Course syllabus

 

 

SEMESTER 2, 2019

15 points

 

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Course Outline Here: 761 2019.pdf

Teacher: Christine Dureau (cm.dureau@auckland.ac.nz)

Office Hours: Mon. & Tues. 12 md - 1 pm

Course delivery format:

Weekly two-hr seminars

NOTE: NO LAPTOPS, I-PADS, ETC., IN SEMINARS. Bring your readings and notes in HARD COPY. All electronic devices are to be turned off during class.

(Timetable and room details can be viewed on Student Services Online)

Summary of Course Description:      

Welcome! This course is intended to develop your familiarity with some writers and issues of foundational and contemporary significance in social and cultural anthropology. In addition to reading some early works, we consider their influence in contemporary practice. I hope you will acquire a solid grounding upon which to develop your research interests in your later studies.

Some of the writers covered are not, themselves, anthropologists, but anthropology has always had a broad orientation, and the works we consider have been influential within the discipline.

Although no single moment marks the emergence of contemporary anthropology, we confine ourselves to the theorists of the late-19^th century and afterwards. This is an arbitrary point of departure: many of the themes of contemporary anthropology can be discerned in Enlightenment thinkers, for example. However the works that we consider provide an understanding of some key intellectual developments in social and cultural anthropology.

 Course outcomes:

By the end of this course, you:

• Should have developed insight into the nature of theoretical analysis generally
• Should understand key aspects of the approaches covered
• Be developing an ability to discern complementary and contrasting relationships between approaches
• Have critical insight into the value and relevance of different perspectives
• Have developed a capacity for balanced engagement with issues and debates in socio-cultural anthropology.
• Have some theoretical resources appropriate to your later research in sociocultural anthropology.

 Assessment Summary:

Participation 10%

Precis 20%

Essay One 30% (4 pm Thursday 12th Sept.)

Essay Two 40% (4 pm Thursday 17th Oct.)

Weekly Topics:

Week One: Introductory Discussion

Week Two: Thinking about Thinking—Theory & Knowledge

Week Three: Thinking about Thinking—Concepts and Their Life-Histories

Week Four: Living in a Material World

Week Five: Culture—Concept, Interpretation, Challenge

Week Six: Representation and the Problem of Self-Other

Week Seven: Self-Other & Doing It Reflexively

Weeks Eight - Nine: Ethnography

Weeks Ten - Eleven: Featured Anthropologist: Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Week Twelve: So Where To?

 Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The expected workload commitment for a 15-pt course is approximately 10 hours/week throughout the semester, including study break. You should therefore be dedicating about eight hours/week, independently of classes, to reading, preparing for assignments and revising your notes. This course is predicated on this workload and designed to allow you to work in-depth by linking much of your coursework to the lectures and set readings.

I am MOST HAPPY to negotiate revised coursework due dates, provided you contact me early with an explanation, such as anticipated personal events (weddings, etc.) or as a means of managing your workload. Late requests for consideration (within 10 days of the due date) will be treated as extension requests for which you must provide evidence.