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ANTH1050 – Cultures and Societies: Introduction to Anthropology

2023 – Session 2, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Chris Vasantkumar
Social Sciences General Information Contact Persons
Payel Ray
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit introduces students to the field of sociocultural anthropology, which seeks to explore and understand human diversity from a holistic and relativistic perspective. Highlighting important contributions anthropologists past and present have made to the understanding of human cultures and societies, emphasis will be placed on how to study and represent cultural diversity in the contemporary world. Topics to be examined include: the history and development of the culture concept; race and ethnicity; sexuality and gender; magic, religion and secularism; kinship and the family; economic systems; key controversies in the field; and tourism, mobility and globalization. We will also pay special attention to anthropological fieldwork methods and ethics, closely examining how anthropologists both conduct long term field research and write about their findings in anthropology's characteristic written output, the ethnography. The unit will demonstrate the relevance of applying anthropological thinking to your career and personal lives.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Describe the central concepts and themes in cultural anthropology, particularly, the characteristics of culture, the techniques involved in ethnographic research, the processes and consequences of globalisation, and the importance of culturally relativistic thinking.
  • ULO2: Establish a framework for describing and understanding the complexities of the world through the concepts of culture, power, and identity and their various manifestations.
  • ULO3: Develop the ability to provide a holistic and relativistic description of ‘familiar’ and ‘distant’ cultural practices.
  • ULO4: Evaluate assumptions (whether personal or from the media) about other cultures and cultural differences.
  • ULO5: Apply ethnographic and anthropological perspectives and knowledge to issues in your own academic, professional, and personal lives.
  • ULO6: Question commonly held and taken for granted assumptions about what is ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ human experience.

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Submission Penalty  

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue.    

This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (incl essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unitconvenor in a Special consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic. 

 

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
'Take-Home Examination' -- Final 25% No 5 Nov 2023
Participation in Tutorial Discussions (for internal students) 15% No Weekly
Weekly Reading Quizzes 15% No Weekly
'Take-Home Examination' -- Midterm 25% No 9 Sep 2023
Mini Essay 20% No 7 Oct 2023

'Take-Home Examination' -- Final

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 5 Nov 2023
Weighting: 25%

 

Online Final

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe the central concepts and themes in cultural anthropology, particularly, the characteristics of culture, the techniques involved in ethnographic research, the processes and consequences of globalisation, and the importance of culturally relativistic thinking.
  • Establish a framework for describing and understanding the complexities of the world through the concepts of culture, power, and identity and their various manifestations.
  • Develop the ability to provide a holistic and relativistic description of ‘familiar’ and ‘distant’ cultural practices.
  • Evaluate assumptions (whether personal or from the media) about other cultures and cultural differences.
  • Apply ethnographic and anthropological perspectives and knowledge to issues in your own academic, professional, and personal lives.
  • Question commonly held and taken for granted assumptions about what is ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ human experience.

Participation in Tutorial Discussions (for internal students)

Assessment Type 1: Participatory task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 15%

 

Active participation in weekly on campus tutorial discussion of topics related to weekly readings and lecture topic.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Develop the ability to provide a holistic and relativistic description of ‘familiar’ and ‘distant’ cultural practices.
  • Evaluate assumptions (whether personal or from the media) about other cultures and cultural differences.
  • Apply ethnographic and anthropological perspectives and knowledge to issues in your own academic, professional, and personal lives.
  • Question commonly held and taken for granted assumptions about what is ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ human experience.

Weekly Reading Quizzes

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 6 hours
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 15%

 

Online Weekly Reading Quizzes

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe the central concepts and themes in cultural anthropology, particularly, the characteristics of culture, the techniques involved in ethnographic research, the processes and consequences of globalisation, and the importance of culturally relativistic thinking.
  • Establish a framework for describing and understanding the complexities of the world through the concepts of culture, power, and identity and their various manifestations.
  • Apply ethnographic and anthropological perspectives and knowledge to issues in your own academic, professional, and personal lives.

'Take-Home Examination' -- Midterm

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 9 Sep 2023
Weighting: 25%

 

Online Midterm

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe the central concepts and themes in cultural anthropology, particularly, the characteristics of culture, the techniques involved in ethnographic research, the processes and consequences of globalisation, and the importance of culturally relativistic thinking.
  • Evaluate assumptions (whether personal or from the media) about other cultures and cultural differences.
  • Question commonly held and taken for granted assumptions about what is ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ human experience.

Mini Essay

Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: 7 Oct 2023
Weighting: 20%

 

Short Essay on Anthropology-related topic

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Establish a framework for describing and understanding the complexities of the world through the concepts of culture, power, and identity and their various manifestations.
  • Develop the ability to provide a holistic and relativistic description of ‘familiar’ and ‘distant’ cultural practices.
  • Evaluate assumptions (whether personal or from the media) about other cultures and cultural differences.
  • Question commonly held and taken for granted assumptions about what is ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ human experience.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Many readings will be drawn from the free online anthropology textbook by Michael Wesch,The Art of Being Human, available at anth101.com. Other readings will also be available online.

Unit Schedule

Week

Date

Lecture (Tues)

 

Tutorial Topics

1

24 Jul

What is Anthropology, Anyway?

 

 Nacirema and Nialartsua

2

 31 Jul

The Concept of Culture

 

The Columbian Exchange

3

 7 Aug

Off The Verandah: Anthropological Fieldwork in Focus

 

WTF, FTW

4

14 Aug

Fieldwork Controversies

  Rogues' Gallery

5

21 Aug

Kinship, Family and Relatedness

 

 Family Trees

6

28 Aug

Sex and Gender

 

XX/XY

7

4 Sep

Race, Belonging and Exclusion

 

 The Chicken Curtain

 

 

Online Midterm Open 7 Sep-9 Sep

 

 

 

* Mid-semester Recess 11 Sep-24 Sep

 

8

25 Sep

Turbulent Times: Anthropology in the Contemporary World

 

 Cancel Anthropology?

9

2 Oct

 No class due to Labor Day Holiday    

 

7 Oct SHORT ESSAY Due 23:55 via turnitin

 

 
10 9 Oct Globalization I: Culture  

Authentic Culture?

11

16 Oct

Globalization II: Human Economic Systems

 

Stuff Happens

12

23 Oct

Magic, Science, Religion   Halloween as Australian Ritual

13

30 Oct

The Case for Anthropology

 

Taking Stock

 

 

Online Final Open 3 Nov-5 Nov

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Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) 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 or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

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Unit information based on version 2023.01R of the Handbook