Offered By	ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
Academic Contact	Prof Nicolas Peterson

Anthropology is the study of cultural differences and similarities in a globalised world. As a field of study anthropology is uniquely placed to interpret the widest range of contemporary social phenomena - from migration to religious fundamentalism, online communities and new social movements, contemporary indigenous cultural expression and identity politics, consumption and commodification, and many changing forms of social relationships. The School of Archaeology and Anthropology offers a diverse range of undergraduate courses which cover these themes and more.

The discipline's distinctive methodology, long-term ethnographic fieldwork, provides anthropologists with finely grained and in-depth understandings of complex social phenomena. With a commitment to a comparative and holistic framework, anthropologists' treatment of cultural diversity provides insights into the different ways people comprehend their place in the world and relationships to each other, as well as new ways for us to think about our own relationships and society. It is an ideal foundation for a contemporary liberal-arts degree. Students of non-English languages can find anthropology especially useful.

Anthropologists in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology are actively engaged in research and teaching across areas including Indigenous-State relations in Australia; representations of Islam; transnational and diasporic studies; consumption; multiculturalism; kinship; post-agrarianism; ethnographic film and visual media; development; medical anthropology and embodiment; gender and sexuality; marine tenure; religion; violence and terror; conceptions of culture and society. Teaching staff have area expertise in diverse geographic regions including Australia, Indonesia and South East Asia, the Pacific and Melanesia, Germany, and India.

The pass degree courses are not planned to provide specialised professional training, but to present students with a comparative view of the nature of human social organisation and culture. Some major themes represented within courses include:

•   regional foci (e.g. south-east Asia, Australia);
•   major dimensions of analysis of societies and cultures (e.g., gender, religion, personhood, identity, violence, emotion, state, nation, globalisation)
•   directed as well as unintended processes of change (e.g., culture and  development, applied anthropology)
•   the interrelation of technique and theory in the recording and describing of cultures (e.g., film); and
•   the intersection of bio-social and material dimensions of social life
Honours courses offer specialist technical training and examine the theoretical bases of the discipline.

Students considering the possibility of entering careers as professional anthropologists should plan their course with a view to taking the degree with honours. Advice on planning for the Honours year is available from the Honours Convener and the Undergraduate Convener.

 

Requirements

The Anthropology major requires the completion of a minimum of 42 units, consisting of:
(a) First year Anthropology courses to the value of 12 units: Culture and Human Diversity: Introducing Anthropology ANTH1002 and Global and Local ANTH1003. Normally these are taken in sequence; plus
(b) Later-year courses to the value of 30 units, chosen from the following designated later year courses. In some circumstances, the major may consist of 42 units at later-year level.

For information on Honours in Anthropology click here.

The information published on the Study at ANU 2009 website applies to the 2009 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2008 website.