print version

Anthropology - Faculty of Arts

Offered by the School of Political and Social Inquiry

Campus availability: Clayton

Relevant courses

Anthropology is the study of cultural diversity and the diversity of human expression through space and time.

Anthropologists are concerned with their own society, but only as one among many. When anthropology seeks to understand economics, politics, religion, violence, child-rearing or art, it aims eventually at a broad comparative knowledge which does not assume that the contemporary Western expressions are the most important, or even the most revealing, in the quest for an understanding of human cultures and societies. In fact, anthropologists have been led to examine in detail societies which are very different from their own, where ideas about beauty, morality, authority and dignity vary markedly from those with which they are familiar.

Anthropology's comparative approach to understanding humanity is becoming increasingly important. In recent years, there has been a growth of major social and political movements throughout the world in which people are stressing a sense of community, shared identity and assertions of difference on the basis of factors such as ethnicity, sexuality, gender and status as indigenous peoples, which cut across national boundaries. At the same time, many people are expressing concerns for social justice issues, environmental degradation and so on. Anthropology is a vital discipline because of its emphasis on the importance of cultural difference in these diverse expressions of humanity.

Those who qualify as anthropologists, after undergraduate and graduate studies, may be in a position to engage in first-hand research, become advisers or consultants to industry, government and non-government organisations on a diverse range of matters, and teach. But our principal aim is to impart to all our students, regardless of the occupations they hope to pursue, an informed and culturally-sensitive awareness of their involvement in their own and other societies and cultures.

Sequences

First year sequence

A first year level sequence in Anthropology consists of ANY1010 and ANY1020 or a first-semester, first-year Politics or Sociology unit, and ANY1020.

Minor sequence

Students complete a standard minor chosen from the units below.

Major sequence

Students complete a standard major chosen from the units below. Students can take up to 12 points of elective units as part of the major in Anthropology.

Units

First-year level

or

Second/Third-year levelPrerequisites for ANY units are as follows:

Core Units

Students must complete at least 24 points of core units chosen from the following:

* Not offered from 2004.

Electives

NB: Students can take up to 12 points of elective units as part of the major in Anthropology.

NB: Some of these electives may require permission from Schools as students may not have completed first-year sequences in the appropriate disciplines.

Contact details

Email psi@arts.monash.edu.au

Visit http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/psi

Enquiries (Clayton): room W1017, West Wing, Menzies building; +61 3 9905 2443

Enquiries (Caulfield): room H5.31, building H; Telephone +61 3 9903 2378.