Module Content

The aim of the module is to introduce you to debates in the anthropological study of hunting and gathering peoples from a range of geographical, historical, and theoretical perspectives. Beginning from the question of who ‘hunter-gatherers’ are, and where this term comes from, you will examine the figure of the hunter-gatherer as represented in early colonial and enlightenment thought up until the present day – in archaeology, anthropology, and theories of evolution. You will ask: what role do hunter-gatherers play in Euro-American popular imaginations? Does this reflect the complex realities of hunter-gatherer lived worlds? And how might the ways they are represented affect them, their landscapes, and their futures? In what ways might hunter-gatherers face discrimination worldwide? You will consider these questions through a decolonial framework, and with detailed reference to ethnographies of hunting and gathering societies around the world. You will discuss issues in hunter-gatherers' varied perceptions of ritual, language, music, interspecies relationships, conservation and ecological knowledge, settler-colonial relations, sharing and property relations, and land claims and the state.

 

Indicative topics will be:

Were ‘hunter-gatherers’ invented in the Scottish Enlightenment?

Decolonising narratives of human evolution

Temporal frameworks and issues in the archaeological representation of hunter-gatherers

Hunter-gatherer perceptions of the environment

Hunter-gatherers and issues in conservation

Language, ritual, and music in hunter-gatherer societies

Sharing and egalitarian social organisation

 

Learning Outcomes:

Hunter-gatherers and social justice: ‘tradition’ vs ‘modernity’?By the end of the module you should be able to:

 

(1) articulate critical knowledge of, and de-colonial sensibility towards, representations of hunter-gatherers in various contexts.

(2) understand how Anthropocenic environmental changes may uniquely affect hunter-gatherers and their practices in the 21st Century.

(3) have the skills and broad range of ethnographic knowledge necessary to discuss issues in hunter-gatherer studies in depth and with nuance.

(4) bring issues in hunter-gatherer studies to bear on wider anthropological discussions.

 

Delivery Method

There will be one 2-hour tutorial workshop and one 1-hour lecture per week. You will be expected to read a selection of articles and/or book chapters in preparation for tutorials. Tutorials will include a student-led element.

 