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Unit outline_

ANTH1001: Introduction to Anthropology

Semester 1, 2022 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Anthropologists study the different ways of life of people in different parts of the world. They study peoples of all kinds, whether in the remotest villages ofthe remotest parts of the globe or in the largest cities of the wealthiest nations on earth. In every kind of place where anthropologists work, they want to step into the shoes of the people whom they wish to understand and to understand people's worlds from the inside out. Topics of study include the environment, the city, the village, the family, the nation, poverty, inequality, race, gender, religion and power. This unit will introduce students to these topics and to core anthropological, concepts, case studies and methods.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit Anthropology
Credit points 6
Prerequisites
? 
None
Corequisites
? 
None
Prohibitions
? 
ANTH1003
Assumed knowledge
? 

None

Available to study abroad and exchange students

Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator Robbie Peters, robbie.peters@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s) Robbie Peters, robbie.peters@sydney.edu.au
Emma Young, emma.young@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s) Paul-David Lutz, paul-david.lutz@sydney.edu.au
Nayeli Torres-Montenegro, nayeli.torres-montenegro@sydney.edu.au
Rosemary Wiss, rosemary.wiss@sydney.edu.au
Jay Malouf-Grice, jay.malouf-grice@sydney.edu.au
Type Description Weight Due Length
Assignment Third short essay
Short essay based on topics in module 4
25% Please select a valid week from the list below
Due date: 10 Jun 2022 at 23:59
1,000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Tutorial quiz Short answer quiz
Short answer revision test based on topics in module 1
15% Week 04
Due date: 18 Mar 2022 at 23:59
1 hr
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO10 LO9 LO8 LO7 LO6 LO5 LO4 LO3 LO2
Assignment First short essay
Short essay based on topics in module 2
25% Week 08
Due date: 15 Apr 2022 at 23:59
1,000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Assignment Second short essay
Short essay based on topics in module 3
25% Week 11
Due date: 13 May 2022 at 23:59
1,000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Participation Class participation and preparation
Participation for reading responses, class discussion and lectures
10% Weekly 500 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO10 LO9 LO8 LO7 LO6 LO5 LO4 LO3 LO2

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name

Mark range

Description

High distinction

85 - 100

 

Distinction

75 - 84

 

Credit

65 - 74

 

Pass

50 - 64

 

Fail

0 - 49

When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

  • Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
  • After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

WK Topic Learning activity Learning outcomes
Week 01 INTRODUCTION: What is anthropology? Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 02 MODULE 1 Culture and communication: systems of symbols and classification Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 03 MODULE 1 Culture and communication: food, relationships and kinds of people Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 04 MODULE 1 Culture and communication: symbolic transformations, switching categories Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 05 MODULE 2 Livelihoods: land and food Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 06 MODULE 2 Livelihoods: work and welfare Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 07 MODULE 2 Livelihoods: aid and development Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 08 MODULE 3 Gender: feminist anthropology Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 09 MODULE 3 Gender: commercial sex and sex tourism Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 10 MODULE 3 Gender: transgender identity Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 11 MODULE 4 Ethnography: the method of fieldwork Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 12 MODULE 4 Ethnography: ethnographers in the field Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10
Week 13 MODULE 4 Ethnography: decolonising ethnography, reflexivity, and representation Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10

Attendance and class requirements

  • Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
  • Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
  • Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

ANTH1001: TOPICS, READINGS AND ASSESSMENTS

 

  1. Introduction: what is anthropology?

  • No readings

 

MODULE 1: CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION

  1. Systems of symbols and classification

  • Eriksen, Thomas Hylland, 2015. “Language and Cognition.” In Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, pp. 286-307. Pluto Press.

Supplementary reading:

  • Douglas, Mary, 1999. “Preface.”  In Implicit Meanings: Selected Essays in Anthropology, pp. vii-x.  Routledge.

  1. Food, relationships and kinds of people

  • Meigs, Anna, 1988. “Food as a Cultural Construction.” Food and Foodways 2(1): 341-357.

Supplementary reading

  • Meigs, Anna, 1979. “A Papuan Perspective on Pollution.” Man 13: 304-18.

  1. Symbolic transformations, switching categories

  • Vialle, Noelle, 1994. “Flaying the Animal” and “The Shedding of Blood.” In Animal to Edible, pp. 33-52 and pp. 73-93. Cambridge University Press.

Assessment

Short answer revision test on basic concepts, due midnight, Friday 18 March = 15%

 

MODULE 2: LIVELIHOODS

  1. Land and food

  • Turner, T. 1997. ‘The Kayapo Resistance’, in J. Spradley and McCurdy, D., Confirmity and Conflict: readings in cultural anthropology (Ninth edition). Longman. Pp. 365-82.

Supplementary reading:

  • Sen, A. 1999. Development as Freedom (chapter 7), Pp. 160-88

  • Franzen, M. 2020. ‘The value of farming: multifaceted wealth generation through cooperative development’, Economic Anthropology, 7: 279-292.

  • Phillips, K 2018, An Ethnography of Hunger: Politics, subsistence, and the unpredictable grace of the sun. Indiana University Press, Pp. 84-105

  • White, M. 2018. Freedom Farmers: Agricultural resistance and the black freedom movement. Indiana University Press, Pp. 28-62

  1. Work and Welfare

  • Prentice, R. 2016. Thiefing a Chance: factory work, illicit labor, and neoliberal subjectivities in Trinidad. University Press of Colorado, Pp. 87-109

  • Ferguson. J. 2015. Give a Man a Fish: reflections on the new politics of distribution. Duke University Press. Pp. 89-117

Supplementary reading:

  • Bourgois, P. 1995. ‘From Jibaro to crack dealer: confronting the restructuring of capitalism in El Bario’, in J. Schneider and Rapp, R., Articulating Hidden Histories: exploring the influence of Eric R. Wolf

  1. Aid and development

  • Ferguson, J. 1993. ‘The anti-politics machine’, The Ecologist, 24 (5): 176-81

Supplementary reading:

  • Davidson, J. 2010. ‘Cultivating knowledge: Development, dissemblance, and discursive contradictions among the Diola of Guinea-Bissau’, American Ethnologist, 37(2): 212-26.

  • Scott, J. 1998. Seeing Like a State: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. Yale University Press. Pp. 1-8.

Assessment

First short essay, 1,000 words, due midnight Friday 15 April = 25%

Using concepts and course readings from weeks 5-7, discuss how poor people deal with the disruptive effects of neoliberal capitalism through what James Ferguson (2015: 94) calls ‘survivalist improvisation’.

 

MODULE 3: HEALTH AND ILNESS

  1. Feminist anthropology                             

  • Silverstein, L.M. & Lewin, E., 2016. Introduction: Anthropologies  and Feminisms: Mapping Our Intellectual Journey. In L. M. Silverstein  & E. Lewin, eds. Mapping Feminist Anthropology in the Twenty-First Century. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, pp. 1-20.

Supplementary reading:

  • Silverstein, L.M. & Lewin, E., 2016. Introduction: Anthropologies  and Feminisms: Mapping Our Intellectual Journey. In L. M. Silverstein  & E. Lewin, eds. Mapping Feminist Anthropology in the Twenty-First Century. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, pp. 21-37.

  1. Commercial sex and sex tourism

  • Wiss, R., 2011. ‘No Minors Allowed’: Outsider Bar-­girls and Trafficking  in a Philippines Sex Tourism Industry’. In Young Lives Changing Times:  Perspectives on Social Reproduction (Symposium). Sydney: University of  Sydney, pp. 1–35. 

Supplementary reading:

  • Law, L., 1997. A Matter of “Choice”: Discourses on Prostitution in the  Philippines. In L. Manderson & M. Jolly, eds. Sites of Desire.  Economies of Pleasure: Sexualities in Asia and the Pacific. Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, pp. 233–261. 

  1. Transgender identity

  • Johnson, C., 2015. Napanangka: The True Power of Being Proud. In D. Hodge, ed. Colouring the Rainbow: Blak Queer and Trans Perspectives: Life Stories and Essays by First Nations People of Australia. Wakefield Press, pp. 21–34. 

Supplementary reading:

  • Towle, E.B. & Morgan, L.M., 1969. Romancing the Transgender Native:  Rethinking the Use of the “Third Gender” Concept. In S. Stryker & S.  Whittle, eds. The Transgender Studies Reader. London: Routledge, pp.  666–684

Assessment

Second short essay, 1,000 words, due midnight Friday, 13 May = 25%

Drawing on the gender module, write a 1000-word response to the following question: TBA

 

MODULE 3: ETHNOGRAPHY

  1. 11. The Method of Fieldwork

  • Eriksen, Thomas Hylland, 2015. “Fieldwork and Ethnography.” In Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, pp. 32-51. London: Pluto.

  • Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1932. “Introduction: The Subject, Method, and Scope of This Inquiry.” In Argonauts of The Western Pacific:, pp. 1–25.

12. Ethnographers in the Field 

  • Lee, Richard Borshay, 1969. “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari.” Natural History, Dec, pp. 14–22, 60–64.

  • Bohannan, Laura, 1966. "Shakespeare in the Bush. An American Anthropologist Set Out to Study the Tiv of West Africa and was Taught the True Meaning of Hamlet." Natural History 75: pp. 28–33.

13. Decolonising Ethnography, Reflexivity, and Representation

  • Jacobs-Huey, Lanita, 2002. “The natives are gazing and talking back: reviewing the problematics of positionality, voice and accountability among ‘Native’ anthropologists”. American Anthropologist 104(3): 791-804.

Assessment

Short Essay 1,000 words, due midnight Friday 10 June = 25%

Discuss the methods anthropologists employ to find out about and analyse the ‘imponderabilia of everyday life’.

 

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. understand the aims and scope of cultural anthropology
  • LO2. demonstrate an appreciation of the ethical importance of understanding other cultures
  • LO3. demonstrate an understanding of participant observation as a fieldwork based research method
  • LO4. demonstrate an understanding of the symbolic foundations of social relationships
  • LO5. demonstrate critical reading skills
  • LO6. demonstrate skills reading empirically-based analyses of different cultures
  • LO7. use empirical accounts of different cultures to make arguments
  • LO8. demonstrate an understanding of social science concepts and how they are used and debated in making arguments
  • LO9. demonstrate an understanding of the background and key conceptual frameworks of the field of cultural anthropology
  • LO10. Demonstrate an understanding of the livelihoods that different peoples must pursue to survive

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1 Depth of disciplinary expertise

Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.

GQ2 Critical thinking and problem solving

Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.

GQ3 Oral and written communication

Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.

GQ4 Information and digital literacy

Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.

GQ5 Inventiveness

Generating novel ideas and solutions.

GQ6 Cultural competence

Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.

GQ7 Interdisciplinary effectiveness

Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.

GQ8 Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity

An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.

GQ9 Influence

Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes Graduate qualities
GQ1 GQ2 GQ3 GQ4 GQ5 GQ6 GQ7 GQ8 GQ9

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

This unit has been completely redesigned based on student feedback, staff strengths and new trends in the discipline and teaching more generally.

Complete, detailed information about the topics, weekly readings, lectures, tutorials, and assignments is presented on the class Canvas site. Students should consult this unit outline in conjunction with the Canvas site for full information on what we will be doing.

Disclaimer

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