AANB05023U Introduction to Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of social and cultural life. Whether looking at child soldiers in West Africa, business tycoons in New York or heroin pushers in Lisbon, anthropologists investigate how people understand and act in their social worlds. We illuminate the world from the inside and show how social formations are shaped and sustained, questioned and conflicted.

This course will introduce students to anthropology. The basic concepts of anthropology will be taught through immersion into specific case studies from around the world. It will illuminate the different approaches that anthropologists use in order to understand other cultures and societies, and dwell on the theoretical and analytical insights that the subject has yielded. Dealing qualitatively with issues such as globalisation, integration, youth, power, poverty and politics the course will provide students with knowledge of an increasingly important subject and supply them with novel perspectives on some of the key processes and pressing problems and dilemmas of the current world.