units

ATS3372

Faculty of Arts

18 September 2017 25 November 2024
Monash University

Undergraduate - Unit

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

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LevelUndergraduate
FacultyFaculty of Arts
Organisational UnitAnthropology
OfferedNot offered in 2013
Coordinator(s)James Barry

Notes

Previously coded ANY3140

Synopsis

Anthropologists working with Polynesian cultures have generated some of the discipline's most provocative and productive debates. Major topics such as identity, agency, and performance have been investigated, argued about, and continually rethought. In this class, students will read and participate in some of these debates including: arguments over Captain Cook's divine status for Hawaiians; interpretations of sexuality, power, and violence in Samoa; long-distance voyaging and settlement; ritual cannibalism; and ethnographic representation. All of these topics will be discussed with reference to their contributions to anthropological understandings beyond Polynesia itself.

Outcomes

  1. display significant knowledge about the cultures of the Pacific Islands
  2. identify key debates in the history of anthropology
  3. discuss the ways that scholarly arguments about culture are best evaluated, criticised, engaged with, and used productively
  4. develop the ability to write a focused research paper
  5. develop the ability to write a proposal for scholarly research

For students taking the unit at Level 3 as part of a major in Anthropology there is the additional objective of:

  1. Ability to present an oral summary of their research proposals and answer questions on it

Assessment

Midterm essay (1000 words): 20%; Final essay (2000 words): 40%; Research proposal (1500 words):30%; Participation 10%

Chief examiner(s)

James Barry

Contact hours

2 hour seminar per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Anthropology

Prerequisites

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

Prohibitions

ATS2372