ANY3530 - Modernities in the Making: Indigenous Peoples and Colonial Cultures

Leader: Penelope Graham

Offered

Not offered in 2007

Synopsis

This unit explores the emergence of diverse 'modern' ways of life cross-culturally, especially as these stem from the varied contexts of indigenous peoples' encounters with forms of colonial power. Starting from a critique of the notion of 'unchanging' tradition, the focus is on the differing agendas and cultural processes which shaped relations between local peoples and colonial agents intent on re-constituting aspects of their social and cultural life.

Objectives

On completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Analyse socio-cultural aspects of emergent modernities in selected ethnographic settings around the globe.
2. Demonstrate a knowledge of recent trends in the anthropological and sociological literature on colonial cultures and differing forms of modernity.
3. Critique unduly dichotomous accounts of colonial/pre-colonial and Western/non-Western social formations.

Assessment

Tutorial participation: 10%
Oral presentation (equivalent to 1000 words): 25%
Book review (1000 words): 25%
Essay (2000 words): 40%
Third-year students must additionally locate two published reviews and contrast these with their own reading of the ethnography they have chosen.

Contact hours

2 hours (1 x 1 hour lecture and 1 x 1 hour tutorial) per week

Prerequisites

A first-year sequence in Anthropology or History or Politics or Sociology or a cognate discipline or by permission

Prohibitions

ANY2530/COS2530/COS3530