Ryan Schram

October 31, 2018

ryan.schram@sydney.edu.au

Social Sciences Building 410 (A02)

Available at http://anthro.rschram.org/1002/13.2

• Capitalism
• Colonialism
• Global religions, e.g. Christianity and Islam
• transcultural discourses of conservation and sustainability
• global warming and its effects on local environments

• Capitalism is a culture, not a space of “freedom.”
• In a capitalist system, people must play the role of the individual.
• Capitalism creates illusions, e.g. commodity fetishism.

• No society exists in isolation; everyone lives in an intersection of two or more systems.
• Contemporary societies are all different, but we can understand them all as variations on the encounter of reciprocity and commodification.
  • Efflorescence
  • Tension, conflict, segregation
  • Transformation
• Global forces are context for local cultural systems, and vice versa.
• This is not just true about global capitalism; we can apply the same perspective to any global movement, even climate change.
  • Climate migration
  • “Gone the bull of winter”
  • The fantasy that indigenous people are wise prophets of sustainability

Once upon a time there was a snake and a mongoose…

Many opposites - values, ideas, institutions - are not binary, either-or. They are contradictions and they exist in an ambiguous tension which is both a source of conflict but also creativity.

That is, contemporary life is defined by its contradictions. There are co-present forces in tension, leading to conflict and also unexpected side-effects.

• Globalization involves change in societies.
• Globalization allows people to recreate a coherent cultural order with new materials.

Categories are not dichotomous; Many opposites are actually co-present.

• Tradition / modernity
• Developed / undeveloped
• Custom / rationality
• Gift / commodity
• Love / money

Each society, big or small, is also a microcosm of the whole world.

A major consists of 48 credit points (eight units) at three levels. The requirements for a major in anthropology are:

• ANTH 1001 and 1002 (ANTH 1001 is also offered in the summer)
• Two 2000-level units (e.g. culture and development, medical anthropology, gender, religion)
• Four 3000-level units (e.g. Indigenous Australians Today, The Social Production of Space)

A major consists of 36 “senior” (2000-level and 3000-level units). These should include:

• One senior unit from each of three types: regional (Southeast Asia, Indigenous Australia), thematic (medical anthropology, religion), and theoretical-methodological
• One 3000-level unit, typically either ANTH 3601 (contemporary theories) or ANTH 3602 (reading ethnography)

Doing an honours year in anthropology is an opportunity to carry out an original project, working one on one with a supervisor. To qualify for honours entry, you need:

• a credit average of 70 or better
• across 42 senior credit points of anthropology
• including ANTH3601 and ANTH3602
• (if you began your course in 2018) two majors
• you need to be keen and have an idea for a project! (Discuss with the honours coordinator and potential supervisors!)

Now, for a special message about our world-renowned honours program in anthropology, here's the 2019 honours coordinator, Yasmine Musharbash!

Honours in anthropology, a guide for 2019

Lacock, Hennie. 2013. Cobra and Mongoose. Caters New Agency. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2013-10/29/132841640_11n.jpg.