Postgraduate modules
SA5001 | SA5002 | SA5003 | SA5010 | SA5011 | SA5099 | SA5201 | SA5202 | SA5203 | SA5301 | SA5302 | SS5101 | SS5102 | SS5103 | SS5104
SA5001 Theory and Method in Social Anthropology
30 credits
The module will cover classical social theory and key concepts in social thought. It will review the basic assumptions and methodological implications of a variety of theoretical perspectives (ranging from structural-functionalism to postmodernism), and will examine in detail the logic of different modes of explanation. The paradigmatic positions of key social thinkers will also be considered.
| Semester: | 3 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Two Hours (seminar, lectures, or tutorials). |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100%(2 essays, 3,500 words each) |
SA5002 Current Issues in Social Anthropology
30 credits
The module focuses on recent developments within the discipline, and aims to challenge the student’s existing presumptions and preoccupations. It will cover both theoretical and substantive issues. Focus will lie with the most up-to-date areas of anthropological inquiry and contention; but also students will be lead to engage with crucial turningpoint debates in history of the discipline. Most particularly, the Writing Culture debates of the late 1980s that has been so influential in present anthropological theory and ethnographic writing.
| Semester: | 3 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Two Hours (seminar, lectures or tutorials). |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% (2 essays, 3,500 words each) |
SA5003 Social Organisation and Culture
30 credits
The module discusses the description of human society and culture, focusing on both theoretical and empirical issues by reference to selected ethnographic material. It will consider such matters as relativism, deconstructionism and the modelling of social forms and, at a more specific level, the main concepts for describing the institutional features of the full variety of human societies.
| Semester: | 3 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | Wednesdays 10am – 12 noon |
| Teaching: | Two Hours (seminar, lectures or tutorials). |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% (2 essays, 3,500 words each) |
SA5010 Research Methods in Social Anthropology
30 credits
This module aims to do three things i) introduce students to the philosophies of social-scientific research as particular practices; ii) introduce students to the range of research methodologies which pertain particularly to social and cultural anthropology; iii) lay the foundations for students progressing to higher research degrees, in particular the Ph.D.
| Semester: | 2 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Four hours a week (lectures, seminars, supervision). |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% (2 essays, 3,500 words each) |
SA5011 The Anthropology of Connections
30 credits
This course allows students to develop their own specific research interests via a careful focus on reading ethnography. The course asks you to consider how ethnography, considered as a method for understanding what it is to be human, at once embraces complexity and strives to render analytical the concepts that people use to talk about their lived world. We will explore how ethnography is informed by analysts’ theoretical and other concerns, even while she or he comes to grips with the material gathered in the field. At the end of the course you will be able to apply the knowledge gained through reading to the realization, where relevant, of an independent research project.
| Semester: | 1 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Two hours a week (lectures, seminars, supervision) |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% (2 essays, 3,500 words each) |
SA5099 Dissertation for M.Litt. and M.Res. Programme/s
60 credits
Student dissertations will be supervised by members of the teaching staff who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation of not more than 15,000 words must be submitted by the end of August. Dissertations can be submitted as a Research Proposal for PhD, after consultation with supervisor. Any envisaged fieldwork needs to comply with university and departmental regulations on risk assessment, safety and ethics [a departmental ethics form needs to be filled out and approved before any research is carried out].
| Semester: | 3 |
| Credits: | 60 |
| Time: | At times to be arranged with the supervisor |
| Teaching: | Individual Supervision |
| Assessment: | Dissertation = 100% |
SA5201 Amerindian Language and Literature
30 credits
This course introduces students to different forms of oral and written expression in Amerindian Societies, with Quechua and Spanish as the commonest languages taught. The course also prepares students to confront problems of linguistic and textual interpretation, as well as introducing them to more recent issues in intercultural and literacy studies. Themes to be considered include: linguistic and cultural history; testimonies, sources and indigenous writings; orality, performance and literacy; writing systems, khipus and textile studies; histories and historicities; concepts of temporality and the spatialization of memory.
| Semester: | 2 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Four hours a week (lectures, seminars, supervision) |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% |
SA5202 Amerindian History and Ethnography
30 credits
This course examines the South American continent in time and space, with emphasis on the evidential and methodological bases of specialized and comparative knowledge. Using sample texts and sources, it introduces students to the problems of interpreting information collected in "the field" and in "the archive", as well as preparing them to explore the published and unpublished sources on the region. Themes to be considered include: social organization and political structures; cosmology, myth and ritual; religious conversion; sacred geographies, cultural ecologies and climate change; technology; agropastoral and mining systems; population movements, migration and mestizaje.
| Semester: | 1 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Four hours a week (lectures, seminars, supervision) |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% |
SA5203 Special Subject (Amerindian Studies)
30 credits
This is chosen in discussion with the supervisor, and is available for students with a well-thought-out and specific research interest in a particular topic. It can substitute for one of the preceding two modules
| Semester: | 3 |
| Credits: | 30 |
SA5301 Anthropology of the Pacific I
30 credits
This module examines traditional issues and historical trends in the anthropology of the Pacific, with special reference to selected regions. It will cover both theoretical and substantive issues in Pacific ethnography.
| Semester: | 1 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Two seminars and one tutorial. |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% |
SA5302 Anthropology of the Pacific II
30 credits
This module looks at the challenges facing social anthropology and Pacific Studies in the twenty-first century. Students are invited to engage with current issues in the region through attention to contemporary and emerging debates within Pacific anthropology.
| Semester: | 2 |
| Credits: | 30 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Two seminars and one tutorial. |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% |
SS5101 Being a Social Scientist: skills, processes and outcomes
15 credits
This module focuses on developing students’ specific research thinking and writing skills in a practically based way. Thus, the module will address the nature of being a research social scientist including exploring some of the ethical issues involved. The module will also consider selecting suitable research questions and framing these as appropriate for Masters and PhD dissertations.
| Semester: | 1 |
| Credits: | 15 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Two and a half hours, weekly |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% |
SS5102 Philosophy and Methodology of the Social Sciences
15 credits
Beginning with a discussion of the evolution of the social sciences, this module addresses central philosophical questions of social science including discussion of epistemological and methodological aspects of positivism and interpretivism.
| Semester: | 2 |
| Credits: | 15 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Two hours weekly |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% |
SS5103 Qualitative methods in Social Research
15 credits
This module offers both a theoretical and practical introduction to qualitative research. The diversity of the approaches to qualitative research will be addressed but the focus of the module is primarily practical necessitating the active participation of students.
| Semester: | 2 |
| Credits: | 15 |
| Time: | To be arranged |
| Teaching: | 2 hour, weekly |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% |
SS5104 Quantitative Methods
15 credits
This module will cover basic concepts and approaches to quantitative research in the social sciences in order to provide students with the basic quantitative tools for collecting, organising and analysing data.
| Semester: | 1 |
| Credits: | 15 |
| Time: | To be arranged. |
| Teaching: | Two hours weekly |
| Assessment: | Continuous Assessment = 100% |