ANT3CAE(BU-1) - Culture and Environment

Assessment One

In preparation for your major essay you will be required to design a plan for your essay.  Submit this plan here on LMS by Friday 23 April.  

If you are taking OPTION ONE your plan should be approximately 500 words in length and address the following:

(1)    What particular environmental issue do you aim to research?
(2)    Briefly outline what you think an anthropological approach offers to our understanding of the issue and how anthropologists might assist in addressing the issue.
(3)    What anthropological case study do you intend to use to support your argument?

You can make a list of dot points under each of these headings or if you prefer you can write a series of essay-style notes indicating how you will structure your essay (again using the headings 1-3 above). 

Other points to consider are: What particular environmental anthropological approach to you intend to adopt? (i.e. political ecology, cultural ecology, ethnoecology, historical ecology etc). You may opt to adopt more than one approach, using them in combination. (So in your major essay  introduction you will need to give a definition of the particular approach you are using and what the main tenets of that approach are.) 

It would also be useful at this stage to give an indication of the sources you will draw upon in your essay plan (in the form of an indicative bibliography). At this stage provide a minimum of 5 key sources. The bibliography is not included in the word count (this applies to the Essay Plan and the Major essay).

If you are taking OPTION TWO (the Research Grant proposal) your essay plan should be approximately 500 words in length and contain a series of responses under each of the headings below:

(a)    Background (What is the problem?): 

(b)    Aims of the research (What do you hope to achieve?): 

(c)    Brief outline of the methods you will use (How will you do it?): 

(d)    Significance of the research (Why is it important to do this research?): 

(e)     List of indicative references.

You will also need to clearly indicate the ethnographic case studies you will draw on to situate your own research proposal and/or to argue for a gap in the knowledge that then justifies your proposed research.

For both OPTION ONE & TWO essay plan (and the major essay itself) you do not need to go beyond any of the weekly subject materials, and it is quite OK to use one or two of the case studies we have examined to support your argument. Remember that one of the main aims of the major essay is to assess your understanding of the range of material we have examined in this subject. (If you ignore the subject materials it will be very difficult for us to pass the essay.). Of course, you can also draw upon other

Assessment Three: Major Essay

2,000 words (excluding bibliography)

Due: Friday 04th June

OPTION ONE:

Choose ONE environmental issue (e.g. climate change, population growth, consumption, conserving biodiversity etc.) that is of particular interest to you. State clearly how an anthropological approach can

(a)    enhance our understanding of your chosen environmental issue;

(b)    work in conjunction with other scientific approaches;

(c)    contribute to resolving the problem;

You will be expected to critically apply theoretical approaches covered in lectures, tutorials and subject readings in addition to other scholarly sources. You may also wish to highlight the limitations of a particular methodological, theoretical approach as identified by its critics.  It is essential that you draw on at least one ethnographic case study to support/illustrate your argument.

Further details will be discussed online via LMS.

OPTION TWO:

Similar to Option One, choose an environmental issue that is of particular interest to you; write a research proposal seeking funding to research the problem/issue. Your research proposal should critically apply theoretical approaches covered in lectures, tutorials and subject readings in addition to other scholarly sources. You may also wish to highlight the applicability of your chosen methodological, theoretical approach as identified by its advocates.  It is essential that you draw on at least one ethnographic case study to support/illustrate your research proposal.The Research Proposal must include the following:

(a)    Summary of the project: 100 word max.

(b)    Background (What is the problem?): 500 words max.

(c)    Aims of the research (What do you hope to achieve?): 500 words max.

(d)    Brief outline of the methods you will use (How will you do it?): 400 words max.

(e)    Significance of the research (Why is it important to do this research?): 500 words max.

(f)     List of references.

You do not have to provide a budget; however, your proposal should be realistic in scope, aims and in size (in other words don’t make wild claims, such as that you will solve global climate change single-handed). Your proposal should be written in essay style using the sub-headings provided (a-f above) i.e. no dot points.