UCL DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology
AFFILIATE/ERASMUS/SOCRATES
UNDERGRADUATE HANDBOOK AND COURSE
DESCRIPTIONS
2010-11
Affiliate/Erasmus/Socrates Student Tutor:
Dr Ruth Mandel, Department of Anthropology, 14 Taviton Street, Room 234,
Telephone 020 7679 8646, r.mandel@ucl.ac.uk
Affiliate/Erasmus/Socrates Student Adviser:
Martin O’Connor, Department of Anthropology, 14 Taviton Street, Department Office,
Telephone 020 7679 1040, martin.o’connor@ucl.ac.uk
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Why Anthropology at UCL?
Anthropology is the comparative, evolutionary and historical study of humankind. It is both a theoretical and a
field-based discipline. What distinguishes the anthropology programme at UCL from those offered by most
other British universities is the breadth and depth of our coverage. UCL anthropology looks at the biological as
well as the social, cultural and material attributes of human beings. It looks to cover, therefore, the entire timespan of the human career, from its origins to the present day. Our programmes provide undergraduate
students with an unusually broad intellectual foundation, equipping them with expertise in the social sciences,
the humanities and the biological sciences.
The Department of Anthropology is one of the largest in the UK with 26 academic staff including 9 professors.
The Department of Anthropology was given the highest possible rating of 5* for the quality of its research by a
recent survey of all British Universities.
The Department of Anthropology was rated Excellent for the quality of its teaching by a recent government
assessment of British Universities.
The Department of Anthropology offers an exceptionally wide range of optional courses, has a relatively low
staff-student ratio and emphasises tutorial or small-group teaching in courses at all levels.
Social Anthropology
Modern social anthropology is the comparative study of societies, of their culture and their histories. It is too
often seen as the study of strange and exotic societies on the periphery of modern civilisation. However, it is
now generally recognised that these societies were never static and unchanging and, anyway, by the time
anthropologists looked at them, they were often profoundly changed by colonialism. In social anthropology at
UCL, therefore, societies are studied historically as well as culturally, in interaction with one another as well as
in separate and different states.
Also, looking through the powerful lens of comparative analysis, social anthropologists at UCL focus upon
what is culturally different and strange about the West: about western capitalism, modern consumer culture
and urban life. Symbolic systems which determine what we in the West eat and how we dress, or the activities
of traders on modern financial and commodity markets, are all topics worthy of anthropological exploration.
Indeed, as is often pointed out, the ultimate goal of social and cultural anthropology is to render the exotic
familiar and the familiar exotic. This coupling deepens our social and cultural understanding of all forms of
human behaviour, close to home and remote.
Courses in social anthropology at UCL vary widely to reflect these modern disciplinary concerns. Ethnographic
courses, (where students look in detail at the culture, history, and social structure of a single region) cover
West Africa, Eastern Europe and South East Asia. Thematic options include medical anthropology,
ethnographic film, political and economic anthropology, sex-gender studies, the anthropology of religion, and
the study of race and ethnicity.
Material Culture
Material culture is the study of human social, cultural and environmental relationships as revealed in the
material world. It is about the peculiar object worlds of societies and about the social life of things within them.
Material culture studies at UCL are directed equally towards the analysis of the production, consumption and
symbolism of contemporary artefacts and towards the archaeological uncovering of the material evidence of
past societies. Indeed material culture has often been viewed as a meeting point of these two disciplines.
Material culture studies examine both ethnographically derived materials and the results of archaeological
excavations to tackle questions about the nature of social development that neither subject - social
anthropology or archaeology - is able to approach in isolation. Studying objects in this way furnishes
information on skill, technical accomplishment, choices of materials and the aesthetics of form. These material
traces may, in fact, constitute the only revealing knowledge that we will have of certain past cultures.
2
In any society artefacts, such as clothing or pottery, carry meaning as well as utility and, as such, form part of
the symbolic system through which ideas can be expressed, boundaries established and notions of cultural
identity conveyed and manipulated for social and political ends. Material culture studies at UCL also include
anthropology of art where indigenous aesthetics and concepts of pattern and form are often inseparable from
ritual performance and inner personal identity.
A number of frequently updated optional courses are made available to students wishing to keep up with the
latest advances in the field. At present in material culture these include the study of landscape, the
anthropologies of art, of mass consumption, and of visual culture.
Biological Anthropology
Biological anthropology is the study of the past and present evolution of the human species and is especially
concerned with understanding the causes of present human diversity. UCL anthropology offers a
comprehensive approach to biological anthropology, taught by one of the largest groups of biological
anthropologists in the country. Furthermore, our location in London provides many invaluable opportunities.
For example, we have close research and teaching links with the Natural History Museum in South
Kensington, the Institute of Zoology, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Courses in
biological anthropology at UCL investigate human evolution and diversity from three main points of view:
morphological, genetic and ecological.
Course Loads
Affiliate students are expected to take a normal course load of 4.0 units for full year (or 2.0 units for those
students here for Fall or Spring Term only).
Half unit courses run for one term and consist of 25 hours of lectures and tutorials. More advanced courses
(levels 2 and 3) may be taught in a seminar format to enable students to express their own ideas more readily
and importantly, develop skills in oral presentation. Methods of assessment vary by course and include
conventional examinations, take-home examinations, extended essays, and a combination of examination and
assessment by essay or laboratory work.
Student Support and Departmental Facilities
An important feature of the department at both undergraduate and graduate levels is the emphasis placed on
easy contact between students and staff. All lecture courses are supplemented by a programme of tutorials,
seminars or demonstrations, in which instructors and teaching assistants discuss questions with small groups
of students. Affiliate Students receive advice on their course programmes from the Affiliate Student Tutor.
A joint Staff-Student Committee meets regularly to discuss matters of common concern and student
representatives attend formal meetings of the staff. The Anthropology Society, which is organised by the
students themselves, has a lively social programme and also arranges extra-curricular activities. A Visual
Anthropology society, again run by students, organises regular showings and discussions of films. The
department has access to the library of ethnographic film of the Royal Anthropological Institute and its own
video film collection.
At present there are about 200 undergraduate, 75 Masters and 100 PhD research students registered in the
department. Our students come from a wide variety of social backgrounds in the UK and EU. Despite our size
you will find the atmosphere here friendly and informal. The Department has a student common room and a
long tradition of gathering together at the end of the day for a drink and discussion in one of the many bars on
or around campus.
In the anthropological section of the DMS Watson Library, UCL, the department has its own excellent
collection of journals, monographs and reference works. Students may also use the libraries of the UCL
Institute of Archaeology, and of the School of Oriental and African Studies, together with the University
Library at Senate House. We are well equipped in terms of up-to-date audio-visual equipment within the
department, and computing facilities are available in the College cluster rooms. To support our work in the field
of material culture, the department has an outstanding collection of ethnographic specimens, and we maintain
very close relations both with the ethnographic department of the British Museum and with the Horniman
Museum. A laboratory supports work in biological anthropology. The department also houses the Napier
3
Primate Collection; this includes a large number of primate skeletons as well as a comprehensive collection
of primate and human fossils.
As a major international centre for research in anthropology, the department is actively involved in the
dissemination of new ideas in the discipline. Members of staff participate in the editing of several major
anthropological journals with an international readership and reputation (Critique of Anthropology, Journal
of Human Evolution, and Journal of Material Culture). Furthermore, the department publishes (in
association with Berg Publishers, Ltd.) its own series of anthropological monographs entitled Explorations in
Anthropology, a paperback series of shorter volumes entitled Global Issues in Anthropological
Perspective and edits a series on material culture for Routledge publishers.
Facilities Beyond the Department
The College, since it includes famous science, humanities, arts and law departments, the Slade School of Fine
Art, the Institute of Archaeology and the Bartlett School of Architecture, Building, Environmental Design and
Planning. The UCL Students Union is a very active centre of social life. Across the road from the College is the
University of London Union (ULU). The College itself is situated in a compact rectangle in a relatively quiet
part of Bloomsbury, a short distance from Regents Park. Within walking distance of the College you will find
the British Museum, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and more than 20 theatres, as well as the
National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the Warburg Institute. The Royal Festival Hall, the National
Theatre and the National Film Theatre that form the South Bank complex are only 15 minutes away by tube.
Staff
The UCL Department of Anthropology is one of the largest anthropology departments in the country. Our
present Head of Department, Professor Susanne Kuechler, is Head of the Material Culture Section. The
department has eight other professors. There are a number of externally funded research staff in the
department at any one time in addition to the academic staff listed on the following pages. All our academic
staff are active researchers and our ability to offer innovative and challenging undergraduate programmes
reflects the department’s strong research base.
ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT ACADEMIC STAFF 2010-2011
Dr Allen Abramson (Senior Lecturer, Social Anthropology) a.abramson@ucl.ac.uk
Urban and rural Oceania, especially sex-gender systems, ritual and politics, and the mythical and legal content of land
relations. Death and risk in contemporary situations, especially in relation to voluntary risk-taking, near-death experience
and cultural practices.
Dr Alex Argenti-Pillen (Lecturer, Social Anthropology) a.argenti-pillen@ucl.ac.uk
Social effects of counter-insurgency warfare in the rural slums of Southern Sri Lanka. Post-war re-construction of the
public sphere and the role trauma counselling programs play in the long-term political destabilization of local
communities. Analysis of remnants of the civil war that emerge in contemporary ritual life: 'terror sediments' that alter the
structure of traditional sacrificial rites and healing rites.
Dr Victor Buchli (Reader, Material Culture) v.buchli@ucl.ac.uk
Interests in the cultural history of Russia and Eastern Europe.
Dr Ludovic Coupaye (Lecturer, Material Culture)
Field research in the Sepik area, Papua New Guinea, among an Abelam community. His research interweaves
techniques, rituals, arts, knowledge, material culture and environment. His interests lie in the history and theories of
anthropology and archaeology, museums and exhibitions, epistemology, non-linear systems, cognition, and aesthetics.
Dr Lane DeNicola (Lecturer, Digital Anthropology) l.denicola@ucl.ac.uk
Culture, technology, and design, particularly in the context of digital technologies, visualization, and immersive systems.
His primary fieldwork was conducted in India on the training of satellite image interpreters. Current work includes
research on the geospatial Web and digital music.
Dr Rebecca Empson (Lecturer, Social Anthropology) r.empson@ucl.ac.uk
Research interests include concepts of personhood, photography, memory, intra-kin rebirths, the politics of bodily and
territorial boundaries, religious economies, migration. Regional focus: East Asia, especially Mongolia.
4
Dr Luke Freeman (Lecturer, Social Anthropology) luke.freeman@ucl.ac.uk
Early work focused on how people acquire knowledge in both formal and informal settings. It studies the practice and
perception of schooling in rural Madagascar as it relates to local ways of knowing and being. Recent research among
Malagasy cattle drovers has led to an interest in how the co-evolutionary relationship between humans, animals and the
environment is imagined, symbolised and lived.
Dr Caroline Garaway (Lecturer, Biological Anthropology) c.garaway@ucl.ac.uk
The human ecology of aquatic resource use in developing countries (particularly SE Asia) and the development of
integrated approaches to aquatic resource research. Impact of fisheries and agricultural development on aquatic
resources, local livelihoods and human/environment interactions. Institutional approaches to understanding local
collective action in natural resources management and development.
Dr Martin Holbraad (Lecturer, Social Anthropology) m.holbraad@ucl.ac.uk
Field research in Cuba, focusing on Afro-Cuban religious phenomena. Having written his doctoral thesis on the role of
oracles and money within the diviner cult of Ifà in socialist Cuba, his current research focuses on the relationship between
myth and action in the life of the cult. These ethnographic interests inform his theoretical concerns with such topics as the
anthropology of truth and the imagination, cognitive anthropology and its limits, and the relationship between
anthropological and philosophical analysis.
Prof Katherine Homewood (Professor, Biological Anthropology) k.homewood@ucl.ac.uk
Land-use and livelihoods change in sub-Saharan rangelands: pastoralists, wildlife ecology, tropical savanna and forest
ecosystems, with regional expertise on West and East Africa.
Prof Susanne Kuechler (Professor, Material Culture) s.kuechler@ucl.ac.uk
Art, Ethno-mathematics, Technology and Materiality, Theory of Knowledge and Cognitive Anthropology, Anthropology of
Cloth and Clothing, Pacific Anthropology (Melanesia and Polynesia).
Dr Jerome Lewis (Lecturer, Social Anthropology) jerome.lewis@ucl.ac.uk
Central African hunter-gatherers and former hunter-gatherers. Research focuses on socialization, play and religion; on
egalitarian politics and gender relations; and techniques of communication. Studying the impact of outside forces on
these groups has lead to research into human rights abuses, discrimination, economic and legal marginalization, and to
applied research supporting efforts by forest people to address some of these issues and better represent themselves to
outside authorities.
Prof Roland Littlewood (Professor, Anthropology and Psychiatry) r.littlewood@ucl.ac.uk
Ethno-psychiatry, medical anthropology, religion and cognition, with regional expertise on Britain and the Caribbean.
Holds a joint appointment with the UCL Department of Psychiatry where he is usually based.
Prof Ruth Mace (Professor, Biological Anthropology) r.mace@ucl.ac.uk
Human behavioural ecology, life history and in the evolution of human diversity with regional expertise in Africa.
Demography and Cultural Evolution
Dr Ruth Mandel (Senior Lecturer, Social Anthropology) r.mandel@ucl.ac.uk
International labour migration and ethnic minorities, media and development with regional expertise on Central Asia,
Germany, Turkey and Greece.
Prof Daniel Miller (Professor, Material Culture) d.miller@ucl.ac.uk
Research interests in material culture and consumption including house interiors and clothing, and the use of internet and
mobile phones with regional expertise on Britain and the Caribbean.
Prof David Napier (Professor, Medical Anthropology) d.napier@ucl.ac.uk
Medical anthropology, immunology, religion and cosmology, categories of the person, embodiment, psychological
change, concepts of otherness. Fieldwork in South and South East Asia, with the homeless, within rural primary caregivers with bench scientists.
Prof Christopher Pinney (Professor, Material Culture) c.pinney@ucl.ac.uk
The cosmology of industrialism and modernity, colonialism and photography, popular Indian visual culture (including film
and chromolithography), Indian studio photography.
Dr Sara Randall (Senior Lecturer, Biological Anthropology) s.randall@ucl.ac.uk
Demography, pastoralists, fertility and reproduction, migration, health and development, with regional expertise on
francophone West Africa.
5
Dr Barrie Sharpe (Lecturer, Social Anthropology) b.sharpe@ucl.ac.uk
The anthropology of development, history and ethno history, and knowledge systems, with regional expertise on West
and Central Africa.
Dr Christophe Soligo (Lecturer, Biological Anthropology) c.soligo@ucl.ac.uk
Research interests focus on the adaptive origin of the major primate radiations, the evolutionary anatomy of primates and
the reconstruction of the palaeo-ecological context of human and non-human primate evolution.
Prof Volker Sommer (Professor, Biological Anthropology) v.sommer@ucl.ac.uk
Eco-ethology of primates, in particular langur monkeys in India, gibbons in Thailand and chimpanzees in West-Africa.
Director of the conservation and research activities of the "Gashaka Primate Project" (Nigeria). General interests include
the evolution of social and sexual behaviour in primates.
Dr Charles Stewart (Reader, Social Anthropology) c.stewart@ucl.ac.uk
Historical anthropology, religion, and dream narratives, with regional expertise on Greece and Europe generally.
Dr Michael Stewart (Senior Lecturer, Social Anthropology) m.stewart@ucl.ac.uk
Economic and political anthropology with particular respect to the marginal populations in Eastern Europe and recently
de-collectivised peasants in Romania.
Prof Chris Tilley (Professor, Material Culture) c.tilley@ucl.ac.uk
Theory and philosophy, landscape, material culture and prehistoric Europe with regional expertise on Europe and the
South Pacific. He holds a joint appointment with the UCL Institute of Archaeology.
Dr Brian Villmoare (Lecturer, Biological Anthropology) b.villmoare@ucl.ac.uk
Research interests center on using cranial remains to determine the evolutionary relationships of early human ancestors
and developing methods that make phylogenetic inference more reliable. Also interested in morphological integration,
both for the role it plays in phylogenetic analysis and the potential it has for identifying adaptive transitions.
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FURTHER INFORMATION:
For information about accommodation, contact:
Student Residence Office
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
Tel: + (44) 020 7679 7077
Fax: + (44) 020 7679 0407
Email: residences@ucl.ac.uk
An Alternative Prospectus may be available from:
UCL Students Union
Gordon Street
London
WC1H 0AH
Information for overseas students may be obtained from:
International Office
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
Tel +(44) 020 7679 7185
Fax +(44) 020 7679 7380
Email: international@ucl.ac.uk
7
ANTHROPOLOGY AFFILIATE STUDENTS (FIRST TERM ONLY)
STUDENTS ATTENDING UCL FOR THE FIRST ACADEMIC TERM ONLY MAY REGISTER FOR UP TO 2.0 UNITS
OF COURSES IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT.
*SUBJECT TO APPROVAL DEPENDANT ON STUDENTS PREVIOUS STUDIES AND BACKGROUND IN
ANTHROPOLOGY
TERM 1
INTRODUCTORY LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH1001A
ANTH1005A
ANTH1014A
TITLE
Introduction to Material and Visual Culture I
Introduction to Social Anthropology I
Introduction to Biological Anthropology I
VALUE
0.5
0.5
0.5
TERM
1
1
1
VALUE
0.5
0.5
TERM
1
1
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
1
1
1
1
1
1
0.5
1
VALUE
0.5
0.5
0.5
TERM
1
1
1
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH2003
ANTH2006
ANTH7001
ANTH7002
ANTH7005
ANTH7009
ANTH7013
ANTH7015
ANTH7016A
TITLE
Palaeoanthropology
Introduction to Theoretical Perspectives in Social Anthropology and
Material Culture
Introduction to West African Ethnography
Political and Economic Anthropology
Population Studies
Primate Behaviour and Ecology
Anthropology of the Built Environment
Fishers and Fisheries; Anthropology, Aquatic Resources and
Development
Applied Studies (Global Citizenship)
ADVANCED LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH3001
ANTH3007
ANTH3022
TITLE
Anthropology of Games and Simulation
Medical Anthropology
The Anthropology of Media and Consumption
STUDENTS MAY APPLY FOR COURSE UNITS TO BE TAKEN OUTSIDE OF THE DEPARTMENT
(SUBJECT TO APPROVAL)
STUDENTS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THEY MAY HAVE TO ATTEND A SUBSIDIARY STUDENT
REGISTRATION IN THE TEACHING DEPARTMENT
8
AFFILIATE STUDENTS (SECOND TERM ONLY)
STUDENTS ATTENDING UCL FOR THE SECOND ACADEMIC TERM ONLY MAY REGISTER FOR UP TO 2.0 UNITS
OF COURSES IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT.
*SUBJECT TO APPROVAL DEPENDANT ON STUDENTS PREVIOUS STUDIES AND BACKGROUND IN
ANTHROPOLOGY
TERM 2
INTRODUCTORY LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH1001B
ANTH1005B
ANTH1014B
TITLE
Introduction to Material and Visual Culture II
Introduction to Social Anthropology II
Introduction to Biological Anthropology II
VALUE
0.5
0.5
0.5
TERM
2
2
2
VALUE
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
TERM
2
2
2
2
2
2
VALUE
0.5
0.5
TERM
2
2
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH7004
ANTH7008
ANTH7016B
ANTH3020
ANTH3052
BIOL2011
TITLE
Anthropology of Art and Design
Man and Animals
Applied Studies (Global Citizenship)
Social Construction of Landscape
Primate Evolution and Environments
Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology
ADVANCED LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH2001
ANTH3012
ANTH3017
ANTH3028
ANTH3030
ANTH3050
ANTH3051
ANTH3053
ANTH3054
TITLE
Introduction to the Technology of a Selected Region
The Study of Advanced Industrial Society (Risk, Power and
Uncertainty)
Anthropology and Psychiatry
Gender, Language and Society
Nationalism, Ethnicity and Race
Evolution and Human Behaviour
Advanced Medical Anthropology for Medical Students
Temporality, Consciousness and Everyday Life
Alterity, Transgression and Experiment in Anthropological Thinking
STUDENTS MAY APPLY FOR COURSE UNITS TO BE TAKEN OUTSIDE OF THE DEPARTMENT
(SUBJECT TO APPROVAL)
STUDENTS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THEY MAY HAVE TO ATTEND A SUBSIDIARY STUDENT
REGISTRATION IN THE TEACHING DEPARTMENT
9
AFFILIATE STUDENTS (FULL YEAR)
STUDENTS ATTENDING UCL FOR THE WHOLE 2010-11 ACADEMIC SESSION MAY REGISTER FOR UP TO 4.0
UNITS OF COURSES IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT. *SUBJECT TO APPROVAL DEPENDANT ON
STUDENTS PREVIOUS STUDIES AND BACKGROUND IN ANTHROPOLOGY
INTRODUCTORY LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH1001
ANTH1001A
ANTH1001B
ANTH1005
ANTH1005A
ANTH1005B
ANTH1014
ANTH1014A
ANTH1014B
TITLE
Introduction to Material and Visual Culture
Introduction to Material and Visual Culture I
Introduction to Material and Visual Culture II
Introduction to Social Anthropology
Introduction to Social Anthropology I
Introduction to Social Anthropology II
Introduction to Biological Anthropology
Introduction to Biological Anthropology I
Introduction to Biological Anthropology II
VALUE
1.0
0.5
0.5
1.0
0.5
0.5
1.0
0.5
0.5
TERM
1&2
1
2
1&2
1
2
1&2
1
2
VALUE
0.5
0.5
TERM
1
1
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
1
2
2
2
2
VALUE
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
TERM
2
1
1
2
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH2003
ANTH2006
ANTH7001
ANTH7002
ANTH7004
ANTH7005
ANTH7008
ANTH7009
ANTH7013
ANTH7015
ANTH7016A
ANTH7016B
ANTH3020
ANTH3052
BIOL2011
TITLE
Palaeoanthropology
Introduction to Theoretical Perspectives in Social Anthropology and
Material Culture
Introduction to West African Ethnography
Political and Economic Anthropology
Anthropology of Art and Design
Population Studies
Man and Animals
Primate Behaviour and Ecology
Anthropology of the Built Environment
Fishers and Fisheries; Anthropology, Aquatic Resources and
Development
Applied Studies (Global Citizenship)
Applied Studies (Global Citizenship)
Social Construction of Landscape
Primate Evolution and Environments
Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology
ADVANCED LEVEL COURSES
CODE
ANTH2001
ANTH3001
ANTH3007
ANTH3012
ANTH3017
ANTH3022
ANTH3028
ANTH3030
ANTH3050
ANTH3051
ANTH3053
ANTH3054
TITLE
Introduction to the Technology of a Selected Region
Anthropology of Games and Simulation
Medical Anthropology
The Study of Advanced Industrial Society (Risk, Power and
Uncertainty)
Anthropology and Psychiatry
The Anthropology of Media and Consumption
Language, Gender and Culture
Nationalism, Ethnicity & Race
Evolution and Human Behaviour
Advanced Medical Anthropology for Medical Students
Temporality, Consciousness and Everyday Life
Alterity, Transgression and Experiment in Anthropological Thinking
STUDENTS MAY APPLY FOR COURSE UNITS TO BE TAKEN OUTSIDE OF THE DEPARTMENT
(SUBJECT TO APPROVAL)
STUDENTS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THEY MAY HAVE TO ATTEND A SUBSIDIARY STUDENT
REGISTRATION IN THE TEACHING DEPARTMENT
10
PROVISIONAL ANTHROPOLOGY COURSES 2010-11
* PLEASE CHECK THE ONLINE TIMETABLE AND MOODLE NOTICES FOR ANY TIMETABLE/ROOM CHANGES
FIRST YEAR COURSES
ANTH1001
Introduction to Material Culture and Visual Culture
Value: 1.0 unit
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Term 1: Dr Victor Buchli
v.buchli@ucl.ac.uk
Term 2: Prof Danny Miller
d.miller@ucl.ac.uk
A general introduction to material culture studies including their history,
comparative study of technology; theories of artefacts; art and museum practice
and theory; theories of social evolution and an outline of social development
from early hunter-gatherers to premodern states and the development of the
modern world.
2 x 1hr lecture + 1 x hr tutorial per week
Terms 1 & 2
Term 1: Monday 10-11am and Thursday 11-12pm + 1 x hr tutorial
Tutorial times: Monday 2, 3, 4pm, Tuesday 2, 3, 4pm and Thursday 2, 3, 4pm.
Term 2: Tuesday 3-4pm (lecture) + 2 x hr lab class: Wednesday 9-11am, Thursday
9-11am, Thursday 2-4pm
Seminar/project (40%) and unseen written exam (60%) = 100%
Material Culture
None. Core course for first-year Anthropology students.
ANTH1001A
Introduction to Material and Visual Culture I
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Dr Victor Buchli
v.buchli@ucl.ac.uk
A general introduction to material culture studies including their history,
comparative study of technology; theories of artefacts; art and museum practice
and theory; theories of social evolution and an outline of social development
from early hunter-gatherers to premodern states and the development of the
modern world.
2 x 1 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 1 only
Monday 10-11am and Thursday 11-12pm + 1 x hr tutorial
Tutorial times: Monday 2, 3, 4pm, Tuesday 2, 3, 4pm and Thursday 2, 3, 4pm.
Seminar/project (40%) and unseen written exam (60%) = 100%
Material Culture
None. History of Art students wishing to take an introductory material culture option
should take this course as there will be restricted access to ANTH1001B: Introduction to
Material and Visual Culture II in Term 2.
Description:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Lectures:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Lectures:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
ANTH1001B
Introduction to Material and Visual Culture II
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Prof Danny Miller
d.miller@ucl.ac.uk
This course follows on from the first term ANTH1001A: Introduction to Material and
Visual Culture I course as outlined above. This second term course will consist of a lab
based component which will introduce students to methodologies in material culture and
intensify their understanding of the role and objectives of material culture.
2 x hr lab session + 1 hr lecture per week
Term 2 only: Tuesday 3-4pm (lecture) + 2 x hr lab class: Wednesday 9-11am,
Thursday 9-11am, Thursday 2-4pm
100% coursework
Material Culture
Normally ANTH1001A: Introduction to Material and Visual Culture I
Restricted access to subsidiary students (permission of course tutor required).
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
11
ANTH1005
Introduction to Social Anthropology
Value: 1 unit
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Dr Jerome Lewis (Term 1)
jerome.lewis@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Luke Freeman (Term 2)
luke.freeman@ucl.ac.uk
The first part of the course deals with the pre-history and history of social anthropology,
with principles and types of social organisation in both small and large-scale societies,
and with aspects of economy, politics, social control, kinship and cosmology. It also
considers the local and global integration of these societies. In Term 2 the course shows
the relationship between some key debates in social anthropology such as kinship,
ethnicity, exchange and taboo. Readings (2-3 per week) are a mixture of book chapters
and journal articles. .
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week - Term 1
2 x 1 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week - Term 2.
Term 1: Monday 2-4pm + 1 x hr tutorial
Tutorials: Tuesday 10, 11, 12, 2, 3 and 4pm, Wednesday 10, 11 and 12pm and
Thursday 10, 11, 12, 2, 3 and 4pm
Term 2: Monday 10-11am and Wednesday 11-12pm + 1 hr tutorial
Tutorials: Thursday 2, 3, 4pm and Friday 2, 3 and 4pm.
Unassessed Essays + 3 hour examination 100%
Social Anthropology
None. Core course for first-year Anthropology students.
ANTH1005A
Introduction to Social Anthropology I
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Dr Jerome Lewis
jerome.lewis@ucl.ac.uk
First term of full unit course ANTH1005: Introduction to Social Anthropology as outlined
above.
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week – Term 1
Term 1 only, Monday 2-4pm + 1 x hr tutorial
Tutorials: Tuesday 10, 11, 12, 2, 3 and 4pm, Wednesday 10, 11 and 12pm and
Thursday 10, 11, 12, 2, 3 and 4pm
Unassessed Essays + 2.5 hour examination 100%
Social Anthropology
None
ANTH1005B
Introduction to Social Anthropology II
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Dr Luke Freeman
luke.freeman@ucl.ac.uk
Second term of full unit course ANTH1005 Introduction to Social Anthropology as
outlined above. The course shows the relationship between some key debates in social
anthropology such as kinship, ethnicity, exchange and taboo. Readings (2-3 per week)
are a mixture of book chapters and journal articles.
2 x 1 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week.
Term 2 only, Monday 11-11am and Wednesday 11-12pm + 1 x hr tutorial
Tutorials: Thursday 2, 3, 4pm and Friday 2, 3 and 4pm.
Unassessed Essay + 2.5 hour examination 100%
Social Anthropology
Normally ANTH1005A: Introduction to Social Anthropology (0.5 unit) However, this
prerequisite is waived in some circumstances, especially for Affiliate students arriving at
the beginning of Term 2.
Description:
Student Contact Hours
Duration of Course:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
12
ANTH1014
Introduction to Biological Anthropology
Value: 1.0 unit
Description:
Dr Brian Villmoare
brian.villmoare@ucl.ac.uk
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Basic evolutionary biology as applied in anthropology, covering evolutionary theory,
socio-biology, introductory primate behaviour, taxonomy and phylogenetic
reconstruction. Introduction to the similarities and differences between humans and nonhuman primates from both biological and behavioural points of view. Introductory
overview of human adaptation to different environmental and other stresses; General
introduction to human nutritional requirements and problems. Introductory overview of
the fossil and archaeological evidence for human evolution, and of the interpretation of
this evidence. Introductory survey of principles and findings in the fields of nutrition,
environmental physiology, epidemiology and evolution of infectious diseases relevant to
the study of human ecology.
Lecture (2 hours) + tutorial (one hour) per week
Term 1: Monday 11-1pm + 1 hr tutorial
Term 2: Monday 10-11am and Thursday 12-1pm + 1 x hr tutorial
4 x 1500 non-assessed essays and 3 hr exam (100%)
Biological Anthropology
None. Anthropology first year core course.
ANTH1014A
Introduction to Biological Anthropology I
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Dr Brian Villmoare
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
brian.villmoare@ucl.ac.uk
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Term 1 of the whole unit ANTH1014 as above. Basic evolutionary biology as applied in
anthropology, covering evolutionary theory, socio-biology, introductory primate
behaviour, taxonomy and phylogenetic reconstruction. Introduction to the similarities and
differences between humans and non-human primates from both biological and
behavioural points of view.
1 x 2hr lecture and 1 x tutorial per week
Term 1: Monday 11-1pm + 1 x hr tutorial
4 x 1500 non-assessed essays and 3 hr exam (100%)
Biological Anthropology
None. Term 1 of the core Anthropology first year course.
ANTH1014B
Introduction to Biological Anthropology II
Value 0.5 unit
Description:
Dr Brian Villmoare
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
brian.villmoare@ucl.ac.uk
Introductory overview of human adaptation to different environmental and other stresses;
General introduction to human nutritional requirements and problems, environmental
physiology, epidemiology and evolution of infectious diseases relevant to the study of
human ecology. Introductory overview of the fossil and archaeological evidence for
human evolution, and of the interpretation of this evidence.
2 x 1hr lecture and 6 x tutorials
Term 2: Monday 10-11am and Thursday 12-1pm + 1 x hr tutorial
4 x 1500 non-assessed essays and 3 hr exam (100%)
Biological Anthropology
None. Term 2 of Anthropology first year core course (ANTH1014). This half unit is a
core course for Human Sciences students. This course is not open to subsidiary
students.
13
SECOND YEAR COURSES:
ANTH2006
Introduction to Theoretical Perspectives in Social Anthropology and
Material Culture
Value: 0.5 unit
Prof Chris Tilley
c.tilley@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Charles Stewart
c.stewart@ucl.ac.uk
An introduction to social theory including functionalist models, Marxism, structuralist
approaches to social structure/kinship and to conceptual organisation/communication;
phenomenological theory in anthropology, agency and structure, post-modernism and
post-structuralism, post-colonialism, globalisation and cognitive approaches within the
discipline.
2 x 1 hr lecture and 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 1 only, Tuesday 10-11am, Friday 12-1pm + 1 hr tutorial
Tutorials: Thursday 1, 2 and 4pm and Friday 9, 10 and 2pm.
1 x unassessed essay and 2.5 hour examination 100%
Social Anthropology/Material Culture
Core course for Anthropology 2nd year students and joint degree BA
Archaeology/Anthropology students. Open to term one affiliate students and subsidiary
students who have completed ANTH1005: Introduction to Social Anthropology or
ANTH1001: Introduction to Material Culture.
Description:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
ANTH7002
Political and Economic Anthropology
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Dr Michael Stewart
m.stewart@ucl.ac.uk
Most if not all the major social issues of our time are, in Europe at least, popularly
imagined to be political or economic problems. For centuries in our part of the world the
pursuit of happiness has been linked to particular types of economic activity and forms of
political freedom. What does anthropology have to say about these models of behaviour?
And what can anthropology contribute to understanding the lives of others that have
been subjected to our models of 'the good life'. This course begins by trying to show why
anthropology has things to say about our current condition and then moves further away
from our own familiar world providing a second year-level introduction to a range of
themes.
Video-Podcasted 2 hr lecture to be watched, 1 hour class discussion + 5 times1 hr
tutorial per term
Term 1 only, Monday 11-1pm + 1 x hr tutorial per week
Tutorials: Monday 2, 3, 4 and 5pm.
Assessed 2500 word essay 40% + 2 hour examination 60%
Social Anthropology
Normally ANTH1005: Introduction to Social Anthropology (1.0) or ANTH1005A:
Introduction to Social Anthropology (0.5)
Student Contact Hours
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
14
SECOND AND THIRD YEAR COURSES
ANTH2003
Palaeoanthropology
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Dr Brian Villmoare
b.villmoare@ucl.ac.uk
The course provides a thorough introduction to the biological evidence for human
evolution, as well as to the way in which this evidence is analysed and interpreted. The
anatomy of various hominid species is discussed from the perspective of reconstructing
human evolutionary history and the evolution of human behaviour. We will also relate
fossil discoveries to the archaeological record and reconstructions of environment,
ultimately arriving at a synthetic view of human origins.
2 x 1 hr lecture and 2 hr lab session per week
Term 1 only, Tuesday 11-1pm (lecture) and 1 x 2 hr lab class: Friday 9-4pm
Lab Report 25% + 2.5 hr examination 75%
Biological Anthropology
None. One of the Biological core courses for Anthropology second year students.
ANTH3020
Social Construction of Landscape
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Prof Chris Tilley
c.tilley@ucl.ac.uk
Landscapes are never inert: people engage with them, re-work them, appropriate them and
contest them. They are part of the way in which identities are created and disputed. Crisscrossing between history and politics, social relations and cultural perceptions, landscape is
a ‘concept of high tension’. It is also an area of study that blows apart from conventional
boundaries between disciplines. This course looks at the number of theoretical approaches
to the Western Gaze; colonial, indigenous and prehistoric landscapes; contested
landscapes; and questions of heritage and ‘wilderness’.
Term 2 only, Tuesday 2-4pm and 1 x hr tutorial per week.
Tutorials: Wednesday 9, 10, 11 and 12pm
100% by one assessed essay/project 3500 words max.
Material Culture
2nd and 3rd year students only.
ANTH7001
Introduction to West African Ethnography
Value: 0.5 Unit
Dr Barrie Sharpe
b.sharpe@ucl.ac.uk
This course focuses upon the societies of West Africa and situates them in relation to
historical and contemporary developments in economics, politics and culture in the
region. The course aims to subject the ethnography of the region to critical analysis from
a variety of perspectives.
2 hr seminar per week.
Term 1, Monday 4-6pm
2.5 hour examination 100%
2 assignments must be completed: a seminar presentation and a written resume of the
topic of the presentation and the discussion, together with an analytic account of related
ethnography.
Social Anthropology
None
Duration of Course:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
15
ANTH7004
Anthropology of Art and Design
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Prof Susanne Kuechler
s.kuechler@ucl.ac.uk
The course is aimed at those who wish to deepen their understanding of art in visual
culture. It intends to capture the role of art and performance in anthropological theory
and methodology and introduce students to questions that are at the core of an
interdisciplinary debate about artefactual form, image and materiality. It will reflect on
what anthropology has to say about how mere artefacts come to have agency in culture
and society by drawing on case studies that range from modernism to the arts that have
conventionally been studied by Anthropology.
1 hr lecture + 2 hr seminar per week
Term 2 only, Tuesday 11-1pm + 1 x hr tutorial per week.
Tutorials: Tuesday 1, 2 and 3pm.
Assessed 3000 word essay 25% + 2.5 hour examination 75%
Material Culture
ANTH2006: Introduction to Theoretical Perspectives in Anthropology and Material
Culture or permission from tutor.
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
ANTH7005
Population Studies
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Option type:
Prerequisites
Dr Sara Randall
s.randall@ucl.ac.uk
An introduction to the study of human populations focusing on patterns and determinants
of fertility, mortality. The course examines the interplay between biological and social
determinants of change in the basic population parameters, using examples drawn
largely from contemporary developing countries, although issues in historical
demography and contemporary developed-country demography are touched upon;
theories of population change, population and resources, population policy.
14 x 1 hr lectures, 2 x 2 hr practicals, 4 x 1 hr tutorials, 3 x 3 hr country profiles.
Term 1 only, Tuesday 11-12pm and Thursday 9-11am + 1 x hr tutorial per week
Tutorials: TBC
Practical book 5% + Assessed essay 30% + Group presentation and PowerPoint 10% +
2 hour examination 55%.
Biological Anthropology
None. One of the Biological core course choices for Anthropology 2 nd year students.
ANTH7008
Man and Animals
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Means of Assessment:
Option Type:
Prerequisites:
Prof Katherine Homewood
k.homewood@ucl.ac.uk
This course looks at the interrelations of humans with animal populations,
focusing on human populations as a selective force shaping environments,
wildlife conservation and utilisation; domestication; and diseases shared by
human and animal populations.
2 x 1 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 2 only, Monday 1-2pm and Thursday 1-2pm + 1 x hr tutorial per week
Tutorials: Monday 2, 3 and 4pm and Thursday 11 and 12 noon.
2.5 hour examination 100%
Biological Anthropology
None
ANTH7009
Primate Behaviour and Ecology
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Prof Volker Sommer
v.sommer@ucl.ac.uk
Current Darwinian theory is applied to explore the evolution of primate social systems. A
particular focus lies on the interplay between environmental conditions and reproductive
strategies as well as cognitive abilities.
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 1 only, Thursday 4-6pm + 1 x hr tutorial per week
Assessed 1,500 word essay 25% + 2.5 hour examination
Biological Anthropology
None
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
16
ANTH7013
Anthropology of the Built Environment
Value: 0.5 Unit
Description:
Dr Victor Buchli
v.buchli@ucl.ac.uk
'Buildings are good to think'. This course will explore anthropological approaches to the
study of architectural forms. It will focus primarily on the significance of domestic space
and public private boundaries, gender and body, the materiality of architectural form and
materials and the study of architectural representations. The course will be structured
chronologically beginning with early anthropological encounters with built forms and the
philosophical, historical and social context of these approaches up to the present day
within anthropology.
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 x hr tutorial per week
Term 1 only, Tuesday 2-4pm
Tutorials: Tuesday 10, 11 and 12pm and Wednesday 10, 11 and 12pm
2 assessed essays each worth 50% of the final mark
Material Culture
At least ANTH1001: Introduction to Material and Visual Culture I, ANTH1001B:
Introduction to Material and Visual Culture II or ANTH2006: Introduction to Theoretical
Perspectives in Social Anthropology and Material Culture.
2nd or 3rd year students only.
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
ANTH7015
Fishers and Fisheries; Anthropology, Aquatic Resources and
Development
Value: 0.5 Unit
Description:
Dr Caroline Garaway
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 1 only, Thursday 2-4pm + 1 x hr tutorial per week
Tutorials: Tuesday 10 and 11am and Thursday 10 and 11am.
1 x 1500-2000 word essay 20%; 1 x write up of role play assignment 10%; 2 hour
examination 70%
Biological Anthropology
None. Optional course for Anthropology, Human Sciences, Geography and Biology
students.
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
c.garaway@ucl.ac.uk
With global demand for fish expected to double in the next 25 years, 75% of the
worlds fish stocks already fully exploited or overfished, and much of the fish
traded being produced by developing countries, there is a very real possibility
of environmental catastrophes affecting millions of people whose livelihoods
depend on these stocks. The course begins with an overview of the economic,
cultural and nutritional significance of fish from pre-history to the modern
day. This is followed by a critical assessment of current thinking and practices in managing and
interacting with one of mans most important natural resources argued to be the most globalized
product in the world. Western scientific management, with its emphasis on prediction and control is
contrasted with alternatives that stress instead adaptation and resilience when dealing with what
are often complex, dynamic and, frequently, poorly understood social and ecological systems. An
investigation into the livelihoods of fishers, 95% of whom live in developing countries, further
develops understanding of these complex human/environment systems. How have such fisher
groups, usually small scale artisanal, and frequently characterised by social, political and economic
marginalisation adapted to a lifestyle that is both uncertain and risky? What can such practices
teach us and can (or should?) such livelihoods be sustained in the context of unprecedented
environmental and developmental change. The course focuses on mans interaction with fish and
other aquatic resources, but would be relevant to anyone interested in natural resources and the
environmental challenges to be faced over the next 50 years
17
ANTH7016A
Applied Studies
Value: 0.5 unit
Dr Rodney Reynolds
Dr Jennifer Randall
Dr Olga Lupu
Description:
Applied Studies This one term seminar style course is a special option available to 2 nd and 3rd year
undergraduate students in either Term 1 or Term 2. The course focuses on the theory and practice
of anthropology in public health, development and commercial research and involves international
outreach through the web-based Network for Student Activism. Topics covered vary but explore
current debates around indigenous rights, ethics, global citizenship and health.
In addition to text-based lectures and discussions, students have the opportunity to apply their
skills in a work environment. The module integrates a short applied placement with an NGO,
governmental, community or business organisation in London within a supporting framework of
lectures; tutorials; seminars and supervised coursework (see
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/placements/index.htm for a full list of organisations). Placements
total 10-20 days, usually on a one-day a week basis. Care is taken to ensure that placements are
relevant to students' interests and overall programme of study. More information can be obtained
from any of the course tutors'.
rodney.reynolds@ucl.ac.uk
jennifer.randall@ucl.ac.uk
o.lupu@ucl.ac.uk
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Term 1 only: Thursday 2-4pm
TBC
Social Anthropology
ANTH7016B
Applied Studies
Value: 0.5 unit
Dr Rodney Reynolds
rodney.reynolds@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Jennifer Randall
jennifer.randall@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Olga Lupu
o.lupu@ucl.ac.uk
Description: Applied Studies This one term seminar style course is a special option available
to 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students in either Term 1 or Term 2. The course focuses on the
theory and practice of anthropology in public health, development and commercial research and
involves international outreach through the web-based Network for Student Activism. Topics
covered vary but explore current debates around indigenous rights, ethics, global citizenship and
health. In addition to text-based lectures and discussions, students have the opportunity to apply
their skills in a work environment. The module integrates a short applied placement with an NGO,
governmental, community or business organisation in London within a supporting framework of
lectures; tutorials; seminars and supervised coursework (see
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/placements/index.htm for a full list of organisations). Placements
total 10-20 days, usually on a one-day a week basis. Care is taken to ensure that placements are
relevant to students' interests and overall programme of study. More information can be obtained
from any of the course tutors'.
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Term 2 only: Thursday 2-4pm
TBC
Social Anthropology
18
ANTH3052
Primate Evolution and Environments
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Dr Christophe Soligo
c.soligo@ucl.ac.uk
The course has two parts. The first part provides required background knowledge:
- An introduction to modern primates and their habitats
- Knowledge of the tools used to interpret the fossil record (time proxies, climate proxies,
behavioural proxies
- An introduction to Cenozoic climate history and its causes
The second part builds on this knowledge in order to
1) Contextualise primate evolution (phylogenetically, chronologically, environmentally)
2) Generate an understanding of how major changes in environmental conditions have
influenced primate evolution
3) Discuss the role of modern humans as environmental factors influencing species and
habitat diversity.
Student Contact Hours:
2 x 1 hr lecture + 2 hr seminar/practical per week. 1-day palaeontological field trip.
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Term 2 only, 1 x 2hr lab session: Monday 9-11, 11-1pm and Friday 11-1pm (lecture)
1 Lab report 10%, 1 essay 2,000 words 30%; 1 Open book take home exam (7 days,
3000 words) 60%
Biological Anthropology
ANTH1014 Introduction to Biological Anthropology (ANTH1014B for Human Sciences
students) or equivalent biological background. Preference given to students who have
completed ANTH2003 Palaeoanthropology or ANTH7009 Primate Behaviour and
Ecology.
Option type:
Prerequisites:
BIOL2011
Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology (Biology course but co-taught
with Anthropology)
Value: 0.5 Unit
Description:
Prof Ruth Mace (Anthropology)
r.mace@ucl.ac.uk
Introduces key theoretical concepts and methods including optimisation modelling, game
theory and comparative approaches. These will then be applied to specific areas of
animal and human behaviour such as foraging, territoriality, life-histories, parental care
and mating systems, competition and fighting, alternative strategies, communication,
group-living and social behaviour, and predator-prey interactions. Examples will come
from both vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. The second half of the course is on human
behavioural ecology.
2 x 1 hr lecture per week + 4 x 1hr tutorials per term
Term 2 only, Monday 11-1pm (lecture), Wed 10-11am (tutorials)
Assessed coursework 25% + 3 hour examination 75%
Biological Anthropology
None
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
19
THIRD YEAR ONLY COURSES:
ANTH3007
Medical Anthropology
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Dr Rodney Reynolds
rodney.reynolds@ucl.ac.uk
Using data from societies throughout the world, the course covers biomedical and
behavioural definitions of disease and illness: systems of classification, the distribution of
disease and illness; the roles of healer and the sick; rituals of healing; politics of
diagnosis; competition between, and change with, medical systems; the assessment of
efficacy.
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 1 only, Monday 9-11am
Tutorials: Tuesday 1, 2, and 3pm.
2,500 - 3,000 word essay 40% + 2 hr examination 60%
Social Anthropology
ANTH2006: Introduction to Theoretical Perspectives in Anthropology and Material
Culture or permission from tutor. 3rd year students only. Core course for IBSc Medical
Anthropology students.
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
ANTH3012
The Study of Advanced Industrial Society (Risk, Power and
Uncertainty)
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Dr Allen Abramson
ANTH3017
Anthropology and Psychiatry
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Prof Roland Littlewood
r.littlewood@ucl.ac.uk
The course examines: a) popular understandings of psychology, self-hood and abnormal
experience in different societies, and how they may be organised into a body of
knowledge; b) the relationship between popular and professional notions of 'mental
illness' and their roots in the wider social, economic and ideological aspects of different
societies, with particular respect to women and minority groups; c) the contribution of
academic psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis to social anthropology; d )running
through the course is the question of whether we can reconcile naturalistic and
personalistic modes of thought and, if so, how.
2 hr seminar per week
Term 2 only, Tuesday 4-6pm
Tutorials: Wednesday 9, 10 and 11am
Assessed 3,000 word essay 25% + 2.5 hr examination 75%
Social Anthropology
ANTH2006: Introduction to Theoretical Perspectives in Social Anthropology and Material
Culture and ANTH3007: Medical Anthropology or permission from tutor.
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
a.abramson@ucl.ac.uk
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 2 only, Monday
ANTH2006: Introduction to Theoretical Perspectives in Anthropology and Material
Culture or permission from tutor. 3rd year students only.
20
ANTH3022
The Anthropology of Media and Consumption
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
TBC
The intention of this course is to provide students with an introduction to a relatively new
area of study and one that hopefully points some directions towards the future of material
culture and anthropological studies. The course will try to bridge the gap between taught
courses and academic research by using the term to pursue certain research ideas and
show their value in exploring new areas.
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 1 only, Thursday 4-6pm, Friday 2-4pm
Tutorials: Thursday 10 and 11am and Friday 10, 11 and 4pm
Assessed 2,500 word essay 40% + 2.5 hour examination 60%
Material Culture
3rd year Anthropology, joint degree students or permission of tutor.
ANTH3028
Gender, Language and Culture (* new name for Current Issues in the Study of Gender and
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Sexuality)
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Dr Alex Argenti-Pillen
The course will explore the cultural concepts and models through which sexual difference
is produced and to consider a number of different theoretical approaches to the
relationship between the biological/physical body and its social and political meaning and
interpretation.
2 hr seminar + 1 hr tutorial weekly
Term 2 only, Monday 11-1pm + 1 x hr tutorial per week
Tutorials: Monday 10am, 1 and 2pm and Wednesday 10am.
Assessed 3-5,000 word essay 25% + 2.5 hour examination 75%
Social Anthropology
3rd year students only. Subsidiary students will require permission form the tutor.
ANTH3030
Nationalism, Ethnicity & Race
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Dr Ruth Mandel
r.mandel@ucl.ac.uk
This course focuses on theories and practices of ethnicity, race and nationalism. The
reading material is divided between theoretical work on these issues and ethnographic
examples. The readings primarily are from what sometimes are called the '1 st and 2nd
worlds'. Though most of the readings are contemporary, historical sources will be used as
well.
1 x 2hr session per week. Combination of lectures, discussion, and a few relevant films.
Term 2 only, Thursday 11-1pm
2 x assessed essays (50% each)
Social Anthropology
ANTH1005: Introduction to Social Anthropology. Third year students only
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
21
ANTH3050
Evolution and Human Behaviour
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
TBC
The course will study to what extent evolutionary processes (genetic and cultural) explain
human behaviour, life history and cultural norms as adaptive responses to their
environmental circumstances. This is a seminar based reading and discussion course for
those who have already had an introductory lecture course in animal and human
behavioural ecology (ie BIOL2011: Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology), and now
want to explore the subject in more depth.
Weekly 2 hour seminar
Term 2 only, Tuesday 11-1pm
2hr exam (50%) and coursework inc essay (2,500 words) 40%, oral presentation 10%
Biological Anthropology
3rd year Anthropology and Human Sciences students only who have completed
BIOL2011: Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology in their second year.
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
ANTH3051
Advanced Medical Anthropology for Medical Students
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Prof David Napier
d.napier@ucl.ac.uk
This course covers major dimensions of clinically-relevant medical anthropology, but
focuses particularly on social dimensions of delivering primary care across cultures and
with multicultural populations in the contemporary UK and US, especially among ethnic
groups where compliance to therapy is influenced by cultural, ethnic, and religious
factors. Topics covered include learning medicine and the medical gaze, health
disparities, culturally appropriate treatment, privatization, global health and international
primary care. This course brings together MSc and IBSc students and is also open to
third year students by prior arrangement
Weekly 2 hour seminar
Term 2 only, Thursday 11-1pm
2 x 2,000 – 2,500 word essays (100%)
Social Anthropology
None, 3rd Year course, Intercalated and affiliate students with appropriate medical and
social science background
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
ANTH3053
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Temporality, Consciousness and Everyday Life
Dr Charles Stewart
c.stewart@ucl.ac.uk
This course examines the different social modes and states of consciousness through
which knowledge of the past may be gained in world societies, while recognizing that
views of the past are necessarily conditioned by present experiences and intimations of
the future. In the West, rational research into documents and artifacts is generally
accepted as the authoritative means of knowing the past. Yet even within Western
societies people may contest official history with alternative accounts of the past deriving
from personal revelations sometimes received in altered states of consciousness. In
various societies from the Pacific to the Arctic the elders possess exclusive authority to
pronounce upon what happened in the past. Amongst the First Nations of Canada, in the
absence of written sources documenting the ownership of land, a shaman may be called
upon to dream the truth of the past.
Weekly 2 hour seminar including student presentations and discussion of the weekly
readings.
Term 2 only, Friday 10-12pm
1 x 1,500 and 1 x 2,500-3,000 word essays (100%)
Social Anthropology
3rd Year course, ANTH1005/A: Introduction to Social Anthropology and ANTH2006:
Introduction to Theoretical Perspectives in Social Anthropology and Material Culture.
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ANTH3054
Alterity, Experiment and Transgression in Anthropological Thinking
Value: 0.5 unit
Description:
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option type:
Prerequisites:
Dr Martin Holbraad
m.holbraad@ucl.ac.uk
In the 20th century anthropology made a name for itself as a discipline partly by using
ethnographic descriptions as a vantage point from which to question assumptions that
other disciplines take for granted. While throughout the 20th century this intellectual
investment in ‘alterity’ was deemed as a form of professional ‘relativism’, in recent years
anthropologists have used ethnography in order to experiment with ways of thinking that
go beyond oppositions between relativism and universalism and the assumptions that
underlie them. Examining ethnographically-driven experimentations with basic
anthropological concepts such as ‘society’, ‘culture’, ‘time’, and the ‘person’, the course
also explores the transgressive potential of such forms of anthropological thinking in
relation to contemporary political concerns. The course is suitable, and may appeal
especially, to students with a keen interest in recent theoretical developments in
worldwide social anthropology.
2 hr lecture, followed by a two-hour seminar per week
Term 2 only, Monday 2-4pm + seminar
2 x 2,500 word essays each 50%
Social Anthropology
3rd year students only
ANTH3001
Anthropology of Games and Simulation
Value: 0.5 Unit
Description:
Dr Lane DeNicola
l.denicola@ucl.ac.uk
An introduction to the analysis of games and simulations as cultural
phenomena. Spanning the anthropological literature from early documentation of
Chinese card games to critical examinations of football and Halo 3, we will discuss topics
including play, interactivity, competition, risk, luck, cheating, bluffing, mimicry,
authenticity, immersion, and presence. Will also look at the various social and
communicative functions of simulation, the institutions and
material culture of games, their intermingling with and challenges to
other media forms such as film and television, and the expanding roles
anthropologists and other social researchers play in their design.
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 1 only; Mon 10-12, Thu 11-12
2,500-word essay (60%) + game project (40%)
Material Culture
ANTH2006: Theoretical Perspectives in Soc Anthropology and Material Culture. 3rd year
students only.
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option Type:
Prerequisites:
ANTH2001
Introduction to the Technology of a Selected Region
Value: 0.5 Unit
Description:
Dr Ludovic Coupave
The course concentrates on the subsistence and manufacturing technologies of societies
in a selected region.
1 x 2 hr lecture + 1 hr tutorial per week
Term 2 only; Thursday 2-4pm (TBC)
TBC
Material Culture
Student Contact Hours:
Duration of Course:
Means of Assessment:
Option Type:
Prerequisites:
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