Macquarie University

Core Issues in Anthropological Theory I - ANTH701

The core unit in the Master of Research specialisation in anthropology provides a grounding in theoretical, methodological and interpretive issues that are currently being debated by anthropologists. These issues will vary from year to year according to contemporary developments in anthropology and the interests of the course convenor. Others may be more enduring, such as the theoretical issues related to kinship, to politics and power, the "writing culture" debate, "Orientalism" the problem of the "other," cultural relativism, and and the relationship between individual and society. This year the ANTH 701 seminar will focus on the last of these ‘enduring’ issues. The works of Bourdieu, Jackson, Castoriadis and Rapport focus on different aspects of this relationship: on social reproduction and domination; on the creation of subjectivity through intercultural encounter; on the self-institution of society; and on the individual as creator of their world beyond their conditioning by pre-existing cultural frameworks.