Anthropology has a central interest in the diversity of human experience but it also recognises that many practices and beliefs are shared by all people. For example, virtually every society has an institution which we could call ‘marriage’. However, the cultural expression of marriage varies from society to society: some groups allow one man to marry several women, others allow one woman to marry several men, still others permit marriage with the same sex or even with the dead.

Anthropology is also holistic. That is, it recognises that all parts of a society are interrelated and that the belief systems of a society impinge on everything. Therefore, anthropology looks at practices such as gardening, religion, childbirth and so on in their wider cultural context. For instance, it is possible simply to describe the technology of planting rice and measure the amount harvested. However, an anthropologist would try to gain a more complex and complete understanding of the place of rice in a particular society by looking at land tenure, men’s and women’s work, economics, exchange, gift giving, everyday eating and special feasting.Because anthropology looks at whole societies, it overlaps with many other subjects – economics, psychology, medicine, law, religion, politics, history etc. It also prepares you to analyse and understand cultural variation so that you can usefully contribute to the many debates that centre on ethnicity.

As an academic discipline, anthropology has been practised for about 150 years -our intellectual ancestors were the travellers who tried to understand the customs of people who were very different from themselves. Where possible, anthropologists go and live for an extended period among the people whose way of life they wish to comprehend. They learn the language and become participant observers, seeking understanding through taking part in daily activities and talking to people as well as watching and recording the life of the society.While anthropology began as the study of ‘exotic’ cultures, the methodological approaches are also applied to complex Western societies. Therefore one finds anthropologists writing about isolated islands AND the health beliefs of middle class women in Auckland, the Azande AND the Mongrel Mob. Even virtual societies follow the rules of human societies generally so we can look at the social customs of Social Media such as Facebook.

ANTHROPOLOGY HELPS YOU TO BECOME A TRAVELLER IN THE WORLD, NOT A MERE TOURIST ACROSS ITS SURFACE.

Several broad themes guide this course:

There are two lectures and one tutorial that you must attend each week.
LECTURES are on Tuesday, 10 – 10.50 a.m. in LG.02 and Thursday 11.00 am – 11.50 a.m. in S.1.04.
TUTORIALS begin in the second week of the semester. They are weekly and attendance and participation is worth 10% of your final grade. A roll will be taken, .