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ANTH45515: Cultural Evolution for MARM

It is possible that changes to modules or programmes might need to be made during the academic year, in response to the impact of Covid-19 and/or any further changes in public health advice.

Type Tied
Level 4
Credits 15
Availability Not available in 2024/2025
Module Cap None.
Location Durham
Department Anthropology

Prerequisites

  • None

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • The aim of this module is to provide students with a theoretical understanding of cultural evolution as it is studied at a range of scales, from individual social learning to cultural transmission in complex societies among human and non-human animals.

Content

  • Social learning mechanisms
  • Culture in non-human animals
  • Evolution of social learning & transmission biases
  • Niche construction & gene-culture co-evolution
  • Ethnographic studies of cultural evolution
  • Evolution of cultural diversity
  • Cultural evolution in modern society
  • Cumulative cultural evolution
  • Evolution of religion
  • A variety of applied topics in cultural evolution (eg. animal conservation and human health)

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • Sufficient theoretical training to enable, with the appropriate support and facilities, continuation to PhD level research on cultural evolution or the conducting of applied cultural evolution research in a variety of contexts

Subject-specific Skills:

  • An ability to, independently synthesise, critically evaluate and present complex material, including data, evolutionary models and theoretical arguments.
  • An ability to think creatively and rigorously about how current theory and empirical findings could be strengthened

Key Skills:

  • Communication: Students should be able to write clearly and concisely on cultural evolutionary topics, and explain why particular issues are important and/or controversial both in writing and verbally.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Research seminars & individualised advanced tutorials.
  • Formative of abstract / plan of summative essay
  • Summative essay, entirely of own choice in consultation with tutors
  • Students will be provided with feedback on their formative and summative assignments
  • Feedback during tutorials will provide students with immediate feedback on their progress and provide the opportunity for individual interaction with tutor

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Research seminars8fortnightly in Michaelmas and Epiphany1 hour8 
Tutorials4two per term in Michaelmas and Epiphany1 hour4 
Preparation & Reading138 
Total150 

Summative Assessment

Component: Essay Component Weighting: 100%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Essay3000 words100yes

Formative Assessment

In class feedback during tutorials on advanced and applied topics in cultural evolution. Feedback on an abstract / plan of the summative essay.

More information

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