| Unit name | Kinship and Anthropology |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ARCH14010 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Margiotti |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
none |
| School/department | Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit provides an introduction to key issues and debates in Social Anthropology concerned with the cross-cultural study of kinship. Kinship, once at the core of Social Anthropology, has been also one of the most debated, yet rich, branch of the discipline. The course introduces the history of kinship in relation to the development of Social Anthropology. It explores 1) the 'invention' of kinship as a comparative problem in relation to the rise of professional ethnographic fieldwork, 2) major theoretical paradigms, 3) critical debates which led to the demise of kinship from the 1970s to the 1990s and 4) the new flourishing of kinship studies in the context of reproductive medicine. Kinship was classically the most technical branch of Anthropology, however this unit privileges a lively and straightforward approach based on the epistemological assumption that we all know about kinship through our personal experiences.
Aims:
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the study of kinship and its place in the history of Social Anthropology and Anthropological theory. Students with very little or no knowledge about the discipline will find this course a useful introduction to key aspects of Social Anthropology learned through the perspective of one of its more sophisticated and historically important branches. Students will also appreciate the relevance of contemporary Social Anthropology as based on fieldwork now conducted everywhere and tackling a variety of topics from other cultures kinship systems to the social implications of new reproductive medicine in Euro-American societies.
By the end of this course, it is expected that students will have an in depth-knowledge of key debates in the Anthropology of kinship and acquired familiarity with its history and categories. Students will appreciate a considerable body of comparative ethnographic material about western and non-western societies and they will acquire the ability to discuss anthropologically about current UK debates on society and reproductive medicine. By the end of the unit students should also have learned the more general skills needed to relate ethnographic data to theory, which will be essential in furthering their understanding of Anthropological theories.
One 2hr lecture per week (=20hrs).
All the assessment is summative:
Two 1500-2000 word essays (50% each).
1) Carsten J. 2004. After Kinship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2) Edwards et al. 1993. Technologies of Procreation: kinship in the age of assisted conception. Manchester University Press.
3) Holy, L. 1996. Anthropological perspectives on kinship, London: Pluto Press.
4) Parkin, R. 1997. Kinship. An Introduction to the basic concepts, Oxford: Blackwell
5) Rapport, N. and J. Overing, Social and Cultural Anthropology. The Key Concepts. London: Routledge.
