Working with Value

Subject ANTH20007 (2010)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2010.

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 2 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2010:

Semester 1, Parkville - 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

Standard

Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 2 hr lecture per week and a 1 hr tutorial in weeks 2-11
Total Time Commitment: an average of 8.5 hours per week
Prerequisites: 25 points of 1st year Arts subjects
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: Knowledge gained in successfully completing at least one of the following subjects.
Subject
Study Period Commencement:
Credit Points:
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements: For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.
The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Coordinator

Dr Monica Minnegal

Contact

Monica Minnegal

mmam@unimelb.edu.au

Subject Overview:

This subject introduces students to ways that anthropologists analyse and interpret variation in economic behaviour and economic systems. We will examine the assumptions about human behaviour that inform classical, political and moral approaches to interpreting economics, and then ask what frames the options that are available for people to choose from and how people may come to value those options differently. Ethnographic examples from systems of different complexity are used to explore the diverse ways in which production, consumption and exchange may be organised and understood, and the ways these domains are articulated. Students should become familiar not only with how local economies work, but also with implications of the emerging global economy and the ways it is transforming local and regional logics.
Objectives:

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

  • have a thorough understanding of the different approaches within anthropology to analysing economic behaviour and systems.

  • have acquired a knowledge of the ethnographic literature on the dynamics of production, consumption and exchange in systems characterised as "domestic", "tributary" and "capitalist"

  • have critically examined key debates in economic anthropology about such issues as: division of labour; "gift" and "commodity" economies; formal and informal economies. consumption, identity and "consumer society"; the meaning of "money" and its effects.

  • have an understanding of the implications of changing economic systems for subsections of society defined by age, gender and class, and for developing societies in a globalising world.
Assessment: A 750 word class paper 20% (due mid-semester) a tutorial presentation and 500 word paper 20% (due during semester) and a 2500-word essay 60% (due at the end of semester). A hurdle requirement of participation in 8 of 10 tutorial (ie 80% of tutorials).
Prescribed Texts:

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop at the beginning of semester. Set readings will also be available online, 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: Students who successfully complete this subject will:
  • have practice in conducting research and speaking articulately.
  • have practice in writing clearly in a variety of formats and reading with attention to detail.
  • have experience of systematically evaluating a body of empirical data and identifying its theoretical context.
  • have experience of methods of critical inquiry and argument leading to improved analytical skills.
  • have acquired awareness of issues relating to cross-cultural communication.
Links to further information: http://www.pasi.unimelb.edu.au/anthropology/
Notes:

This subject is core in the Graduate Diploma in Arts (Anthropology and Social Theory) and in the Major in Anthropology and Social Theory.

This subject satisfies the third-year breadth requirement for third-year students in the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Biomedicine when taken in 2010 only.
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology && Social Theory
Anthropology and Development
Anthropology and Development
Anthropology and Social Theory
Anthropology and Social Theory
Development Studies
Development Studies
Development Studies
Development Studies Major

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