SC388-6-AU-CO:
Dangerous Places: Travellers, Anthropologists and Intercultural Meetings
2017/18
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
15
-
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA LL36 Social Anthropology,
BA LL3P Social Anthropology (Including Year Abroad),
BA LL6P Social Anthropology (Including Placement Year),
BA LL37 Social Anthropology with Human Rights,
BA LL38 Social Anthropology with Human Rights (Including Year Abroad),
BA LL39 Social Anthropology with Human Rights (Including Placement Year)
Given the frequency of travel today and histories of colonization, immigration and displacement, the experience of entering another culture is one of the abiding themes of the human experience. It is the stuff of literature, film, biography and the social sciences. What does it mean to enter another culture in another social and natural landscape?
The module will explore one of the dominant themes of anthropology - the intercultural encounter. It will expose students to some iconic essays, memoirs and reports produced by those who venture out of their own societies to discover, explore or study other peoples and places. In particular, it will analyse how these writings illuminate perceptions of peoples, cultures and places, and how these become assembled into various orders of knowledge. The module looks at how depictions of other societies can take many different forms; pejorative, judgmental, but also empathic and even 'romantic'. Along the way, we will look at missionary reports, novels, anthropological memoirs, captivity narratives and finish with a Yanomami Indian's perspective of white society. We will focus on primary source materials with additional film screenings.
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- Marshall, James Vance. (2009) Walkabout, London: Puffin.
- Castaneda, Carlos. (2004) The teachings of Don Juan: a Yaqui way of knowledge, London: Penguin.
- Shehadeh, Raja. (2008) Palestinian walks: notes on a vanishing landscape, London: Profile.
- Moore, Brian. (c1991) Black robe, [Australia]: Vidmark Entertainment.
- Albert, Bruce. (2013) The falling sky: words of a Yanomami shaman, Cambridge, MA: the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- (c1989) The Other in the Nineteenth Century, New York: Columbia University Press.
- Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar. (1999) Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: his account, his life, and the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez, Lincoln, Neb: University of Nebraska Press.
- Diego, Juan. (2001], c1993) Cabeza de Vaca, [United States]: New Concorde Home Entertainment.
- The myth of the 'Brutal Savage', http://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3289-brutal-savages
- Sivan, Eyal. (c2004) Route 181: fragments d'un voyage en Palestine - Israel, Disc 1 : sud, Paris: Momento!.
- EBSCOhost ebook collection. (2013) The falling sky: words of a Yanomami shaman, Cambridge, Masschusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- The Emperor's New Suit In The Garden Of Eden, and Other Wild Guesses or, Why Can't Napoleon Chagnon Prove Anything?, http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/18795-the-emperors-new-suit-in-the-garden-of-eden-and-other-wild-guesses-or-why-cant-napoleon-chagnon-prove-anything]
- America as fantasy, p.1-11.
- Lopenzina, Drew. (2015) Le Jeune Dreams of Moose: Altered States among the Montagnais in the Jesuit Relations of 1634. vol. 13
- Marshall, James Vance. (c2000) Walkabout, [U.K.]: Universal Pictures.
- Mushuau Innu Band Council. (c2010) Nutshimit: on the land, [Berlin]: Nirgun Films.
- Hanke, Lewis. (1959) Aristotle and the American Indians: a study in race prejudice in the modern world, London: Hollis & Carter.
- (1998) Six Weeks in Sioux Tepees, New York: Penguin Books. vol. Penguin classics
- (2013) All is not lost, London: Institute Of Commonwealth Studies.
- Harper, Kenn. (c2001) Give me my father's body: the life of Minik, the New York Eskimo, New York: Pocket Books.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course. The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students. Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Group Presentation |
|
20% |
| Coursework |
Interpretive Essay |
|
80% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Colin Samson, email: samsc@essex.ac.uk.
Professor Colin Samson
Jane Harper, Undergraduate Administrator, Telephone: 01206 873052
E-mail: socugrad@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
No
Dr Lydia Martens
The University of Keele
Senior Lecturer
Available via Moodle
Of 35 hours, 20 (57.1%) hours available to students:
15 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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