AN 561: Introduction to Anthropology

Master of Arts in Anthropology

First Semester

Credit hours: 3
Teaching hours: 48
Full marks: 100
Course Description:
This course is designed as an introductory course for the first semester M.A students in
anthropology, who may or may not have studied anthropology at their bachelor’s level.
Therefore, this course introduces students with basic language and contents of cultural
anthropology in order to prepare them to study the other courses in the same semester and
subsequent semesters.
This course is a general survey of anthropology, more specifically the cultural anthropology, as
an academic discipline. The course will enable students to better understand anthropology as the
study of culture and the human condition in the past, and present. During the semester,
with the general orientation and overview of the course, the students will be introduced with the
anthropology’s four subfields: physical (the study of human genetic and cultural evolution and
diversity), archaeology (the study of past human material culture), linguistics (the study of
human language, communication, and writing systems), and cultural (the study of human society
and culture).
Objectives:
The course aims to engage students in the discussions of culture change and relevance of
anthropology in the changing world, focusing on the following major themes:
i. Definition nature, scope an application of anthropology,
ii. The main fields of anthropology and their primary methods, research questions, and sources
of data, and
iii. Anthropological approach to the concept of culture, human diversity, culture change
through time, and processes of globalization.

Course Evaluation:
Evaluation system has two components, that is, internal and external. Forty and 60 percent
weightage is accorded to the internal and external evaluation, respectively. The 40 percent
internal evaluation will be done by the department/faculty on the basis of the following criteria:
A. Class attendance -10 marks
B. Class participation, discussion and presentation with précis -10 marks
C. Term paper writing- 10 marks
D. Class test (writing) -10 marks
The 60 percent external evaluation will be done by the Dean’s Office on the basis of final written
examination.
Unit I: Orientation and Overview (6 hrs)
Orientation and Course Overview
Definition, Nature and Scope of Anthropology. Four sub-fields of Anthropology (Archaeology,
Biological/Physical Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, and Ethnology/Cultural
Anthropology)
History of Anthropology and Relationship of Anthropology with other Social Sciences.

Readings:
1. Kottak, P. (Selected chapters)
2. Ember & Ember (Selected chapters),
3. E. Evans- Pritchard's Social Anthropology
4. Scupin and DeCorse (Selected sections)

Unit II: Understanding Culture ( 6 hrs)

 Definition, nature, and characteristics of culture
 Culture and symbols
 Method of studying culture
 The idea of cultural evolution: paleolithic, mesolithic and Neolithic cultures and their
salient features
Readings:
.Kottak, P. (Selected sections)
Ember & Ember (Selected sections)

Unit III: Social Institutions: Pillars of Society (9 hrs)

Kinship
 Meaning of kin and kinship system; kinship types and functions according to connection
of blood and distance of relationship; social significance of kinship system.

Marriage
 Definition, types and functions of marriage; social significance of marriage; and forms of
marital transactions e.g. dowry, bride-price.

Family
 Definition, types of family; function and social significance of family
Economy and Labor
 Economy as an institution: economy as an adaptive institution of society.
 Forms of economy: formal economy, informal economy, substantive economy.
 Concept of labor and labor value; why labor is foundational in the making of society.
Various dimensions of labor: economic, cultural, societal; individual labor and collective
 labor.
 Economic processes: production, consumption distribution, exchange (reciprocity,
redistribution, and market).

Reading/s:
Ember and Ember (Selected chapters).
Kottak, P. (Selected Chapters)
Unit IV: Brief History of Anthropological Theory (9 hrs)
Reading:
Kottak, P. (Selcted chapters)

Unit V: Bases of Social Inequality and Stratification (6 hrs)

 Caste
 Class
 Ethhicity
 Gender
 Race
Reading/s:
Ember and Ember (Selected chapters)

Unit VI: Culture Change and Globalization (6 hrs)

 Culture and Anthropology in the Changing World
 Culture Change, Exchange and Survival
 Globalization and Consequences: Colonialism, Development and Indigenous Societies

Reading/s:
Ember and Ember (Selected chapters)
Kottak, P. (Selected Chapters)

Unit VII: Application of Anthropology in Solving Practical Problems (3 hrs)

 Applied anthropology
 Development anthropology

Readings:
1. Ember & Ember (Selected chapters)
2. Kottak, P. (Selected chapters)

Unit VIII: Fieldwork/Participant Observation (3 hrs)

Fieldwork as the Hallmark of Anthropology

Readings:
Malinowski, B. Argonauts of Western Pacific (Selected Section)
Berreman, G. Hindus of the Himalaya (Selected chapter)
Readings for the Course:
के.सी. गंगा (२०७७) मानवशास्त्रको परिचय ।

Ember, C., Ember, M. and Peregrine, P. (2015). Anthropology.

Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1951). Social Anthropology. London. UK: Cohen and West Ltd.

Kottak, Conrad Phillip (2011) Anthropology: Appreciating Human Diversity (Fourteenth

Edition). New York. NY: McGraw_Hill.

Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1984 [1922]. Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native
Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (pp. 1-20).
London: Routledge.

Scupin, Raymond & DeCorse, Christopher R. (2012) Anthropology: A Global Perspective. (7th
Edition). New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.