Contemporary Hunter-Gatherers (P00334)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : SPS-P-SAHG

This course explores ethnography of the world's hunting-and-gathering societies and the contributions made through this ethnography to anthropological theory and contemporary debate. Regions covered include Southern and Central Africa; Aboriginal Australia; the Arctic, Subarctic and Northwest Coast of North America; Indigenous South America; and Foraging Populations of South and Southeast Asia. Theoretical ideas and debates include notions of immediate and delayed-return economic systems, the 'original affluent society', the revisionist debate (on the extent and meaning of culture contact in historic periods), and the indigenous debate (on whether special rights should be accorded to hunter-gatherers by virtue of legally-defined indigeneity).

Entry Requirements

? Costs : No

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of Social and Political Studies), (School of Social and Political Studies, Schedule J)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : To be arranged/Unknown

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Additional Class Information : To be decided according to Social Anthropology timetable for 2004-05

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students should be able to describe the lifestyles of a variety of hunter-gatherer peoples; make meaningful comparisons within and between regions on aspects of subsistence economy, kinship, gender roles, religious belief and ritual, etc.; and formulate ethnographically-informed opinions on issues such as social development in hunter-gatherer communities. They should also be able to engage in debate, at postgraduate level, on theoretical issues in hunter-gatherer studies and understand the relation of these to wider issues in anthropological and social theory.