University of Edinburgh
School of Social and Political Science
Social Anthropology
2015/2016
SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY 1B:
Anthropology Matters
SCAN08012
Key Information
Course Convenor
Lecturers
Senior Tutor
Neil Thin
Email: [email protected]
Casey High
Email: [email protected]
Alice Street
Email: [email protected]
Iris Marchand
Email: [email protected]
Location
Semester 2
Mondays & Thursdays 16.10 – 17.00
Lecture Hall A, David Hume Tower Lecture Theatres
Course Secretary
Ewen Miller
Email: [email protected]
Undergraduate Teaching Office, G.04/05, CMB
Assessment
Deadlines
Essay: 12 noon, Monday, 29 February, 2016
Exam: To be confirmed
Contents
Course Outline .......................................................................................................... 3
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes ................................................................ 3
Assessment Information ............................................................................................ 3
Essay ........................................................................................................................ 3
Essay Topics ......................................................................................................... 3
Tutorials .................................................................................................................... 4
Tutorial Program: What will we be doing?.............................................................. 4
How to sign up....................................................................................................... 4
Lecture Programme................................................................................................... 6
Appendix 1 – Submission & Assessment Information .............................................. 24
Word Count Penalties.......................................................................................... 24
ELMA: Submission and Return of Coursework .................................................... 24
Return of Feedback ............................................................................................. 25
Exam Feedback and Viewing Exam Scripts: ....................................................... 25
The Operation of Lateness Penalties................................................................... 25
Extension Policy .................................................................................................. 25
Plagiarism Guidance for Students: Avoiding Plagiarism: ..................................... 26
Data Protection Guidance for Students:............................................................... 26
Appendix 2 – General Information ........................................................................... 27
Students with Disabilities. .................................................................................... 27
Learning Resources for Undergraduates ............................................................. 27
Discussing Sensitive Topics: ............................................................................... 28
Guide to Using LEARN for Online Tutorial Sign-Up: ............................................ 28
External Examiner ............................................................................................... 29
2
Social Anthropology 1B: Anthropology Matters
Course Outline
What does anthropology have to say about some of the most important issues
facing us today? Anthropologists do not just engage with small-scale exotic
societies but have always contributed to public debates about global issues
that affect us all. Focusing on some of these debates, this course explores the
distinctive nature of social anthropology and its contribution to a critical
understanding of an increasingly ‘shared’ world. We examine how concepts
and ideas that have driven anthropology help us shed new light on debates
that are at the heart of contemporary questions about how people live their
lives and relate to each other.
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Through critical debate and analysis, students will gain a clear understanding
of the relevance of social anthropology and its findings to the resolution of
important social and cultural issues worldwide. They will enrich their
appreciation of social and cultural commonalities and differences both within
and between nations. They will develop the analytical skills necessary to see
the world in an anthropological way – that is, to make the strange familiar and
the familiar strange. Along these lines, they will also develop the ability to
apply moral and practical reasoning in culturally sensitive ways to current
affairs, while also strengthening their own cultural self-awareness.
Assessment Information
Students will be required to complete one assessed essay of 1500-2000
words (40% of the overall mark) and a degree examination consisting of one
2-hour paper (60% of the overall mark). You MUST pass the exam to pass the
course.
Essay
You are required to write one essay (topics below), to be submitted
electronically by 12 noon on Monday 29th February.
Essay Topics
1. ‘Anthropology’s most important benefit is positive cultural appreciation.’
Discuss.
Choose any readings you like from weeks 1-3.
2. ‘States of consciousness are private affairs, but they do need to be publicly
regulated.’ Discuss.
Choose any relevant readings from week 2.
3. How could ethnographic accounts of relationships help to guide
sociocultural reform?
Choose any relevant readings from week 3.
4. What makes a person disabled?
3
Choose any relevant readings from the 4th Feb list on disability.
Tutorials
Tutorials provide an opportunity for you to discuss your own ideas and your
reaction to the readings and lectures. The tutors will also assist you in the
organisation of your essays and preparation for the exam at the end of the
year.
Each tutorial consists of 10-12 students. Tutorials meet weekly, starting in the
second week of the course. Your first tutorial will take place in the week
starting Monday, 18 January 2016.
Please note that pressure of work or problems of time management are
not considered an acceptable reason for non-attendance at tutorials or
for late submission of work.
A list of Tutors and contact email addresses will be made available on Learn
during the first week of teaching.
Tutorial Program: What will we be doing?
The first tutorial will provide you with essentials about the program and
procedures for the rest of the course, and it is therefore all the more important
that you do not miss it.
Tutorials have a flexible format, but they do follow a pre-defined course of
work. In order to gain a basic understanding of Social Anthropology and to
have the opportunity to discuss the lecture/reading material, tutorial work will
closely follow the discussion topics as specified in this course guide. Attention
will also be paid to developing the necessary writing and bibliographical skills
ensuring that all students can research, write and present essays effectively.
In addition, guided by past years’ final exam papers, tutorials will help you
prepare for the exam.
How to sign up
Tutorial sign-up is done online, using Learn. Full instructions on how to do this
are available at the end of this handbook.
Some useful web sites and texts on public interest anthropology, for
optional background reading
American Anthropological Association http://www.aaanet.org/resources/
Open Anthropology www.aaaopenanthro.org
Current Anthropology [journal] (2010) vol.51: Special Issue: Engaged
Anthropology
Eller, Jack D. (2015) Cultural Anthropology 101. London: Routledge
4
Beck, Sam, and Carl A. Maida [eds] (2013) Toward Engaged Anthropology.
Oxford: Berghahn
Napier, A. David (2013) Making Things Better: A Workbook on Ritual, Cultural
Values, and Environmental Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Podolefsky, Aaron, Peter Brown, and Scott Lacy [eds] (2011) Applying
Anthropology. 10th edn New York: McGraw-Hill
Coleman, Simon, Susan B. Hyatt, and Ann Kingsolver [eds] (2015) The
Routledge Companion to Contemporary Anthropology. London:
Routledge [if available - not yet published Nov15]
Checker, Melissa (2009) ‘Anthropology in the public sphere, 2008: emerging
trends and significant impacts.’ American Anthropologist 111(2):162–
169
Fassin, Didier (2013) ‘Why ethnography matters: on anthropology and its
publics.’ Cultural Anthropology 28,4:621-646
MacClancy, Jeremy (2013) Anthropology in the Public Arena: Historical and
Contemporary Contexts. Chichester, UK: Wiley
Sillitoe, Paul (2006) ‘The search for relevance: a brief history of applied
anthropology.’ History & Anthropology 17,1:1-19
Bodley, John [ed] (2012) Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems.
6th ed. Altamira Press [E-book]
Eriksen, Thomas H. (2001) Small Places, Large Issues. London: Pluto
Delaney, Carol (2004) Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to
Anthropology. Oxford: Blackwell
Eriksen, Thomas H. (2006) Engaging Anthropology. Oxford: Berg
Besteman, Catherine, and Hugh Gusterson (2005) Why America’s Top
Pundits Are Wrong: Anthropologists Talk Back. Berkeley: University of
California Press
Journals with an emphasis on public interest anthropology
Annals of Anthropological Practice
Anthropology in Action
Anthropology Today
Ethnography and Education
Human Organization
Medical Anthropology
5
Lecture Programme
Weeks 1-3: Neil Thin
Week 1 Lectures
Monday, 11 January, 2016: Prosperity
Should social reform be focused mainly on remedial work, or on more positive
promotion of really good lives? ‘Applied’ social science is often assumed to be
about seeking remedies to problems. Arguably, though, more considerate
discussion of the relevance of research starts not with problems, but with
questions about what matters to people - i.e. their ultimate values, their
aspirations and views on prosperity. If you enquire into ‘happiness,’ it is clear
that you are asking people about what matters to them, and that you hope
your research will be relevant to their aspirations. By taking a systematic
interest in happiness, researchers demonstrate appreciative empathy rather
than merely sympathy. Today, humanity faces uniquely abundant
opportunities for creative rethinking of human potential and the many different
pathways to good living. What kinds of insight can ethnographic research
offer, that might inspire the pursuit and facilitation of happiness?
Required Reading
Mathews, Gordon (2012) ‘Happiness, culture, and context.’ International
Journal of Wellbeing, Special Issue: Happiness: Does Culture Matter?
Further Optional Reading
Thin, Neil (2012) Social Happiness. Bristol: Policy Press, ch.1: ‘Introduction:
prosperity debates and the happiness lens.’; or Thin, Neil, (2011)
‘Socially responsible cheermongery: on the sociocultural contexts and
levels of social happiness policies’ In R.Biswas-Diener [ed], Positive
Psychology as Social Change. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.33-52; or Thin,
Neil (2014) ‘Positive social planning.’ In S.Joseph [ed] Positive
Psychology in Practice. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley pp. 751-772; or
Thin, Neil, Ritu Verma and Yukiko Uchida (2013) ‘Culture,
development, and happiness.’ Chapter 9 in the Report on Wellbeing &
Happiness, by the United Nations/Royal Government of Bhutan
International Expert Working Group on Wellbeing and Happiness
[available on Learn]
Calestani, Melania (2009) ‘An anthropology of ‘the good life’ in the Bolivian
plateau’. Social Indicators Research 90,1:141-153
Robbins, Joel (2013) ‘Beyond the suffering subject: toward an anthropology of
the good.’ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 19,3:447-462
Selin, Helaine, and Gareth Davey (Eds.) (2012) Happiness Across Cultures:
Views of Happiness and Quality of Life in Non-Western Cultures.
Dordrecht: Springer [e-book available via library catalogue]
Anthropology in Action [Journal] 18,3 (2011) Special Issue: Anthropology of
Welfare
Thursday, 14 January, 2016: Schooling
6
What are schools good for? Do their forms and functions adequately vary
according to different cultural contexts and preferences? For the first time in
human history, most of the world’s children are receiving several years of
formal schooling. This is a remarkable globalization of a fairly recent western
sociocultural experiment. Mass schooling began in the industrial revolution
primarily as a way of providing institutional care for children while parents
worked, and then gradually acquired various new purposes such as character
training, acquisition of knowledge and skills, socialization, nation-building, and
public health promotion. But schools do of course come in lots of different
forms, and parental and national views on the purposes of schooling are
varied. This lecture explores the usefulness of ethnography in understanding
the various and often competing roles of schools as sites for social and
personal transformation.
Required Reading
Froerer, Peggy (2012) ‘Learning, livelihoods, and social mobility: valuing girls'
education in central India.’ Anthropology & Education Quarterly
43,4:344 – 357
Further Optional Readings
Thin, Neil (2012) ‘Schooling for joy?’ ch.12 in Social Happiness. Bristol: Policy
Press [E-book]
Kipnis, Andrew B. (2009) ‘Education and the governing of child-centered
relatedness.’ In S.E.Brandtstädter and G.D. Santos (eds), Chinese
Kinship: Contemporary Anthropological Perspectives. London:
Routledge, pp. 204-222 [E-book]
Holland, Dana G., and Mohammad H. Yousofi (2014) ‘The only solution:
education, youth, and social change in Afghanistan.’ Anthropology &
Education Quarterly 45,3:241 – 259
Levinson, Bradley A.U. and Mica Pollock [eds] (2011) Companion to the
Anthropology of Education. Oxford: Blackwell
Week 2 Tutorial Discussion
How could anthropological research on schooling make a benign difference to
the quality and outcomes of schooling? [Read Froerer’s paper from last
Thursday’s lecture]
Week 2 Lectures
Monday, 18 January, 2016: Drugs
In our quest for health, happiness, and temporary emotional escapism or
reprieve, how much – if at all – should we rely on the psychotropic assistance
of chemical compounds and herbs? Everywhere in the world some kinds of
psychoactive drugs are normalized, encouraged or tolerated, while others are
strongly discouraged. To what extent should these biochemical strategies be
left to personal choice? For thousands of years, humans have creatively
7
experimented with the use of psychoactive drugs, as part of broader sociocultural strategies for modifying moods and dispositions. Today,
anthropologists provide important evidence of the global diversity of moodregulating practices, and of the associated cultural contexts in which mental
experiences are interpreted and evaluated. Will their evidence provide useful
insights for contemporary debates about psychoactive drugs: should they be
legal? Are they good or bad for our health, for our mental health, and for
social quality? What sociocultural and economic factors influence drug
usage? What are the benefits and costs of promoting skeptical questioning of
the cultural approval or disapproval of drug usage? Should we try harder to
promote other brain training and mind management strategies that don’t need
drugs?
Required Reading
Quintero, Gilbert, and Mark Nichter (2011) ‘Generation RX: anthropological
research on pharmaceutical enhancement, lifestyle regulation, selfmedication and recreational drug use.’ In M.Singer and P. I. Erickson
(eds), A Companion to Medical Anthropology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell,
pp.339-355
Further Optional Readings
Society for Medical Anthropology Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs Study Group
www.medanthro.net/adtsg
Oldani, Michael, Stefan Ecks, and Soumita Basu (2014) ‘Anthropological
engagements with modern psychotropy.’ Culture, Medicine and
Psychiatry 38,2:174-181
Chrzan, Janet (2013) Alcohol: Social Drinking in Cultural Context. London:
Routledge [E-book; and see companion web
site:http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/anthropologyofstuff/alcohol_ho
me.html]
Page, J. Bryan, and Merrill Singer (2010) Comprehending Drug Use:
Ethnographic Research at the Social Margins. New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers University Press [E-book]
Tucker, Catherine M. (2011) Coffee Culture: Local Experiences, Global
Connections. London: Routledge [chs 6 ‘Coffee, the industrial
revolution, and body discipline’ and 9 ‘Hot and bothered: coffee and
caffeine humor’ and 10 ‘Is coffee good or bad for you? debates over
physical and mental health effects’ [And see companion web site:
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/anthropologyofstuff/coffee_home.ht
ml]
Russell, Andrew, and Elizabeth Rahman [eds] (2015) The Master Plant:
Tobacco in Lowland South America. London: Bloomsbury
Wilson, Thomas M. [ed] (2005) Drinking Cultures Alcohol and Identity.
Oxford: Berg
8
Goodman, Jordan, Andrew Sherratt, and Paul E. Lovejoy [eds] (1995/2007)
Consuming Habits: Global and Historical Perspectives on How
Cultures Define Drugs. 2nd ed. London: Routledge
Withington, Phil, and Angela McShane [eds] (2014) Cultures of Intoxication.
Oxford: Oxford University Press [also available in e-journal Past and
Present 222(suppl 9)]
Gezon, Lisa L. (2012) Drug Effects: Khat in Biocultural and Socioeconomic
Perspective. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press
Thursday, 21 January, 2016: Sleep
How much should we sleep? When? Where? With whom? Should we devote
more care to appreciating and trying to influence are dreams? Sleep is
increasingly understood worldwide as a matter of personal and collective
lifestyle choice. Our wellbeing and relationships are strongly influenced by
these choices. Yet sleep, the neglected ‘other third of life,’ has only recently
become the focus of systematic attention by social scientists. Increasing
concerns about hyperactive lifestyles and diverse timetables have prompted a
spate of anthropological and sociological publications on questions about how
quality of life is influenced by sleep hygiene. Though sometimes understood
negatively as the absence of consciousness, sleep is also valued and
celebrated worldwide not just for its recuperative functions but also as another
life domain with radically different consciousness forms. Humans have unique
abilities to choose when to sleep, whether to remember dreams, and to
deliberately moderate our experiences of different kinds of consciousness.
Today we address the question of whether cross-cultural ethnographic studies
of sleep and dreaming could contribute to improved sleep hygiene, and quality
of life more generally.
Required Reading
Worthman, Carol M., and Melissa K. Melby (2002/2009) ‘Toward a
comparative developmental ecology of human sleep.’ In M.A.
Carskadon [ed], Adolescent Sleep Patterns: Biological, Social, and
Psychological Influences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.
69-117 [http://anthropology.emory.edu/home/documents/worthmanlab/Ecology%20of%20Human%20sleep.pdf]
Further Optional Readings
Glaskin, Katie, and Richard Chenhall [eds] (2013) Sleep Around the World:
Anthropological Perspectives. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan [Ebook]
Wolf-Meyer, Matthew J. (2012) The Slumbering Masses: Sleep, Medicine,
and Modern American Life. University of Minnesota Press [E-book]
Paideuma [journal] (2005), vol.51, Special Issue: ‘When Darkness Comes...’:
Steps toward an Anthropology of the Night.’
9
Musharbash, Yasmine (2013) ‘Night, sight, and feeling safe: An exploration of
aspects of Warlpiri and Western sleep.’ Australian Journal of
Anthropology 24,1:48-63
Hollan, Douglas (2013) ‘Sleeping, dreaming, and health in rural Indonesia and
the urban US: A cultural and experiential approach.’ Social Science &
Medicine 79:23–30
Yetish, Gandhi (2015) ‘Natural sleep and its seasonal variations in three preindustrial societies.’ Current Biology 25,21:2862–2868
Tutorial Discussion for Week 3
From last week’s list, read at least ONE academic paper on your drug of
choice (coffee, alcohol, or something stronger), and try also to glance at some
contemporary online resources relating to debates about its social benefits
and risks. Come to the tutorial prepared to share what you’ve learned about
cultural differences in the valuation, use, and regulation of this drug.
Week 3 Lectures
Monday, 25 January, 2016: Love
To what extent can and should the power of love be deliberately regulated?
Dyadic bonds are the basic building-blocks of society, and the main
mechanisms through which individual lives are made happy or miserable. The
quality of those bonds is strongly influenced by the presence or absence of
the various experiences that are loosely grouped together under the general
category of ‘love’. The proper expression of love – its enjoyability, safety,
durability, manipulability, and social responsibility – is hotly debated
worldwide. Though love is often understood as mysterious and beyond our
control, most people in every culture are involved in the deliberate
manipulation and regulation of love at both personal and collective levels.
Everywhere, love is influenced and regulated by cultural processes (storytelling, parenting, schooling, evaluative conversations) and by policies and
institutions (norms, laws, rules, and ritual practices). New tensions are
emerging as the desires, experiences, and expressions of love become
influenced by diverse cultural values. This lecture explores how, after previous
neglect, love has emerged as an important and policy-relevant theme in
cross-cultural research on relationships.
Required Reading
Jankowiak, William, and Thomas Paladino (2008) ‘Desiring sex, longing for
love: a tripartite conundrum’. In W.Jankowiak [ed], Intimacies: Between
Love and Sex Around the World. W. Jankowiak, ed. Columbia
University Press, pp. 1-36
http://66.199.228.237/boundary/Sexual_Addiction/Desiring%20Sex,%2
0Longing%20for%20Love%20A%20Tripartite%20Conundrum.pdf
Further Optional Readings
10
Thin, Neil (2012) ‘Love: fighting philophobia around the world.’ ch.9 in Social
Happiness: Theory into Policy and Practice. Bristol: Policy Press [Ebook]
Open Anthropology [Journal] 1,1 (2013) Special Issue: Marriage and Other
Arrangements
Montgomery, Heather (2007) ‘Working with child prostitutes in Thailand:
problems of practice and interpretation’. Childhood 14: 415 – 430 [or:
Montgomery, Heather 2010 ‘Focusing on the child, not the prostitute:
shifting the emphasis in accounts of child prostitution.’ Wagadu Special
Issue: Demystifying Sex Work and Sex Workers, pp. 166-188
http://appweb.cortland.edu/ojs/index.php/Wagadu/article/view/545/779
Mody, Perveez (2002) ‘Love and the law: love-marriage in Delhi.’ Modern
Asian Studies 36(1):223–256
Kim, J. and Elaine Hatfield (2004) ‘Love types and subjective well being.’
Social Behavior and Personality 32: 173-182, at:
www.elainehatfield.com
Jónasdóttir, Anna G., and Ann Ferguson [eds] (2014) Love: A Question for
Feminism in the Twenty-First Century. London: Routledge
Thursday, 28 January, 2016: Gender
What kinds of gender reform would make women’s and men’s lives go better?
What are the pros, cons, and justifications of gender-based segregation and
discrimination? If gender differences provide us with so many important
sources of personal identity, motivation, enjoyment, and cultural interest,
should we try harder to develop more appreciative approaches to gender, to
complement the default social scientists’ remedial and reformist approaches?
When gender researchers engage in moral debate about policy and practice,
they often portray gender differentiation (and associated segregation and
ranking) as a source of avoidable suffering and injustice. Since the perception
of injustice is strongly intertwined with cultural values, there is no way for
anthropologists to avoid moral dilemmas when trying to convert gender
research into progressive policy and practice. Today we explore the ways in
which anthropology can help us understand gender-related choices and moral
debates better.
Required Reading
Abu-Lughod, Lila (2002) ‘Do Muslim women really need saving?
Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others.’
American Anthropologist 104,3:783-790
Further Optional Readings
Roy, Ahona, and Abhijit Das (2014) ‘Are masculinities changing?
Ethnographic exploration of a gender intervention with men in rural
Maharashtra, India.’ Institute of Development Studies Bulletin 45,1:29–
38
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Social Anthropology 17,4 (2009) [journal] Special Issue: ‘Muslim women’ in
Europe
Thin, Neil (2012) ‘New gender agendas: feelgood feminism for fun and
fulfilment.’ Ch.13 in Social Happiness. Bristol: Policy Press [E-book]
Uhl, Sarah 1991 ‘Forbidden friends: cultural veils of female friendship in
Andalusia.’ American Ethnologist 18,1: 90-105
Auhagen, Anne E., and Maria von Salisch [transl.:Ann Robertson] (1996) The
Diversity of Human Relationships. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
[E-book]
Tutorial Discussion for Week 4
Is it ethnocentric to assert the right of individuals to choose whom to love and
how to express their love? (Choose any readings from the lecture on love.)
Weeks 4, 5 & 6: Alice Street
Week 4 Lectures
Monday, 1 February, 2016: Euthanasia
Should you be able to choose the time of your death? What is death? What is
‘bad death’ and how do we hope to die? Focusing on euthanasia and the
quest for a ‘good death’, this lecture explores some of the implications of the
right-to-die debate in order to illustrate the significance of how we die.
Exploring the distinction between social and biological death as well as some
of the practices and quandaries created by the desire to authorize one’s own
death, it considers a number of assumptions – mostly implicit – which frame
and inform our fear of ‘bad death’.
Required Reading
Green, J. (2008) Beyond the Good Death: The Anthropology of Modern
Dying. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. (Chapter 1,
‘Getting Dead’, pages 1-30). [e-reserve]
Further Optional Readings
Bloch, M. (1988) ‘Death and the Concept of the Person’. In S. Cederroth, C.
Corlin and J. Lindstrom (eds), On the Meaning of Death. Uppsala:
AUU. Pages 11-26. [e-reserve]
Cassell, E. (1974) ‘Dying in a Technological Society’. The Hastings Center
Studies 2(2): 31-36. [e-journal]
Counts, D.A. & D. Counts (2004) ‘The good, the bad, and the unresolved
death in Kaliai’, Social Science & Medicine 58: 887-897. [e-journal]
Lawton J. (1998) ‘Contemporary Hospice care: the sequestration of the
bounded body and ‘dirty dying’’, Sociology of Health and Illness 20(2):
121-143. [e-journal]
12
Long, S.O. (2004) ‘Cultural Scripts for a good death in Japan and the United
States: similarities and differences’, Social Science & Medicine 58:
913-928. [e-journal]
Thursday 4 February, 2016: Disability
Campaigners have long argued that disability is an effect of societal norms
and expectations rather than physical or mental inadequacy. But for many
people in the UK, having a disability recognized by the authorities is also
crucial for gaining access to the benefits, resources and assistance that make
it possible to lead a ‘normal’ life. How is popular, scientific and political
language around disability informed by cultural understandings of
personhood, health and productivity? How and why might disability be dealt
with in different ways in different places and how might this make us reflect on
our ideas about what a ‘normal’ body or person is? This lecture draws on
classic work on the anthropology of the person and the body in anthropology
alongside recent work on disability from medical and political anthropology in
order to answer some of these difficult questions.
Required Reading
Rapp, R., & Ginsburg, F. (2001). ‘Enabling Disability: Rewriting Kinship,
Reimagining Citizenship.’ Public Culture, 13(3): 533-556 (e-journal)
Further Optional Readings
Ingstad, B. & Whyte, S. (1995). Disability and Culture. Berkeley, University of
California Press. [e-book].
Ingstad B, Whyte SR, eds. (2007). Disability in Local and Global Worlds.
Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press. Introduction [e-reserve]
Ginsburg, F. & Rapp, R., (2013). Disability Worlds. Annual Review of
Anthropology, 42:53-68 [e-journal]
Keck, V. (1999) Colder than cool: Disability and personhood among the
Yupno in Papua New Guinea, Anthropology & Medicine, 6:2, 261-283
[e-journal]
Livingston, J. (2005). Debility and the Moral Imagination in Botswana. Indiana
University Press. Chapter 1. Family Matters and Money Matters. [ebook]
Staples, J. (2011). At the Intersection of disability and masculinity: exploring
gender and bodily difference in India. Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute 17:545-562 [e-journal]
Staples, J. Leprosy in South India: The paradox of disablement as
enablement.
http://www.rds.hawaii.edu/ojs/index.php/journal/article/view/404/1240
13
Kulick, D., and Rydstrom, J. (2015). Loneliness and its opposite: sex,
disability and the ethics of engagement. Durham, Duke University
Press. Chapter 3, Page 78-118 (E-Book)
Tutorial Discussion for Week 5
Are lives limited by the physical or mental disabilities people have or by social
perceptions of those disabilities? How might cross-cultural comparison of
disability help inform the way disability is viewed in your society? Discuss with
reference to: Staples, J. Leprosy in South India: The paradox of disablement
as enablement. At:
http://www.rds.hawaii.edu/ojs/index.php/journal/article/view/404/1240.
Try to read some of the discussion resources too:
Further resources:
See a recent article in The Guardian about the introduction of a new noninvasive test for Down’s syndrome and responses from parents of children
with Down’s syndrome:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/17/living-with-downs-syndromehes-not-list-characteristics
See an extraordinary story in the New York Times about an ethics professor
at a US University accused of sexually assaulting a man with Cerebral Palsy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/magazine/the-strange-case-of-annastubblefield.html?_r=0
See contributions to special issue of The Lancet on disability:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/vol374no9704/PIIS01406736(09)X6102-7
Week 5 Lectures
Monday 8 February: Immigration
When and why is immigration a problem? Who is and who is not an
immigrant? What difference does it make to talk about migration rather than
immigration? Or refugees rather than migrants? Today Europe is widely
agreed to be facing a major ‘immigration crisis’ arising from conflict and
instability in the Middle East. This lecture looks to a broad range of
anthropological writings about the forced and unforced movement of people,
in order examine contemporary media and political discourse in Europe.
Given anthropology’s origins in the study of static, homogenous groups, it
might seem a strange place to go for inspiration on understandings of
migration. But recent anthropological work exploring the bureaucratic systems
involved in claiming asylum, cultural experiences of life in refugee camps, and
the texture of everyday life on the move all have the potential to provide
important insights into what makes people move, and its cultural, economic
and political implications for migrants, governments and wider publics.
Required readings
14
Holmes, S. (2013) ‘Is it worth risking your life?’: Ethnography, risk and death
on the U.S.-Mexico Border. Social Science and Medicine, 99:153-161
[e-journal]
Stolcke, V. (1995) Talking culture: New boundaries, new rhetorics of exclusion
in Europe. Current Anthropology, 36 (1): 1-24 [e-journal]
Further optional readings
Gardner, K. (1995) Global Migrants, Local lives: Travel and transformation in
rural Bangladesh. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Chapter 2.
‘Journeys’ [e-reserve]
Heyman, J. (1995) Putting the power of anthropology in bureaucracy: the
immigration and naturalization service at the U.S.-Mexico Border.
Current Anthropology, 36(2):261-287 [e-journal]
Schiller et al. (1995) From immigrant to transmigrant: theorizing transnational
migration. Anthropological Quarterly, 68(1): 48-63 [e-journal]
Malkki L. (1995) Purity and Exile. Violence, Memory, and National Cosmology
Among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press.
Introduction [e-reserve]
Ticktin, Miriam. (2011) Casualties of Care: Immigration and the Politics of
Humanitarianism in France. Berkeley: University of California Press, .
Chapter 1. [E-book]
Thursday 11 February: Hunger
Anthropologists have long understood food and eating to be sites of politics
and symbolic exchange as well as biological survival. This lecture explores
how anthropological approaches to political economy and global supply
chains on one hand and concepts of substance, kinship and the body on the
other can inform contemporary debates about hunger: what it is, what causes
it, and how to address it?
Required Readings
Scheper-Hughes, N. (1997) Death without weeping: the violence of everyday
life in Brazil. Chapter 5 ‘Nervoso’. [e-reserve]
Further Optional Readings
Richards, Audrey Hunger and Work in a Savage Tribe. Chapter 1 [e-reserve]
Vernon, J. (2007) Hunger: A Modern History. Harvard University Press.
Chapter 1 ‘Hunger and the making of the modern world’. [E-book]
Devi Sridhar, D. 2008. The Battle against hunger: choice, circumstance and
the World Bank. Chapter 3 ‘understanding hunger’. [E-book]
Kimura, A.H. 2013. Hidden Hunger: Gender and the Politics of Smarter
Foods. Ithaca, Cornell University Press. Chapter 6 ‘Smart Baby food:
participating in the market’ [main-library]
15
Mintz, S. and Du Bois, C. (2002). The Anthropology of food and eating.
Annual Review of Anthropology, 31:99-119 [e-journal]
15-19 February, 2016: Innovative Learning week – No course classes
See your School’s web site (and others, as you wish) for information on a
variety of extra-curricular learning events.
Tutorial Discussion for Week 6
If, as Audrey Richards argues, nutrition is a fundamental ‘biological process’,
how might social anthropologists contribute to understandings of malnutrition? Prepare to address this question by reading the chapter by Audrey
Richards alongside the piece by Nancy Scheper-Hughes.
See series of blog posts by anthropologist Lua Wilkinson.
http://savageminds.org/2011/08/26/anthropology-and-nutrition/
Lectures for Week 6
Monday 22 February: Democracy
Why is democracy considered to be good? Is democracy the same wherever
we find it? How does the meaning of this concept change as it travels around
the world? In some democratic countries voter turn out is so low that we can
ask if democracy is working at all, when some social groups do not feel part of
the democratic process. Elsewhere processes of democracy may be no more
than a façade to cover up violence and authoritarianism. In India, for example,
close to 30% of electoral candidates in the 2005 elections had criminal cases
pending against them. In such cases, anthropologists have asked if
democracy is failing or even if it is imagined. Since its early study of ‘stateless
societies’ anthropologists have long been concerned with systems of political
organization and authority. This lecture introduces key anthropological
approaches to political comparison, and shows how such approaches can
help us to ask fundamental questions about the political systems we live and
work in today.
Required Readings
Coles, K. 2004. Election day: The construction of democracy through
technique. Cultural Anthropology, 19(4):551-580 [e-journal]
Piliavsky, A. 2015. India’s human democracy. Anthropology Today. 31(4): 2225 [e-journal]
Further Optional Readings
Albro, R. 2006. The culture of democracy and Bolivia’s indigenous
movements. Critique of Anthropology, 26(4): 387-410 [e-journal]
Comaroff, J. & Comaroff, J. 1997. Postcolonial Politics and Discourses of
Democracy in Southern Africa: An Anthropological Reflection on
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African Political Modernities. Journal of Anthropological Research,
53(2): 123-146 [e-journal]
Karlstrom, M. 1996. Imagining Democracy: Political Culture and
Democratisation in Buganda, Africa, 66(4):485-505 [e-journal]
Nash, J. 1997. The fiesta of the word: The Zapatista uprising and radical
democracy in Mexico. American Anthropologist, 99(2):261-274 [ejournal]
Paley, J. 2002. Toward an Anthropology of Democracy. Annual Review of
Anthropology, 31:469-496 [e-journal]
Razsa, M. & Kurnik, A. 2012. The occupy movement in Zizek’s hometown:
direct democracy and a politics of becoming. American Ethnologist,
39(2): 238-258 [e-journal]
Spencer, J. 2007. Anthropology, Politics and the State: Democracy and
Violence in South Asia. Chapter 4, PP72-95. [e-book]
Thursday 25 February: Debt
As young people in Britain are increasingly expected to take on substantial
debt in order to access education and housing, it is important to ask how
contemporary societies are shaped by debt? Why do we think debt is bad for
us? What is the difference between a debt and a gift? Lending and borrowing
– or credit and debt have played a central role in the history of anthropology –
these exchanges can produce social ties and obligations, networks of trade,
and the bonds of kinship. Some anthropologists have argued that money
reduces these social ties, but others have shown that even on the trading floor
relationships of reciprocity can emerge. Relationships between nation-states
are also determined by credit and debt – some nations seek debt forgiveness,
others seek to maintain their status in the global hierarchy by guarding their
credit rating. Examining debt leads us to understand processes of inclusion
and exclusion, hierarchy and inequality.
Required Reading
Graeber, D. 2014. Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Chapter 1 ‘On the experience
of moral confusion’ [Main Library/E-book/ Learn].
Further Optional Readings
Ferraro, E. 2004. Owing and being in debt: a contribution from the northern
Andes of Ecuador. Social Anthropology, 12(1): 77-94. [e-journal]
Gregory, C. 2012. On money debt and morality: some reflections on the
contribution of economic anthropology. Social Anthropology, 20(4):
380-396. [e-journal]
Guerrin, 2014. Juggling with debt, social ties and values: the everyday use of
microcredit in South India. Current Anthropology, 55(S9): S40-S50 [ejournal]
17
Han, C. 2010. Life in Debt. Durham, Duke University Press. Chapter 1. [ebook]
James, D. 2015. Money from Nothing: Indebtedness and Aspiration in South
Africa. Chapter 3 [e-reserve]
Peebles, G. 2010. The Anthropology of Credit and Debt. Annual Review of
Anthropology,39:225-240 [e-book]
Tutorial Discussion for Week 7
Is it always wrong to leave a debt unpaid? What have anthropologists said
about this? Discuss with reference to Ferraro, E. 2004. “Owing and being in
debt: a contribution from the northern Andes of Ecuador.” Social
Anthropology, 12(1): 77-94.
Try to read some of the discussion resources too:
Further resources:
See Debora James’ comparison of debt in George Eliot’s Middlemarch and in
contemporary South Africa here: http://bookscombined.com/2015/11/02/debtand-power/#more-1060
Video by David Graeber in The Guardian on government and personal debt in
the UK: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2015/oct/28/davidgraeber-what-government-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-debt-video
See media coverage of David Cameron’s 2015 visit to Jamaica and the
demand for the UK to pay reparations for slavery.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34401412
Weeks 7-9: Casey High
Week 7 Lectures: War and Peace
Monday, 29 February, 2016: Violence and War
In recent years the study of violence has become an increasingly important
theme in anthropology, whether in ethnographies of ‘tribal warfare’, domestic
violence or state-sponsored genocide. This week we look at how social
anthropologists have challenged universalist theories of male aggression to
consider the political, economic and other conditions through which violence
occurs and acquires specific cultural meanings. What is violence? To what
extent are violence and peacefulness innate aspects of the human condition?
What causes people to be violent?
Required Readings
Bourgois, P. (1995) ‘Violating Apartheid in the United States’. In In Search of
Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Pp. 19-48.
18
Daly, M. and M. Wilson (1999) ‘An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on
Homicide’. In Homicide Studies: A Sourcebook of Social Research. D.
Smith and M. Zahn (eds). Pp. 58-71.
Further Optional Readings
Farmer, P. (2003) ‘On Suffering and Structural Violence: a view from below’.
In Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology. Pp. 281-289.
Taylor, C. (1999) ‘The Hamitic Hypothesis in Rwanda and Burundi’. In
Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Pp. 55-98.
Riches, D. (1986) ‘Introduction’. In The Anthropology of Violence. Pp. 1-27.
Thursday, 3rd March, 2016: Peace and Reconciliation
Why do we find more violence in some societies than in others? Can we really
talk about ‘cultures of violence’ or ‘peaceful societies’? This week we will look
at ethnographic case studies of societies in which violence and aggressive
behavior are, according to the ethnographers, completely unacceptable and
seldom observed. We will look critically at these representations of society as
well as examine how peace is made in the aftermath of violent conflict. What
are some of the key challenges to reconciliation?
Required Reading
Allen, T. (2007) The International Criminal Court and the Invention of
Traditional Justice in northern Uganda. Politique Africaine 107: 147166.
Further Optional Readings
Sponsel, L. (1996) ‘A Natural History of Peace: A Positive View of Human
Nature’. In The Natural History of Peace. T. Gregor (ed.). Pp. 95-125.
Nordstrom, C. (2004) Shadows of War: violence, power, and international
profiteering in the twenty-first century. (Part 4: ‘Peace?’ Pgs. 141-202).
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Briggs, J. (2000) Conflict Management in a Modern Inuit Community. In P.
Schweitzer, M. Biesele, and R. Hitchcock (eds.) Hunters and Gatherers
in the Modern World: conflict, resistance, and self-determination. New
York: Berghahn.
Evans Pim, J. (2010) Nonkilling Societies. Honolulu, HI: Center for Global
Nonkilling.
Tutorial Discussion for Week 8
Are human beings naturally violent or peaceful? Discuss with reference to
Riches, D. (1986) ‘Introduction’. In The Anthropology of Violence. Pp. 1-27.
19
Week 8: Globalization and Applied Anthropology
Monday, 7 March, 2016: Globalization and Development
While traditionally anthropologists set out to study small and seemingly
isolated societies, anthropologists today have much to say about wider
processes of ‘globalization’ – whether in London, the Amazon, or both. This
week we look at examples of how anthropologists approach and interpret
processes that transcend the ‘local and the ‘global’. We will also discuss how
anthropologists have been critical of concepts such as ‘globalization’,
‘modernity’ and ‘tradition’. Is ‘globalization’ leading to the eradication of
cultural differences? What does ‘modernity’ mean? How do foreign cultural
forms come to have local significance?
Required Readings
Yan, Y. (1997) ‘McDonald’s in Beijing: The Localization of Americana’. In
Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia. J.L. Watson (ed.). Pp.
39-76.
Gewertz, D. and F. Errington (1996) ‘On PepsiCo and Piety in a Papua New
Guinea ‘Modernity’’. American Ethnologist, Vol. 23, Pp. 476-493.
Further Optional Readings
Cooper, F. (2005) ‘Globalization’ In Colonialism in Question: Theory,
Knowledge, History. Pp. 91-112.
Appadurai, A. (1991) ‘Global Ethnoscapes: Notes and Queries for a
Transnational Anthropology’. In Recapturing Anthropology: Working in
the Present. R. Fox (ed.). Pp. 191-210.
Stoller, P. (2002) ‘Crossroads: Tracing African Paths on New York City
Streets’. Ethnography, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 35-62.
Kahn, J. (2001) ‘Anthropology and Modernity’. Current Anthropology, Vol. 42,
No. 5, pp. 651-664.
Thursday, 10 March, 2016: Development and Applied Anthropology
This lecture explores some of the ways in which anthropology is applied to
solve various contemporary problems. We will consider some of the great
variety of areas in which anthropologists have made an impact in recent
years. We will discuss some of the ethical concerns about anthropologists
employed by the US military to work in war zones, as well as the increasing
importance of anthropologists in areas ranging from medicine to banking.
What is it that anthropologists actually do? Can anthropologists be said to
have reasonable informed consent in a war zone?
Required Readings
Escobar, A. (1997) ‘Anthropology and Development’. International Social
Science Journal, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 497-516.
20
‘A Gun in One Hand, a Pen in the Other’ Newsweek (12 April 2008):
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/04/12/a-gun-in-one-hand-a-pen-inthe-other.html
‘US Army Enlists Anthropologists’. BBC News (17 October 2007):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/americas/7042090.stm
American Anthropological Association Executive Board Statement on the
Human Terrain System Project (31 October 2007)
http://aaanet.org/issues/policy-advocacy/advocacy/Statement-onHTS.cfm
Barton, L. (2008) ‘On the Money’. The Guardian (31 October 2008), p. 12.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/31/creditcrunch-gilliantett-financial-times
Further Optional Readings
Marsden, D. (2010) ‘W(h)ither Anthropology? Opening Up or Closing Down’.
Anthropology Today, Vol. 26, No.5, pp. 1-3.
Helman, C. (2006) ‘Why Medical Anthropology Matters’. Anthropology Today,
Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 3-4.
Hart, K. (2004) ‘What Anthropologists Really Do’. Anthropology Today, Vol.
20, No. 1, pp. 3-5.
Escobar, A. (1991) ‘Anthropology and the Development Encounter: The
Making and Marketing of Development Anthropology’. American
Ethnologist, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 658-682.
Tutorial Discussion for Week 9
Is globalization making people of different cultures the same? Discuss with
reference to Cooper, F. (2005) ‘Globalization’ In Colonialism in Question:
Theory, Knowledge, History. Pp. 91-112.
Furthermore, in preparation for the week 11’s course review lectures, we
would like you to also use this tutorial to discuss any issues you may want to
raise in either the ‘Question Time’ lecture on Monday or the ‘Course review
and revision preparation’ lecture on Thursday. Ideally, we are hoping that by
Friday of week 10, all students will have posted online (to the LEARN course
site) at least one brief comment or question that they would like to see
addressed in the week 11 lectures. The lecturers will then consolidate these
and do their best to make sure that they respond to all comments and queries.
Week 9: Racism and Human Rights
Monday, 14 March, 2016: Race and Ethnicity
One of the major contributions of 20th century anthropology has been to
challenge theories that posit biology as the determinant factor in explaining
human behaviour. Since the time of Franz Boas, Anthropologists have
21
developed theories of ‘culture’ that reject essentialist concepts of ‘race’. This
week we will explore the problems with the concept of race and discuss
whether ‘ethnicity’ is a useful alternative. We will also consider how and why
anthropologists today study social categories like race ethnographically. How
have anthropological approaches to race changed since the early 20th
century? Are categories like ‘race’, ‘tribe’ and ‘ethnic group’ natural entities?
Required Readings
Boas, F. (1931) ‘Race and Progress’. Science, Vol. 74, pp.1-8.
Montagu, A. (1962) ‘The Concept of Race‘. American Anthropologist, Vol.
64, No. 5, pp. 919-928. [available on VLE] ‘‘
American Anthropological Association Statement on ‘Race’ (1998).
http://.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm
American Association of Physical Anthropologists Statement on Biological
Aspects of Race (1998). American Anthropologist, Vol. 100, No. 3, pp.
714-715.
Cavalli-Sforza, L., P. Menozzi and A. Piazza (1994) Section 1.5: ‘Classical
Attempts at Distinguishing ‘Races’’ and Section 1.6: ‘Scientific Failure
of the Concept of Human Races’. In The History and Geography of
Human Genes. Pp. 16-20.
Further Optional Readings
Hacking, I. (2005) ‘Why Race Still Matters’. Daedalus, Vol. 134, No. 1, pp.
102-116.
Rahier, J. (1998) ‘Blackness, the Racial/Spatial Order, Migrations, and Miss
Ecuador’. American Anthropologist, Vol. 100, No. 2, pp. 421-430.
Jackson, J. (1994) ‘Becoming Indians: The Politics of Tukanoan Ethnicity’. In
Amazonian Indians: From Prehistory to Present. A. Roosevelt (ed.).
Pp. 383-406.
Thursday, 17 March, 2016: Human Rights
The idea of human rights has become such a prevalent way of thinking about
contemporary social issues that we often take it for granted. This lecture will
consider the role of anthropology in debates about culture and rights that have
emerged since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by
the UN in 1948. While cultural relativism has remained one of the key tenets
of anthropology, ethical debates have in some cases construed cultural
differences as obstacles to achieving universal rights. Rather than viewing
relativism and universalism as irreconcilable positions, we will explore what
anthropology can contribute to understanding how both of these conceptual
frameworks coexist in the contemporary world.
Required Readings
Merry, S. (2003) ‘Human Rights Law and the Demonization of Culture (and
Anthropology along the Way).’ Political and Legal Anthropology Review
26(1): Pgs. 55-76.
Dembour, M. (2001) Following the Movement of a Pendulum: Between
Universalism and Relativism. In Culture and Rights: Anthropological
22
Perspectives. J. Cowan et al, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. Pgs. 56-79.
Further Optional Readings
Scheper-Hughes. N. (1995) ‘The Primacy of the Ethical: Propositions for a
Militant Anthropology.’ Current Anthropology 36:3. Pgs. 409-440.
An-Na’im, A. (2002) ‘Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Defining
International Standards of Human Rights: the meaning of cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.’ In Human Rights in
Cross Cultural Perspective: A Quest for Consensus. University of
Pennsylvania Press. Pgs. 19-43.
Statements on Human Rights from the American Anthropological
Association
American Anthropological Association (1947) ‘Statement on Human Rights.’
American Anthropologist 49(4):539-543.[e-journal]
Steward, J. and H.G. Barnett (1948) Comments on the ‘Statement on Human
Rights.’ American Anthropologist 50(2): 351-355.[e-journal]
American Anthropological Association (1999). Declaration on Anthropology
and Human Rights. http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/humanrts.htm
Tutorial Discussion for Week 10
Can or should anthropologists be neutral towards what they perceive to be a
violation of human rights? Discuss with reference to Scheper-Hughes. N.
(1995) ‘The Primacy of the Ethical: Propositions for a Militant Anthropology.’
Current Anthropology 36:3. Pgs. 409-440. Please try to also read some of the
responses to this article as well as Scheper-Hughes’ reaction to these.
(You may also want to use part of the week 11 tutorial to raise any questions
you have about course themes in general, or about how to prepare for the
exam)
Week 10: Course Overview and Revision Preparation
Monday, 21 March, 2016 - Question Time: All three lecturers with answer
questions and debate issues relating to any part of the course.
Thursday, 24 March, 2016: We will use the final class to discuss the most
effective ways to prepare for the exam, and to look ahead to next year’s
Social Anthropology courses (Social Anthropology 2 and Ethnography)
Week 11: No lectures - Tutorials: exam revision
23
Appendix 1 – Submission & Assessment Information
Word Count Penalties
Your Social Anthropology 1B essay should be 1500-2000 words (excluding
bibliography). Essays above 2000 words will be penalised using the ordinary level
criterion of 1 mark for every 20 words over length: anything between 2001 and 2020
words will lose one mark, anything between 2021 and 2040 two marks, and so on.
You will not be penalised for submitting work below the word limit. However, you should
note that shorter essays are unlikely to achieve the required depth and that this will be
reflected in your mark.
ELMA: Submission and Return of Coursework
Coursework is submitted online using our electronic submission system, ELMA. You
will not be required to submit a paper copy of your work.
Marked coursework, grades and feedback will be returned to you via ELMA. You will
not receive a paper copy of your marked course work or feedback.
For information, help and advice on submitting coursework and accessing feedback,
please see the ELMA wiki at https://www.wiki.ed.ac.uk/display/SPSITWiki/ELMA
Further detailed guidance on the essay deadline and a link to the wiki and submission
page will be available on the course Learn page. The wiki is the primary source of
information on how to submit your work correctly and provides advice on approved file
formats, uploading cover sheets and how to name your files correctly.
When you submit your work electronically, you will be asked to tick a box confirming
that your work complies with university regulations on plagiarism. This confirms that
the work you have submitted is your own.
Occasionally, there can be technical problems with a submission. We request that you
monitor your university student email account in the 24 hours following the deadline
for submitting your work. If there are any problems with your submission the course
secretary will email you at this stage.
We undertake to return all coursework within 15 working days of submission. This time
is needed for marking, moderation, second marking and input of results. If there are
any unanticipated delays, it is the course organiser’s responsibility to inform you of the
reasons.
24
All our coursework is assessed anonymously to ensure fairness: to facilitate
this process put your Examination number (on your student card), not your
name or student number, on your coursework or cover sheet.
Return of Feedback
Feedback for coursework will be returned on the following dates:
Short Essay (via ELMA) = Monday, 21 March, 2016
Exam Feedback and Viewing Exam Scripts:
General exam feedback will be provided for all courses with an examination. General
feedback will be uploaded to the relevant course learn page within 24 hours of the
overall marks for the course being returned to Students.
Students will also receive individual feedback on their exam. Individual exam feedback
will be collected from the Undergraduate Teaching Office Reception and the relevant
Course Secretary will contact students to let them know when this is available. When
collecting feedback, students will need to bring their student cards with them as proof
of identity.
If students wish to view their scripts for any reason, they must contact the relevant
Course Secretary via email to arrange this.
The Operation of Lateness Penalties
Management of deadlines and timely submission of all assessed items (coursework,
essays, project reports, etc.) is a vitally important responsibility in your university
career. Unexcused lateness will mean your work is subject to penalties and will
therefore have an adverse effect on your final grade.
If you miss the submission deadline for any piece of assessed work 5 marks will be
deducted for each calendar day that work is late, up to a maximum of five calendar
days (25 marks). Work that is submitted more than five days late will not be accepted
and will receive a mark of zero. There is no grace period for lateness and penalties
begin to apply immediately following the deadline. For example, if the deadline is
Tuesday at 12 noon, work submitted on Tuesday at 12.01pm will be marked as one
day late, work submitted at 12.01pm on Wednesday will be marked as two days late,
and so on.
Extension Policy
If you have good reason for not meeting a coursework deadline, you may request an
extension from either your tutor (for extensions of up to five calendar days) or the
25
course organiser (for extensions of six or more calendar days), normally before the
deadline. Any requests submitted after the deadline may still be considered by the
course organiser if there have been extenuating circumstances. A good reason is
illness, or serious personal circumstances, but not pressure of work or poor time
management.
Your tutor/course organiser must inform the course secretary in writing about the
extension, for which supporting evidence may be requested. Work which is submitted
late without your tutor's or course organiser's permission (or without a medical
certificate or other supportive evidence) will be subject to lateness penalties.
Plagiarism Guidance for Students: Avoiding Plagiarism:
Material you submit for assessment, such as your essays, must be your own work.
You can, and should, draw upon published work, ideas from lectures and class
discussions, and (if appropriate) even upon discussions with other students, but you
must always make clear that you are doing so. Passing off anyone else’s work
(including another student’s work or material from the Web or a published author) as
your own is plagiarism and will be punished severely.
When you upload your work to ELMA you will be asked to check a box to confirm the
work is your own. All submissions will be run through ‘Turnitin’, our plagiarism detection
software. Turnitin compares every essay against a constantly-updated database,
which highlights all plagiarised work. Assessed work that contains plagiarised material
will be awarded a mark of zero, and serious cases of plagiarism will also be reported
to the College Academic Misconduct Officer. In either case, the actions taken will be
noted permanently on the student's record.
For further details on plagiarism see the Academic Services’ website:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schoolsdepartments/academicservices/students/undergraduate/discipline/plagiarism
Data Protection Guidance for Students:
In most circumstances, students are responsible for ensuring that their work with
information about living, identifiable individuals complies with the requirements of the
Data Protection Act. The document, Personal Data Processed by Students, provides
an explanation of why this is the case. It can be found, with advice on data protection
compliance and ethical best practice in the handling of information about living,
identifiable individuals, on the Records Management section of the University website
at:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/records-management-section/dataprotection/guidance-policies/dpforstudents
26
Appendix 2 – General Information
Students with Disabilities.
The School welcomes disabled students with disabilities (including those with specific
learning difficulties such as dyslexia) and is working to make all its courses as
accessible as possible. If you have a disability special needs which means that you
may require adjustments to be made to ensure access to lectures, tutorials or exams,
or any other aspect of your studies, you can discuss these with your Student Support
Officer or Personal Tutor who will advise on the appropriate procedures.
You can also contact the Student Disability Service, based on the University of
Edinburgh, Third Floor, Main Library, You can find their details as well as information
on all of the support they can offer at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/student-disability-service
Learning Resources for Undergraduates
The Study Development Team at the Institute for Academic Development (IAD)
provides resources and workshops aimed at helping all students to enhance their
learning skills and develop effective study techniques. Resources and workshops
cover a range of topics, such as managing your own learning, reading, note making,
essay and report writing, exam preparation and exam techniques.
The study development resources are housed on 'LearnBetter' (undergraduate), part
of Learn, the University's virtual learning environment. Follow the link from the IAD
Study Development web page to enrol: www.ed.ac.uk/iad/undergraduates
Workshops are interactive: they will give you the chance to take part in activities, have
discussions, exchange strategies, share ideas and ask questions. They are 90 minutes
long and held on Wednesday afternoons at 1.30pm or 3.30pm. The schedule is
available from the IAD Undergraduate web page (see above).
Workshops are open to all undergraduates but you need to book in advance, using the
MyEd booking system. Each workshop opens for booking 2 weeks before the date of
the workshop itself. If you book and then cannot attend, please cancel in advance
through MyEd so that another student can have your place. (To be fair to all students,
anyone who persistently books on workshops and fails to attend may be barred from
signing up for future events).
Study Development Advisors are also available for an individual consultation if you
have specific questions about your own approach to studying, working more
effectively, strategies for improving your learning and your academic work. Please
note, however, that Study Development Advisors are not subject specialists so they
cannot comment on the content of your work. They also do not check or proof read
students' work.
27
To make an appointment
[email protected]
with
a
Study
Development
Advisor,
email
(For support with English Language, you should contact the English Language
Teaching Centre).
Discussing Sensitive Topics:
This course addresses a number of topics that some might find sensitive or, in some
cases, distressing. You should read this Course Guide carefully and if there are any
topics that you may feel distressed by you should seek advice from the course
convenor and/or your Personal Tutor.
For more general issues you may consider seeking the advice of the Student
Counselling Service, http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/student-counselling
Guide to Using LEARN for Online Tutorial Sign-Up:
The following is a guide to using LEARN to sign up for your tutorial. If you have any
problems using the LEARN sign up, please contact the course secretary by email:
([email protected])
Tutorial sign up will open on Monday, 11 January, 2016 shortly after the first lecture
has taken place, and will close on the Friday of Week 1 (15 January).
Step 1 – Accessing LEARN course pages
Access to LEARN is through the MyEd Portal. You will be given a log-in and password
during Freshers’ Week. Once you are logged into MyEd, you should see a tab called
‘Courses’ which will list the active LEARN pages for your courses under ‘myLEARN’.
Step 2 – Welcome to LEARN
Once you have clicked on the relevant course from the list, you will see the Course
Content page. There will be icons for the different resources available, including one
called ‘Tutorial Sign Up’. Please take note of any instructions there.
Step 3 – Signing up for your Tutorial
Clicking on Tutorial Sign Up will take you to the sign up page where all the available
tutorial groups are listed along with the running time and location.
Once you have selected the group you would like to attend, click on the ‘Sign up’
button. A confirmation screen will display.
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IMPORTANT: If you change your mind after having chosen a tutorial you cannot go
back and change it and you will need to email the course secretary. Reassignments
once tutorials are full or after the sign-up period has closed will only be made in
exceptional circumstances.
Tutorials have restricted numbers and it is important to sign up as soon as possible.
The tutorial sign up will only be available until 12 noon on the Friday of Week 1 (15
January) so that everyone is registered to a group ahead of tutorials commencing in
Week 2. If you have not yet signed up for a tutorial by this time you will be automatically
assigned to a group which you will be expected to attend.
External Examiner
The External Examiner for Years 1 and 2 of the Social Anthropology programme is Dr
Thomas Yarrow, Durham University.
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