MA AND POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY

UNIVERSITY OF KENT AT CANTERBURY

Course Structure

This is a twelve month programme, the first nine months of which consist of coursework and the final three of which are available for writing a dissertation. Students are required to take a minimum of six coursework modules.Modules 1 and 2 are compulsory and modules 3, 4, 5 and 7 are desirable depending on the background of individual candidates. Modules 1-8 are always available; module 9 is subject to availability in any given year. Students are also expected to come to the weekly Social Anthropology Research Seminar (Tuesday 4.30-6.00), and may also attend relevant undergraduate courses if they wish.

Module P093 Environmental anthropology (10 weeks, October-December)
Module P094 Introduction to ethnobiology (10 weeks, January-April)
Module P095a Contemporary problems in Social Anthropology 1 (10 weeks, October-December)
Module P095b Contemporary problems in Social Anthropology 2 (10 weeks, January-April)
Module P096a Research Methods 1 (10 weeks, October-December)
Module P096b Research Methods 2 (10 weeks, January-April)
Module P097a Computing Applications 1 (10 weeks, October-December)
Module P097b Computing Application 2 (10 weeks, January-April)
Module P098 Special topic (10-20 weeks, by arrangement)

The special topic is an individual tutorial course which may be arranged in areas as diverse as southeast Asian ethnography, development, medical anthropology and material culture. Candidates may also select from the following modules available for the MSc in Conservation Biology.

P890 Animal and Plant Biodiversity
P891 Populations, Communities and Ecosystems
P895 Wildlife Law and Legislation
P897 Wildlife Resource Management and Economics
P899 Restoration Ecology

Form of Assessment

Students are required to complete eight essays or essay-equivalent exercises, and to write a dissertation. Four essays must relate to modules 1 and 2 and four to any of the remaining modules taken, though these may also have an environmental or ethnobiological aspect. Essays should be about 4000 words in length, typed or word-processed, double-spaced, and in duplicate. The first essay must be submitted by Friday 11 November, the second and third essays by the last day of the Michaelmas Term (16 December), the fourth, fifth and sixth by the last day of the Lent Term (24 March), and the final two by Friday 5 May in the Trinity Term. Please submit both copies to Jan Horn, who will distribute them to the markers. A pass (50 percent average) in the coursework entitles a student to proceed to the dissertation, which should be between 8,000 and 10,000 words.

The course structure for the Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Anthropology is identical to that for the MA, except that: (a) the course lasts nine months; (b) candidates are required to take modules 1, 2, 3 and 4, and two or more additional optional modules; and (c) there is no dissertation. Assessment is the same as for the MA, except that the pass mark is 40 percent and there is no dissertation. Candidates who achieve 50 percent or more may be allowed to qualify for an MA by writing a dissertation.

Library Resources

Most materials which you will require will be found in the library. Offprints and photocopies of key articles may be lodged in the Anthropology Offprint and Photocopy Collection located in the Anthropology Office, Eliot W4.13. Copies of the catalogue are available in W4.13, L49 (the CSAC lab) and L42 (the postgraduate study room). Not all items will be catalogued, so you should also consult members of staff or Jan Horn. Two periodicals which regularly carry articles reporting recent research relevant to the subjectmatter of P093 and P094 are Human Ecology and the Journal of Ethnobiology . Some journals and books not available at UKC will be found at Christchurch College (e.g. Journal of Biogeography ) and Wye College (e.g. Economic Botany ). Ellen has a complete set of the useful Paris-based Bibliographie Ethnobotanique et Ethnozoologique , and a set of Overseas Development Institute publications, which are strong on social forestry. The Annual Review of Anthropology is a useful source of survey articles on particular topics. The Library also has an inter-library loan service, but if you have any difficulty in getting hold of material please let us know.

Staffing

The following are likely to be directly involved in teaching the core modules listed in this leaflet:

Roy Ellen (Professor of Anthropology and Human Ecology): has written widely on the ecology of small-scale human populations and is the author of, amongst other books, Environment, Subsistence and System, The Cultural Relations of Classification and Nuaulu Ethnozoology. He has conducted field research in eastern Indonesia, and is currently involved in projects on human-rainforest interaction and the ecology of archipelagic social systems.
Laura Rival (Lecturer in Social Anthropology): has worked in the Amazonian region of Ecuador, and is interested (amongst other things) in conceptualisations of nature, the cultural uses of palms, indigenous knowledge and ecological anthropology.
Jay Bernstein (Research Fellow): completed a doctorate at Berkeley on the ethnomedicine of the Taman of Indonesian Borneo. He has published on folk healers and is currently undertaking research on rainforest ethnobiology, ecology and social change in Brunei.
Michael Fischer (Director of the Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing): fieldwork in Pakistan and Polynesia; research focus on computing applications, ecological modelling, indigenous knowledge, use of satellite imagery, reef systems.
John Kesby (Lecturer in Social Anthropology): author of The Cultural Regions of East Africa and Rangi Natural History: the Taxonomic procedures of an African People , and other books. Fieldwork in Tanzania, general interest in tropical ecology, systematic biology, ethnobiology and symbolism.

Visiting staff:

Darrell Posey Currently Senior Visiting Fellow, St. Anthony's College Oxford. Influential ethnobiological research amongst the Kayapo of Brazil.
Christopher Healey, Professor of Anthropology at the Northern Territory University, Australia. Field research on comparative ethnozoology and trade in Papua New Guinea; ethnoecology and development in eastern Indonesia. Author of Maring hunters and traders and Pioneers of the mountain forest .

The following staff teach the DICE options listed, and are available for consultation:

William Howarth (Professor of Environmental Ethics)
Ian Swingland (Founder and Research Director of DICE): an animal ecologist with wide field experience in Africa, the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. He has published widely on evolutionary ecology and conservation biology, and is active in conservation organisations.
Mike Walkey (Executive Director of DICE): a physiologist and biochemical ecologist with much experience of teaching ecology and conservation biology and ecology.
Georges Dussart (Senior Lecturer in Biology, Christchurch College): ecological research in the UK, particularly on pollution impacts and fisheries biology. He also has an interest in environmental education.
John Jeffers (Visiting Professor, Mathematical Institute): background in Forest Commission Research Branch, Nature Conservancy and Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, of which he was the Deputy Director. He is involved in the Man and the Biosphere programme of UNESCO and is the editor of The Journal of Environmerntal Management .

Other teachers involved in the UKC Anthropology postgraduate programme include:

Dr. Janet Bagg (CSAC Research Fellow: computing applications, Europe, historical anthropology)
Alan Bicker (CSAC Honorary Research Fellow: ethnographic film, audio-visual aids, Europe, Pakistan , migration)
Dr. Nevill Colclough (Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology: Italy, Mediterranean, kinship, historical anthropology)
Chris Hann (Professor of Social Anthropology: central and eastern Europe, economic anthropology)
Dr. I. Beller-Hann (Research Fellow: Turkey, gender,ethnicity)
Dr. Marie Corbin (Honorary Research Fellow: Spain, Hispanic America, kinship)
Dr. Penny Vera-Sanso (Lecturer in Social Anthropology: development, urban, India, gender)
Dr. Jeremy Kemp (Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology: development, Southeast Asia)
Dr. Bill Watson (Senior Lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies: Southeast Asia, medical anthropology)
John Jervis (Lecturer in Sociology and Social Anthropology: medical anthropology)
Dr. Sarah Ladbury (Honorary Research Fellow: development, gender)
Dr. John Corbin (Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology: Spain, political and economic anthropology)

Glenn Bowman teaches media and image studies in the Faculty of Humanities (Middle East, southeastern Europe, nationalism and ethnicity).