceptions of power and knowledge; • Colonial encounter in West Africa -­‐ madness, violence, atrocity and intimacy; • Modernity and post-­‐colonialism; • Witchcraft and 'occult' economies. 41 Selected Texts •
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Bâ, Amadou Hampâté. The Fortunes of Wangrin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Clarke, P. West Africa and Islam. London: Edward Arnold. Clarke, P. West Africa and Christianity. London: Edward Arnold. Conrad, D & Frank, B (eds) Status and Identity in West Africa : Nyamakalaw of Mande. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Dilley, R. Islamic and Caste Knowledge Practices among Haalpulaaren, Senegal. Edinburgh: International Africa Institute. Dilley, R. Nearly Native, Barely Civilized: Henri Gaden's Journey Across Colonial French West Africa (1894-­‐1939). Leiden: Brill. Fardon, R. Between God, the Dead and the Wild. Edinburgh: EUP. Forde, D. West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: OUP. Geschiere, P. The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. Geschiere, P. Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust: Africa in Comparison. Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press. Goody, J. Technology, Tradition and the State. London: Hutchinson. Hart, K. Political Economy of West African Agriculture. Cambridge: CUP. Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. London: Mariner Books Horton, R. Patterns of Thought in Africa and the West: Magic, Religion and Science. Cambridge: CUP. Jackson, M. Allegories of the Wilderness: Ethics and Ambiguity in Kuranko Narratives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Jackson, M. Barawa and the Ways Birds Fly in the Sky. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Karp, I & Bird, C. Explorations in African Systems of Thought. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Launay, R . Traders without Trade. Cambridge: CUP. Lewis, I . [2nd ed.] Islam in Tropical Africa. London: International Africa Institute. McNaughton, P. The Mande Blacksmith: Knowledge, Power and Art in Western Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Soares, B. Islam and the Prayer Economy: History and Authority in a Malian Town Stoller, P . In Sorcery's Shadow. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Stoller, P. The Fusion of the Worlds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Stoller, P. Embodying Colonial Memories: Spirit Possession, Power and the Hauka in West Africa. London: Routledge. Taithe, B. The Killer Trail: A Colonial Scandal in the Heart of Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press 42 Learning Outcomes: To achieve a level of understanding of a range of regional and historical issues in the social and cultural anthropology of West Africa; To grasp the key debates in the anthropology of West Africa, and how these have led to developments in the discipline of anthropology more generally; To appreciate how theory, method and ethnography are mutually interlinked in social and cultural anthropology of West Africa; Transferable skills: To be able to deploy the knowledge and critical thinking developed in the module in depth in a 3,000-­‐word coursework essay and in breadth during a three-­‐hour sit down examination; An ability to think and make sense of the world by means of high-­‐level abstract concepts and methodologies; A capacity to discuss and debate a range of material in class, seminar and tutorial settings; A skill in the oral and written presentation of a highly complex body of ideas; An ability to assess the strengths and weakness of any particular argument, and to present the case for and against it; A skill in gleaning relevant material from a number of different learning contexts: formal lectures, seminars and tutorials, films, private study. 43 SA4864 MELANESIAN ANTHROPOLOGY Dr Tony Crook ______________________________________________________________________________________ Semester: 2 Credits: 30 Teaching: Two hours per week Class Hour: Consultation Hours: Wednesday 10am – 12pm, Arts Seminar Room 4 Course assessment: Coursework = 50%, Exam = 50% TBC Melanesia has exercised a disproportionate influence on anthropological ideas, and has provided anthropology with some of its more challenging ethnographies. Melanesian anthropology has made important contributions to debates and theoretical developments regarding fieldwork method, exchange, kinship, politics, gender, cosmology, ecology and the body. By working through a series of ethnographic case-­‐studies from across the region, the course provides an introduction to Melanesia and to the distinctive characteristics of anthropological responses arising from it. The course also aims to explore how the aesthetics of Melanesian sociality have provided analytical resources for approaching the ethnography, and theoretical insights for critically engaging anthropological knowledge. Students will gain an in-­‐depth knowledge of certain debates within the anthropology of Melanesia illustrated by academic and ethnographic materials. The course will provide students with thorough familiarity with a wide-­‐range of case-­‐studies, the intellectual skills needed to relate examples to wider social science theorizing and to inspect other anthropological texts ethnographically. Objectives: by the end of this course you should have improved… • Your knowledge of the Melanesia region, life-­‐worlds and internal differentiation. • Your knowledge of the anthropology of Melanesia and its ethnographic characteristics. • Your knowledge of the ways in which ethnography can both inform anthropological analysis and provide critical insights into anthropological theory. • Your understanding of how regional ethnography and theorisation articulates with global anthropological theory. • Your understanding of the ways that Melanesian anthropology has created new relationships between analysis, theory and ethnography. 44 Transferable Skills and Employability This course will help you develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, in particular skills in ethnographic analysis, critical theorising and thinking through ideas on their own terms. The course will also enhance abilities for group participation and presentation of ideas, and discussion of unfamiliar cultural aesthetics. Some Key Texts: •
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Crook, T. 2007 ‘Methodology After the Event’, in Anthropological knowledge, secrecy and Bolivip, Papua New Guinea : exchanging skin, Oxford: Published for the British Academy by the Oxford University Press. GN671.N5C8 Feld, S. 1982 Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. DU740.42F4 Leach, J. 2003 Creative Land, New York: Berghahn Books. DU740.42L42 Munn, N. 1986 The Fame of Gawa : a symbolic study of value tranformation in a Massim (Papua New Guinea) society, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, DU740.42M8 Reed, A. 2004. Papua New Guinea's Last Place: experiences of constraint in a postcolonial prison. Berghahn: Oxford HV8486.P27R4 Strathern, M. 1992 ‘The Decomposition of an Event’, Cultural Anthropology, 7:2, p244-­‐54. perGN301.C8 Strathern, M. 1988 The Gender of the Gift: Problems with Women and Problems with Society in Melanesia, Berkeley: California University Press. DU490.S8 Wagner, R. 1974 ‘Are There Social Groups in the New Guinea Highlands?’, in Leaf, M., (ed) Frontiers of Anthropology: An Introduction to Anthropological Thinking. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company. p95-­‐122. GN24.F8 45 GUIDANCE ON ESSAY AND DISSERTATION WRITING Please note the following key points: 1. Essays should be typed and submitted via MMS (https://www.st-­‐andrews.ac.uk/mms/) 2. Essays should be properly referenced, especially direct quotations from books and articles, and a bibliography should be attached. The bibliography should only contain items that have been specifically referred to in the text. We strongly recommend that you follow the system explained in the last section of this handbook. Consult your lecturer/tutor/supervisor if in doubt. Penalties & Rules for Late Submissions See Undergraduate Handbook. ESSAY WRITING 1. Writing an essay or report is an exercise in the handling of ideas. It is not the mere transcription of long and irrelevant passages from textbooks. To gain a pass mark, an essay or report must show evidence of hard thinking (ideally, original thinking) on the student's part. 2. When a lecturer sets you an essay or report he or she is explicitly or implicitly asking you a question. Above all else your aim should be to discern what that question is and to answer it. You should give it a cursory answer in the first paragraph (introduction), thus sketching your plan of attack. Then in the body of the essay or report you should give it a detailed answer, disposing in turn of all the points that it has raised. And at the end (conclusion) you should give it another answer, i.e. a summary of your detailed answer. Note If the question has more than one part you should dedicate equal attention to each one. 3. An essay or report must be based on a sound knowledge of the subject it deals with. This means that you must read. If you are tempted to answer any question off the top of your head, or entirely from your own personal experience or general knowledge, you are asking for trouble. 4. Make brief notes as you read, and record the page references. Don't waste time by copying out long quotations. Go for the ideas and arrange these on paper. Some people find that arranging ideas in diagrams and tables makes them easier to remember and use than verbal passages. You will find it easier to do this if you keep certain questions in mind: What is the author driving at? What is the argument? Does it apply only to a particular society, or are generalised propositions being made? How well do the examples used fit the argument? Where are the weaknesses? Also think about the wider implications of an argument. Copy the actual words only if they say something much more aptly than you could say yourself. It is a good plan to write notes on the content of your reading in blue and your own comments on them in red. There is another aspect of your reading which should go hand in hand with the assessment of any one item: you should compare what you have read in different books and articles. Test 46 what one author proposed against evidence from other societies: what do the different approaches lend to one another? In this way you should begin to see the value (and the problems) of comparison and learn that writers disagree and write contradictory things, and that all printed matter is not indisputable just because it lies between hard covers. Note that as well as showing evidence of reading of set texts, good answers link the essay topic back to material given in lectures or tutorials. You can also gain marks by including additional reading, providing it is clear from your essay that you have actually read it! 5. Don't then sit down and write the essay or report. Plan it first. Give it a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Much of the information you will have collected will have to be rejected because it isn't relevant. Don't be tempted to include anything that hasn't a direct bearing on the problem expressed in the title of the essay or report. Note that in the introductory paragraph it is a good idea to make it absolutely clear to the reader exactly what you understand by certain crucial concepts you will be discussing in the essay -­‐ these concepts will probably be those which appear in the essay title. Define these concepts if you think there may be any ambiguity about them. Note also that when you give examples to illustrate a point be careful not to lose track of the argument. Examples are intended to illustrate a general (usually more abstract) point; they are not a substitute for making this point. 6. When you finally start on the essay or report, please remember these points: (a) Leave wide margins and a space at the end for comments. Any work that is illegible, obviously too long or too short, or lacking margins and a space at the end will be returned for re-­‐writing. Essays should be typed, preferably on one side of the paper and double-­‐
spaced. (b) Append a bibliography giving details of the material you have read and cited in the essay. Arrange it alphabetically by author and by dates of publication. Look at the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute as an example of the style of presenting a bibliography. N.B. In the body of the essay or report, whenever you have occasion to support a statement by reference to a book or article, give in brackets the name of the author and date. To acknowledge a quotation or a particular observation, the exact page number should be added. For example, 'Shortly after the publication of The Andaman Islanders, Radcliffe-­‐Brown drew attention to the importance of the mother's brother (Radcliffe-­‐Brown 1924). What kindled his interest in the South African material was the pseudo-­‐historical interpretation of Henri Junod (Radcliffe-­‐Brown 1952: 15) ...........' If you are not sure how to do this, look in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute or some monograph in the library to get an idea of how this is done. Alternatively, footnote your references. Note that if you simply copy a writer's words into your essay without acknowledgement you will lose marks, and could even receive a zero mark. 7. Footnotes should be placed either at the foot of each page, or all together at the end. If on each page, they should be numbered consecutively from the beginning of each chapter, e.g. 1-­‐
47 22. If placed all together at the end, they should be numbered consecutively throughout the whole research project, e.g. 1-­‐103, in which case do not start renumbering for each chapter. 8. Footnote references in the text should be clearly designated by means of superior figures, placed after punctuation, e.g. ................the exhibition. 10 9. Underlining (or italics) should include titles of books and periodical publications, and technical terms or phrases not in the language of the essay, (e.g. urigubu, gimwali). 10. Italicize: ibid., idem., op.cit., loc.cit., and passim. 11. Single inverted commas should be placed at the beginning and end of quotations, with double inverted commas for quotes-­‐within-­‐quotes. 12. If quotations are longer than six typed lines they should be indented, in which case inverted commas are not needed. 13. PLEASE TRY TO AVOID GENDER-­‐SPECIFIC LANGUAGE. Don't write he/him when you could be referring to a woman! You can avoid this problem by using plurals (they/them). DISSERTATION PRESENTATION 1. See instructions under SA4098 and SA4099 2. The Project must be submitted in hard copy. We require TWO bound hard copies, typewritten and 1.5-­‐spaced on one side of A4 paper (or its nearest equivalent) only, on sheets of good quality paper and numbered consecutively. Leave a margin of about 25-­‐30mm down the left-­‐hand side and a head margin of 20mm. 3. The Project should be submitted by 23rd January 2017 at 4pm 4. Photographs may be made, at your expense, by the University Reprographic Services. 5. The cover includes your name and a brief title only. 6. Title page should include the following: University of St. Andrews, Department of Social Anthropology (plus cognate subject in the case of joint research project), Library-­‐based Dissertation or Primary research-­‐based Dissertation, year, title, author's name, and total word count. 7. A table of contents should follow the title-­‐page. This should list the chapters or sections numbered consecutively and the page locations. If there are tables and figures in the body of the text these should likewise be listed. 8. A synopsis, which should not exceed 300 words, should be included after the list of contents, tables and figures and preceding the text of the project. 9. The letter of approval from the School Ethics Committee MUST be bound into your dissertation In this regard, please note that in no case can ethical approval be granted retrospectively for a new project. It is the individual student's responsibility to ensure that he or she has approval for a project before beginning the fieldwork. In a case where the conditions of fieldwork give rise to the necessity for changing somewhat the focus or emphasis of the research, or the personnel involved, the student must seek departmental approval by contacting, in the first instance, socanthadmin@st-­‐andrews.ac.uk so that a member of the Administrative Staff can send the query or request on to the relevant member of Academic Staff. Where a radical 48 change is proposed -­‐ e.g. if the student has to move the location of the project or if different personnel are to be involved -­‐ it is clearly of the first importance that the student seek departmental approval; if, in the judgement of the relevant member of Academic Staff, the change is so radical as to amount to an entirely new project, this will always entail that a new submission be made to our Anthropology SEC and through us to UTREC and that research cannot begin until approval is granted. 10. Finally, please upload an electronic copy of your dissertation to MMS. REFERENCING – ESSAYS AND DISSERTATIONS Correct referencing is a critical aspect of all essays. It is the primary skill that you are expected to learn and it also guards you against the dangers of plagiarism. Make sure that when you are reading texts that you note down accurately the source of information by recording the name of the author, the book title, page number and so forth. This will enable you to reference correctly when it comes to writing your essay. Adequate referencing requires you to indicate in the appropriate places in body of your essay the source of any information you may use. Such references vary in kind, but a general guide to the correct format would be: A general reference: … as Turnbull’s (1983) work demonstrates … … the romanticisation of Pygmies has been commonplace in anthropology (e.g. Turnbull 1983) … Note: In this example, the author is referring to Turnbull’s work in a general way. If the author was referring to specific ideas or details made by Turnbull, then the page number needs to be specified A paraphrase: … Turnbull describes how the Ituri Forest had remained relatively untouched by colonialism (Turnbull 1983: 24) … Note: This is more specific than a general reference as it refers to a particular point or passage by an author. It is your summary of a point made by someone else (in this case Turnbull). When paraphrasing, you must always include the page number in your reference. A quotation: … under these circumstances, “the Mbuti could always escape to the forest” (Turnbull 1983: 85). Note: All quotes from anyone else’s work must be acknowledged and be placed within speech marks. The page number or numbers must be referenced. If you need to alter any of the words within the quote to clarify your meaning, the words changed or added should be placed in square brackets [thus] to indicate that they are not those of the original author. Bibliography: All tests referenced within the body of your essay must be included within the bibliography. Entries in the bibliography should be organised in alphabetical order and should contain full publication details. Consult an anthropological journal, such as the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI), to see how the correct format should appear. This is available both electronically and in hard copy. The standard format of bibliographic referencing is as follows: 49 Book: Turnbull, C.M. 1983. The Mbuti Pygmies: Change and Adaptation. New York, Holt Reinhart and Wilson. Edited Collection: Leacock, E. & R. Lee (eds) 1982. Politics and History in Band Societies. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. Chapter in edited collection: Woodburn. J.C. (1980). Hunters and gatherers today and reconstruction of the past. In Soviet and western anthropology (ed.) E. Gellner. London: Duckworth. Journal article: Ballard, C. 2006. Strange alliance: Pygmies in the colonial imaginary. World Archaeology,38, 1, 133-­‐
151. Web pages: It is unadvisable to use web sites unless directed to them by a lecturer. There is a great deal of rubbish on the Internet. However, if you do, it is important that you provide full details of the web-­‐
page address as well as the date on which the page was accessed. Miller, J.J. 2000. The Fierce People: The wages of anthropological incorrectness. Article available electronically at: http://www.nationalreview.com/20nov00/miller112000.shtml. Accessed 22/09/2006. If you are not sure how to do this, look in the journal JRAI or some monograph in the library to get an idea of how this is done. Alternatively, footnote your references. Note that if you simply copy a writer's words into your essay without acknowledgement you run the risk of plagiarism and will lose marks, and may even receive a zero mark. 8. Please also note the following: (a) Spellings, grammar, writing style. Failure to attend to these creates a poor impression. Note, especially: society, argument, bureaucracy. (b) Foreign words: Underline (or italicize) these, unless they have passed into regular English. (c) PLEASE TRY TO AVOID GENDER-­‐SPECIFIC LANGUAGE. Don't write he/him when you could be referring to a woman! You can avoid this problem by using plurals (they/them). 50