ANTH40J15: Advanced Studies of Social Movements in Interdisciplinary Perspectives

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• Provide students with an advanced understanding of social movements research in the social sciences, with a focus on anthropological and ethnographic case studies.
• Engage critically with key concepts and theories within the interdisciplinary field of Social Movement Studies.
• Provide students with an interdisciplinary perspective on the definitions, origins, dynamics, characteristics, and networking of activism and social movements.
• Enable students to develop reflexivity and awareness of ones positionality when thinking about current events, movements, and debates.
• Explore the implications of social movements for social transformation, justice, and equality.

• Advanced understanding of the key concepts and theoretical frameworks in research of social movements and activism.
• Ethnographic and theoretical engagements with a wide array of social movements across contemporary time and space, such as the feminist movements, the LGBTQ movements, the environmental and green movement, The Black Lives Matter Movement, the Occupy Movements, labour and workers' rights movements, lifestyle movements, the hacker's movement, the makers movement, democratic and civil rights movements, anarchist movement, religious movements, health/patient groups movements etc. Please note, given the diversity and dynamics of social movements, the content will differ slightly each year.
• Learning material will not be confined to academic literature, but will also include multimedia sources newspaper and magazine articles, YouTube videos, blogs, activists' artefacts, podcasts, films, photography, graphic novels, etc.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• An advanced knowledge of social movements research in the social sciences.
• An advanced understanding of the key theories and concepts.
• Critical engagement with key concepts and arguments in the anthropology of social movements and social movement studies.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Demonstrate advanced competence in applying an anthropological or an interdisciplinary approach to understanding social movements.
• Demonstrate advanced competence in accessing, assessing, interpreting, synthesizing, and analysing the primary, secondary, and multimedia sources of social movements.
• Demonstrate advanced competence in reflecting on ones positionality when thinking about current events, movements, and debates.

Key Skills:

• Critical and analytical thinking
• Analytical writing
• Public speaking and presentation skills
• Independent research and literature review
• Reflexivity
• Teamwork

• This module is composed of lectures, tutorials, independent reading and preparation, student presentations, writing exercises, break-out discussions, and group work.
• Lectures aim to provide students with an outline of key concepts, debates, and case studies in social movements studies and anthropology of social movements.
• Lectures may consist of short film clips, live presentations from guest speakers, break-out discussions, or any other interactive activities as appropriate to the material covered from week to week.
• Tutorials may consist of break-out discussions, student presentations, and essay clinics, which are designed to help students improve their academic writing skills and prepare them for writing their summative assignment.
• Discussions in tutorial will deepen students understanding and critical reflection on the material shown in lectures and reading.
• Student presentations will improve students oral communication and public speaking skills.

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