Undergraduate - Area of study Anthropology

Anthropology is the comparative study of different ways of life - it seeks an 'insider' perspective on alternative ways of being in the world. To interpret human behaviour, anthropologists ask questions not just about what people do, but about why they do it, what they mean by it, what motivates them to do it and what people value in diverse societies and cultures. Anthropologists are playing an increasingly important role in the modern world: wherever human diversity is an issue, anthropologists are called upon to provide their expertise. In fields as diverse as journalism, climate change, mining, dispute-resolution and peace-building, social policy, indigenous issues, development aid and emergency assistance, anthropologists are called upon to contribute their specialised knowledge and understanding.

Anthropologists generally gain this knowledge and understanding experientially, by immersing themselves in the lives of others. They usually select and approach a group of people following a distinct way of life with a collective identity of some kind, often based on religious, political, social or economic factors. Using a method known as fieldwork, anthropologists observe the lives of others by living with them, sharing in their experiences, and discussing their perspectives to gain a detailed understanding of their cultural world. The social contexts in which anthropologists conduct fieldwork are extremely varied, but what anthropologists share is a commitment to exploring and understanding different ways of life and diverse cultural perspectives, so as to illuminate these for others.

Anthropology thus enables us to develop an understanding of cultural difference, but it also helps us reflect on our own cultural world from an altered perspective. Students are encouraged to recognise the assumptions underlying their own cultural orientation, as well to understand alternative ways of seeing the world from perspectives that may differ radically from their own. This reflection is a two-way process: anthropology can make the strange seem familiar, but it also makes the familiar seem strange, as it challenges our taken-for-granted assumptions about the way the world works.

Anthropology's comparative approach to understanding human kind is becoming increasingly important. In recent times, there has been a growth of major social and political movements throughout the world in which people are stressing their sense of community, shared identity and assertions of difference on the basis of factors, such as religion, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, or status as indigenous peoples, which often cut across national boundaries. At the same time, many people are expressing concern over equity and social justice issues, environmental degradation and climate change. Anthropology is a vital discipline, because of its emphasis on the significance of cultural difference to any understanding of these diverse expressions of humanity.

Anthropology also has practical application. Anthropological knowledge, theories, concepts and methods can be applied to real-world problems, such as understanding poverty and development issues, or transformational change and its social and cultural impacts. Anthropologists are increasingly employed in the corporate world for their cross-cultural understanding of symbols and meanings that drive consumer behaviour; and in the development sector, where they work for government, non-government and multilateral aid agencies, as consultants, practitioners and evaluators of aid projects. They are also employed in the media and in a range of research and teaching roles.

The following are some areas of study that are central to socio-cultural anthropology:

• Knowledge across cultures: What can we know of others? How can we know it?
• Cross-cultural approaches to religion: What is shared and what is unique in religious experience around the world?
• Political anthropology: How do forms of power and conflict differ cross-culturally?
• Visual anthropology: What are the ethics and aesthetics of depicting other peoples?
• Ethnography: Can we describe, interpret and explain other distinct ways of life?
• Theories of culture: Can we make sense of culture and explain cultural difference?
• Fieldwork: What methods allow us to know other peoples? How/do they work?

Because the field of anthropological inquiry ranges over many areas, the teaching program provides a core of units that focus on key sub-fields and also topical units that study contemporary issues from a cross-cultural anthropological perspective.