People, Power and Place DUMF1075

  • Academic Session: 2024-25
  • School: School of Social and Environmental Sustainability
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 1 (SCQF level 7)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No

Short Description

This course introduces students to key theories and debates in anthropology and politics which are relevant to sustainable development such as: relativism vs. universalism; reciprocity; equality vs. equity; nature vs. culture. These theories and debates will be useful for understanding the interdependencies between, on the one hand, people and their complex socio-political systems and cultures, and on the other hand, the environment and the places people live. To illuminate these theories and debates, the course will present engaging case studies from ethnographic research on environmental sustainability issues conducted around the world. Students, through their assessment, will be encouraged to study a single ethnography in detail, gaining a picture of how anthropologists construct knowledge of 'the other' and will be invited to consider how far it is possible to represent other ways of being and other ways of living in such texts.

Timetable

1.5-hour weekly lecture and 1-hour weekly seminar for 10 weeks.

Requirements of Entry

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

1. Essay (1,500 words) - 50% of course grade (ILOs 1, 3 and 4)

2. Ethnography Monograph Review (1,300 words) - 50% of course grade (ILOs 1, 2 and 4)

Course Aims

The aims of this course are to:

1. Introduce students to key theories and debates from the disciplines of anthropology and politics pertinent to the study of sustainable development;

2. Establish a foundational understanding of the interdependency between human social practices and the environment;

3. Explore various conceptualisations of inequality, and associated ideological responses to inequality, through selected case studies;

4. Develop students' skills as independent and critical thinkers, through evaluation and synthesis of information, argumentation and referencing.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Apply key concepts and theories in anthropology and politics to a range of contemporary concerns relevant to sustainable development around the world;

2. Demonstrate the interdependencies between social, cultural, economic, political and environmental issues;

3. Identify and distinguish various conceptualisations of inequality, and associated ideological responses to inequality;

4. Engage in critical reading of ethnographies and demonstrate the key academic skills of synthesising information, constructing an argument, and referencing sources.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.