Culture and Representation (L6075)

15 credits, Level 5

Spring teaching

On this module, you'll focus on the concept of ‘culture’ and the political dimensions of representing other cultures. You'll explore:

• how anthropological understandings of ‘culture’ have developed over the 20th century
• the role of anthropology in analysing and representing culture in ethnographic research
• how ‘culture’ operates as a public idea, used by politicians, activists, museum curators and others.

Key themes include distinctions between ‘ourselves’ and ‘others,’ structure and agency, embodiment, art and aesthetics, power and protest.

Designed for anthropology students and non-specialists alike, this module helps you:

• deepen anthropological knowledge and critical reading skills
• reflect on personal experiences and their relation to anthropological engagement
• prepare for extended writing projects such as dissertations
• improve your academic writing through assessment opportunities.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.