Anthropology

Course Structure

1. Through hands-on workshops and exercises in ethno-graphic filmmaking students are introduced to key debates in the humanities and social sciences about the workings of human imagination and perception in diverse social and cultural contexts. Through the production of a short film project, students learn to use the camera as a tool of inquiry and analysis in the anthropological tradition of cultural critique.
2. The aim of this course is to provide students with the conceptual tools to identify,describe and analyze complex empirical and epistemological issues. The main focus is on a series of central debates that have influenced the development of contemporary anthro-pology. These debates are placed and discussed in relation to general schools of theory in the humanities and social sciences as well as relevant empirical issues.
3. This course is built around the production of a joint anthropological student exhibition at the Moesgaard Museum. As part of this process students are engaged in readings and discussions about the politics and ethics of representation and the possibilities of new interactive media in visual anthropology. Students are encouraged to explore the idea that alternative forms of academic research can be produced through exhibition making as an experimental site for knowledge in the making. Students will be urged to engage audiences not simply as recipients of their work, but also as active participants in the creation of anthropological knowledge.
4. Preparation of fieldwork is carried out in collaboration with a supervisor. Following a thorough discussion of the academic and practical issues of the chosen project, the student prepares a draft for the project description, including the background of the project, its theoretical perspective, and the use of visual anthropological methodologies of inquiry and communication. Before final submission, the project description is further discussed in relation to feasibility and time constraints.
5. Through a combination of joint lectures, class tuition and field exercises students receive in-depth training in ethnographic methodologies such as participant observation, interviewing and other qualitative methods. In addition students in the Visual Anthropology Programme receive further instructions in the use of film, photography and new social media as means of observation, participation and knowledge communication
6. The aim of the fieldwork module is for students to achieve in depth understanding of visual anthropological methods and to demonstrate their abilities to independently collect and process ethnographic material. Students are urged to use video, photography or social media as means of data collection, collaboration and feedback. The collected materials may later be used as part of the thesis in the form of a film, museum installation, multimedia presentation etc. A minimum of three months must be spent working in the field. Fieldwork can be conducted as an independent field study or in association with a larger research project, private enterprise, government institution or NGO. As an alternative to fieldwork students may also choose a thematic specialization with profile courses at AU or other universities
7. The purpose of the thesis is to provide students with the opportunity to conducta detailed analysis and reflectionon an anthropological subject of their own choice. Students are urged to use their own materials from fieldwork as the basis of the thesis. The thesis may combine a visual anthropolo-gical product in the form of a film, museum installation, photography or multimedia presentation in addition to a written part of maximum 40 pages with further analytical and methodological reflections. Students are encouraged to use filmic and photographic material not simply as a means of documentation, but as analytic expressions in their own right.