FACULTY OF HUMANITIES SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY COURSE UNIT OUTLINE 2018/19 SOAN 10301: Power and Culture: Inequalities in Everyday Life Semester 1 Credits 10 Course Convener: Professor Stef Jansen Room: 2.056 Arthur Lewis Building Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Mondays 15:00-16:00 Tuesdays 11:30-12:30 [Teaching Weeks only] No appointment necessary. Call 53993 from the phone on the 2nd floor landing. Tutors: Anna Balázs, Jeremy Gunson, Sinéad O'Sullivan Administrator: Kellie Jordan, G.001 Arthur Lewis Building (0161) 275 4000 [email protected] Lectures: Mondays 11:00-13:00, Moseley Theatre, Schuster Building No. 54 on campus Map. Tutorials: Allocate yourself to a tutorial group using the on-line Student System. If you have any problems, turn to the reception desk of the Undergraduate Office of the School of Social Sciences. G.001 Arthur Lewis Building Assessment: 1.5 hour examination in January 2019 (100%) Please read the following two information sheets in the Assessment Section on Blackboard, in connection with Coursework and Examinations: INSTRUCTIONS FOR SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY UNDERGRADUATE ESSAYS AND COURSEWORK UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS Reading week: 29/10/2018 – 02/11/2018 (no lectures; no tutorials, no office hours) Communication: Students must read their university e-mails regularly, as important information will be communicated in this way. Please read this course unit outline very carefully as it provides essential information needed by all students attending this course. Print it out and bring it to every lecture, tutorial or office hour. 1 POWER AND CULTURE: INEQUALITIES IN EVERYDAY LIFE 2018-2019 Semester One SOAN 10301 Dr Stef Jansen What this course unit is about This course unit introduces key contributions from social anthropology to the study of everyday life, with a focus on inequalities. It encourages students to develop their anthropological imagination through a combination of lectures, films, reading, exercises and tutorial discussions. At the heart of the course unit are two approaches that characterise much of what is distinctive to an anthropological perspective: social constructionism and cultural relativism. A social constructionist approach follows from the insight that much of what we tend to experience as 'natural/'essential'—such as hierarchies between men and women, norms and rules, forms of domination, nations, and so on—is partly or wholly human-made: these phenomena are 'social constructions', (un)intended products of collective human practice through history. Important as they may be, they could be different (this is called 'contingency'). And we do in fact find considerable variety across time and space. What one group of people considers 'normal', may not be so for others. To counter ethnocentric interpretations of the world—based on 'universalist' assumptions that 'our' way of doing things is the only way—many anthropologists thus take a cultural relativist approach: they study different ways of organising life in relation to their sociocultural context. In that way we see how different things make sense to people who operate within different frameworks. The combination of a social constructionist and a cultural relativist lens to study inequalities thus results in an approach that denaturalises them and contextualises them. Drawing on case studies from across the globe, this course unit uses these combined lenses to trace some core concerns of social anthropology. Throughout we will be alert to the political implications of such approaches. How the course unit works The course unit consists of lectures, film screenings, individual reading and tutorial discussions. As a 10- credit course unit, it is designed to involve a total of about 100 working hours, of which approximately two fifths are contact-based, through tutorials, lectures and individual meetings. Individual reading, reflection and note-taking are essential to your work for this course unit. Tutorials Tutorials are an integral, compulsory part of this course unit. Attendance is registered. There are multiple tutorial groups; each of which meet in six sessions across the semester. You sign up for a group through the on-line MyManchester student centre. Do this as soon as you can. The lecturer or tutors do not have access to this system; so we cannot do this for you. If necessary, turn to the Undergraduate Office of the School of Social Sciences (Ground Floor, Arthur Lewis Building, left at the entrance). Tutorials are organised to discuss the ideas that you encounter in the lectures and in your own readings, to raise questions and seek clarification, to draw out the connections between parts of the course unit and to learn from your tutor and peers. Reading and note-taking will not only allow you to contribute to and learn from tutorials but it will also help you well on your way to handle your assessment. Tutors can help you only inasmuch you have done preparatory work. Tutorials are not repeat lectures. The initiative here lies with you, not with the tutor. Tutorials will be based around a discussion of readings, written responses and/or exercises, and any questions you wish to raise about the readings and the lecture. For this 10-credit course unit, no credit is awarded for tutorial exercises. Nevertheless, they are a central part of your learning: the time and energy you invest in them will help you to understand the insights from the course unit, to crystallise questions, and, finally, to prepare for the assessment. 2 Web resources All details for this course unit can also be found in the dedicated Blackboard zone regularly updated. Powerpoint presentations will be posted here too, before each lecture. Whenever you have a query please always first check this course unit outline or Blackboard (including 'Frequently Asked Questions'). In almost every single case the information really is there. Readings This course unit outline contains a reading list with detailed instructions on what to read for every one of the 10 lectures and of the 6 tutorials. Students should familiarise themselves with the excellent library of the University of Manchester and its electronic systems at the start of semester. This is vital for your studies—so take one of the many library trainings available and learn how to do it right. There are three kinds of readings: 'core readings', 'additional readings' and 'case studies'. You must read 'core readings' before every lecture. You also need to have understood all of them to be able to adequately complete the examination. 'Additional readings' provide overviews and explanations that allow you to pursue topics of interest in some more depth and, especially, to place them in the broader context of social anthropology. Reading and referring to some of them will also help you to do well in your examination. Finally, 'case studies' are built around specific empirical research projects—you will need to use two of those for Part Two of the examination. 1. Most of the journal articles and many of the chapters from edited books are available electronically. Several whole books are available as e-books. You can access them from the library reading list for this course unit at http://www.readinglists.manchester.ac.uk/index.html In the case of journal articles, you can also access those by searching for the title of the journal (not the article) in the library catalogue at http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk 2. Some books on the reading list are only available in hard copy in the library. If a book for this course unit is only available in hard copy, one copy will be available in the high demand section of the library. 3. If, exceptionally, a journal article is not available electronically, it will be put on Blackboard. Examination In January 2018, there will be an unseen 90 minute examination, worth 100% of the total mark for the course unit. The exam consists of two parts. Part One (40%) requires brief answers (min 10, max 15 lines each) to 4 questions from throughout the course unit. In Part Two (60%) you pick one out of a list of 5 titles and write a longer essay-style answer. In Part Two each title corresponds to one of the weekly themes from lectures 6-10 and here you will have to demonstrate in-depth familiarity not only with the relevant core reading but also with two 'case studies' listed for that topic on this course unit outline. No exam questions for previous years are made available. Instead, here is detailed information on how to prepare. A successful exam requires a good grasp of all themes and more detailed reading on a smaller set of issues. Exam revision should minimally include: (1) revising all notes you took during all lectures and tutorials and during your reading, (2) reading closely all 'core readings' on every topic and all the powerpoint presentations, (3) deepening your understanding of one week's chosen theme through close reference to two 'case studies' listed for that particular topic in this outline. On top, thoughtful reference to 'additional readings' for Part Two is rewarded. Feedback There are three routes towards feedback on your learning for this course unit. In all three cases, the amount and quality of feedback depends on the amount and quality of your engagement. Ask questions and you will get answers. Feedback is about feeding back. It's a reaction—so we first need an action from your side. 3 The most important forum for feedback is provided in the tutorials. This is oral feedback by your tutors. Using your exercises as a basis, tutorials allow you to test your understandings with your tutor and your peers; to seek clarification on aspects of the readings of lecture materials that may be unclear to you; and to hone your skills of critical reading, note-taking and summarising arguments.