Students
ANTH3002 – The Anthropology of Politics and Power
2025 – Session 2, Online-flexible
General Information
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| Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Chris Houston
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|---|---|
| Credit points |
Credit points
10
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| Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
130cp at 1000 level or above
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| Corequisites |
Corequisites
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| Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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| Unit description |
Unit description
Politics and power can be thought of as intimate aspects of our social life and relationships, and hence as aspects of all subjects of anthropological investigation. Processes of domination, resistance and social transformation are inevitably involved in the creation and representation of cultural practices and meanings. In the first half of the unit students will identify and compare the themes - explicit or otherwise - that dominate the composition of a number of classical political ethnographies, while also exploring the wider question of their colonial contexts and how this context influenced the development of anthropological knowledge. Its second half examines how these themes are still relevant in illuminating more contemporary manifestations of power, including forms of political practice such as nationalism and its project of social transformation; violence and terror; gender and agency; resistance and collaboration; and peace-making and reconciliation.
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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: Apply the concerns of various anthropological writings to contemporary processes of power and politics.
- ULO2: Discern and discuss the tensions and correspondences between the political institutions of different societies, their representation in ethnographic writing or film, and political processes in the ethnographers’ own society.
- ULO3: Demonstrate knowledge of influential ethnographies and debates relevant to the anthropology of politics and power.
- ULO4: Write cogently about the sociocultural dimensions of political systems and practices
General Assessment Information
ESSAY PLAN
Weight: 20%
Due: September 19th (by 23:59pm)
Brief Description: This is a two-page plan in which you sketch out the research essay that you will be submitting in Week 10. For the research essay, you must select a case study of your own choice.
RESEARCH ESSAY
Weight: 40%
Due: October 17th (by 23:59pm)
Brief Description: You will write a research paper of 2000 words (+/- 10%) on a self-selected topic.
3. TAKE HOME TEST
Weight 40%
A take-home exam will be distributed on Friday October 31st and will be due on November 7th. No extensions will be allowed and any late returns will be penalized. The exam will consist of a combination of short answers to questions that link together topics and themes covered in lectures, tutorials and practical activities throughout the course.
Assessment Tasks
| Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay plan | 20% | No | 19/09/2025 |
| Essay | 40% | No | 17/10/2025 |
| Take-Home Test | 40% | No | Week 13 |
Essay plan
Assessment Type 1: Plan
Indicative Time on Task 2: 35 hours
Due: 19/09/2025
Weighting: 20%
This is a two-page plan in which you sketch out the research essay
On successful completion you will be able to:
- Apply the concerns of various anthropological writings to contemporary processes of power and politics.
- Discern and discuss the tensions and correspondences between the political institutions of different societies, their representation in ethnographic writing or film, and political processes in the ethnographers’ own society.
- Demonstrate knowledge of influential ethnographies and debates relevant to the anthropology of politics and power.
- Write cogently about the sociocultural dimensions of political systems and practices
Essay
Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 55 hours
Due: 17/10/2025
Weighting: 40%
Essays will deal with major themes related to the unit, including case studies to investigate issues of political order, questions of political change, or the arguments around political agency
On successful completion you will be able to:
- Apply the concerns of various anthropological writings to contemporary processes of power and politics.
- Discern and discuss the tensions and correspondences between the political institutions of different societies, their representation in ethnographic writing or film, and political processes in the ethnographers’ own society.
- Demonstrate knowledge of influential ethnographies and debates relevant to the anthropology of politics and power.
- Write cogently about the sociocultural dimensions of political systems and practices
Take-Home Test
Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 22 hours
Due: Week 13
Weighting: 40%
The exam will consist of a combination of short answers to questions that link together topics and themes covered throughout the course.
On successful completion you will be able to:
- Apply the concerns of various anthropological writings to contemporary processes of power and politics.
- Discern and discuss the tensions and correspondences between the political institutions of different societies, their representation in ethnographic writing or film, and political processes in the ethnographers’ own society.
- Demonstrate knowledge of influential ethnographies and debates relevant to the anthropology of politics and power.
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
Penalties, Late Submissions, Word Limit, etc.
Late 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 unit convenor in a Special consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic.
Exceeding the word limit
You will receive a penalty for exceeding the word limit for the research essay. You will be deducted 1 percentage point for each 100 words you exceed the word limit. Please take the word limit very seriously and try to make your argument concisely and clearly. It is unfair to fellow students if one person has much more space to argue their case while another student sticks firmly to the length guidelines. The word limit is designed to level the essay-writing field, so to speak. You should provide a word count on the cover page when you submit your work.
Written submissions
Students are required to keep copies of all the written work that they submit. If there is no record of your work being submitted and you cannot produce a second copy, it will be impossible for the convenor to give you credit for the assignment.
Unit Schedule
Lecture and Tutorial Programme
Note: All tutorial readings and other articles are found on the library website in LEGANTO READING LIST for Anth3002.
Week One: Introduction to Political Anthropology and its Key Concepts
Week Two: Anthropology, Colonialism, & Science
Week Three: World Systems Theory, Global Cultural History & Anthropology
Week Four: The Secret of Order
Week Five: The Secret of Change
Week Six: The Secret of Action
Week Seven: Project Modernity (1): Nationalism, Republicanism and Language Reform in Turkey
Week Eight: Project Modernity (2): Soviet Collectivism
Week Nine: Domination & Resistance (1): Theoretical Problems
Week Ten: Domination & Resistance (2): Islam and Gender
Week Eleven: Violence and Terror
Week Twelve: The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation
Week Thirteen: Tying up the Loose Ends of an Anthropology of Power and Politics
Policies and Procedures
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- Assessment Policy
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- Assessment Procedure
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- Special Consideration Policy
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Results
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 connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au
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Unit information based on version 2025.02 of the Handbook