TLÜ ÕIS

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Course code

HIA6321.HT

old course code

Course title in Estonian

Sissejuhatus kultuurantropoloogiasse

Course title in English

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

ECTS credits

6.0

Assessment form

Examination

lecturer of 2024/2025 Autumn semester

Carlo Cubero Irizarry (language of instruction:English)

lecturer of 2024/2025 Spring semester

Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.

Course aims

Introduction to Social Anthropology is an undergraduate-level course designed to provide students with a foundational understanding of the study of human societies and cultures. Social anthropology focuses on the diverse ways people live and organise their lives across the globe, examining the cultural practices, social structures, and belief systems that shape human experience.

This course will examine specific theoretical and ethnographic cases that demonstrate anthropology’s contribution to understanding the human condition. Some of the questions that we will be addressing throughout the semester will be:

What are the main ideas about social and cultural life that have been promoted by anthropology?

What perspectives and contributions has sociocultural anthropology done to the study of social relations?

Brief description of the course

In this course, students will explore key concepts such as culture, power, the economy, and gender from an anthropological perspective. Students learn about the methods anthropologists use to study societies, including participant observation, ethnography, and comparative analysis. By examining a variety of cultures from different regions of the world, students will gain insight into how social norms, values, and institutions are constructed and maintained.

Learning outcomes in the course

Upon completing the course the student:
- to offer an introduction to sociocultural anthropology to those researchers that have not covered basic issues of anthropology;
- to offer an advanced overview of concepts to those that are already familiar with the possibilities of the discipline;
- explore the impacts that anthropological concepts have had to the study of societies, particularly its connections to other human sciences;
- offer researchers a study environment that stimulates disciplined intellectual analysis, organised research, discussion skills, writing skills in a spirit of critical thinking.

Teacher

Carlo Cubero Irizarry

Study programmes containing that course