ANTH2151: Interrogating Anthropology

• Doing Anthropological Research (ANTH1101)

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• To build upon previous methods training in anthropology by providing the skills necessary to develop independent dissertation projects.
• To give students the tools to think critically about epistemological and methodological underpinnings of research across the breadth of the discipline of Anthropology, to understand how the research process works differently in the different sub-disciplines, and to reflect critically on the possibilities, limitations and the challenges of integrating different approaches.

• The module cromprises tjree omterlocking parts:
• Part one drills down into the Field Course (ANTH2131), drilling down in the practical and epistemological considerations entailed in the ways that anthropologists use data to make arguments in social and biological anthropology.
• Part two brings the different sub-disciplines into conversation, through a series of thematic discussions in which the same topic is approached from different sub-disciplinary perspectives.
• Part three prepares students for independent dissertation research through a series of lectures and practical sessions around choosing a research topic, identifying literature, selecting appropriate methods and ethical considerations.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Deep understanding of the research process within biological and social anthropology, including the use and manipulation of data in biological and social anthropology, and the relationships between data and argument.
• Critical awareness of possibilities, limitations and challenges of working across the different sub-disciplines within anthropology.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Construct a critical argument about the possibilities and limitations of integrating anthropology across the different sub-disciplines.
• Prepare a dissertation research proposal (including identifying research questions, identifying and engaging critically with literature, selecting appropriate research methods and preparing and ethics application).

Key Skills:

• Work with others in collaborative activities.
• Preparing a research proposal.
• Preparing an ethics application and applying ethical guidelines in research.

• Weekly hour-long slots, to take a variety of formats, including: traditional lectures on key topics and thematic round-table style discussions between staff members working within different sub-disciplines.
• Seminars / workshops with small groups to: engage critically with themes/debates introduces in lectures and round tables, and prepare for different aspects of dissertation proposal writing.
• Formative assessment is via essay plan (~750 words), and ethics application for fictional research project (~750 words).
• Summative assessment is via 2500 word essay and 2000 word dissertation proposal including ethics application/risk assessment/medical declaration on online form (online form not included in word count).

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