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Unit outline_

ANTH1002: Anthropology in the World

Semester 2, 2023 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

As humans, culture completes us, but we also create culture through our words and deeds. Social and cultural anthropologists are engaged in both cultural description and cultural criticism: their work contributes to understanding the world and changing it. Anthropologists challenge many dominant beliefs about how the world works. In this class, you will be introduced to the unique perspective of cultural anthropology on human experience through a study of how anthropologists have contributed to debates on contemporary issues of global importance. You will learn how anthropological understandings of culture and society help us to rethink the way we live and the world we inhabit.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit Anthropology
Credit points 6
Prerequisites
? 
None
Corequisites
? 
None
Prohibitions
? 
ANTH1004
Assumed knowledge
? 

None

Available to study abroad and exchange students

Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator Sophie Chao, sophie.chao@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s) Cate Massola, catherine.massola@sydney.edu.au
Leo Couacaud, leo.couacaud@sydney.edu.au
Type Description Weight Due Length
Assignment hurdle task Module 2 assignment: Comparing global flows
An essay on an open question drawing on module readings.
30% Week 07
Due date: 15 Sep 2023 at 23:59
1000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Assignment hurdle task Module 3 assignment: Ethnicity in your society
An essay on an open question drawing on module readings.
30% Week 10
Due date: 13 Oct 2023 at 23:59
1000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Assignment hurdle task Modules 1 and 4 assignment: What can anthropology contribute?
An essay on an open question drawing on module readings.
30% Week 13
Due date: 03 Nov 2023 at 23:59
1500 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Online task Weekly writing task participation
Short, ungraded reflections on open questions.
10% Weekly 10 x 100 ea.
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO6 LO5 LO4 LO3 LO2
hurdle task = hurdle task ?

Assessment summary

See the class Canvas site for the full details of and guidance on each of the assignments.

Assessment criteria

The three essay assignments must be submitted in order to avoid a grade of "absent fail."

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.

sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grade

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.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Stay in touch with your tutor and the unit instructors throughout the semester, especially if you get behind. You can always catch up and we want give students an opportunity to do their best work. Late penalties are per FASS policy, and discretion can be applied.

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 to the class: Why am I an anthropologist? Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1
Week 02 Embeddedness in practice: Gifts and relationships. Main reading: Eriksen (2015b); Other reading: Bohannan (1955) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 03 Disembedding: Commodities, capital and flows. Main reading: West (2012); Other reading: Marx ([1867] 1972) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 04 Re-embedding: Entanglement and multiplicity. Main reading: Sharp (2013); Other reading: Rogan (2005) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 05 The anthropology of globalisation. Main reading: Hannerz (1987); Other reading: Inda and Rosaldo (2008) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 06 European tropical colonies and the plantation system. Main reading: Trouillot ([1998] 2021); Other reading: Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert (2011) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 07 Dhow cosmopolitanism and the Indian Ocean world-system. Main reading: Vink (2007); Other reading: Walker (2013) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 08 Ethnicity and cultural diversity. Main reading: Eriksen (2015a); Other reading: Couacaud (2016) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 09 Managing diversity in plural societies. Main reading: Gowricharn (2015); Other reading: Eriksen (1994) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 10 Migration and multiculturalism in western countries. Main reading: Vertovec (2007); Other reading: Rex (1996) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 11 Indigenous creations in cultural institutions. Main reading: Clifford (1988); Other reading: Thomas (1991) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 12 Decolonising cultural institutions. Main reading: Andrews (2021); Other reading: Lonetree (2012) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 13 Negotiating narratives. Main reading: Massola (2023); Other reading: University of Sydney Library and Sentance (2021) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6

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

Recommended and required readings as well as other supplementary resources are available through the Library. They can be found in the Library catalogue and through the Leganto interface (“Reading List”) to the catalogue on the class Canvas site. See each week’s notes page for details on the topics and readings we cover in class.

 

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. gain an introductory level of knowledge about key concepts in anthropology
  • LO2. gain familiarity with ethnographic writing and argumentation
  • LO3. aquire skills in cross-cultural comparison
  • LO4. develop written communication skills
  • LO5. apply key anthropological and ethnographic insights in reflexive analysis
  • LO6. develop critical thinking

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 class has been redesigned on the basis of feedback and experience in first-year teaching.

Recommended and required readings as well as other supplementary resources are available through the Library. They can be found in the Library catalogue and through the Leganto interface (“Reading List”) to the catalogue on the class Canvas site. See each week’s notes page for details on the topics and readings we cover in class. 

Andrews, Jilda. 2021. “Value Creation and Museums from an Indigenous Perspective.” In Museums, Societies and the Creation of Value, edited by Howard Morphy and Robyn McKenzie, 1st ed., 225–39. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003139324-17.
Bohannan, Paul. 1955. “Some Principles of Exchange and Investment Among the Tiv.” American Anthropologist, New Series, 57 (1): 60–70. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1955.57.1.02a00080.
Clifford, James. 1988. “On Collecting Art and Culture.” In The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, 215–51. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Couacaud, Leo. 2016. “Does Holiness Have a Color? The Religious, Ethnic, and Political Semiotics of Colors in Mauritius.” Signs and Society 4 (2): 176–214. https://doi.org/10.1086/688513.
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 1994. “Nationalism, Mauritian Style: Cultural Unity and Ethnic Diversity.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 36 (3): 549–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S001041750001923X.
———. 2015a. “Ethnicity.” In Small Places, Large Issues, 4th ed., 329–44. An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (Fourth Edition). London: Pluto Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt183p184.21.
———. 2015b. “Exchange and Consumption.” In Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, 4th ed., 217–40. London: Pluto Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt183p184.16.
———. 2015c. Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology. 4th ed. London: Pluto Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183p184.2.
Gowricharn, Ruben. 2015. “Creole Hegemony in Caribbean Societies: The Case of Suriname: Creole Hegemony in Caribbean Societies: The Case of Suriname.” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism 15 (2): 272–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/sena.12147.
Hannerz, Ulf. 1987. “The World in Creolisation.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 57 (4): 546–59. https://doi.org/10.2307/1159899.
Inda, Jonathan Xavier, and Renato Rosaldo. 2008. “Tracking Global Flows.” In The anthropology of globalization: a reader, edited by Jonathan Xavier Inda and Renato Rosaldo, 2nd ed., 3–46. Blackwell readers in anthropology 1. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
Lonetree, Amy. 2012. “Introduction: Native Americans and Museums.” In Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums, 1–28. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press.
Marx, Karl. (1867) 1972. “Capital, Vol. 1 [Selections].” In The Marx-Engels Reader, edited by Robert C. Tucker, 309–43. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Massola, Catherine. 2023. “Community Collections: Returning to an (Un)imagined Future.” Museum Anthropology 46 (1): 59–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12267.
Olmos, Margarite Fernández, and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert. 2011. “Rastafarianism.” In Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santeria to Obeah and Espiritismo, Second Edition, 183–202. New York: NYU Press.
Rex, John. 1996. “The Political Sociology of a Multicultural Society.” In Ethnic Minorities in the Modern Nation State: Working Papers in the Theory of Multiculturalism and Political Integration, edited by John Rex, 30–48. Migration, Minorities and Citizenship. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375604_3.
Rogan, Bjarne. 2005. “An Entangled Object: The Picture Postcard as Souvenir and Collectible, Exchange and Ritual Communication.” Cultural Analysis 4: 1–27.
Sharp, Timothy L. 2013. “Baias, Bisnis, and Betel Nut: The Place of Traders in the Making of a Melanesian Market.” In Engaging with Capitalism: Cases from Oceania, edited by Kate Barclay and Fiona McCormack, 227–56. Research in Economic Anthropology 33. Bingley, Eng., UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
Thomas, Nicholas. 1991. “The European Appropriation of Indigenous Things.” In Entangled Objects: Exchange, Material Culture, and Colonialism in the Pacific, 125–84. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. (1998) 2021. “Culture on the Edges: Creolization in the Plantation Context.” In Trouillot Remixed: The Michel-Rolph Trouillot Reader, edited by Yarimar Bonilla, Greg Beckett, and Mayanthi L. Fernando, 194–214. Durhamn, N.C.: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478021537.
University of Sydney Library, and Nathan Sentance. 2021. “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Protocols.” https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/24602.
Vertovec, Steven. 2007. “Super-Diversity and Its Implications.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 30 (6): 1024–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870701599465.
Vink, Markus P. M. 2007. “Indian Ocean Studies and the ‘New Thalassology’.” Journal of Global History 2 (1): 41–62. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022807002033.
Walker, Iain. 2013. “Pushing the Creolisation Paradigm on the Comorian Island of Ngazidja: When Does Creolisation Cease to Be?” International Migration Institute Working Paper No. 69. University of Oxford: International Migration Institute. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3165a506-f866-4237-8c52-e3fe83c80df8.
West, Paige. 2012. “Village Coffee.” In From Modern Production to Imagined Primitive: The Social World of Coffee from Papua New Guinea, 101–29. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

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