Anthropology: Understanding Societies and Cultures (FutureLearn)

You will be introduced to a number of anthropological theories and gain insights into how the study of other cultures and societies can help us deal with urgent problems confronting our own societies and the modern world.

Through your new knowledge about other cultures, you will reflect on your own cultural home, society and world views.

What topics will you cover?

- An introduction to social and cultural anthropology

- The historical development of modern social and cultural anthropology

- Basic theoretical and analytic models applied in anthropology, including kinship theory

- A basic introduction to anthropological fieldwork and ethnography

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

- Investigate what the discipline of anthropology is and how it relates to the concepts of ‘culture’ and ‘society’

- Describe the historical evolution of anthropology, from its foundation to the present day.

- Produce ethnographic field notes related to a field work exercise.

- Identify the significant theorists and theories undergirding anthropology.