Anthropological thinking

Anthropological thinking

• Anthropological thinking theories

  • SL students need to be familiar with the theories that relate to the ethnographies they read, and be able to identify and explain them in this context. HL students need to be familiar with, and confident in, the use of theories in anthropology in their reading and evaluation of ethnographic material, as well as their comparison of ethnographic studies. This may be in terms of how different theories are applied to the same culture, yielding different interpretations of that culture, or in terms of how the same theory is applied to different cultures allowing for points of comparison.

• Anthropological questions to think with and through

  • The following 'big' anthropological questions underpin an understanding of the course. The students' exploration of particular cultures and societies should allow them to consider these universal questions. An understanding of these big anthropological questions should inform and be informed by the ethnographic material studied, and students should have the opportunity to reflect on these throughout the course. Their understanding of these big anthropological questions will be assessed in paper 1, at both SL and HL. - What is culture? - What does it mean to be a person? - What does it mean to live in society? - How are we the same and different from each other? - Why does anthropology matter? - To what extent is knowing others possible?