ANTH46830: Thinking Anthropologically

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• To develop students' awareness of current issues and challenges within the main sub-field of sociocultural anthropology.
• To develop students' ability to apply theories and concepts from social anthropology to a range of contemporary issues.
• To encourage students to think critically and carefully about relationships between theory and ethnography.

• Major topics of current anthropological concern are covered, within the relevant areas of the discipline (e.g. health, political, economic, kinship, religion, energy, environment). Precise topics will vary from year to year but may include: kinship and relationality; gifts and commodities; magic, science, and rationality; forced migration; biotechnology and bioethics; carbon and post-carbon economies; chemicals and bodies, etc.
• Students will learn about current concepts and debates in relation to these topics and will apply relevant theoretical perspectives. This includes a 'reactive' element where students engage with current affairs and select anthropological texts / podcasts / films to help form an 'anthropological' response to them.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Develop knowledge of current areas of work and debate at the cutting edge of research in socio-cultural anthropology.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Develop ability to comment critically on those debates, bringing in relevant theory and ethnographic insights.
• Develop ability to present an effective argument (both orally and in writing) that demonstrates an awareness of the complexity of selected theoretical issues in relation to current debates.

Key Skills:

• Communication: students will be taught how to communicate clearly (both orally and in writing) their understanding of the material they have read.
• Improving own learning and performance: students will learn to use a variety of web tools for searching the primary and secondary literature.

• Lectures: to introduce each topic and scaffold students' independent reading.
• Seminars: to provide opportunities for students to discuss and present readings and associated theories in depth, facilitated by the tutor.
• Assessment: two summative 2,500-word essays applying anthropological theories and perspectives to one or more key contemporary topics.

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