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ANTH3947: Anthropological Skills for Climate Change Survival

Please ensure you check the module availability box for each module outline, as not all modules will run in each academic year. Each module description relates to the year indicated in the module availability box, and this may change from year to year, due to, for example: changing staff expertise, disciplinary developments, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback. Current modules are subject to change in light of the ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19.

Type Open
Level 3
Credits 10
Availability Not available in 2024/2025
Module Cap None.
Location Durham
Department Anthropology

Prerequisites

  • ANTH2051 Politics and Economics OR ANTH2161 Kinship and Religion

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • To develop an understanding of anthropological approaches to climate change.
  • To enable students to interrogate categories of thought and action linked to the challenges of climate change
  • To explore ethnographic studies of climate change in social worlds

Content

  • Developing anthropological perspectives
  • Culture and Climate in historical frames
  • The concept of Global Warming
  • The nexus of Energy-Food-Water in anthropological analyses
  • Environmental Governance and climate resilience in comparative perspective
  • Ethnographic Encounters
  • Anthropocene and Post-development
  • The Ends of the World in Pluriversal Times

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • At the end of the module, students will be able to:
  • Demonstrate advanced levels of current knowledge and intensive understanding in anthropological approaches to climate change research.
  • Deploy analytical skills specific to analysing and interpreting climate science, policy and ethics from a comparative cultural perspective.
  • Be competent in accessing and assimilating specialised climate research literature of an interdisciplinary character.

Subject-specific Skills:

  • In-depth knowledge of climate change research within social anthropology, with emphasis on interpretation and comprehensive understanding of ethnographic data.

Key Skills:

  • Preparation and effective communication of research methods, data, interpretation and arguments in written form.

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

  • Classes will integrate lecture, tutorial and online components.
  • Lecture elements will provide students with an outline of key knowledge and debates in the topic area, discuss the literature that students should explore, and provide relevant examples and cases studies.
  • Tutorial elements will develop topics introduced in lectures and required reading to analyse aspects or case studies in greater depth and to prepare students for their summative assignment.
  • Student preparation and reading time will allow engagement with specific references in advance of tutorials and general and particular reading related to the assessment, which will be a written assignment (a case study essay).

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Classes15Specified in module handbook 115 
Preparation and Reading 85 
Total100 

Summative Assessment

Component: CourseworkComponent Weighting: 100%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Assignment 2500 words100 

Formative Assessment

500 word review

More information

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