Learning about Culture: Introduction to Ethnography

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• important ideas central to social anthropology such as: the social construction of perceived reality
• important ideas central to social anthropology such as: the social nature of apparent individualism
• key concepts as used by social anthropologists in family and gender relations
• important ideas central to social anthropology such as: the patterns and regularities under the surface of life
• important ideas central to social anthropology such as: the cultural construction of beliefs, attitudes, actions
• key concepts as used by social anthropologists in power and language
• key concepts as used by social anthropologists in roles and relationships
• key concepts as used by social anthropologists in rituals and symbolic meanings

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• to index the data collected for your projects to evaluate evidence
• to conduct some field observations and take notes in a field diary.
• to verify your interpretations of your project data through comparison with other evidence.
• to collect data required for your assignments
• to apply anthropological concepts in order to interpret the data you collected for your projects
• to record interviews (if appropriate) and transcribe them
• to carry out ethnographic conversations and (if appropriate) interviews

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• realise own role as a reflexive cultural learner
• respond in an informed way to questions of cultural difference;
• reflect on the links between language learning cultural learning;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• communicate effectively with others
• present a coherent argument and use appropriate evidence as necessary
• pose interesting and innovative questions
• interrogate your data
• evaluate a project proposal
• identify and explore problems

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.