Courses - Faculty of Arts
Anthropology
Stage I
Global Sound Cultures: Musics, Places and People
Examines a wide range of sound and music cultures, from popular transnational mediations to locally produced, community-based traditions. Considers the ways that music takes on meaning, represents identities and places, and interacts with the world. Traces the historical/economic processes by which music cultures emerge and are sustained (or not). Explores the emotional and economic roles that music plays in lives of musicians, composers and listeners. Using theories from ethnomusicology, anthropology, musicology and cultural studies we show how music is affected by and reflects social change, colonisation and indigeneity, technology and local/global economic processes.
The Human-made Planet?
How have humans have come to dominate the planet? Explores hominin history, relationships with other organisms, urbanisation and globalisation, and the rise of the capitalocene. Where to from here? As humankind imagines and embraces sustainable, resilient futures, anthropology offers critical perspectives on diverse ways of being, non-western worldviews, complex bio-social interactions, and pathways to deeper socio-natural connectivities.
Being Human
Archaeologists and biological anthropologists examine what it is to be human by studying primates, fossils, archaeological remains and both historical and contemporary societies. Humans are immersed in social and ecological worlds that mutually shape our bodies, actions, and understandings (including mātauranga Māori). Explores the past and present reality of being human, and the evolutionary journey to become human.
Restriction: ANTHRO 102
Culture and Creativity
Explores the connections between culture, creativity, and society through anthropological concepts, Mātauranga Māori, and relevant examples. It covers issues and problems faced by communities locally and globally, using a range of mediums such as whakapapa, material culture, performing arts, media and grassroots movements to illustrate how anthropology can help understand the complexities of creativity and the creation of knowledge.
Stage II
Archaeology: Understanding the Past
An examination of current concepts in archaeological research and their place in the development of archaeological thought. How archaeology makes use of its methods and theories to understand the past. An introductory laboratory component. This course is essential for students who may wish to continue their study of Archaeology at Stage III.
Prerequisite: 30 points in Anthropology or 60 points passed
Human Evolution
Explores issues fundamental to understanding humans’ place in nature from a biocultural perspective. What led to the evolution of bipedalism, large brains, and language? How do we define species in the fossil record? How can we reconstruct ancient diets and ecologies? The course will examine how new discoveries and advancements in biology are reshaping understandings of our evolutionary history.
Prerequisite: 30 points in Anthropology or 60 points passed
Music and Identity in World Music Cultures
Examines music's role in the construction and reinforcement of identity. Considers a range of culturally constructed concepts including class, gender and ethnicity; also considers the impact of mass mediated sound and unique nature of music in the cultural diaspora. Examples and case studies range from the ritual musics of Africa and the classical music of South Asia to East Asian pop.
Primate Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation
Examines the diversity of extant nonhuman primate species, including their behaviour, ecology, and conservation, and also the importance of primatology toward an understanding of our own species. Specifically, students will critically examine the results of primatological inquiries in order to gain insight into the comparative evolutionary approach, especially with respect to the applicability of such efforts to the study of humans.
Prerequisite: 15 points in Anthropology or 60 points passed
Restriction: ANTHRO 349
Origins of Civilisation
The shift from a hunter-gatherer way of life to one based on village life and agriculture is foundational for the development of complex society. The course considers what socio-cultural changes were involved as Holocene societies developed in different parts of the world and how the relationship between humans and the environment changed.
Prerequisite: 15 points in Anthropology or 60 points passed
Restriction: ANTHRO 322
Archaeological History of Aotearoa New Zealand
Examines the first 600-700 years of human settlement in Aotearoa New Zealand from an archaeological perspective, from Polynesian arrival through the early historic period. Themes include Māori origins in East Polynesia, adaptations to Aotearoa’s temperate environment, changing patterns of resource use, Māori material culture and arts, the development of fortified sites or pā, and the emergence of classic Māori society.
Prerequisite: 60 points passed
Biosocial Medical Anthropology
Medical Anthropology draws on biological and social/cultural anthropology to address issues of human health and disease. A distinct subfield, it includes studies of the co-evolution of humans and diseases, human ecology, cultural constructions of health and illness, medical knowledge and healing practices, and the political economy of health. Students are asked to research, think and write analytically about these topics.
Prerequisite: 60 points passed at Stage I
Restriction: ANTHRO 324, 372
Ethnographic Film and Photography
Explores uses of photography and film in the production and dissemination of anthropological knowledge. Emphasises the choices in subject matter, imagined audience, composition, construction of narrative (or not), and mode of representation that are made at all stages in the production of ethnographic images. Uses ethnographic images to reflect on construction of ethnographic texts.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 100 or ARTHIST 115 or 30 points in Anthropology, Sociology, Media Film and Television, or Communication
Restriction: ANTHRO 320, 373
Questioning Race and Racism
Multiple anthropological frameworks explore the scholarly and popular understandings of race and racism, and question contemporary perspectives. Why do these concepts have such social and political potency? What are the impacts of concepts of race and practices of racism and anti-racism on individuals, families, communities, nation-states and empires, in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Pacific, and elsewhere?
Prerequisite: 15 points at Stage I in Anthropology and 15 points in BA courses
Restriction: ANTHRO 105
Rhythm, Blues and Rock
African-American popular music and culture from the mid-1930s through the early 1960s, including styles such as blues, R 'n' B, and early Rock 'n' Roll. Considers issues of racial and gendered representation, creativity, the popular music industry, the place of music in the development of 'youth culture' and stylistic trends. Individual performers, recordings and performances, are also examined.
Restriction: POPMUS 206
Kaumātuatanga: Ageing in Aotearoa
Examines contemporary and historical understandings of kaumātuatanga and kaumātua roles in Māori society. Topics include: leadership within Māori society; tuakana-teina, gendered roles and complementarity; whanaungatanga and important relationships; health inequities and policies; emerging health partnership models; and the diversity of kaumātua groups.
Prerequisite: 30 points from Anthropology, Māori Studies or Sociology
Restriction: ANTHRO 376
Imperialism and Immigration in the Americas
Examines the relationship between migration and imperialism in the Americas through the framework of critical anthropology as a discipline and through the use of contemporary case studies. This course critically engages with the role of the United States as an imperial power in and draws significantly from decolonial, post-colonial work and work produced by scholars in Latin America.
Prerequisite: 15 points at Stage I in Anthropology
Restriction: GLOBAL 251
Future Generations Anthropology
This course acknowledges the colonial history of anthropology and imagines an anthropology that is relevant now and for the future, with Aotearoa-New Zealand not as just a site of study but an active producer of anthropological knowledge. Explores anthropological concepts via contemporary settings and Mātauranga Māori to demonstrate the usefulness of anthropology in addressing fundamental local and global issues.
Restriction: ANTHRO 109
Popular Musics of the Pacific
From hip hop to reggae to pop, this course explores Pacific popular music genre, artists and songs as well as relevant musical techniques, modes of distribution and processes of fusion and change. It probes the positions and possibilities of Pasifika pop musics by discussing critical questions about culture, authenticity, modernisation, consumerism, identity and musical (ex)change.
The Anthropology of Human Remains
Human remains reflect the lives of the dead as well as the lives of those who buried them. The course introduces students to the various ways in which we can study the dead. It covers three areas: the interpretation of mortuary practices, the interpretation of past lives from skeletal remains, and the practice of burial archaeology in the southern hemisphere.
Prerequisite: 15 points in Anthropology or 60 points passed
Restriction: ANTHRO 367
Economy and Culture
Explores economic systems cross-culturally, including modes of production, forms of exchange, and ideas about property and consumption. Questions and critiques Euro-American assumptions about human nature, social persons, and the ubiquity and morality of markets and market exchange.
Prerequisite: 15 points at Stage I in Anthropology or Employment Relations and Organisational Studies
Restriction: ANTHRO 374
Anthropology of the Body
Examines cultural and historical variations in how societies understand and experience the human body. The focus will be primarily on social, historical, and political-economic approaches. Topics such as labour, sport, health, illness, sexuality, gender, and religious ritual will be considered. Explores the cultural construction and social experience of the human body in a diverse range of settings.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 100 or 30 points in Anthropology
Restriction: ANTHRO 354
Special Topic
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 100 or 101 or 102 or 103 or 104 or 60 points passed
World-view and Religion
Anthropological approaches to religion and world-view. Includes cross-cultural approaches to meaning, belief, religious experience, ritual and myth. Issues of religion, ideology, syncretism, symbolism in social conflict and change. Considers local and world religions.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 100 or 30 points in Anthropology or Theological and Religious Studies or Sociology
Restriction: ANTHRO 319
Global Heritage Management
Globally, archaeological features and historic monuments are increasingly threatened by urban development, looting, antiquities trafficking, and effects of climate change. Using an archaeological perspective, state-of-the-art recording technologies, community partnerships, legislation, management systems, and the role of museums in conservation and exhibition will be examined. Case studies from Aotearoa, Pacific and elsewhere illustrate major issues, contradictions, and controversies, alongside effective heritage management.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 100 or 101 or 102 or 103 or 104 or 60 points passed
Stage III
Contemporary Research in Music and Culture
A seminar-style course covering a range of current topics and methods in ethnomusicology. Examines selected theories, methods, and perspectives on the roles and meanings of musical activity in contemporary human culture. We will view music as a symbolic component of cultural expression and as both focus and paradigm for cultural structures and behaviours.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 202 or 30 points at Stage II in Transnational Cultures and Creative Practice
Restriction: ANTHRO 219
Pacific Archaeology
The archaeology of the Pacific region, including colonisation, settlement patterns, interisland trade, traditional navigation, cultural change, emergence of complex societies and ethnohistory.
Prerequisite: 60 points at Stage II
Restriction: ANTHRO 706
Field Methods in Archaeology
Participation in a field school involving an intensive introduction to all aspects of excavation and subsequent laboratory analysis and report preparation.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 200 passed with a grade of B- or higher
Restriction: ANTHRO 737
World-view and Religion
Anthropological approaches to religion and world-view. Includes cross-cultural approaches to meaning, belief, religious experience, ritual and myth. Issues of religion, ideology, syncretism, symbolism in social conflict and change. Considers local and world religions.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 203 or 30 points at Stage II
Restriction: ANTHRO 250
Equality and Inequality
Examines conceptualisations, realities and consequences of equality and inequality cross-culturally. Considers whether there are egalitarian societies and whether inequality is inevitable. Covers types and systems of inequality such as slavery, gender inequality, caste and class, as well as differences between economic and political inequality, and between equality of opportunity and equality of results.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II
Music of East Asia: Tradition, Modernity and Globalisation
Explores East Asia from the ethnomusicological perspective and illuminates how music negotiates boundaries and constructs varying identities in China, Japan, and Korea, while affirming a distinct cultural identity generally referred to as "East Asian". Using different musical practices of East Asia as case studies, it examines multiple approaches and methodologies used in studying East Asian music.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II
Birth, Death, and Disease: Anthropological Demography
Examines how human populations change over time, what factors underlie patterns of disease and death, and why demography is so important to the study of epidemics. The course will explore the use of demographic methods and theories of demographic and epidemiological transition to examine fertility, morbidity, mortality, and migration from an anthropological perspective, with a particular focus on infectious disease dynamics.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 201 or 30 points in Anthropology at Stage II or above
Heritage Conservation in Aotearoa
Addresses the main principles of heritage conservation focusing on the rationale rather than treatment methods. Special emphasis is given to the fields of: conservation of place, archaeological, architectural, ethnographic and fine art conservation. Provides students with a cultural orientation to conservation where issues are examined through several contexts, including anthropological studies and conservation science.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Anthropology
Directed Study in Anthropology
A directed reading and individual study course, offered in exceptional circumstances, to prepare students in the methodologies of a selected sub-discipline of Anthropology, with the agreement and under the supervision of appropriate staff.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Anthropology and permission of Major/Specialisation Leader
Perspectives on Human Growth
Adopts evolutionary and biocultural perspectives in examining patterns of human growth and maturation. Human developmental patterns are placed within an evolutionary framework using evidence from non-human primates and earlier hominid remains. Variability within and among human populations in growth and developmental timing is considered in terms of genetics interacting with physical, biotic and social factors.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 201 or 60 points in Anthropology
Primate Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation
Examines the diversity of extant nonhuman primate species, including their behaviour, ecology, and conservation, and also the importance of primatology toward an understanding of our own species. Specifically, students will critically examine the results of primatological inquiries in order to gain insight into the comparative evolutionary approach, especially with respect to the applicability of such efforts to the study of humans.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 201 or 60 points in Anthropology
Restriction: ANTHRO 205
Special Topic
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 203 or 30 points at Stage II in Anthropology
Special Topic: Applied Anthropology
Examines how anthropology has been used in interventions that affect people’s lives, and how anthropology has contributed to public policy and public discourse. Considers ethical, methodological and theoretical complexities of anthropology’s engagement in development and advocacy. Finally, the course will consider how anthropologists fit into the bigger picture of transnational governmentality, policy and economy.
Prerequisite: 60 points in Anthropology
Archaeology in Practice
Introduces standard laboratory methods for analysing artefacts and generating material culture data to answer questions about the past. Quantitative observations, classification, and hypothesis testing will be emphasised. Course content will be relevant to a range of archaeological research, including research in heritage management contexts. Analysis of Australasian and Pacific Island materials will form the basis of laboratory work when possible.
Prerequisite: B- or higher in ANTHRO 200 or 201
Anthropology of the Body
Examines cultural and historical variations in how societies understand and experience the human body. The focus will be primarily on social, historical, and political-economic approaches. Topics such as labour, sport, health, illness, sexuality, gender and religious ritual will be considered. Explores the cultural construction and social experience of the human body in a diverse range of settings.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 203 or 30 points at Stage II in Anthropology
Restriction: ANTHRO 241
Gender, Sexuality and Popular Music
Explores the ways in which gender and sexual identities are both reflected in and modified by mainstream popular music: from 'girl power' to boy bands; from outwardly gay and lesbian artists to the gay appropriation of heterosexual female divas; from the camp masculinity of heavy metal to lesbian rock and riot grrrls; from women-hating gangster rappers to powerful women in the recording industry.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II
Restriction: POPMUS 306
Special Topic
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 200 or 201 or 203 or 219 or 120 points passed
Medicine, Power and Politics
Anthropological examination of the interplay between cultural values, local and national politics, and international health programs and initiatives. Examines how experiences of medical care and ideas of illness and health vary across different cultural groups and socio-cultural settings.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 203 or 30 points at Stage II
The Anthropology of Human Remains
Human remains reflect the lives of the dead as well as the lives of those who buried them. The course introduces students to the various ways in which we can study the dead. It covers three areas: the interpretation of mortuary practices, the interpretation of past lives from skeletal remains, and the practice of burial archaeology in the southern hemisphere.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 200 or 201 with a minimum B– grade
Restriction: ANTHRO 235
Biosocial Medical Anthropology
Medical Anthropology draws on biological and social/cultural anthropology to address issues of human health and disease. A distinct subfield, it includes studies of the co-evolution of humans and diseases, human ecology, cultural constructions of health and illness, medical knowledge and healing practices, and the political economy of health. Students are asked to research, think and write analytically about these topics.
Prerequisite: ANTHRO 201 or 30 points at Stage II in Anthropology
Restriction: ANTHRO 208, 324
Anthropological Images
Explores the use of visual images in the production and dissemination of anthropological knowledge. Examines the choices made in the production of photographs and films, and the politics of representation. The examination of choices made in producing images will be used to consider choices made in the production of anthropological texts.
Prerequisite: 15 points at Stage I in Anthropology
Restriction: ANTHRO 212, 320
Economy and Culture
Explores economic systems cross-culturally, including modes of production, forms of exchange, and ideas about property and consumption. Questions and critiques Euro-American assumptions about human nature, social persons, and the ubiquity and morality of markets and market exchange.
Prerequisite: 15 points at Stage I in Anthropology or Stage II in Employment Relations and Organisational Studies
Restriction: ANTHRO 237
Kaumātuatanga: Ageing in Aotearoa
Examines contemporary and historical understandings of kaumātuatanga and kaumātua roles in Māori society. Topics include: leadership within Māori society; tuakana-teina, gendered roles and complementarity; whanaungatanga and important relationships; health inequities and policies; emerging health partnership models; and the diversity of kaumātua groups.
Prerequisite: 45 points from Anthropology, Māori Studies or Sociology including 30 points at Stage II
Restriction: ANTHRO 220
Whiteness in the Settler State
Examines the concept and construct of “whiteness” within the construct of the "settler state" through the lens of critical anthropology. Explores the development of white supremacy as an ideology and expression of social and political power and provides students with the conceptual and intellectual frameworks to consider the invisibility of whiteness as a social habit.
Prerequisite: 15 points at Stage I in Anthropology
Capstone: Anthropological Science
Provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate their integrated knowledge and growth in the major. Students are encouraged to make connections between their academic learning in anthropological science and the professional world. Specific topics will vary by year, but will feature projects designed to incorporate both independent and collaborative work, as well as the potential for public engagement.
Prerequisite: 30 points passed at Stage III in Anthropological Science or Academic Head approval
Postgraduate 700 Level Courses
Cultural Resource Management in Archaeology
Covers all aspects of cultural resource management as it relates to archaeological sites and heritage with a particular focus on New Zealand archaeology and Māori heritage. There is an emphasis on site identification, recording and interpretation in the field. Legal aspects and the roles of archaeologists and iwi in cultural resource management are also covered.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 708 A and B
Applying Anthropology
Considers the diverse fields in which Anthropology may be applied to peoples and cultures in the contemporary world, including, for example: environmental and development issues; land and resource conflicts; mediation and advocacy; human rights; cultural heritage; social policy; business and industry; communications; marketing; medical investigations; museums and other representational activities. Addresses practical and ethical issues that arise in these areas.
Interpreting Biocultural Data
A survey of the design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of research in biocultural anthropology. It provides a holistic overview of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to biocultural anthropological scholarship.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 718 A and B
Ethnographic Practice and Design
Based on seminars, workshops and field research, the course prepares students to understand the foundations of anthropological ethnography and the ethical issues it entails, and to become proficient ethnographers in the field, in archives and at the desk. The course provides instruction and practice in research design and proposal writing in socio-cultural anthropology.
Restriction: ANTHRO 753
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 719 A and B, or ANTHRO 719
Ethnographies of Music-making
Advanced theories and methodologies for the ethnomusicological analysis of live musical performances and other behaviours across all genres and cultures. Primary attention is given to ethnography and participant-observation supported by analysis of industrial, cultural, musical, and mediated phenomena.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 727 A and B, or ANTHRO 727
Special Studies in Anthropology
A directed reading and individual study course to prepare students in the methodologies in a selected sub-discipline of Anthropology, under supervision of appropriate staff.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 729 A and B, or ANTHRO 729
Reading Medical Ethnography
Examines the social anthropological practice of ethnography of health and illness in community and clinical settings, including 'non-Western' and 'Western' cultural contexts, through critical readings of recent ethnographies in medical anthropology. Considers ethnographic and anthropological theory, ethics, methodology and application.
Research in Popular Music Culture
Advanced ethnomusicological theories and methodologies for the analysis of data that are obtained from mediated performance, archival sources, material culture and recorded music and image.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 733 A and B, or ANTHRO 733
Special Studies in Anthropology
A directed reading and individual study course to prepare students in the methodologies in a selected sub-discipline of Anthropology, under supervision of appropriate staff.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 736 A and B, or ANTHRO 736
Special Studies in Anthropology
A directed reading and individual study course to prepare students in the methodologies in a selected sub-discipline of Anthropology under supervision of appropriate staff.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 739 A and B, or ANTHRO 739
Contact and Colonialism
A seminar focused on critical understanding of the political, social and economic expansion of European countries around the world and its cultural consequences. Themes may include: cultural encounter, causes and effects of colonisation, interpretations of the other by colonisers and colonised, Creole cultures, slavery, race, resistance and accommodation, gender, demography, environmental impacts.
Restriction: ANTHRO 720
The Archaeology of the Anthropocene
Calls for the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch, recognise long-term, consequential effects of human societies, regardless of size, economics or socio-political complexity, on environments, organisms and ecosystems. When did the Anthropocene begin? How do we track socio-natural interactions over deep time? What might the past offer the future? This course explores how archaeology contributes to these and related questions.
Human Osteology
Advanced method and theory in human osteology. Coursework is a combination of seminars and practical workshops covering the areas of biocultural frameworks, ethics, taphonomy, human identification, dental anthropology, palaeopathology and biomolecular approaches. Work is focused upon method and theory as applied in the southern hemisphere.
Restriction: ANTHRO 730
Advanced Primatology
A practical and theoretical exploration of the methodological principles and research methods in contemporary primatology. Students build a working understanding of behavioural data collection and analysis, as well as developing tools for the assessment of populations and habitats.
Restriction: ANTHRO 730
Ethnographic Research
Students learn observational, ethnographic and quantitative social anthropological research methods by designing and carrying out a small class research project. Ethical and methodological issues are introduced.
Restriction: ANTHRO 711, 734
Anthropology and Intellectual Property
Examines recent anthropological contributions to debates about intellectual property. These include concepts of ownership, the objectification and appropriation of indigenous knowledge, creativity, bioprospecting, the protection of intangible cultural property, and the effects of global flows of information on persons, privacy and the ownership of ideas.
Anthropological Theory and the Contemporary World
An analysis of foundational and current theoretical works in social anthropology and their relevance to understanding contemporary societies and cultures. The course examines anthropological approaches to long-standing disciplinary debates and contemporary issues of wider public debate.
Restriction: ANTHRO 714
Theorising Human Evolution
Investigates contemporary evolutionary theory as it applies to humans and other primates. How has the extended evolutionary synthesis changed understandings of human and primate evolution? Topics include: plasticity, adaptation, modes of selection and niche construction.
Restriction: ANTHRO 710, 726, 751, 752
Emerging Bio-Anthropology
Explores new and innovative approaches to the study of the behaviour and biology of humans and other primates. What emerging developments help us to understand the complexity of human and alloprimate niches? Topics include: biocultural dynamics, multi-species entanglements and health in past and contemporary societies.
Restriction: ANTHRO 710, 726, 751, 752
Landscape Archaeology
Uses geographic information systems (GIS) and other computer programmes to examine the spatial organisation of data, and the relationship of archaeological sites, features and artifacts to other archaeological remains, and the environment. The social processes underlying these spatial configurations will be a particular focus.
Restriction: ANTHRO 703
Theory in Archaeology
A critical analysis of the history of archaeological method and theory focusing on issues in the philosophy of science, systematics, and major schools of thought from Antiquarianism to post-modernism.
Restriction: ANTHRO 700
Research Project - Level 9
Restriction: ANTHRO 782
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 780 A and B, or ANTHRO 780
Dissertation in Anthropology
A topic in one of the sub-disciplines of Anthropology to be selected in consultation with a supervisor.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 790 A and B, or ANTHRO 790
Dissertation in Anthropology - Level 9
A topic in one of the sub-disciplines of Anthropology to be selected in consultation with staff.
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 792 A and B, or ANTHRO 792
Thesis - Level 9
Prerequisite: A BA(Hons) in Anthropology with an average of at least B+ for courses taken in the BA(Hons) degree or equivalent
To complete this course students must enrol in ANTHRO 796 A and B