MA Social Anthropology and Intensive Language P4 (Arabic)

Arabic 5 A (PG)

This is a Beginners course in Modern Standard Arabic.The main emphasis is on mastering the basic structures of Modern Standard Arabic as a means of communication, particularly in relation to journalism, with equal emphasis on reading, writing, speaking and hearing.

Written language competence is reinforced through the study of grammar, related exercises, prose and unseen translation, with particular emphasis on developing mastery of syntax and widening active vocabulary. Letter writing skills are also introduced. Communicative competence is developed in conversation classes and by using audio material as well as immersion in an Arabic linguistic environment.

This is an Intermediate course in Modern Standard Arabic. The main emphasis is on mastering the basic structures of Modern Standard Arabic as a means of communication, particularly in relation to journalism, with equal emphasis on reading, writing, speaking and hearing. News broadcasts are introduced, and oral competence is developed through extensive use of media resources as well as in small-group conversation classes, where some elements of colloquial Arabic are also introduced.

Written language competence is reinforced through the study of grammar, related exercises, prose and unseen translation, with particular emphasis on developing mastery of syntax and widening active vocabulary. Letter writing skills are also introduced. Communicative competence is developed in conversation classes and by using audio material as well as immersion in an Arabic linguistic environment.

This is a lower advanced language acquisition course that will reinforce competence in grammar and syntax, widen active vocabulary, and simultaneously develop listening and speaking skills.Letter writing skills will be introduced. Oral competence is developed in conversation classes and by using audio-video material.

This is a lower advanced language acquisition course that will reinforce competence in grammar and syntax, widen active vocabulary, and simultaneously develop listening and speaking skills.

This is an upper intermediate language acquisition module that builds on Arabic 3A, providing students with a firmer foundation in Arabic grammar, and training them in the active use of the language through writing exercises that draw on and reinforce a number of skills including knowledge of grammar, syntax, phraseology and general and specialised terminology. Writing skills will also be further built through targeted translation exercises. The module also includes an oral component where students are trained in speaking the colloquial register of the language.

This is an intermediate language acquisition module that builds on Arabic 1 and Arabic 2, providing students with a firmer foundation in Arabic grammar, and training students in the active use of the language through writing exercises that draw on and reinforce a number of skills including knowledge of grammar, syntax, phraseology and general and specialised terminology. Writing skills will also be further built through targeted translation exercises. The module also includes an oral component where students are trained in speaking the colloquial register of the language.

This module combines an introduction to Arabic dialectology with instruction in two different Arabic dialects at an introductory level. Each week students have a one-hour lecture on the Arabic dialects from a theoretical point of view, a one-hour lesson focusing on listening comprehension, and two hours of tuition in Arabic conversation, one hour in one widely spoken Arabic dialect (typically Egyptian) and the other in another widely spoken Arabic dialect (typically Levantine). The primary objectives of the module are: to give students an understanding of the linguistics of the Arabic dialects, and of the theory and practice of Arabic dialectology; to give them a solid foundation for future in-depth study of one or both of the dialects focused on in the module; and to give them the tools to enable them to independently acquire communicative competence in other Arabic dialects they might encounter in the course of their studies and beyond.

This module combines an intermediate-advanced approach to Arabic dialectology with instruction in two different Arabic dialects at an intermediate level. It is specifically intended to prepare students for a period of study in an Arabic-speaking country. Each week students have a one-hour lecture on the Arabic dialects from a theoretical point of view, a one-hour lesson focusing on listening comprehension, and two hours of tuition in Arabic conversation. Where teaching capacity allows, students will have the opportunity to choose which of two widely spoken Arabic dialects (typically Egyptian and Levantine) they wish to focus on in the conversation classes. The primary objectives of the module are: to give students an in-depth understanding of the linguistics of the Arabic dialects, and of the theory and practice of Arabic dialectology; to bring them to an intermediate level in the dialect they choose to focus on; and to give them the tools to enable them to independently acquire communicative competence in other Arabic dialects they might encounter in the course of their studies and beyond.

702 Ethnographic Research Methods takes research methods as philosophically and practically exciting techniques and attitudes that allow us to know and understand the world better. To know anthropological research methodology is better to understand the self, which is to better understand anthropological research methodology. The material addresses the history and foundations of anthropological knowledge, and describes some of the key concepts in anthropological methodology by using 'ethnographic writing' as a guide. The module encourages self-reflexivity, ethical conduct, and an anticipatory awareness of research practice and design.

This module guides students through key concepts and theories that have underpinned the discipline of social/cultural anthropology over the last five decades, with particular attention to how theoretical concerns and orientations are continually rethought and retooled to address contemporary conditions. The module consciously departs from the conventional “canon” (i.e., the “founding fathers” approach) to offer a more inclusive and vibrant picture of the discipline’s (post-1960s) theoretical shifts. But it does so without overlooking the reverberations of anthropology’s past colonial entanglements, and without giving up its older core question: what does it mean to be human? Weekly class sessions and readings address a variety of topics across the anthropological spectrum, without diluting their analytical and empirical richness.

A Dissertation of 10,000 words (excluding bibliography, appendices, etc., but including footnotes) is a required element of all MA Anthropology Degrees. The topic of the dissertation is left to students to decide according to their interests and subject to the agreement of the relevant Programme Convenor. The dissertation should show an appropriate command of anthropological theory and the relevant literature, as well as the capacity to apply this to the topic in question. Students should also demonstrate an understanding of the specialised field of their degree.

This module is concerned with the ways the mind and mental illness are understood in different cultural contexts. We explore the cultural and historical shaping of Western psychiatry and its interaction with other diagnostic and healing traditions. Are psychiatric diagnostic categories like depression or PTSD universal or culturally and historically specific, bound to particular notions of mind, body or spirit? Is Western psychiatric knowledge imposed on other societies through Global Mental Health, or does the expansion of evidence-based treatments address a critical ‘treatment gap’? Is the globally rising diagnosis of mental disorders a consequence of new stressors, undiagnosed conditions or the medicalisation of ordinary sadness and coping responses? How might we understand the relationship between brain biology, adverse life experiences, and culturally experienced illness? How does social inequality, discrimination and abuse affect mental health? Is trauma a universally meaningful idea? The module uses ethnographic research, cultural psychiatry and anthropological theory to explore such questions.

This course offers an exploration of the formation of diasporas and their cultural politics. It looks at how diasporic subjectivities are formed through gendered aesthetic practices and performances, which can take on and signify religious, cultural, political meanings, which are in turn constantly negotiated, hybridised and re-fashioned across bodies, times and spaces.

In this module we explore the complex and often paradoxical relationship between place, mobilities and food. We critically interrogate claims made about food system 'delocalisation', 'deskilling' and 'gastro-anomie'. We examine food markets, street foods and restaurants as sites of both cultural production and labour exploitation, of social interaction, cosmopolitanism and open debate, and of social control, surveillance and spatial cleansing. We explore contemporary forms of ethical food activism, including in the digital realm, and consider the complex role of food in migration.

This module deepens student understanding of key concepts in medical anthropology with a special focus on a) the materiality of bodies, substances, and practices, and b) science and technology studies that explore how knowledge comes into being, how it gains traction in the world, and how it shapes existing subjectivities and creates new ways of being and relating.

This option module is open to all students interested in understanding major transitions in the conceptualisation of the social since the 1960s. Highlighting important currents in poststructuralist thought in anthropology and beyond, the module explores sources of new ideas and frameworks that are themselves of fundamental significance to all humanities and social science scholars. The module guides students to engage with and critically evaluate the theoretical underpinnings of social anthropology as a field of inquiry, and the ways these have been rethought in the face of recent historical and political shifts inclusive of decolonisation and neoliberalism. It introduces new vital concepts and currents, themselves the result of intense interdisciplinary encounters between anthropology on the one hand, and sociology, history, philosophy and political science, on the other.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of a particular region in Sub-Saharan Africa, its resident populations, and its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. With a particular focus on West Africa, East Africa, or Southern Africa, students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, personhood, the body, consumption, labour and livelihoods, violence and justice, and social identities, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of the Near and Middle East, the region's resident populations, and its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. The module draws on material on countries such as Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, and may also include literature on Muslims in South East Asia and Europe. Students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, violence and justice, consumption, labour and livelihoods, and social identities, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.

Written language competence is reinforced through the study of grammar, related exercises, prose and unseen translation, with particular emphasis on developing mastery of syntax and widening active vocabulary. Letter writing skills are also introduced. Communicative competence is developed in conversation classes and by using audio material as well as immersion in an Arabic linguistic environment.

The module provides teaching and learning of advanced level Arabic language. It covers a wide variety of texts in topics such as literature, politics, religion, science, etc. Teaching will cover reading, analysing, writing, listening and speaking. There will be a series of special postgraduate lectures with associated seminars structured around the six themes of structure, texts, identity, society, translation and transformation (provided for PG students studying different languages). These will introduce students to general questions of the role of language in language-based scholarship and research, and will provide them with the critical and methodological skills to relate their language acquisition to the thematic aspects of the study.

This is a high advanced language acquisition course

This is an advanced language acquisition course.

This is a lower advanced language acquisition course that will reinforce competence in grammar and syntax, widen active vocabulary, and simultaneously develop listening and speaking skills.Letter writing skills will be introduced. Oral competence is developed in conversation classes and by using audio-video material.

This is a lower advanced language acquisition course that will reinforce competence in grammar and syntax, widen active vocabulary, and simultaneously develop listening and speaking skills.

The module provides teaching and learning of advanced level Arabic language. It covers a wide variety of texts in topics such as literature, politics, religion, science, etc. Teaching will cover reading, analysing, writing, listening and speaking. There will be a series of special postgraduate lectures with associated seminars structured around the six themes of structure, texts, identity, society, translation and transformation (provided for PG students studying different languages). These will introduce students to general questions of the role of language in language-based scholarship and research, and will provide them with the critical and methodological skills to relate their language acquisition to the thematic aspects of the study.

This is a high advanced language acquisition course

Arabic 5 A (PG)

This is an advanced language acquisition course.

This module is concerned with the ways the mind and mental illness are understood in different cultural contexts. We explore the cultural and historical shaping of Western psychiatry and its interaction with other diagnostic and healing traditions. Are psychiatric diagnostic categories like depression or PTSD universal or culturally and historically specific, bound to particular notions of mind, body or spirit? Is Western psychiatric knowledge imposed on other societies through Global Mental Health, or does the expansion of evidence-based treatments address a critical ‘treatment gap’? Is the globally rising diagnosis of mental disorders a consequence of new stressors, undiagnosed conditions or the medicalisation of ordinary sadness and coping responses? How might we understand the relationship between brain biology, adverse life experiences, and culturally experienced illness? How does social inequality, discrimination and abuse affect mental health? Is trauma a universally meaningful idea? The module uses ethnographic research, cultural psychiatry and anthropological theory to explore such questions.

This course offers an exploration of the formation of diasporas and their cultural politics. It looks at how diasporic subjectivities are formed through gendered aesthetic practices and performances, which can take on and signify religious, cultural, political meanings, which are in turn constantly negotiated, hybridised and re-fashioned across bodies, times and spaces.

In this module we explore the complex and often paradoxical relationship between place, mobilities and food. We critically interrogate claims made about food system 'delocalisation', 'deskilling' and 'gastro-anomie'. We examine food markets, street foods and restaurants as sites of both cultural production and labour exploitation, of social interaction, cosmopolitanism and open debate, and of social control, surveillance and spatial cleansing. We explore contemporary forms of ethical food activism, including in the digital realm, and consider the complex role of food in migration.

This module deepens student understanding of key concepts in medical anthropology with a special focus on a) the materiality of bodies, substances, and practices, and b) science and technology studies that explore how knowledge comes into being, how it gains traction in the world, and how it shapes existing subjectivities and creates new ways of being and relating.

This option module is open to all students interested in understanding major transitions in the conceptualisation of the social since the 1960s. Highlighting important currents in poststructuralist thought in anthropology and beyond, the module explores sources of new ideas and frameworks that are themselves of fundamental significance to all humanities and social science scholars. The module guides students to engage with and critically evaluate the theoretical underpinnings of social anthropology as a field of inquiry, and the ways these have been rethought in the face of recent historical and political shifts inclusive of decolonisation and neoliberalism. It introduces new vital concepts and currents, themselves the result of intense interdisciplinary encounters between anthropology on the one hand, and sociology, history, philosophy and political science, on the other.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of a particular region in Sub-Saharan Africa, its resident populations, and its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. With a particular focus on West Africa, East Africa, or Southern Africa, students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, personhood, the body, consumption, labour and livelihoods, violence and justice, and social identities, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of the Near and Middle East, the region's resident populations, and its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. The module draws on material on countries such as Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, and may also include literature on Muslims in South East Asia and Europe. Students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, violence and justice, consumption, labour and livelihoods, and social identities, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.