Module Code and Title:         ATH204 Political Anthropology

Programme:                          BA in Anthropology

Credit:                                   12

Module Tutor:                       Jelle J P Wouters

General objective: This module examines politics, political organization and questions of power through anthropological perspectives and in a wide range of societies, both past and present. It explores the origins and scope of political anthropology and discusses how anthropologists analyse power and political life. The module also discusses how political organization of societies evolved throughout human history and discusses the use of anthropological knowledge and methods to engage modern political themes such as civil society, citizenship, nationalism, and democracy.

Learning outcomes – On completion of this module, students will be able to:

1. Discuss the origins, scope, and growth of political anthropology as a sub-discipline of Anthropology.
2. Define the field of political anthropology within the broader field of cultural anthropology
3. Critically evaluate what an anthropological perspective can contribute to the study of contemporary politics.
4. Evaluate key theories and ethnographic works in political anthropology.
5. Interpret and critically analyse contemporary political life.
6. Discuss past and present theoretical paradigms used in the field of political anthropology.
7. Analyse the workings of power as a critical point of investigation in theorizing in Anthropology.
8. Examine major anthropological perspectives on state and stateless forms of political organization.

Learning and Teaching Approach:

Assessment Approach:

A. Argumentative Essay: Portion of Final Marks: 15%

Students are required to individually write a critical essay about political and social organization in state-less societies. They will be required to substantiate their arguments with ethnographic examples and theoretical arguments discussed during class lectures, as well as add to these through library research. This essay will be 750-1000 words in length.

3%       Proposal outlining the selected topic and proposed argument

9%       Quality of content and argument (includes well stated and original analysis, use of relevant and adequate support for all claims made, quality & relevance of selected ethnographic examples, ties analysis to relevant module concepts)

1%       Language

1%       Organization

1%       References

B. Descriptive Essay: Portion of Final Marks: 15%

Students will be asked to select a salient theme in political anthropology (e.g. power, authority, legitimacy, nationalism, citizenship, civil society) and individually write an essay that traces, first, how anthropological approaches and understandings of this theme have changed in the discipline’s theoretical history, and, secondly, critically apply the concept to Bhutanese society. This essay will be marked on the following criteria:

3%       Proposal outlining the selected topic and proposed argument

5%       Quality of content and argument (includes well stated and original analysis, uses relevant and adequate support for all claims made, ties analysis to relevant module concepts)

4%       Quality of application to the Bhutanese context

1%       Language

1%       Organization

1%       References

C. Group Presentation: Portion of Final Mark: 10%

Students will be divided into small groups. Each group will be given the task to elaborate and present on a topic discussed in class. Students are required to discuss its theoretical underpinnings, use ethnographic examples, and examine its relevance in relation to Bhutan. The presentation will be 10-15 minutes in length.

6%       Content (including the use of sources / perspectives not discussed in class, how well does the presentation address specified criteria, quality of overall narrative, all claims relevant and supported)

1%       Organization and structure; Language use

1%       Delivery (volume, pace, efforts to engage audience)

1%       Time management and Quality of teamwork

1%       Individual contribution (process)

D. Class participation and preparedness: Portion of Final Mark: 5%

Students will be expected to participate substantially in class discussions, with contributions reflecting adequate preparation for topics under discussion. 5% of class participation and preparedness will be assessed before midterm, and the remaining 5% post midterm.

E. Midterm Examination: Portion of Final Mark: 15%

Students will take a written exam of 1.5 hr duration covering topics up to the mid-point of the semester.

Pre-requisites: AFD101 Introduction to Anthropology

Subject matter:

1. Unit I: Introduction to Political Anthropology:
   • Introduction to the origins, growth and scope of political anthropology
   • Precursors of political anthropology
   • The position of political anthropology vis-à-vis other sub-disciplines in Anthropology
2. Unit II: Political Organization and Social Control: State and Stateless societies
   • How political and social order are established in stateless societies (e.g. Clastres, Scott)
   • The role of kinship in political organization (e.g. Evans-Pritchard, Leach, Sahlins)
   • How colonization changed local political systems
   • Political forms: bands, tribes, chieftainships, and states, empires
3. Unit III: The Question of Power
   • Basics of Foucault – key terms such as panopticism, bio-power, normativity, subjectivity, governmentality
   • The idea and functioning of bureaucracy
   • Defining legitimacy and authority (Weber)
   • Debates about hegemony, ideology, and sub-alterity (Gramsci and Marx)
   • Definitions and examples of violence and resistance
4. Unit IV: The State and Modern Political Processes
   • Basic overview of the anthropology of the modern state: key terms and examples
   • How anthropologists study and understand democracy
   • Understanding the concepts and workings of civil-society and public space
   • Theories and debates about citizenship
   • Imagined communities and nationalism (Benedict Anderson)

Reading List:

1. Essential Reading

• Kuntz, D.V. (2001). Political anthropology: Paradigms and power. New York: Westview Press.
• Leach, E.R. (1954). Political systems of highland Burma: A study of Kachin social structure. London: Athlone.

1. Additional Reading

• Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso. (Original work published 1983).
• Clastres, P. (1977). Society against the state: The leader as servant and the humane uses of power among the Indians of the Americas. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Corbridge, S., William, G., Srivastava, M., & Veron, R. (2005). Seeing the state: Governance and governmentality in India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1940). The Nuer: A description of the modes of livelihood and political institutions of a Nilotic people. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Fortes, M., & Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1940). African political systems. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.
• Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon Books.
• Foucault, M. (1991). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. London: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1977)
• Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsc Q. Hoare & G. Nowell-Smith (Trans. and Eds.). London: Lawrence and Wishart.
• Hansen, T.B., & Stepputat, F. (Eds.) (2005). Sovereign bodies: Citizens, migrants, and states in the postcolonial world. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
• Schatz, E. (Ed.) (2009). Political ethnography: what immersion contributes to the study of power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Scott, J.C. (1990). Domination and the arts of resistance: Hidden transcripts. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
• Scott, J.C. (1985). Weapons of the weak: Everyday forms of peasant resistance. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
• Scott, J.C. (1998). Seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
• Scott, J.C. (2009). The art of not being governed: An anarchist history of upland Southeast Asia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
• Spencer, J. (2007). Anthropology, politics, and the state: Democracy and violence in South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Wolf, E.R. (1982). Europe and the people without history. London and Berkeley: University of California Press.

Date: March 15, 2018