Key Concepts in Anthropology

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

This module provides an overview of the big questions that anthropologists have contributed to and the different theoretical paradigms and concepts that they have developed or adopted. The aim is to provide you with a rapid overview of the discipline. It begins with two weeks examining the concepts of Society and Culture and their varied conceptualisations, followed by weeks that take in turn the key characteristics and assumptions of

• British structural functionalism

• methodological individualism and agency

• French structuralism

• British structuralism

• marxism, ideology and hegemony

• poststructuralism

• discourse and power/knowledge

• poststructuralism

• 'practice' and phenomenology.

Material Cultures

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

This module explores anthropological approaches to the study of material culture in a range of ethnographic contexts. Broadly concerned with the relationship between people and things, the module examines how aspects of the material world - including everyday objects, sacred or symbolic artefacts, artworks, architecture, clothing, images, ethnographic museum collections, etc. - at once reflect, represent and reproduce human sociality and identity. Like the people who create, consume and interact with them, objects may be said to have social lives, biographies and agency; these can be understood through such frameworks as exchange and mobility, production and consumption, memory and identity, metaphor and performance, collecting and display. Taking learning out of the lecture theatre, you are encouraged to explore the rich ethnographic collections and exhibition strategies of Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.

Practising Anthropology

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

This module aims to offer a basic introduction to anthropological practice by answering the question: "What do anthropologists do?" Starting with a consideration of fieldwork and the core anthropological method of participant observation, then moving to a consideration of forms of anthropological writing and ethnography, the module will also consider the impacts that engaged anthropology can have on the contemporary world.

The Anthropological Imagination

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

The module aims to convey a sense of anthropology as an exciting, 'living' subject, alive to the concerns of different communities and
populations living across the globe, and as cutting edge in terms of the research conducted by anthropologists at Sussex as they
actively engage with issues of social, cultural and global transformation. This is accomplished through a module structure which
revolves around 5 core themes considered central to the subject which capture anthropological thinking on the subjects of culture,
identity and representation:

• kinship, self and body
• economy as culture
• religion and politics
• and work on the global-local interface.

The Anthropology of Exchange, Money and Markets

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

The purpose of this module is to introduce you to how anthropologists have conceptualised, researched, and generated new understandings of the human activities that comprise economic life. Studying economic life from an anthropological view requires us to rethink such concepts as work and leisure, poverty and wealth, gifts and commodities, money and markets, and the term 'economy' itself. Therefore, economic anthropology enables us to critique some of the universalisms of mainstream economics through which capitalism has become naturalised. Traditionally, economic anthropology has been concerned with systems of exchange, non-industrial economies, and livelihood systems. In addition to covering these topics, we will examine issues of contemporary concern such as class, money, debt, shopping, factories, fair trade, globalisation, bioeconomies, and new strategies and practices of resistance.

The Anthropology of Kinship and Relatedness

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

The study of human relatedness and kinship has been central to the history of British social anthropology. This module introduces you to classic and new debates in kinship studies drawing upon material from a wide range of ethnographic contexts to examine the ways in which societies organise and conceptualise human relationships. It is concerned with the transformation of social structures and processes as well as the connections between kin organisations and power in developing and post-industrial societies. The module considers both accepted and more novel ways in thinking about human kinship: how we become related through 'substance', emotion, place and technology, for example. It covers both historical ground as well as the contemporary debates in the study of human relatedness.

Ethnographic Methods

15 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 2

This module introduces you to practical, theoretical and ethical issues surrounding ethnographic research in anthropology and the social sciences more generally. Methodological concerns around research design and implementation will be explored through a series of workshops on epistemology, methodology, and ethics.

It introduces you to a range of qualitative research methods, including the research interview, participant-observation and various participatory research methods. The module also introduces you to the analysis of qualitative data and to key issues of writing and representation. It is assessed by a group research project that you conduct by yourself. This project will give you the opportunity to design and conduct an independent piece of ethnographic research around a key anthropological theme, while allowing you to reflect on and apply the theoretical and practical insights gained over the course of the module.

Politics and Power

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module draws on political anthropology and social theory to explore what is for many anthropologists the central concept in the discipline: forms of power. In Western societies the term 'politics' tends to connote a quite narrow range of activities and institutions, typically those focused around parties, government and the state. We shall be using the term 'political' in a much wider sense, and linking it to the operations of power. Power is not a thing, but an aspect of a vast range of relationships from the most local to the global. There can be no neat boundaries around this field of study. Instead our intention is to explore the way the analysis of power has widened and deepened over the last fifty years, and to suggest continuity with economic and cultural processes that you are studying in other modules.

Religion and Ritual

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module is concerned with the explanation of religious and ritual phenomena. It explores the key theoretical issues by examining ethnographic material that deals with - among other things - initiation, myth, witchcraft, symbolism and religious experience. There is also some treatment of more 'secular' rituals such as carnival and Christmas. The focus is as much on how people believe as on what they believe; on why they perform rituals as much as what these rituals look like. It explores both classic texts and more recent accounts, to give you a sense of where particular arguments have come from and where they are going.

Anthropology Fieldtrips

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

This module introduces you to anthropological research in the field through a series of short UK and European based fieldtrips. Each topic is first introduced through a preparatory seminar during which relevant theoretical literature and approaches are discussed. You then meet with tutors at the chosen field-sites in order to conduct your own ethnographic observations and research. Topics may include:

• a consideration of human rights at the International Criminal Courts at the Hague
• a study of urban regeneration and gentrification in East London
• the ethnography of non-place and consumption in a shopping centre.

Culture and Performance

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

The module focuses on the anthropological master trope of "culture" and on the political dimensions of representing culture or "cultures". We consider how anthropological understandings of "culture", as well as anthropologists' modes of analysing and representing it in anthropological work, developed over the 20th century, partially in conversation with other disciplines. We also examine how "culture" operates as a key idea in the public domain, used by politicians, community and human rights activists, artists, scientists, museum curators and others in relation to a wide range of issues and debates when distinctions between "ourselves" and "others" are at stake. Finally, we look at some activities within the cultural domain (such as music, dance, theatre, verbal artistry) which have a performative dimension, and consider how anthropologists have approached these activities to address questions about structure and agency, embodiment, experience, art and aesthetics, creativity, power and protest.

Visual Anthropology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

This module will familiarise you with theories and applications of visual anthropology. You will have the opportunity to study complex legacies of visual representation in anthropology as well as contemporary, activist visual work. Crossovers between anthropological and other relevant visual epistemologies in the social sciences will be explored. You will also undertake visual research projects.

Work Placement (Anthropology)

60 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 2

This module is designed to allow students to gain practical work experience in an area of relevance to their degree programme, as well as carrying out a supervised project that builds on research or practical skills learned in the first three terms of the degree. It takes the form of a 12-week international work placement, to be undertaken during the second teaching block of the second year and replacing modules offered at the University. A limited number of placements will be available, in development and other international organisations, NGOs and businesses, and students will be selected for them on a competitive basis.

For each placement, a detailed work-plan will be agreed with the placement provider which allows the student to contextualise their learning, develop and apply new skills and foster personal development. It is anticipated that placements may also generate the opportunity of subsequent employment either during the summer vacation, or after the degree programme is completed.

Anthropology of Fertility, Reproduction and Health

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

The module uses social and cultural perspectives to examine academic and policy work in the area of reproduction, sexuality and health. It draws on the insights of medical anthropology, especially in relation to the body, gender and power, to critically reflect on reproduction, sexuality and health issues across the global North and South. A particular concern is with the existence and experience of sexual and reproductive inequalities in diverse social and cultural settings. Contrary to popular belief, reproduction is a process which is as much about men as it is about women, and is studied in the context of, for example, male fertility/infertility, masculinity, fatherhood and male sexual health. The module builds upon the theoretical perspectives introduced in the second year on kinship, procreation, social reproduction, sexuality, personhood, reproductive technologies, human rights and applied anthropology.

Anthropology of the Body

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

This module explores the body from an anthropological perspective, and considers how different societies and cultures conceptualise and experience the human body. In recent years, anthropologists and other academics have become increasingly interested in the body, including authors such as Foucault and Bourdieu. Some draw upon Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological approach with its emphasis on the senses, while others attempted to resolve the tensions between experience and agency. The module asks how the body represents a challenge for anthropological research, and explores recent ethnographic contributions to this field. We consider the body as a site on which social and cultural processes are inscribed, where power relations converge and are articulated, and as a site where agency is performed. Materials are drawn from both non-Western and Western societies.

Conflict, Violence and Peace: Critical perspectives

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

In recent years, there has been increased focus on conflict, violence and peace-building in the media, popular literature and aid programmes raising important questions about how these processes are understood and represented and what implications this has for the local and international response and in turn the transformation of conflict and violence. This module will offer critical perspectives on mainstream approaches to the study of conflict, violence and peace drawing on both anthropology and development studies.

Conflict, Violence and Peace: Critical perspectives

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3

In recent years, there has been increased focus on conflict, violence and peace-building in the media, popular literature and aid programmes raising important questions about how these processes are understood and represented and what implications this has for the local and international response and in turn the transformation of conflict and violence. This module will offer critical perspectives on mainstream approaches to the study of conflict, violence and peace drawing on both anthropology and development studies.

Current Themes in the Anthropology of Latin America

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

The aim of this module is to provide a framework for understanding current anthropological issues in the Latin American region, as well as how Latin American anthropology (both anthropology on Latin America and anthropology by Latin Americans) has contributed to the development of the wider anthropological discipline. Some of the themes covered will engage with anthropological understandings of indigeneity, race, gender, colonialism, nation states and environmentalism. The module will be mostly focused on the Amazonian and Andean regions but will also link to other parts of Latin America. Each week will be centred on ethnographic pieces that offer interesting reflections for contemporary issues as well as anthropological theory.

Environmental Anthropology

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

This module considers the cross-cultural study of relations between people and their environment. Like the focus of many environmental movements, much recent work in ecological anthropology has been crisis-driven. Whilst covering this literature, the focus of this module will be broader, taking a wider perspective, including the context in which the research itself is being done. Current work on the human dimensions of deforestation, or global climate change, for example, can be informed and strengthened by an understanding of the century-old intellectual lineage of the underlying issues.

The module will therefore cover the evolution of environmental anthropology, using ethnographic exemplars that relate to contemporary environmental issues, whilst at the same time probing debates such as:

• the Nature-Culture trap, and beyond

• Ecology and Social Organisation

• the Politics of Natural Resources and the Environment (including environmental anthropological contributions to mining, resource conflict etc.)

• knowing (and the limits to knowing) and researching the environment

Medicine and Culture

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

Drawing from ethnographic and cross-cultural research, the module will explore the relationships between medicine, culture, and society. After an introduction to some of the classical social anthropological approaches to affliction and healing, we will read a series of medical anthropology ethnographies selected for their different theoretical and analytical approaches to understanding medicine and culture. We will consider interpretative, symbolic, psychoanalytic, 'ethnopsychiatric', and cultural phenomenological approaches for understanding such phenomena as sorcery, possession, exorcism, shamanism, and charismatic healing. We conclude by examining recent approaches to medicine that can be characterised as cultural criticism.

Race, Ethnicity and Identity

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

This module focuses on theories of race, ethnicity and identity. It applies diverse theoretical approaches to race, ethnicity and identity to historical and contemporary ethnographic contexts. As well as examining the way in which racial and ethnic identities have been constructed across time and space, the module interrogates these constructions with specific reference to:

• the development of anthropology

• slavery and colonialialism

• scientific racism

• postcolonial political regimes

• postcolonial feminism

• conflict and genocide

• identity-based mass violence

• diaspora, transnationalism and the Black Atlantic

• contemporary understandings of race and racism in its myriad forms

• multicultural lives and hybridity.

The Anthropology of Africa

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

This module introduces you to contemporary anthropological approaches in culture and society in Africa. The guiding thread is an exploration of the relationship between macro and micro levels of analysis in understanding of African society through a selection of thematic lenses (economy, politics, religion, health, gender, conflict, power etc.).