All students of SCA should be familiar with the set of core terms, the methods used by anthropologists and issues associated with the construction of ethnographic accounts. This part will be integrated with the study of ethnography throughout the entire course and will help students better understand Part 2.
Students should have an understanding of how the terms, methods, and different approaches to the construction of ethnographic accounts, are connected with the historical context of the discipline. Students will need to identify ethnographic material in terms of place, author, time, ethnographic present, ethical considerations, methodology and theoretical perspectives.
 Core terms and ideas in anthropology
While reading anthropological material, students will encounter core terms and ideas.
These terms and ideas are used to describe and analyze individuals and groups in their social contexts. Students should understand that these terms have theoretical and historical contexts. The meanings of these terms change over time, and new terms and ideas are constantly emerging. A list of suggested terms to study and understand is
included at the end of this guide; it is by no means exhaustive.
 The construction and use of ethnographic accounts
Ethnography is the basic raw material for a course in SCA, therefore students must be able to understand and evaluate ethnographic materials. This requires the development of skills for the thoughtful and critical understanding of how ethnography is constructed: the research question, the theoretical orientation and the processes used to decide what data is included (and what is excluded).
Anthropologists aim to reproduce the reality of the people studied but recognize differences between their own accounts and those of the people studied. As such, any ethnographic writing or reading should be examined with the following observations in mind. o o o o o social groups are internally diverse and have a variable sense of identity different anthropologists may see and represent the same group differently actors and observers always operate within a social context anthropologists make decisions about what is studied and how it is studied all anthropological accounts are produced for a particular audience

 Methods and data collection
Students will study a number of methods and issues surrounding data collection. These include but are not limited to the following. o o
Fieldwork
Participant observation o o o o
Collection of data
Qualitative and quantitative data
Analysis and interpretation
Ethical issues
Students must have an understanding of all eight themes listed below. These themes are closely interconnected and will not be taught in isolation from each other. This will help to emphasize patterns of processes of change in society and culture and that anthropological knowledge changes over time.
 Individuals, groups and society
Every person is embedded in a society and culture that helps to shade their identity and actions. Students of SCA seek to understand these actions and identities by also understanding the social structures surrounding the individual (even if the person doesn’t understand these structures). o o o o
Status and role
Gender and sexuality
Conformity and nonconformity
Public and private o o o
Ritual
Social and group identity (ethnicity, race, nationality, age, class, religion)
Globalization
 Societies and cultures in contact
Societies have always interacted with one another and they define themselves, in significant ways, through these interactions. o Population movement o o o o
Indigenous movements
Tourism and travel
Colonialism and post-colonialism
Globalization

 Kinship as an organizing principle
Basic unit of human social relations and is structured in many different ways. These are not static units but define fields of relationship and meaning through which economic and political processes occur. o Family and household o o o o
Marriage
Gender relations
Migration
Globalization
 Political organization
Take many forms but all have the common element of ordering internal and external relations. o Power, authority and leadership o o o o o o
Social control and legal systems
Inequality (class, caste, ethnicity, age, gender)
Conflict and resistance
Social movements
Colonialism and post-colonialism
Globalization
 Economic organization and the environment
Societies interact with and transform the environment in the production, allocation and consumption of material and symbolic goods. o Division of labor o o o o o o
Systems of production and consumption (subsistence, industrial, transnational)
Environmentalist movements
Industrialization and proletarianization
Urbanization
Colonialism and post-colonialism
Globalization
 Systems of knowledge
Ways of organizing and comprehending social and natural environments. o Art and expression o o o
Symbolism
Interaction, media and communication
Relationships with the environment
 Belief systems and practices
Beliefs and ideologies both sacred and secular. o o o
Religion
Myths
Rituals o Conversion and syncretism

 Moral systems
By enabling and constraining behavior, moral systems regulate the life of the individual in society. o o
Ethics
Taboos o o o o
Good and evil
Purity and impurity
Honor and shame
Globalization
In the first six weeks of the course, students are required to undertake an observation and to produce a written report from their field notes. Students will be advised about appropriate settings for the observation and on the writing of the report by the teacher but are expected to take responsibility in creation and completion. About six months later, students will be required to produce a critique on their written report.
Learning of theory at HL is based on theoretical perspectives in anthropology, their application to ethnographic materials and their manifestation in particular historical contexts. A minimum of six theoretical perspectives will be discussed.
In anthropology, a theory is an abstract framework that systematically organizes facts in order to make sense of the world. Theoretical perspectives are linked to, and grounded in, the study of ethnographic accounts to help students:
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 recognize how theory frames analysis appreciate the ways in which theory influences the selection, presentation and interpretation of ethnographic materials appreciate how ethnography influences theory and its development identify and compare alternative theoretical interpretations of the same ethnographic materials recognize that anthropologists incorporate multiple perspectives to ethnographic material in their analyses and explanations

Students need to be familiar with theoretical perspectives in anthropology and their historical context, and be able to use them to evaluate ethnographic material. Examples include:
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 the study of a specific school or individual author the perspectives themselves (ex. materialism) their contrasts (ex. particularistic and universalistic perspectives) their connections (conflict and diachronic perspectives)
Students are required to plan and undertake limited fieldwork and to produce a report of their research (maximum 2,000 words). Teachers will assist student preparation for the fieldwork and the writing of the report. Final projects will be internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB.