Contemporary Theories of Anthropology

Study Course Description

Course Description Statuss:Approved

Course Description Version:12.00

Study Course Accepted:20.03.2024 13:00:25

Study Course Information
Course Code:		KSK_167		LQF level:		Level 7
Credit Points:		4.00		ECTS:		6.00
Branch of Science:		Sociology; Social Anthropology		Target Audience:		Sociology; Political Science; Social Anthropology
Study Course Supervisor
Course Supervisor:		Agita Lūse
Study Course Implementer
Structural Unit:		Faculty of Social Sciences
The Head of Structural Unit:
Contacts:		Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szfrsu[pnkts]lv
Study Course Planning
Full-Time - Semester No.1
Lectures (count)		6	Lecture Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Lectures		12
Classes (count)		18	Class Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Classes		36
Total Contact Hours								48
Study course description
Preliminary Knowledge:
Background in classical anthropological theories is required; knowledge of cultural history and/or sociology is desirable.
Objective:
To enable students to gain an in-depth insight into the most important social and philosophical theories since the mid-20th century. The questions raised in these studies have shaped the choice of topics covered in anthropological research, and have encouraged the clarification of the concepts and categories in which the research has been framed.
Topic Layout (Full-Time)
No.	Topic			Type of Implementation		Number	Venue
1	Structural Anthropology: Its Sources, Basic Concepts, and Thematic Spectrum			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
2	French structural anthropology and its reception in Anglo-Saxon countries			Classes		2.00	auditorium
3	Symbolic anthropology and the interpretive approach to culture			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
4	Symbolic and interpretive anthropology			Classes		2.00	auditorium
5	Neoevolutionism and cultural materialism. Debates on political economy and colonialism			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
6	The works of Michel Foucault and their resonance in anthropology			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
7	Epistemological crisis and self-reflection in anthropology in the 20th century. at the end			Classes		4.00	auditorium
8	Postmodernism and poststructuralism in social theory. Feminist currents			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
9	Person, self and emotions in a comparative aspect of cultures			Classes		2.00	auditorium
10	Pierre Bourdieu's Theory of Practice. Implications of empiricism and phenomenology in anthropology			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
11	Body, Cognition, Language and Experience. Phenomenology, cognitive sciences and anthropology			Classes		4.00	auditorium
12	Capital flows, future shapes and places for life in the Anthropocene era			Classes		4.00	auditorium
Assessment
Unaided Work:
Students independently study the required readings for each topic of the course, using the university's online databases or visiting the library. For each of the 6 seminar sessions, students prepare a discussion on the general issues of the topic and make a presentation (10-15 min) on one of the relevant texts by anthropological theorists. At the end of the course, write a 1000-word paper (see "Course Examinations") on one of the course topics. More specific assignments are specified each year and outlined on the e-learning platform. In order to assess the overall quality of the course, the student must complete the course evaluation questionnaire on the Student Portal.
Assessment Criteria:
1) The mark for the seminar performance (presentations, answers to questions, justification of answers) will account for 70% of the final mark; 2) The mark for the paper will account for 30% of the final mark.
Final Examination (Full-Time):		Exam (Written)
Final Examination (Part-Time):
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:		Students discern the main theoretical trends in social anthropology in the period since the mid-20th century and are able to compare the methods and concepts that characterise those trends. They identify and are able to critique the theses and arguments of contemporary theorists in social and cultural anthropology; they are able to compare the positions of different authors on specific issues. They can explain the cultural, historical and sociological context of the views of the authors of contemporary anthropological theories.
Skills:		Analyse socio-anthropological and ethnographic texts written since the 20th century. They are able to compare different theoretical approaches. Discuss, orally and in writing, contemporary anthropological theories, positions and methods; evaluate the authors' arguments and justify their positions with reference to ethnographic examples from sources covered in this course and other courses in the programme.
Competencies:		Interpret social relations, practices and processes in different contexts of contemporary life through the studied theoretical approaches.
Bibliography
No.	Reference
Required Reading
1	Gīrcs, Klifords. 1998. Kultūru interpretācija. Rīga: AGB. 10.-37. lpp. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts; svarīgs arī latviešu terminoloģijas apguvei). (Paredzēts latviešu plūsmai).
2	Moore, H. L., & Sanders, T. (Eds.). 2014. Anthropology in Theory. Issues in Epistemology. Wiley-Blackwell. Pp. 235-605. (Hrestomātisku antropoloģijas teorētisko tekstu krājums). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
3	Barnard, A. 2021. History and Theory in Anthropology. In History and Theory in Anthropology. Cambridge University Press. Chapters 6-11. Pp. 99-177. (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
4	Levi-Strauss, C. 2004. "The Story of Asdiwal," in The Structural Study of Myth and Totemism. Edited by E. Leach, Pp. 1-48. London: Tavistock Publications. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
5	Wolf, E. R. 2010. Europe and the people without history (New ed.). University of California Press. Pp.3-23. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
6	Mauss, M. 1985 [1938]. "The category of the human mind: the notion of person; the notion of self," in The Category of the Person: Anthropology, Philosophy, History. Edited by Michael Carrithers, Steven Collins, and S. Lukes, pp. 1-25. Cambridge , N.Y. : Cambridge University Press. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
7	Burdjē, Pjērs. 2004. Praktiskā jēga. Rīga: Omnia Mea. 1, 3.-6. nodaļa. 37.-58., 72.-150. lpp. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Paredzēts latviešu plūsmai).
8	Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1, 3-6. [Akceptējams avots: hrestomātisks nozares teksts]. (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
9	Haraway, D. 2022. Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective (1988). Anthropological Theory: For the Twenty-First Century a Critical Approach, 236–240. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
10	Pratt, M. L. 2010. "Fieldwork in Common Places," in Writing Culture. The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Edited by J. Clifford and G. Marcus, pp. 27-50. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
11	Rosaldo, R. 2010. "From the Door of His Tent," in Writing Culture. The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Edited by J. Clifford and G. Marcus, pp. 77-97. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
12	Rosaldo, M. Z. 1984. "Towards an anthropology of self and feeling," in Culture theory. Essays on mind, self, and emotion. Edited by R. A. Shweder and R. A. LeVine, pp. 137-157. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
13	Pedersen, M. A. (2020). Anthropological Epochés Phenomenology and the Ontological Turn. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 50(6), 610–646. (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
14	Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt, Andrew S. Mathews, and Nils Bubandt. 2019. “Patchy Anthropocene: Landscape Structure, Multispecies History, and the Retooling of Anthropology: An Introduction to Supplement 20.” Current Anthropology 60(S20):S186–97. (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
15	Dzenovska, Dace, Volodymyr Artiukh, and Dominic Martin. 2023. “Between Loss and Opportunity. The Fate of Place Aft Er Postsocialism.” Focaal 2023(96):1–15. (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem).
16	Geertz, C. (1993 [1973]) The Interpretation of Cultures. Selected Essays. London: Fontana Press. Chapter 1. (Akceptējams avots - nozares hrestomātisks teksts). (Piemērots arī angļu plūsmas studentiem.)
Additional Reading
1	Hacking, I. 2002. "The Archeology of Michel Foucault," in Historical Ontology Edited by I. Hacking, pp. 73-86. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: Harvard University Press
2	Fuko, M. 2001. Uzraudzīt un sodīt. Rīga, Omnia MEA (Paredzēts latviešu plūsmai).
3	Kuper, A. 1996. Anthropology and Anthropologists: the modern British school. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
4	Douglas, M. 1996. Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology. Chapter 4."Grid and Group".
5	Turner, V. 1995. The ritual process: structure and anti-structure. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
6	Bloch, M. 1998. How We Think They Think: Anthropological Approaches to Cognition, Memory, and Literacy. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
7	MacCormack, C. P., and M. Strathern. Editors. 1980. Nature, Culture and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8	Moore, H. L. 1988. Feminism and anthropology. Oxford: Polity Press in association with Basil Blackwell.
9	Parkin, D. Editor. 1982. Semantic anthropology. London: Academic Press.
10	Shweder, R. A., and R. A. LeVine. Editors. 1984. Culture theory. Essays on mind, self, and emotion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
11	Fassin, D. 2012. " Introduction: Toward a Critical Moral Anthropology " in A companion to moral anthropology. Edited by D. Fassin, pp. 1-18. Chicester: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
12	Bloch, M. 1991. Language, Anthropology, and Cognitive Science. Man 26:183-198.
13	Moore, Henrietta 1994: Passion for Difference. Chapter "Master narratives: anthropology and writing", Pp. 107-128. Cambridge: Polity Press.
14	Turner, V. 1962. "Three Symbols of Passage in Ndembu Circumcision Ritual," in Essays on the Ritual of Social Relations. Edited by M. Gluckman, pp. 124-173. New York: The Humanities Press
15	Keesing, R. M., et al. 1987. Anthropology as Interpretive Quest [and Comments and Reply]. Current Anthropology 28:161-176.
16	Dumont, L. 1980. Homo Hierarchicus. The Caste System and its Implications. London: Paladin.
17	Douglas, M. 2002. Purity and danger: an analysis of concept of pollution and taboo. London, New York: Routledge.
18	Sheridan, A. 2005. Michel Foucault: the will to truth. London & New York: Tavistock.
19	Lutz, C. 1988. Unnatural Emotions: Everyday Sentiments on a Micronesian Atoll and their Challenge to Western Theory. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
20	Lévi-Strauss, C. 1972. Structural Anthropology. New York: Basic Books.
21	Stein Pedersen, Jakob Valentin, Bruno Latour, and Nikolaj Schultz. 2019. “A Conversation with Bruno Latour and Nikolaj Schultz: Reassembling the Geo-Social.” Theory, Culture & Society 36(7–8):215–30.
22	Lave, J. 1991. "Situating Learning in Communities of Practice," in Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition Edited by L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine, and S. Teasley, pp. 63-82. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.
23	Hollan, D. 2008. Being There: On the Imaginative Aspects of Understanding Others and Being Understood. Ethos 36:475–489.
24	Coţofana˘, Alexandra. 2022. Introduction. In: AlexandraCoţofana˘ and Hikmet Kuran (eds). 2022. “Sentient Ecologies: Xenophobic Imaginaries of Landscape.” Sentient Ecologies: Xenophobic Imaginaries of Landscape, pp. 1–22.
25	Throop, C Jason un Keith M Murphy. 2002. "Bourdieu and phenomenology: A critical assessment". Anthropological Theory 2 (2): 185–207.
26	Račevskis, Kārlis. 2003. Mišels Fuko, Apziņa un valodas esamība, Rīga: Zinātne, 9.-23.lpp (Paredzēts latviešu plūsmai).
27	Jackson, M. Editor. 1996. Things ad They Are. New Directions in Phenomenological Anthropology. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Pp. 1-50.
28	Fuko, M. 1995. Patiesība. Vara. Patība. Rīga: Intelekts. – nodaļas „Patiesība, vara, patība” un „Patiesība un vara” 12.-31.lpp. (Akceptējams: hrestomātisks nozares teksts). (Paredzēts latviešu plūsmai).
Other Information Sources
1	Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology