Outline

Overview

Anthropology is a wide open conversation in which many people of different voices and perspectives come together to put forward different answers to the field’s important questions. Unlike other social sciences, anthropology wants to learn from the bottom up. This means that anthropologists never assume there’s one right way to learn about human lives, and the field is constantly looking for ways to reinvent itself to incorporate new voices and perspectives. This class will explore how anthropologists challenge themselves to overcome their own biases and blind spots through the study of several different contemporary topics as cases.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Anthropology
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in Anthropology
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Luis Angosto Ferrandez, luis.angosto-ferrandez@sydney.edu.au

Assessment

The census date for this unit availability is 31 March 2026

Details
Criteria

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length	Use of AI
Creative work	Multimodal essay A multimodal essay is a type of academic writing that incorporates different modes of communication, such as text, images, audio, video, etc.	45%	Formal exam period Due date: 09 Jun 2026 at 23:59	2500 words	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
Contribution	Tutorial lead The tutorial lead group will be in charge of introducing the tutorial topic and answering guiding questions set for the week.	10%	Multiple weeks	500 words equivalent	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
Out-of-class quiz	Early Feedback Task - Quiz	0%	Week 03 Due date: 12 Mar 2026 at 23:59	Short quiz	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
Written work	Written reflection Short written reflection on pre-established questions about theoretical concepts/perspectives discussed in Weeks 1-5.	25%	Week 06 Due date: 30 Mar 2026 at 23:59	800 words	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
Interactive oral	Interactive group presentation Group members will interact with the lecturer in relation to pre-selected concepts/social issues.	20%	Week 08 Due date: 23 Apr 2026 at 17:00	15 minutes	AI prohibited
Outcomes assessed:
= hurdle task ? = group assignment ? = early feedback task ?

Early feedback task

This unit includes an early feedback task, designed to give you feedback prior to the census date for this unit. Details are provided in the Canvas site and your result will be recorded in your Marks page. It is important that you actively engage with this task so that the University can support you to be successful in this unit.

Assessment summary

'Hurdle' tasks must be submitted in order to complete and pass the unit.

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

Please refer to the assessment instructions on the Canvas site for the specific requirements and assessment criteria for each assessment or assignment.

For more information see guide to grades.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

You can use generative AI tools for open assessments. Restrictions on AI use apply to secure, supervised assessments used to confirm if students have met specific learning outcomes.

Refer to the assessment table above to see if AI is allowed, for assessments in this unit and check Canvas for full instructions on assessment tasks and AI use.

If you use AI, you must always acknowledge it. Misusing AI may lead to a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy.

Visit the Current Students website for more information on AI in assessments, including details on how to acknowledge its use.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Stay in touch with your instructor throughout the semester, especially if you get behind. You can always catch up, and we want to give students an opportunity to do their best work.

Academic integrity

The University expects students to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

Our website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. This includes advice on how to avoid common breaches of academic integrity. Ensure that you have completed the Academic Honesty Education Module (AHEM) which is mandatory for all commencing coursework students

Penalties for serious breaches can significantly impact your studies and your career after graduation. It is important that you speak with your unit coordinator if you need help with completing assessments.

Visit the Current Students website for more information on AI in assessments, including details on how to acknowledge its use.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Theory in anthropology: where to find it, and why it matters (I). Cultural difference	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Theory in anthropology: where to find it, and why it matters (II). Ethnicity	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Theory in anthropology: where to find it, and why it matters (II). Ethnicity	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 03	Theory in anthropology: where to find it, and why it matters (III) Ideas and actions in times of “economic” crises	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	Theory in anthropology: where to find it, and why it matters (III) Ideas and actions in times of “economic” crises	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 04	Why do people do what they do? Anthropologists looking at people in and around sporting activities (I)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	Why do people do what they do? Anthropologists looking at people in and around sporting activities (I)	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 05	Why do people do what they do? Anthropologists looking at people in and around sporting activities (II)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	Why do people do what they do? Anthropologists looking at people in and around sporting activities (II)	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 06	Where is the key divergence? (I) On materialisms	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Where is the key divergence? (I) On materialisms	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 07	Where is the key divergence? (II) Decolonisations	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Where is the key divergence? (II) Decolonisations	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 08	Where is the key divergence? (III) On perspectivism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Where is the key divergence? (III) On perspectivism	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 09	Where is the key divergence? (IV) On property	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	Where is the key divergence? (IV) On property	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 10	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (I)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (I)	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 11	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (II)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (II)	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 12	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (III)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (III)	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 13	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (IV)	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 13	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (IV)	Tutorial (1 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

According to university policies, attendance in 90% of all lectures and tutorials is required (whether they are online or on campus), and absence may be a basis for a reduction in your grade. Missing more than 50% of classes may be grounds for failing the class.

More importantly, though, your instructors and tutors want to get to know you as an individual and to help you and every student develop his or her own individual perspective on the field of anthropology. For that reason, we want to see you in class on a regular basis and to have regular (weekly) contact with each student to see how your thinking is developing. If you do have to miss a class, please do contact the instructor in advance so that they are aware of what's happening.

Attendance may be taken in lecture and tutorial primarily as a way for the instructor to get to know all of the students, to keep track of each student's progress, and to get an early warning if a student may need support. Attendance is not in itself a basis for the grade in this class, and no special consideration is needed for absence (since there is no separate "participation" grade in this class).

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Week	Topic	Readings
1	Theory in anthropology: where to find it, and why it matters (I). Cultural difference	* Abu‐Lughod, L. (2002). Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others. American anthropologist, 104(3), 783-790. * Hutchinson, S. E., & Pendle, N. R. (2015). Violence, legitimacy, and prophecy: Nuer struggles with uncertainty in South Sudan. American Ethnologist, 42(3), 415-430.
2	Theory in anthropology: where to find it, and why it matters (II). Ethnicity	* Brubaker, R., Loveman, M., & Stamatov, P. (2004). Ethnicity as cognition. Theory and society, 33(1), 31-64. * Hutchinson, S. E. (2000). Nuer ethnicity militarized. Anthropology Today, 16(3), 6-13.
3	Theory in anthropology: where to find it, and why it matters (III) Ideas and actions in times of “economic” crises	* Dirks, Roberts (1980). Social responses during severe food shortages and famine. Current Anthropology, 21(1), 21-44. * Sabaté, I. (2016). The Spanish mortgage crisis and the re-emergence of moral economies in uncertain times. History and anthropology, 27(1), 107-120.
4	Why do people do what they do? Anthropologists looking at people in and around sporting activities (I)	* Gmelch, G. (1971). Baseball magic. Transaction, 8(8), 39-41. * Ilaria Pitti (2019) Being women in a male preserve: an ethnography of female football ultras, Journal of Gender Studies, 28(3): 318-329.
5	Why do people do what they do? Anthropologists looking at people in and around sporting activities (II)	* Michael Crawley (2022) ‘We Are Burning Ourselves Up': Ethiopian Runners and Energetic Subjectivities, Ethnos, DOI: 10.1080/00141844.2022.2120516 * Vaczi, M. (2014). Death in the Cathedral: mortuary practices in sport stadiums. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 20(4), 635-652.
6	Where is the key divergence? (I) On materialisms	* Ingold, T. (2012). Toward an ecology of materials. Annual review of anthropology, 41, 427-442. * Howard, P. M. (2018). The anthropology of human-environment relations, Focaal, 2018(82), 64-79.
7	Where is the key divergence? (II) Decolonisations	* Cusicanqui, S. R. (2012). Ch'ixinakax utxiwa: A Reflection on the Practices and Discourses of Decolonization. South Atlantic Quarterly, 111(1), 95-109. * Abu-Lughod, L. (2025). From the Politics of Representation to the Ethics of Decolonization: What MENA Social Research Can Learn from the “Indigenous Turn”. Dædalus, 154(2), 189-203.
8	Where is the key divergence? (III) On perspectivism	* De Castro, E. V. (1998). Cosmological deixis and Amerindian perspectivism. Journal of the Royal anthropological Institute, 469-488. * Ramos, A. R. (2012). The politics of perspectivism. Annual Review of Anthropology, 41, 481-494
9	Where is the key divergence? (IV) On property	* Di Giminiani, P. (2015). The becoming of ancestral land: Place and property in Mapuche land claims. American Ethnologist, 42(3), 490-503. * Angosto-Ferrández, L. F. (2022). Cultural labor and the defetishization of environments: connecting ethnographies of tourism in Venezuela and Chile. Dialectical Anthropology, 46(1), 55-72.
10	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (I)	* McNeish, Andrew (2013): “Extraction, protest and indigeneity in Bolivia: the TIPNIS effect. Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies, 8(2): 221-242. * Nash, June (1992): “Interpreting social movements: Bolivian resistance to economic conditions imposed by the international Monetary Fund”. American Ethnologist, 19(2): 275-293.
11	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (II)	* Narotzky, S., & Smith, G. (2002). “Being político” in Spain: An Ethnographic Account of Memories, Silences and Public Politics. History & Memory, 14(1-2), 189-228. * Collins, J. (2012). Theorizing Wisconsin's 2011 protests: Community‐based unionism confronts accumulation by dispossession. American Ethnologist, 39(1), 6-20.
12	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (III)	* Martin Holbraad (2014) Revolución o muerte: Self-Sacrifice and the Ontology of Cuban Revolution, Ethnos, 79:3, 365-387. * Angosto‐Ferrández, L. F. (2016). The afterlives of Hugo Chávez as political symbol. Anthropology Today, 32(5), 8-12.
13	Politics: what is it, and what drives it? (IV)	* Espinosa Arango, M. L. (2021). Missing the political: A southern critique of political ontology. Anthropological Theory, 21(4), 411–436

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. understand how anthropological arguments are constructed through analysis of relevant evidence and theory.
LO2. identify differing methodologies used in ethnographic research and understand how they can enable analytical insight and theoretical innovation.
LO3. demonstrate proficiency in the use of anthropological databases and scholarly literature relevant to research in the discipline.
LO4. use anthropological knowledge to inform and critique social theories.
LO5. understand the potential of anthropological knowledge to generate societal impact.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

This unit has been developed as a requirement for anthropology majors to give them a firm foundation in the field and is being updated this year based on conversations among staff in ANTH, feedback from students in 1000-level units, and in student forums.

Additional information

Please see the Canvas site for a comprehensive guide to the unit, including a guide to each week’s topic, required readings, and full instructions for each assignment.

Disclaimer

Important: the University of Sydney regularly reviews units of study and reserves the right to change the units of study available annually. To stay up to date on available study options, including unit of study details and availability, refer to the relevant handbook.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Early feedback task

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

ANTH2700: Key Debates in Anthropology

Semester 1, 2026 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Early feedback task

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links