SA4068 Rubbish Anthropology

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Module coordinator

Dr P O'Hare

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Patrick O'Hare

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

Waste and recycling seem like every-day, if important, issues with which we are all familiar. But do we actually know what waste is? This module introduces students to the anthropological study of waste, an area that straddles politics, economy, and the environment. Early anthropological studies focused on issues such as the symbolic pollution beliefs associated with persons and substances within a coherent cultural framework. A more recent and clearly defined ‘anthropology of waste’ has taken discards and the regimes of production, labour, and value that generates them, as its central areas of study. This module introduces key theoretical understandings of waste alongside compelling ethnographic accounts of waste work that involves both dignity and discrimination, citizenship and segregation. In this module, students will be encouraged to think critically about models of production and consumption, while keeping their rubbish very much in sight and in mind.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS SA2002

Assessment pattern

Coursework - 100%

Re-assessment

Coursework - 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 lecture (x11 weeks), 2 seminars (x10 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

31

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

240

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Identify anthropological debates on waste and wider debates within discard studies
  • Evaluate and critically assess different anthropological approaches to waste (e.g. pollution/discard/commons/sign)
  • Engage critically with the literature and use analytical and research skills to reflect on current waste practices and flows
  • Engage with anthropological studies of waste and thus understand the socio-economic, political, ethical, and environmental aspects of linear and circular models of production, consumption and discard