SA4864 Melanesian Anthropology

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 2

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.

Availability restrictions

Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable

To be confirmed.

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr T Crook

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

Module Staff

Dr T Crook

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

Module description

Melanesia has exercised a disproportionate influence on anthropological ideas, and has provided anthropology with some of its more challenging ethnographies. Melanesian anthropology has made important contributions to debates and theoretical developments regarding fieldwork method, exchange, kinship, politics, gender, cosmology, ecology and the body. By working through a series of ethnographic case-studies from across the region, the module provides an introduction to Melanesia and to the distinctive characteristics of anthropological responses arising from it. The module also aims to explore how the aesthetics of Melanesian sociality have provided analytical resources for approaching the ethnography, and theoretical insights for critically engaging anthropological knowledge. Students will gain an in-depth knowledge of certain debates within the anthropology of Melanesia illustrated by academic and ethnographic materials. The module will provide students with thorough familiarity with a wide-range of case-studies, the intellectual skills needed to relate examples to wider social science theorizing and to inspect other anthropological texts ethnographically.

Assessment pattern

Continuous Assessment 50% - One 3,000 word essay; Take-Home Examination 50% - One 3,000 word writing task

Re-assessment

Continuous Assessment 50% - One 3,000 word essay; Take-Home Examination 50% - One 3,000 word writing task

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 x 1 hour Lecture, 1 x 1 hour Seminar

Intended learning outcomes

  • by the end of this course you should have improved... Your knowledge of the Melanesia region, life-worlds and internal differentiation.
  • Your knowledge of the anthropology of Melanesia and its ethnographic characteristics.
  • Your knowledge of the ways in which ethnography can both inform anthropological analysis and provide critical insights into anthropological theory.
  • Your understanding of how regional ethnography and theorisation articulates with global anthropological theory.
  • Your understanding of the ways that Melanesian anthropology has created new relationships between analysis, theory and ethnography.

Additional information from school

Transferable skills and employability: This module will help you develop important skills that you will be able to apply to other contexts, in particular skills in ethnographic analysis, critical theorising and thinking through ideas on their own terms. The course will also enhance abilities for group participation and presentation of ideas, and discussion of unfamiliar cultural aesthetics.