ANTH3937: Anthropology Art and Experience

• ANTH2051 Politics and Economics OR ANTH2161 Kinship and Religion

• None

• None

• To introduce students to classic and contemporary anthropological debates around art and material culture
• To develop an understanding of concepts such as aesthetics, agency and style and temporality from the perspective of social anthropology.
• To understand how anthropological approaches to art and material culture can further our understanding of social processes, notions of the person and of time.
• To provide students with analytical tools to study anthropologically material and visual cultures, as well as processes of making and objectification.

• The module deals with the social anthropology of art and material culture with a particular attention to ethnographic approaches that foreground how everyday social interactions are mediated, produced and transformed by systems of objects and images.
• The module will cover a range of subjects such as: primitivism and modernism, art as a category for experience, the agency of art objects, anthropological approaches to aesthetics and style, art and notions of time.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• At the end of the module, students will be able to:
• Demonstrate advanced levels of current knowledge and intensive understanding in social anthropology research.
• Deploy analytical skills specific to social anthropological understandings of art and material culture.
• Be competent in accessing and assimilating specialised research literature of an advanced nature.

Subject-specific Skills:

• In depth knowledge of the social anthropology of art and material culture, with emphasis on interpretation and comprehensive understanding of primary or secondary data.

Key Skills:

• Preparation and effective communication of research methods, data, interpretation and arguments in written form.

• Lectures will provide students with an outline of key knowledge and debates in the topic area, discuss the literature that students should explore, and provide relevant examples and cases studies.
• Seminars will develop topics introduced in lectures and required reading to analyse aspects or case studies in greater depth and to prepare students for their summative assignment.
• Student preparation and reading time will allow engagement with specific references in advance of tutorials and general and particular reading related to the assessment, which will be a written assignment (such as an essay or report).
• Summative assessment will be a 2500-word written piece where students will apply concepts and perspectives in social anthropology to relevant ethnographic and/or media materials related to art and material culture societies.

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