How to Think Like a Social Anthropologist

Dr Anastasia Piliavsky

This course is an introduction to social anthropology as ‘empirical philosophy’—a discipline that recognizes that most ordinary human beings, the world over, have just as much to say about love, time, power or any other basic dilemmas of human existence as any paid philosophers, and that sometimes their reflections can be decidedly more interesting. While the course will introduce students to a number of seminal ethnographic texts, figures and ideas, its primary aim is to acquaint students with social anthropological ways of thinking. We will tackle a range of topics—from personhood, memory, creativity, and birth to death, landscape, secrecy, love, sex, food, and drinking—to gain insight into both others’ and our own thoughts on such matters. In the process, the students will learn that some of the most plain ‘facts of human life’ (whether birth, death or individuality), are not as plain they seem, and that some trivial activities, like having a drink with friends on a Saturday, may be more consequential than we may think.

King’s College, where the seminars will take place, is home to an illustrious anthropological lineage, which once housed disciplinary heavyweights like Edmund Leach and Meyer Fortes and is now populated by a vibrant community of anthropologists. We will look at some of the material left by Leach and Fortes in the College archive and meet with some local ‘old timer’ anthropologists to hear their tales of the local anthropologist tribe. The course also offers an opportunity to learn about some of the cultural quirks of Cambridge firsthand, in the course of a mini field research project.

This course is aimed at: Students from any discipline interested in sociological thought, especially students of philosophy, history and law.

Pre-requisite knowledge required: None.

Transferable skills: Comparative grasp of different cultural logics, participant-observation research techniques, critical thinking, reading and writing skills.

Required pre-arrival reading

• Pocock, David. 1971. Social Anthropology. 2nd revised edition. London: Sheed & Ward.

Further pre-arrival reading

• Leach, Edmund. 1981. Social Anthropology. London: Fontana.

Assessment:

• 1 Final Exam: 45%
• 1 Final Essay: 45%
• Participation, progress and attendance: 10%

Lecture Hours: 12 x 1 hour 15 minutes (total 15 hours)

Seminar Hours: 8 x 1 hour 15 minutes (total 10 hours)