Module overview
This module uses ethnographic approaches to understand the diversity of Latin America’s peoples and cultures. Emphasizing the emergence within Latin American anthropology of focuses on everyday life through topics such as kinship and family, ritual and religion, illness and healing, and race and gender, we examine how micro-processes entwine with macro-processes of globalization, social transformation and inequality. We therefore integrate details about particular peoples and cultures with analyses of the wider historical and social themes that are central to critically understanding the complexities of Latin America. Module materials are centred on ethnography as both research process and scholarly product. Ethnography is supplemented with literature, film (both documentary and non-documentary), and journalism.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- Cultural patterns of specific Latin American regions and ethnographic methods used to analyse them
- Several Latin American cultures and societies, and the similarities and dissimilarities between them.
- One or more aspects of the cultures, linguistic contexts, history, politics, geography, social and economic structures of Latin American countries and regions.
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- To formulate, analyse and discuss critical questions
- Formulate and defend personal judgements clearly and persuasively on the basis of evidence;
- To engage with subject matter and opinion in both breadth and depth
- Define, present and exemplify concepts related to the anthropology of Latin America and to specific country contexts
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- To plan and organise your learning through self-management
- To adhere to guidelines and deadlines
- To set and monitor goals, reflecting on your own learning, and learning from feedback
Syllabus
Topics covered in this module are likely to include:
- Anthropology and Latin America
- Conquest and colonialism
- Ritual and religion
- Kinship and family
- Gender, race and ethnicity
- Illness and health
- The State, civil strife and social movements
- Neoliberalism and migration
- Transnational Communities in the U.S.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Lecture and discussion
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 50 |
| Wider reading or practice | 36 |
| Seminar | 24 |
| Completion of assessment task | 40 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Internet Resources
Daniel R. Reichman, The Broken Village: Coffee, Migration and Globalization in Honduras.
Donna Goldstein, Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence and Sexuality in a Rio Shantytown.
Assessment
Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
Essay
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback:
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: No
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Essay | 40% |
| Discussion Questions | 10% |
| Essay | 40% |
| Class participation | 10% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Discussion Questions | 10% |
| Essay | 80% |
| Class participation | 10% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Essay | 80% |
| Discussion Questions | 10% |
| Class participation | 10% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External