Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Aaron Denham
Contact via aaron.denham@mq.edu.au
|
---|---|
Credit points |
Credit points
3
|
Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
(12cp at 100 level or above) or ANTH106 or ANTH150 or admission to GDipArts
|
Corequisites |
Corequisites
|
Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
|
Unit description |
Unit description
How do cultures in different parts of the world determine and understand who is mad, bad or sad? Madness, deviance and other forms of social difference are cultural constructs that vary considerably across both historical period and cultural context. Moreover, these ideas have profound moral implications that become dramatically entwined with people's lived experience, as well as broader socio-political structures. In this unit, we examine the cultural and social construction of normality, with a focus on what happens when people find themselves outside these bounds. Working from both a comparative perspective and an analytic position moving between social structures and individual experience and meaning, examining themes such as 'sanity', mental illness and culture, melancholy and depression, emotions, sexuality, gender norms, and their transgressions. Throughout, we will focus on the social processes of labeling, representation, medicalisation, and stigmatisation associated with these experiences. Ultimately, students will come to understand understand how difference is constructed and embodied, and become aware of how deviance is surveilled, managed, and constrained in a variety of cultural contexts.
|
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
---|---|---|---|
Tutorial Attendance | 0% | Yes | Weekly |
Tutorial Discussion Guides | 10% | No | Weekly |
Midterm Exam | 25% | No | 10/04/2018 |
Final Exam | 25% | No | 12/6/2018 |
Essay One: Being Deviant | 15% | No | 6/4/2018 |
Essay 2 | 25% | No | 27/5/2018 |
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 0%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)
Tutorial attendance is required to pass the unit (it is a “hurdle task”). There are 11 tutorials this semester (there are no tutorials on weeks 1 and 7). You can miss one tutorial with no excuse. No special consideration is needed for this one free absence (see tutorial discussion guides below). If you miss five or more tutorials, you will not pass the unit regardless of the marks accumulated. In other words, you must attend six or more tutorials to pass.
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 10%
Completion of a tutorial question guide for the weekly readings
Due: 10/04/2018
Weighting: 25%
A midterm exam that will be completed on-line.
Due: 12/6/2018
Weighting: 25%
A midterm exam that will be completed on-line.
Due: 6/4/2018
Weighting: 15%
In this essay, you get the opportunity to be mad, bad, or sad. Your assignment is find a social situation, determine a social rule or cultural practice in effect in the situation (what is considered “normal”), and offer a description and analysis of what happens when you or someone else violates that rule, does something “wrong,” or steps beyond the bounds of normality. Please see the iLearn section for the full assignment details. We will also provide further information in your tutorials and as the semester progresses.
Due: 27/5/2018
Weighting: 25%
This project gives you the opportunity to explore a deviant community in detail. You will analyse an on-line community that might be perceived as mad, bad or sad (that is, any community seen as abnormal or deviant). You will conduct on-line fieldwork exploring an internet community (websites, forums, Facebook, darkweb, etc.) and write an analysis of this community. Please see the iLearn section for the full assignment details. We will also provide further information in your tutorials and as the semester progresses.
The unit guide that is available in iLearn will be the final and best version. Please consult iLearn for all weekly readings and assessments.
For lecture and tutorial times and classrooms please consult the MQ Timetable website: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au. This website will display up-to-date information on your classes and classroom locations. Tutorial locations sometimes change in the weeks before class. Be sure to check. Tutorials start on week 2.
Tutorial attendance is mandatory. The lectures will be one of your primary sources of material for this unit. I bring together a range of concepts from a variety of sources, present the central theories and ideas, model anthropological thinking, adapt the material to your background, integrate contemporary events, and provide a framework to help make sense of the readings. It is unlikely that you will pass this class if you focus on the readings and tutorials alone.
Physical attendance is not required in lecture. While the ECHO system records most lectures, I strongly encourage everyone to attend the lectures in person. I attempt to make lectures as dynamic as possible and interact with students. You will also have the opportunity to share experiences and ask questions during and after the lecture. Attending in person is a unique and engaging experience. Moreover, honestly, the lectures are much more engaging for everyone if people are actually present.
Please see iLearn for further details
Week |
Date |
Lecture |
Assessment |
1 |
27 Feb |
Introduction: Normality and Abnormality Across Cultures |
|
2 |
6 March |
Deviance, Disorder, and Diagnosis |
|
3 |
13 March |
Medicalization and Social Abandonment: Marginality and the “Ex-Human” |
|
4 |
20 March |
Madness and Culture I: Constructing Psychiatric Disorders |
|
5 |
27 March |
Madness and Culture II: Sadness, Melancholy, and Depression |
|
6 |
3 April |
Madness and Culture III: Psychosis |
Essay 1 Due (6 April) |
7 |
10 April |
No lectures or tutorials (midterm exam week) |
Exam 1 (open 10-12 April) |
Semester Break: 16 April to 29 April |
|||
8 |
1 May |
“Madness is Civilization:” Disordered States and Postcolonial Disorders |
|
9 |
8 May |
Witchcraft, Sorcery, and Possession: Against the Moral and Social Order |
|
10 |
15 May |
Neurotypicality and Neurodiversity: Of Minds and Kinds |
|
11 |
22May |
Bad Parenting?: Infanticide, Child Abuse, and Neglect |
|
12 |
29 May |
Deviant Desires |
Essay 2 Due (27 May) |
13 |
5 June |
Glad: Anthropological Perspectives on Happiness and Living Well |
|
Exam Week |
|
Exam Week |
Exam 2 (open 12-14 June) |
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct
Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.
This graduate capability is supported by: