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ANT2022 Key debates in Social Anthropology

ANT2022 (S2)    KEY DEBATES IN ANTHROPOLOGY

Module Convenor: Dr John Knight

Lecture Time: to be confirmed, venue to be arranged.

Why do anthropologists study culture? How do emotions vary cross-culturally? Is the body culturally, as well as biologically, constructed? Are our perceptions cultural? How does gender vary in different cultures? Is the human body cultural? Is the idiom of `culture' the new racism of our times? In what ways are cultures produced by those who write about them? Are cultures disappearing in the modern world? Do we live in a global culture? This module will examine the theme of culture from an anthropological perspective. Focusing on an assortment of critical thinkers and formative texts, it addresses the relation of culture to race, society, history, practice, embodiment, emotions, power, the politics of identity, the state, and globalization. The course examines some of the foremost anthropologists who have contributed to these topics, drawing on functionalist, structuralist, Marxist, reflexive and other traditions of thought.