ANTH7019 - Communication & Culture
Term 2
Description
The Communication & Culture course has two main aims. The first aim is to introduce students to the complexity of human communication. This will be achieved ethnographically via the study of a series of communicative modes such as deception, irony, rhetoric and joking. This ethnographic exploration will be complemented by an introduction to some apparently universal underpinnings of communication such as inference, innovation, and influence.
The second aim of the course is to test the hypothesis that these characteristics of communication are in fact the key characteristics of culture itself. Rather than communication and culture, can we talk about communication as culture?
Topics of study will include:
- The origins of human communication
- Human versus animal communication
- Inference and influence
- Imitation and innovation
- Lying and deception
- Secrets and secrecy
- Irony and ambiguity
- Persuasion and rhetoric
- Culture and communication
This course is only open to the students on the following courses: BSc in Anthropology, BSc Human Sciences, BSc Archaeology & Anthropology.
ANTH7019
| Taught by: | Dr Luke Freeman |
|
E-mail: |
luke.freeman@ucl.ac.uk |
| Assessment: | 1 x 2000 words essay (50%) + 1 x 2000 words project (50%) |
|
Student Contact Hours: |
One hour lecture followed by one hour tutorial per week |
| Prerequisites: |
None |
|
Option Type: |
Social Anthropology |
