Social Anthropology is a discipline which has traditionally specialised in the study of non-Western, pre-industrial societies. With increasing frequency, however, social and cultural anthropologists have turned towards the study of ‘home’, using insights gained from studying other cultures to illuminate aspects of their own society. This course draws on both these areas of social anthropology, looking at people from places as different as the rainforests of West Africa and the industrial heartlands of Britain and America, and introduces students to social anthropology through a selection of topics which have been chosen to illustrate the kind of issues that social anthropologists study and the kinds of arguments and theories they have developed.Module Topics Include: CULTURE, SYMBOLISM AND CLASSIFICATION (including language, myth, taboo). THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF INTIMATE LIFE (including marriage, divorce and exchange). RELIGION, RITUAL AND BELIEF (including initiation, and witchcraft). POWER, POLITICS AND IDENTITY (including ethnicity, nationalism, multiculturalism, globalisation).

50% Coursework, 50% Exam

• Hendry, J. "An Introduction to Social Anthropology. Other People’s Worlds."
• Monaghan, J. & Just, P. "Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction"

See the library reading list for this module

• A degree of familiarity with some of the anthropological topics and issues relating to writings on: culture, society, classification, kinship and marriage, exchange, religion and ritual, political relations and identities.
• A knowledge and understanding of the breadth of cultural diversity drawn from their reading about different societies and cultures.
• An ability to discuss the similarity and difference between the student’s own society and those encountered in ethnographic writings.
• An ability to analyse and communicate their understanding of anthropological texts in written and spoken contexts.
• An ability to construct coherent and logical arguments, particularly in written form, which combine general theoretical writings with the discussion of ethnographic data.

No pre-requisites