Peoples and Cultures Course Descriptor

Course Summary

This course is an introduction to the methods, approaches, central questions, and uses of  cultural anthropology. The course will cover the fundamentals of the cultural  anthropological approach to studying culture, including how such research is carried out,  and the kinds of questions and principles that guide such research. The course addresses  a number of particular areas of study, such as gender, race, and globalisation. The course  explores a wide array of cultural regions across the globe. Further dimension of the course  is the usefulness of cultural anthropological research, both in particular research settings  and, more generally, in bringing about non-anthropologists’ greater awareness and  understanding of their own and others’ cultures. 

Course Aims

The course aims to 

• Provide a solid introduction to the field of cultural anthropology. 

• Improve critical thinking skills. 

• Improve analytical writing skills. 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Professional Skills

Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning strategies for this course will include:  

Indicative contact hours: 36 hours, typically to include interactive group teaching, co curriculars, individual meetings, and in-class presentations and exams.  

Course information and supplementary materials are available on the University’s Virtual  Learning Environment (VLE). 

Students are required to attend and participate in all the formal and timetabled sessions  for this course. Students are also expected to manage their directed learning and  independent study in support of the course.

Assessment

Formative 

Students will be formatively assessed during the course by means of set assignments.  These do not count towards the end of year results, but will provide students with  developmental feedback. 

Summative 

The examination will consist of a number of questions from which the student will have the  choice of answering a specified number.  

Feedback

Students will receive feedback in a variety of ways: written (including via email  correspondence); oral (within office hours or on an ad hoc basis) and indirectly through  class discussion. 

Feedback on examinations is provided through generic internal examiners’ reports and are  made available to the student on the VLE. For all other summative assessment methods,  feedback is made available to the student either via email, the VLE or another appropriate  method. 

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists for courses are produced annually in the  Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list  provided below is used as part of the approval/modification process only. 

Books  

Guest, K.J., 2013. Cultural anthropology: A toolkit for a global age. New York: W.W.  Norton. 

Hammersley, M., 1990. Reading ethnographic research: A critical guide. London:  Routledge. 

Gmelch, G., 2003. Behind the Smile: The Working Lives of Caribbean Tourism.  Bloomington: Indiana U. Press.

Indicative Topics

• What is anthropology? 

• Anthropology, culture, and difference 

• Human ecologies and economies 

• Cultural diversity 

• Anthropology of gender 

• Race 

• Social class and intersectionality 

• Language and identity 

• Power and inequality 

• Globalisation