240534 SE Approaches to Anthropology through Film and British Cultural Studies (P4) (2018S)

As a discipline, anthropology has developed established practices for best understanding the subject. These can vary from one country to another. Moreover, as anthropology broadens its field there are opportunities for extending the ways in which it is approached. Both film and British cultural studies offer valuable tools and methodologies for anthropology and this course will provide an introduction addressing such as topics as culturalism, film and an indigenous perspective, travelogues and documentary film, mass cultures and folk cultures and ideas of authenticity, subcultures, mythmaking, the tourist gaze and the carnivalesque. Sessions will be conducted through lectures and seminars, supported by screenings and local field trips.

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module, the student will be able to:
1) Identify the key components of the debates that relate to film and anthropology and British Cultural Studies.
2) Contextualise these debates historically, theoretically, and critically.
3) Evaluate developments in twentieth and twenty-first century popular culture in relation to anthropology as a discipline.
Develop and present ways in which to assess issues within anthropology employing new approaches.