Module description
This political anthropology module puts Eurocentric political philosophy in conversation with political experience around the world. It explores central themes such as techniques of governance, the stratified nature of citizenship, questions around liberty(ies) and rights, and the handling of exceptional, marginal, and revolutionary situations through the lens of empirical comparison.
It uses empirical comparison strategically to test dominant paradigms of political organisation. This testing inturn becomes the instrument through which this module will pluralise and provincialise the concepts of states and citizensand, by extension, of politics. In short, the module will help students achieve a more in depth and nuanced understanding of political concerns and aspirations around the world.
The module does not require any prior knowledge in political anthropology and will become the opportunity for students to survey a wide range of political situations that illuminate, revise, and/ or reverse Eurocentric understandings of politics and political experience.
The module consists of lectures and seminars for which preparation and active participation are significant components.
Designed to cultivate strong connections between political philosophy and anthropology, the module asks of students to handle diverse reading material. It also requires a degree of independent research in the geopolitical and historica lsituations that feature in weekly sessions.
Assessment details
3,000-word essay (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
- Consolidate student understanding of critical issues in political philosophy
- Introduce students to the discipline of political anthropology
- Familiarise students with the productive interaction between theory and empiricism
- Familiarise students with a range of political experiences around the globe
Learning outcomes
- Critically review key texts in 20th century political philosophy in relation to their global applicability
- Have a solid understanding of key concepts in political organisation and political experience in social science
- Have a better understanding of political experience across the globe
- Engage confidently in the systematic comparison of different political context
This module places considerable emphasis on student employability by cultivating transferable skills that are highly sought after in the civil and diplomatic sectors, journalism, development, and other fields of political analysis. To this end, studentswill learn:
- How to critically approach and relativise dominant political concepts
- How to synthesise information across geopolitical and historical contexts
- How to present political ideas and empirical evidence orally and through team work
Teaching pattern
1 hour lecture, 1 hour seminar