Dr Mukulika Banerjee, OLD 5.09 and Dr Harry Walker OLD 6.14

This course is compulsory for BA/BSc Social Anthropology and BA Anthropology and Law students. It is available to General Course students and as an outside option.

Lectures AN101 weekly MT, LT, Classes AN101.A weekly MT, LT.

This course discusses important aspects of anthropological and sociological theory in relation to modern ethnographic texts. It ranges from the classical social theory by Marx, Durkheim and Weber to the most recent theoretical advances in the discipline. The course is intended to give students a sound grasp of central theoretical concepts and of their significance for empirical research.

Students are expected to prepare discussion material for presentation in the classes and are required to write assessment essays.

Anthropology students taking this course will have an opportunity to submit a tutorial essay for this course to their personal tutors. For non-Anthropology students taking this course, a formative essay may be submitted to the course teacher.

R Aron, Main Currents in Sociological Thought; A Giddens, Capitalism and Social Theory; R Nisbet, The Sociological Tradition; L Coser & B Rosenberg, Sociological Theory: a Book of Readings; K Morrison, Marx, Durkheim, Weber; R Borofsky (Ed), Assessing Cultural Anthropology;C Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures; A Kuper, Anthropology and Anthropologists; G Stocking, Observers Observed; E E Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft oracles and magic among the Azande; V Turner, The Forest of Symbols; W Roseberry, Anthropologies and Histories; R Rosaldo, Culture and Truth. Detailed reading lists are provided at the beginning of the course.

A three-hour examination in the ST worth 80%. Two assessed essays (2,000-2,500 words each) one per term (20%).