AN472      One Unit
Evidence and Arguments in Anthropology and Other Social Sciences

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

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This seminar course considers research practices across a range of social and natural sciences, arts and humanities in order to explore methodological issues that are relevant to anthropology and ethnography. In particular, it focuses on the relationship between evidence and the kinds of inferences and conclusions which are drawn by researchers in different fields.

Each week students will be involved in two seminars, one on Tuesday and one on Friday. In Tuesday seminars, we will consider case-studies taken from different disciplines in relation to the research practices of ethnographers. The disciplines covered may include: cognitive science & developmental psychology; psychoanalysis; moral and political philosophy; photographic and visual art theory; history and archival research; demography; human and behavioural ecology; development studies; linguistic anthropology; philosophy of science and STS; literary criticism; creative writing; and architecture. In the Friday seminars, students will present their own draft research proposals to others in written and oral form, focusing on (1) the questions they hope to explore in their dissertations; (2) the kinds of evidence they will need in order to adequately explore these questions; (3) the methods they will adopt in order to collect this evidence.

40 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Students will be expected to produce one case study in the Winter Term. This will allow students to practice and receive feedback on the direct application of different disciplinary perspectives to a body of data, in preparation for their summative assessment and for their future research.

Essay (50%, 3000 words) in Spring Term Week 1

Essay (50%, 3000 words) in Spring Term Week 1

The assessment for AN472 is as follows:

50% for a 3000-word essay based upon the Friday AN472 seminars.

50% for a 3000-word essay in which you will critically analyse the use of evidence and styles of argumentation within the subfield/s of anthropology that you take for your 'extra' course.