BA (Hons) History & Anthropology

The aim of this module is to acquaint you with the main bodies of theory within social anthropology and the classical sub-fields within the discipline (political anthropology, economic anthropology, anthropology of religion and kinship) and key debates within the discipline. The module begins by locating the discipline in a historical perspective before proceeding to an exploration of key theories and central themes within the discipline. Although the lectures will draw heavily on what might be considered classical texts in anthropology, which will often mean that the literature dates from the early or mid-20th century and sometimes from the 19th century or earlier, the emphasis will be on the exploring ways in which these keys areas of work within the discipline might inform our understanding of contemporary issues and problems.

As the module progresses you will hopefully gain a growing sense of what social anthropology is and feel more confident to enter discussion concerning the kinds of questions it asks. Reflecting this gradual build-up of confidence and understanding, the essay assignment for the first term has been broken down into two distinct yet related stages.

Anthropological Methods is an introduction to practices of ethnographic research. The module examines the relationship between theory and method within anthropology. We are concerned with the specific techniques that are used by anthropologists as they conduct their fieldwork. This module also draws attention to how ethnographic knowledge produced during fieldwork is both relational and contextual. We therefore consider certain historical conjectures and power dynamics that have contributed to the way ethnography is (perhaps at times rather paradoxically) at once defined as a product and perceived as a process. To this end, the module explores the epistemological and ethical foundations of anthropological methods in order to encourage you to think about fieldwork as an encounter and ethnography as the relation between anthropological practice and theory.

This core module introduces you to theories of history, methodologies and conceptual problems of advanced historical work from the ancient to the contemporary world. The module will help you acquire some of the fundamental skills involved in historical study – including writing at university level – as well as help you with online research, footnoting and compiling a bibliography. It consists of one lecture and seminar per week.

The module introduces the ethnography of the Caribbean region, highlighting the anthropological theories informing this ethnography. Central themes are the creation of Caribbean societies, communities, cultures and identities in response to colonialism and to contemporary opportunities and constraints, and the significance of the study of Caribbean culture-building for changing ethnographic approaches and anthropology. In this way, students will be able to make links with wider anthropological debates about the construction of society, changes in ethnographic research and the relationship between anthropology and its subjects.

The module engages with fundamental questions about governance, institutions, practices, politics, and social change through a focus on the state. We begin with some key questions related to the Anthropology of the State, which are discussed in the context of contemporary politics.

We look at how the state has been theorised, researched and whether ethnographies of nationalism, citizenship and labour are challenged by comparative ethnographic approaches. We will study institutions like the family, movements and migration in relation to questions around the state and will discuss intersectionality of gender, class, race and ethnic community in relation to citizenship, resources, labour relations, and social formations. It is crucial for this course to engage with comparative work, especially ethnographies, which will allow us to discuss the many layers in which state is experienced, researched and ultimately becomes real in different contexts.

This module introduces you to different anthropological approaches to visual and material culture and gives you the opportunity to conduct a piece of visually oriented anthropological research. 

The module provides a critical introduction to the many ways anthropologists engage with the visual from their use of visual methodologies and analysis of representations to their ethnographic study of everyday visual forms. Focusing on a wide range of visual media from photography, museum exhibitions and popular representations on TV to dress, body art, architecture and other everyday visual and material forms, the module raises issues about the significance of visibility, the politics of representation, the social life of visual and material forms and the relationship between seeing and other senses.

This module introduces the fascinating domain of the anthropology of religion: a vast and wide ranging subject. It introduces some of the many ways anthropologists have approached religious phenomena and highlights what is unique about anthropology’s contribution to the understanding of religion. It raises questions concerning what counts as ‘religious’ and includes within the remit of the module consideration of a variety of non-human agents (gods, God, spirits, witches) and religious practices (meditation, worship, performances).

The course offers an in-depth and critical anthropological analysis of western political economy through a Marxian and post-colonial framework. Combining historical contextualization and anthropological comparison, the course develops not only an historical materialist and cultural critique of western capitalism, but also a space of hope and prefiguration of post-capitalist life.

Overview of the module content:

To introduce you to the core concepts and theories relating to economic and political organisations and the problem of accounting for change, both empirically and theoretically.

To familiarise you with a number of empirical contexts in order that you may be able to conceptualise the complex socio-economic processes that are affecting the peripheral areas that have long been the concern of anthropologists.

To explore a number of contemporary problems relating to such issues as the apparent contradiction between local or national autonomy and globalisation that do not fit easily into definitions of the "economic" or "political".

This module explores the friction and common ground between History and Anthropology. In order to understand this productive but spirited dialogue, we historicise their relationship and overlapping but divergent theoretical perspectives and methods. Modern social anthropology was formed in the early twentieth century by a rejection of evolutionism and its replacement by synchronic site-specific studies, a move that effectively eclipsed history’s theoretical significance to the discipline. Yet, dissatisfaction with the ways in which synchronic functionalist ethnographic analyses ignored history and social change brought about lasting debates about continuity and rupture; the relation between pasts, presents and futures, and the wider humanistic turn of both disciplines under the theoretical influence of Marxism, feminism, and other critical social theory since the 1960s. This module is, in many ways, an examination of the possibilities of a historicised anthropology and poses several intertwined empirical and theoretical questions about the place of structure and agency, consciousness and historicity, and memory and silences within ethnography. Through historical ethnographies and selected social historiography, we aim to understand not only how to approach the past anthropologically, but also grasp ethnographically the uses of history as a collectivist political project implicated in nationalism, racist ideology, and categories like world heritage.

This module explores the friction and common ground between History and Anthropology. In order to understand this productive but spirited dialogue, we historicise their relationship and overlapping but divergent theoretical perspectives and methods. Modern social anthropology was formed in the early twentieth century by a rejection of evolutionism and its replacement by synchronic site-specific studies, a move that effectively eclipsed history’s theoretical significance to the discipline. Yet, dissatisfaction with the ways in which synchronic functionalist ethnographic analyses ignored history and social change brought about lasting debates about continuity and rupture; the relation between pasts, presents and futures, and the wider humanistic turn of both disciplines under the theoretical influence of Marxism, feminism, and other critical social theory since the 1960s. This module is, in many ways, an examination of the possibilities of a historicised anthropology and poses several intertwined empirical and theoretical questions about the place of structure and agency, consciousness and historicity, and memory and silences within ethnography. Through historical ethnographies and selected social historiography, we aim to understand not only how to approach the past anthropologically, but also grasp ethnographically the uses of history as a collectivist political project implicated in nationalism, racist ideology, and categories like world heritage.

This module will explore understandings and experiences of the health and illness by engaging with classic and contemporary ethnographic work to ask:

•How are health and illness understood and experienced; how are healing practices assessed?
•What is the relationship between health and inequality, both with reference to professional status and economic disparities?
•What can anthropology contribute in practice?

This module is concerned with social and cultural constructions and understandings of gender, sexuality and the body as discussed in anthropology and beyond. The main aim of the module is to develop a critical understanding of some of the major theoretical approaches to gender, sex and the body, as they have been and are relevant to anthropology. In European intellectual history ideas about the body have often revolved around the biological binary categories male and female. In this module, however, using a range of ethnographic examples we look at ways in which the idea of male and female is perceived, embodied and challenged, cross-culturally, in different contexts, and at different historical moments. The topics addressed range from work, performance and narrations of the self, to queer communities and families, and from biopolitics, and new technologies of the body/reproduction, the body, gender, and nation, and gender and globalisation. By the end of the module, you will be expected to be familiar with the main theoretical perspectives in anthropology on gender, sexuality and the related politics. You should also be aware of the historical changes which have marked the analysis of these concepts and be able to use ethnographic material as evidence for theoretical points.

This module explores the role of visual representation in anthropology in terms of both the history of its use within the discipline, and also the potential it holds for new ways of working. It looks at work in a wide range of media – photography, film/video, performance – and the ways in which they might be used in an anthropological context, and this will involve looking at work from outside anthropology such as photojournalism and contemporary art, as well as the work of visual anthropologists.

The intention of the module is to give students a challenging and creative view of the potentials for using audio-visual material within anthropology. It also provides a strong theoretical background for those students going on to take the AN53040A Anthropology and the Visual: Production Module in the Spring Term.

The module will provide a comprehensive overview of the study of material culture within the discipline of anthropology. Students will be asked to reflect critically on the work of global institutions such as UNESCO, engage in debates about the current role of museums in society, understand the inter-connected of human rights with rights to particular forms of material expression and engage with philosophical thinking about materiality and the immaterial world.

Work placement – 5 days per week for 2 weeks; or at least 10x8 hour days spread over a longer period to be determined by the WPM, Department, student and host organisation.

The aim is to provide experiential learning opportunities which both enhance students’ academic studies and offer the opportunity for personal development. It will therefore be an effective vehicle for delivering key aspects of Goldsmiths Learning and Teaching Strategy (Employability), including:
• The teaching and assessment of skills relevant both to academic achievement and to discipline-related career opportunities
• The delivery of effective personal development programmes
• The enhancement of academic programmes so that career-related experiences are offered, validated and supported

General Scope of the Module
Arrangements for the delivery of the module
The module will be coordinated by the WPM. The academic elements will be delivered and assessed by the academic department and the personal development elements by WPM/TALIC. It will fall within the purview of the assessment framework- including exam boards and external assessors- of each department. WPM/TALIC will be invited to the Exam Board Sub Committee.

Structure
The Placement is at the core. It will take place over a two-week period or may be spread over a longer period with a minimum of 10, eight-hour working days.

In the term prior to the Module, the WPM will hold discussions with students about placement options. It is anticipated that there will be a pool of placements and students will also be encouraged to find their own placements. In all cases, the WPM will meet with the host organisations, to ensure that they have the capacity to supervise the student and that they can offer the student activities and resources which will allow them to meet the learning outcomes. The respective responsibilities of the host organisation, student and Goldsmiths will be encapsulated in the Letter of Agreement.

A seminar, led by WPM/TALIC, will prepare students for placements. It will include: the purpose of the placement; information on what to expect/how to behave; health and safety issues; what to do if anything goes wrong; an introduction to self-assessment, including skills, values, personality traits; how to prepare the Personal Portfolio and presentation.

Prior to start of module:
Students discuss preferred sectors with WPM and are matched to placements or find their own.
Seminar (two hours) led by WPM/TALIC to prepare students for placements and to provide guidance on personal portfolio.

During module:
Three seminars (two hours) within the academic department, to help students formulate ideas for their research report and to allow them to share experiences and issues.
Student presentations (two hour session) set up by WPM/TALIC.
Office hours in department and with WPM/TALIC

How can we develop critical knowledge about migration and borders? This module explores the multiple ways migration and borders are understood and experienced in different social, geographical, and political settings, as well as in different theoretical and discursive domains. Grounded in anthropological perspectives and methods, and branching out into film, literature, and art, the module aims to destabilise dominant understandings of migration and borders. In doing so, it critically unpacks core themes at the heart of contemporary debates on transnational movement – from race to belonging, from surveillance to gender. Throughout the module we will engage with a variety of theoretical, literary, and visual materials that focus on migrant lives and border crossings to develop a critical understanding of migration and the material, political, cultural, and linguistic borders that shape it.

This module will consider the border politics involved in the making of 'transnational', diasporic', and 'local' communities. We will theorise the border as a material, political, cultural and linguistic boundary that is increasingly defining social life as well as engage with the experiences of those who cross borders. We will ask: How are borders constructed and contested? How do migrants experience borders? How is the discourse of citizenship destabilised when movement and borders become central heuristics by which to understand belonging and membership? Throughout the module we will read academic texts as well as engage with films and literature that focus on migrant lives and border crossings to develop a theoretical and practical knowledge of border politics in relationship to migratory flows.

This module revolves around contemporary debates in the anthropology of social movements. It considers the contribution of ethnographic approaches to activism and protest to the theorisation of politics, collective action and social change. The anti-globalisation movement, #occupy, the anti-corruption movement in India, the anti-foreclosures movement in Spain (PAH), the Landless Workers' Movement, right-wing extremism, feminist reproductive health activists, independent-living activism, queer movements and the Indigenous Environmental Network are some of the examples that the module will explore. Rather than 'explaining away' these movements, the pedagogical orientation of the module is based on learning from them, i.e. devising ways of conceptualising their practice, methods and transformative power. The module will also consider, as a transversal issue, the question of 'engaged' or 'militant' research - and more broadly the relationship between the production of academic and activist knowledges.

The assessment is organised around student projects that will present, in a multimedia portfolio format, the result of research conducted about/with social movements.

This module uses a range of data to focus on the relationship between Anthropology and Psychology. Although anthropology has often been described as a `bridge’ between the natural sciences and the humanities, the relationship between anthropology and psychology (or Psychoanalysis) has always been fraught with tension. This module explores these tensions and some attempts to overcome them.

Arguably modern anthropology and modern art are close in terms of both their origins and their critical reflection on the relationships between images, objects and persons, and a concern with anthropological or ethnographic issues is often an explicit feature of contemporary artworks. But despite a long history of dealing with the so-called ‘art’ of other cultures, what does anthropology have to contribute to an understanding of the kinds of artworks you might find at Tate Modern today? Using ethnographic case studies this module will consider key anthropological approaches to art both historically and thematically, and will explore how art and anthropology are entangled with each other, including suggesting ways in which anthropology can productively learn from contemporary art.

The aim of this module is to introduce you to rights in terms of their philosophical foundations, the history and shape of the UN system and anthropological contributions. We will be exploring human rights and humanitarian law as bodies of law, institutions, systems of practice and ideologies – with particular focus on the issue of cultural relativism (historically the key stumbling block for anthropological engagement with rights) and cross-cultural experiences of engagement with, or resistance to, rights.

The aim of this module is to allow students to explore the possibilities of communicating anthropological themes and issues through visual and aural media by producing practical work. 

This is a production-based module and does not follow the usual lecture/seminar format. It is centered on the development of your own individual practical visual or sound project and seeing that through to completion. As such the contact hours are made up of some joint screening sessions and group workshops, as well as some one-to-one tutorials.

The module requires you to engage in a PROCESS of making a visual piece of work, to develop and refine a project through all the various stages and forms necessary for its successful completion. Students typically produce several versions of the practical work as they refine their project over the module of the term.

This module offers an introduction to theoretical debates and methods of digital anthropology. It combines an introduction to the debates that have shaped the field with practical sessions designed to familiarize learners with digital methodologies for anthropological research. As digital technologies transform contemporary experiences of subjectivity, embodiment, sociality and everyday life, the module uses anthropological tools and methods to think through digital technologies in a range of ethnographic contexts. Topics covered will reimagine the object of anthropology through digital ethnography, and explore how the purchase of digital futures and imaginaries remake anthropologists’ conceptual toolkits.

The module will combine an enquiry into the materialities and politics of digital infrastructures, devices and social media platforms with practical learning using digital methods to produce anthropological analysis. Practical sessions will develop independent research skills including research design and ethics, working with digital video, techniques of online data collection and digital qualitative and ethnographic analysis.

This module looks at the ways in which anthropologists have dealt with violence, how we explain it, the specific problems of researching this topic, the involvement of anthropologists in military projects and other issues. We will be looking at the practices of researching; writing and engaging with violence and the problems these pose contemporary anthropologists. Some of the readings, lectures and other sources we might look at in this module inevitably deal with issues, descriptions and images of violence. Please be aware of this before taking the module and if it’s an issue discuss this with module convenor sooner rather than later.

The module aims to provide students with a critical understanding of international development as a social, political and historical field, and of anthropology’s engagement with development and processes of planned social change. The early parts of the module provide students with an understanding of, the emergence of development as an idea, the architecture and infrastructure of aid, and introduce key theoretical approaches in the study of inequality. We also examine the tensions inherent in anthropology’s long and intimate relationship with development, through the early production of expert knowledge about tradition and culture; through its critical engagement with policy processes and planned interventions, and through the professional negotiation of the fields of development anthropology and the anthropology of development.

The module then goes on to contextualise these theoretical and critical approaches to development through a series of interlinked topics and ethnographic case studies. These take students beyond the idea of development as linear progression, or as a monolithic force acting on the world, and instead reveal a field fractured by contradictions, contestations and contingencies that is produced, reproduced and interpreted across multiple locations and cultural contexts.

During the term you should acquire an overview of the relationship between anthropology, feminist theories and theoretical and applied issues within the field of development and politics. The emphasis will be on critical engagement and debate, and on a comparative approach to gender and gender systems of power in developed and developing countries. We will draw on the theories and debates covered in other modules to examine the implications of gender differences within specific economic and political systems.

The project is an extended piece of written work of academic standard, i.e. adequately researched, clearly written, well presented and structured and following academic conventions. It will show that you have an understanding of both theoretical debates in anthropology and relevant ethnography and make convincing use of secondary or library-based data. Your project can involve fieldwork and/or archives (primary data that you have collected) as well as your analysis of the relevant secondary sources in anthropology (secondary data that you have consulted).

This is a hands-on research module aimed at providing students with grounded, meaningful research experience. This will take the form of participation in research led by staff with the aim of contributing to real, concrete outputs with public and/or academic audiences. The preparation for research will take the form of two day-long workshops in summer term, the research itself will take place over the summer, with a third writing up/dissemination workshop in the Autumn term of the following academic year. As with the Placement module, this will be a Level 6 module which takes place in the summer at the end of the 2nd year, with assessment submitted in the Autumn term of the 3rd year.

While specific research skills will vary depending upon the research project, they are envisaged to include fieldwork skills (EG - interviewing; participant observation; field notes; audio & video data gathering), research ethics training, software use (EG - NVivo; website design packages such as Wordpress; mapping software; film editing) along with dissemination related skills such as blogging or collaborative writing up of research for other forms of publication. 

The aim of this course is to provide concrete skills and outputs that can be straightforwardly added to the CV's of students while also allowing them to participate in meaningful research. Depending upon the specificities of the research project - students will also be encouraged, where possible, to contribute towards the research design.