Anthropology: Studying Human Diversity

Subject 121-107 (2009)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2009. Search for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 1 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Semester 2, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable


Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 2-hour lecture and a 1-hour tutorial per week
Total Time Commitment: 3 contact hours/week , 5 additional hours/week. Total of 8 hours per week.
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Coordinator

Dr Tamara Kohn

Contact

Tamara Kohn

tkohn@unimelb.edu.au

Subject Overview: Anthropology explores the different ways people live their lives. In this subject, an introduction to foundational knowledge in the discipline, students will be exposed to a variety of social and cultural forms around the world and the methods and theories developed to understand them as diverse expressions of a shared human condition. Topical issues that will be encountered include how different peoples around the world experience and react to pleasure, suffering and death; use ritual, religion and magic to understand and change their worlds; organise their sexual and family lives and their friendship networks; create and maintain their identities – individual, gendered, ethnic and youth sub-cultural; and maintain and resist the relations of power in which they are all enmeshed. On completion, students will have developed a foundational knowledge of the discipline of anthropology. They will also have developed an appreciation of both anthropology’s distinctiveness and its complementarity with other social science disciplines such as sociology, criminology, geography, political science, history, philosophy and gender studies. Finally, and most importantly, they will, through cross cultural comparison, understand the peculiarity of their own taken-for-granted ways of being.
Objectives:
  • have developed a foundational knowledge in the discipline of anthropology.
  • have a basic understanding of how anthropology developed as a discipline through the 20th century.
  • have a background of relevant ethnographic, methodological and theoretical knowledge on which to base further anthropological studies.
  • have developed an appreciation of both anthropology’s distinctiveness and its complementarity with other social science disciplines.
  • have developed a knowledge of the skills required to enable cross cultural comparison.
  • Have developed a clear sense of the peculiarity of their own taken-for-granted ways of being.
Assessment: An ethnographic observation exercise of 1000 words 25% (due week 6), a one hour class test 25% (in week 10) and a 2000 word essay 50% (due at the end of semester). This subject has a hurdle requirement of attendance at a minimum of 8 tutorials.
Prescribed Texts: A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop at the beginning of semester.
Recommended Texts: Additional Readings will be available through LMS
Breadth Options:

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:
  • have practice in conducting research, speaking and writing clearly and reading carefully;
  • have experience of methods of critical inquiry and argument leading to improved analytical skills;
  • have acquired awareness of issues relating to cross-cultural communication.
  • have practice working cooperatively in small groups.
Notes: Students who have completed 121-107 Social Order Social Change or 121-107 Consuming Culture and Society are not eligible to enrol in this subject.
Related Course(s): Diploma in Arts (Anthropology)
Diploma in Arts (Development Studies)
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology & Social Theory
Anthropology and Development
Anthropology and Development
Anthropology and Social Theory
Cross Cultural Communication
Cross Cultural Communication
Development Studies
Development Studies Major
Environmental Studies

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