Faculty of Arts

 Anthropology

Table of Contents

Subject Lists
    First-year subjects
    Second/third-year subjects
    Fourth year Honours Subjects
    Subjects not offered in 1999
        First-year subjects not offered in 1999
        Second/third-year subjects not offered in 1999
        Fourth year Honours subjects not offered in 1999

Cultural (or social) anthropology is the study of people in the diverse societies of the world. As a discipline it aims first at describing the full spectrum of what people do in all aspects of their lives and then at understanding why people do what they do, both as individuals and as members of social groups. Anthropology is concerned with the details of particular societies and with the systematic comparison of different societies and cultures. Rather than confining questions or explanations within narrow disciplinary boundaries, most anthropological research is inter-disciplinary as well as cross-cultural, searching out and combining whatever information or methods are required to document and explain people's behaviours. Anthropologists might, for example, combine the approaches of economics, ecology, psychology, agronomy, demography, evolutionary biology, history, and symbolic analysis to document and then explain why people structure their society in a certain way. In order to understand the reasons people have for thinking and acting as they do in the circumstances in which they live, much of the necessary information and insights come from intensive and long-term fieldwork conducted while living among the people being studied, speaking with them in their own language, and participating in their daily activities.

 1. Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for first year Anthropology subjects.

Second/third year Anthropology subjects are available to any student who has completed at least 50 points of first year studies.

 2. Requirements for a Major

A Major in Anthropology usually consists of nine 12.5 point subjects, totalling 112.5 points. It comprises:

• Two first-year subjects in Anthropology (25 points), and;

• Seven second/third-year subjects Anthropology totalling 87.5 points.

 3. Honours entry

The prerequisites for entry to fourth year Honours in Anthropology are:

• Completion of all the requirements for the BA, and;

• Completion of a Major in Anthropology, and;

• An average grade of H2B or higher over the second/third-year subjects within the Major.

Entry to Honours must be approved by the Anthropology Honours coordinator and the Faculty of Arts Honours course adviser.

 4. Honours requirements

 4.1. Pure Honours

Students undertaking pure Honours in Anthropology must complete:

• 136-023 Anthropology Honours Thesis (50 points), and;

• Four Honours subjects in Anthropology equivalent to 50 points.

 4.2. Combined Honours

Students intending to undertake combined Honours in Anthropology and another area of study should consult the Honours coordinator about structuring their course.

 5. Further study

A BA with Honours in Anthropology can lead to a Postgraduate Diploma, or Masters and PhD degrees.

 6. Career opportunities

Graduate anthropologists with higher degrees are employed in the public and private sectors as professionals with expertise in matters concerning culture. Consultant anthropologists also offer their services as self-employed professionals advising governments and businesses on cultural issues relating, for example, to development, trade, health and legal matters.

 7. For more information

Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Ground Floor, Old Arts Building
The University of Melbourne
Parkville Victoria 3052
Tel: +61 3 9344 6556
Web: http://www.anthropology.unimelb.edu.au

First-year subjects

136-001 Social Order and Social Change
136-002 Varieties of Human Experience

Second/third-year subjects

136-004 Applied Medical Anthropology: Modern and Traditional Health Care in Developing Areas
136-005 Keeping the Body in Mind: Culture, Curers and Biomedical Science
136-006 The Human Cosmos: Myth, Ritual and Society
136-007 Ethnic Nationalism and the Modern World
136-011 Applied Anthropology: Solving Practical Problems at Home and Abroad.
136-014 Evolutionary Psychology: Cross-Cultural Explanation of Social Behaviour
136-016 Sexing the Self: The Anthropology of Sex and Identity
136-017 Cooperation and Conflict: Evolutionary Ecology and Social Behaviour
136-018 Redefining Nature: Ethnological Perspectives on People in Environments.
136-019 Evolution of Consciousness, Mind, and Language

Fourth year Honours Subjects

136-023 Anthropology Honours Thesis
136-020 Explanation and Understanding: The Human Sciences
136-121 Problems in Ethnological Theory
136-022 Anthropological Debates
136-024 Directed Study in Anthropology
136-026 Contemporary Anthropological Theory

Subjects not offered in 1999

First-year subjects not offered in 1999

Second/third-year subjects not offered in 1999

Fourth year Honours subjects not offered in 1999

Status:                   Official 1999
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