Contemporary Topics in Cognition & Culture

Overview

This module introduces students to contemporary topics in the area of Cognition and Culture and is composed of three sections. The first addresses the question of why social anthropologists might wish to consider developments in the cognitive and evolutionary sciences. The second critically examines different approaches on the intersection of cognition and culture (e.g. cultural epidemiology, gene-culture coevolution, cultural schema theory, etc.). The final section applies these approaches to particular anthropological topics (e.g. kinship, religion, morality, and ethnicity), allowing students to consider the contributions of different theories and methodologies.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the module, students should be able to:



a) Critically evaluate arguments for and against the inclusion of the cognitive and evolutionary sciences in anthropology.

b) Critically compare and evaluate different approaches on the intersection of cognition and culture, including evolutionary psychology, cultural epidemiology, gene-culture co-evolution, cultural group selection, and cultural schema theory.

c) Critically discuss the different approaches in relation to both evidence and theoretical coherence.

d) Critically evaluate the contributions of cognitive and evolutionary approaches to enduring anthropological topics and questions such as kinship, ethnicity, religion, hierarchy, and morality.

e) Discuss the potential and challenges of how a cognitive and evolutionary approach can contribute to ethnographic research.

Skills

The module will help foster the students’:

Ability to consider the findings of multiple disciplines in addressing anthropological questions.

Ability to present ideas clearly in both oral and written formats.

Ability to research and critically analyse material from multiple disciplines.

Ability to debate and defend arguments.

Assessment