COS4209

Re-thinking human studies: after postmodernity

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

Joanne Finkelstein

12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Clayton

Objectives Students in this honours subject will, through the study of several case studies and ethnographies gain an understanding of how the disciplines of anthropology and sociology develop explanatory tools for human conduct and culture; engage with the debates evaluating the successes and failures of field research; and examine the ethical position of the professional researcher.

Synopsis The traditional object for much empirical research has been the exotic `other'. However, influences from the theoretical debates about modernity, postmodernity and postcoloniality, and the technological reach of mass communications, especially `vox populi' programs, have had an impact on the value of field studies, raising questions about their validity and the importance of concepts such as culture, gender, race, knowledge. This subject is concerned with the future of empirical studies against a background of the problems raised by recent theoretical and ethical debates.

Assessment Essay (6000 words): 50%
* Examination (2 hours): 30%
* Seminar paper (1000 words): 20%

Recommended texts

Gilman S Freud, race and gender Princeton, 1993
Kahn J Culture, multiculture, postculture Sage, 1995
Said E Representations of the intellectual Vintage, 1994