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The General Board give notice that, on the recommendation of the Faculty Board or other authority concerned, the regulations for certain University examinations have been amended as follows:
SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS
(Statutes and Ordinances, p. 239)
The supplementary regulations for Papers A3-A12 and Papers A17-A38 (see Reporter, p. 765) have been amended so as to read:
The course for this paper provides an opportunity to extend the depth and range of theoretical issues introduced in Paper A1. In terms of depth, there is fuller coverage of modes of explanation and interpretation in archaeology and discussion of how they are situated within wider debates in the sciences and the humanities. In terms of range, the scope of archaeological awareness is extended to global issues, drawing on a variety of themes in world archaeology.
This paper expands on the range of themes covered in Paper A2, exploring ways in which a wide range of scientific approaches and techniques can be integrated with humanistic and social science perspectives in studying and interpreting the nature of past societies.
These papers are paired. Courses are taught over a two-year cycle and are examined in alternate years, so that in any particular year one paper of each pair will be set, corresponding to the subject that has been taught in that year.
This course surveys the development of human societies from their primate origins 2-3 million years ago to the emergence of food production in the early postglacial period. The scope of the course is world-wide; it puts special emphasis on the processes of population dispersal (of both the earliest hominids and biologically modern humans) and the processes of technological and social adaptation to the changing environmental conditions of the Pleistocene period. Special emphasis is placed on the patterns of human social and cognitive development, and on the inevitably close inter-relationships between the parallel processes of biological and cultural evolution throughout the course of human development. Four modules are taught over a two-year cycle, two being available each year: The archaeology of early human development; The archaeology of modern human origins and the Upper Palaeolithic of western Europe; The Upper Palaeolithic from the Alps to the Americas; Postglacial adaptations and Mesolithic archaeology.
The course for these papers covers the broad sweep of later European prehistory, from the origins and spread of agriculture to the growth of more intensive agricultural systems with metallurgy and complex social forms; it concludes with the societies which developed in Europe prior to the Roman conquest. Primary attention is given to processes of cultural and social change. The course introduces the basic chronological sequences, but throughout emphasis is placed on linking theoretical debates within the discipline to particular issues and data in later European prehistory. Four modules are taught over a two-year cycle, two being available each year: Neolithic and Chalcolithic in southern, central, and eastern Europe; Neolithic and Copper Age in northern and western Europe; The Bronze Age and Iron Age of southern, central, and eastern Europe; The Bronze Age and Iron Age of northern and western Europe.
The course reviews selected aspects of the history, archaeology, and art of ancient Egypt, laying special emphasis on the nature and development of society in ancient Egypt. Some of the teaching will be focused on collections of Egyptian artefacts and art housed in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the collections of the Faculty of Oriental Studies. Four modules are taught over a two-year cycle, two being available each year; the Early Dynastic to the end of the Second Intermediate Period is covered in one year, while the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period are covered in the alternate year. The four modules are entitled: The framework of living I; The framework of living II; The practice of religion I; The practice of religion II.
This course covers the archaeology of modern Iraq and Syria, together with Iran, the Levant, and eastern Turkey. Subjects addressed include the development of agriculture and urbanism, the relationship of the environment to the rise of complex society, the interplay of textual and archaeological data, propaganda and the presentation of kingship and power, symbolism in art and architecture, and the archaeological evidence for religious ritual. Three modules cover the archaeology of the 'Fertile Crescent' from the Epipalaeolithic until the middle of the first millennium BC; an additional module focuses on specific geographical areas (e.g. Anatolia, Iran) or thematically oriented subjects, such as religious institutions, trade and exchange, etc. Two of the four modules are available every year (Prehistory of the Near East, and Special subject in Assyriology; Papers A21 and A22). The other two, which cover the archaeology of Mesopotamia in two periods (3000-1600 BC and 1600-539 BC) are taught over a two-year cycle and are examined in Papers A23 and A24 in alternate years.
This course surveys the period which saw the rise, development, and fall of the Roman Empire, and the emergence of the early medieval states which were the foundation of modern Europe; it relates mainly to the northern and western parts of Europe (including Scandinavia), and where relevant it extends also into North Africa. The course includes three modules, one of which (Anglo-Saxon archaeology) is available each year, while the other two (Scandinavian archaeology; Migration period archaeology) are taught over a two-year cycle and are available in alternate years. In addition, a fourth subject, The archaeology of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire, is available each year (see below, Paper A16).
This course covers the archaeology of post-conquest Britain, approximately 1050 to 1500 AD. This was the period when the 'historic' landscape of Britain took on its pre-industrial form, and the history of landscape and villages, castles, towns, and the church is still visible in the material remains of this period. Since East Anglia is particularly rich in such evidence, lectures are complemented by field trips or museum sessions for almost every topic.
This course surveys the archaeology and art of ancient India extending from the prehistoric periods up to the fifth century AD. In one year the main emphasis is on the earlier prehistoric periods (up to the emergence of agriculture), together with a survey of the principal excavated historical sites (c. 600 BC to c. AD 400). In the other year the emphasis is placed on the later prehistoric and proto-historic periods, and on the major features of Indian art, architecture, inscriptions, and coins. The course also surveys the geographical and environmental features of ancient India, and the history of archaeological research in the subcontinent. Four modules are taught over a two-year cycle, two being available each year: Prehistory of India; The Indus civilization and beyond; Early historic cities of India; Art and architecture of ancient India.
The course covers major developments in the region, from the peopling of the New World and the origins of agriculture to the rise of complex societies that culminated in the late pre-Hispanic empires (Inka and Aztec). Emphasis is placed on theoretical approaches to understanding the long-term development of social inequality and the rise of complex societies, and attention is given to the interactions of human populations with their environments. Two modules (Ancient South America, and Archaeology of Mesoamerica and North America) are taught over a two-year cycle and are examined in alternate years.
This paper, which is jointly taught in Archaeology and Biological Anthropology, aims to provide an overview of the evolution of hominids from their origins through to the appearance and diversity of modern humans, by examining the biological and behavioural roots of humanity. The pattern of human evolution and hominid diversity is stressed, by examining hominid adaptations, ecology, and the fossil record.
The course provides a broad overview of the prehistory of the African continent from the earliest times, together with the historical archaeology of sub-Saharan Africa. Emphasis is placed upon the study of Post-Pleistocene times and upon the relationship between archaeology and other sources of information about the African past. The subject is viewed from an essentially African perspective, although due attention is paid to external connections. Students are encouraged to view African prehistory as an essential and central part of human development.
The courses for these papers allow students to explore a range of scientific approaches in archaeology in depth. Consideration is given to the geo-archaeological context of our evidence, and the dynamics of preservation and transformation of archaeological materials. From this foundation students can select from a range of bio-archaeological and environmental options, e.g. in archaeobotany or zoo-archaeology, backed up by laboratory practicals. These papers can be taken with, and are designed to complement, any of the papers on special areas, for those candidates who wish to put a greater emphasis on scientific method in the course as a whole.
(Statutes and Ordinances, p. 241)
The supplementary regulations for Papers B1-B5 (see Reporter, p. 766) have been amended so as to read:
This paper covers the human biological structure and function, from the genomic and molecular level, through to the populational. Emphasis is on how the environment at all levels influences function, and how interactions between different organizational levels lead to an adapted human organism. The biological principles are considered in the context of anthropological examples and applications.
This paper looks at humans in the context of evolutionary biology and theory. The course covers the anatomical basis for human and primate diversity and function, and uses human skeletal biology to explore issues in human evolution and palaeobiology.
This paper provides a basis for understanding human genetic variation and the evolution of genes and gene families in primates. Human and non-human primate social behaviour are described and discussed, and particular emphasis is placed on the role of behaviour in genetic and social evolution.
This paper explores the evolution of humans by examining the biological and behavioural roots of humanity, and aims to provide an advanced insight into human adaptations and history at the biological, ecological, and behavioural level. These issues are studied in the light of fossil, genetic, ecological, and behavioural approaches, including the ancestral conditions from which unique human features are derived.
This paper examines human development and the effects of early and later nutrition on growth and maturation. It explores human energetics from an ecological, biological, and social perspective, as well as the reproductive biology and behaviour of humans. Ecological adaptations to climate and disease, and the impact of ecological conditions on human populations are presented and discussed.
(Statutes and Ordinances, p. 242)
The supplementary regulations for Social Anthropology Papers S7-S11 (amended by Notice, Reporter, p. 836) have been further amended so as to read:
There will be five papers available each year. These are currently drawn from the following list:
This course is concerned with illness and healing in comparative perspective. It discusses ideas of health and illness, causation and healing, how they are constructed and how they change. A wide range of societies provides the examples of different approaches, from urban and industrialized contexts to relatively isolated, self-sufficient settings. Alternative systems of medicine and local regional systems, as well as the impact of western biomedicine on local regional systems, are considered in relation to medical pluralism and contexts of practice. Attention is also given to the cultural understanding of the body in illness, and to the management of childbirth and reproduction in different societies. Teaching for the course is by lecture and seminar.
While a primary objective of this paper is to examine the processes of city transformation in recent times, attention is also paid to pre-twentieth century and non-European cities. Processes of urbanization bring out the political, economic, and cultural complexities of city social organization. Images of the city are approached through examining utopian thought and experimentation, social engineering, urban planning, and forms of architecture. The city as a symbolic form and as a centre of power is addressed through studies of urban rituals, processions, commemorations, buildings, and through consideration of the relationships between space, the body, and gender. The paper also includes an examination of the ways in which the city has been theorized, and the problems of reconciling the distinctive method of fieldwork-based anthropology when applied to the large-scale organizational complexity of urban life.
This paper is concerned with three distinct but interlinked aspects of human experience where questions of power, representation, and corporeality intersect. Questions of gender, body, and sexuality have been at the centre of much critical work in the social sciences and humanities over the past twenty years, and this paper aims to introduce students to some of the most important lines of argument and debate, focusing particularly upon the perspectives brought by anthropology to these questions, as well as exploring a series of substantive issues. Themes to be addressed include: biological and cultural approaches to gender, body, and sexuality; gender orders and power relations; the construction of masculinities and femininities; questions of gender, sexuality, and colonial, national, and state processes; sexual divisions and the allocation of resources; sexuality, embodiment and performance; the politics of reproduction; feminism and anthropology.
The professionalization of anthropology as a social science resulted among other things in the definition of the discipline through a specific kind of empirical research (fieldwork) and a specific narrative form (ethnography). There are of course other professionals who address issues central to anthropological concerns: other social scientists, philosophers, historians, novelists, and poets - many of whom borrow from anthropological works and whose works are borrowed as well. This paper seeks to broaden the basis on which anthropological texts may be analysed as well as to broaden critical awareness of anthropological inquiry beyond textual form. Both the bases on which anthropological knowledge came to be defined and the grounds on which these bases may be re-evaluated critically are presented, including an examination of the professionalization of anthropology, and the intellectual traditions influential in this process; the theoretical question of 'representation', and how 'others' represent themselves to themselves. In collaboration with the Faculty of English, the paper addresses aspects of literary theory through the consideration of specific texts and literary techniques, poetics, the use of 'multimedia', and what one may learn from the parallel examinations of anthropological and non-anthropological texts.
This paper draws attention to the aesthetic and performative aspects of human communication. It provides an introduction to the main perspectives anthropologists have brought to an understanding of the visual and performing arts. While the paper provides a broad cross-cultural overview of distinctive artistic practices and productions, each year a section of the course focuses in some detail on a particular cultural area. Where appropriate the course will draw on the extensive collections of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the video library held within the Department of Social Anthropology. Topics for study are drawn from the following areas: theories of non-western art and aesthetics; social and technical aspects of artistic production and consumption; the use of different media in anthropological analysis; the poetics and politics of representation; museology; masking and body decoration; the anthropology of dance; aspects of ethnomusicology; and analyses of film and advertising.
This paper covers social, economic, and political aspects of 'development', with particular reference to the experience of the poorer countries since World War II and to the theories and practical involvement of anthropologists. Case studies of development projects of rural and urban areas are analysed, with particular attention being paid to indigenous knowledge, and the participation of local people in projects which transform their lives. Other themes include socialist development, the demise of 'peasant economy', and the emergence of new social movements in Third World cities. Anthropological approaches to the study of policy, planning, and development organizations are also considered and throughout the course students are encouraged to maintain a critical stance towards the very concept of 'development'.
The paper aims to examine the societies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern and Central Europe as they are currently undergoing transformation. Virtually all of them have abandoned socialism for different political and economic paths. The aim of this paper is to understand (a) what actually existing socialism was, (b) the causes and consequences of its collapse, and (c) what heritage or residue of socialism remains in the post-socialist societies. We examine the processes of transformation, in political, economic, social, and cultural terms. The paper focuses particularly on ways in which we can analyse the experience of sudden change, the associated phenomena labelled as 'development' or 'regression', emerging social and familial forms, new attitudes to history and memory, and changes in 'high' and popular culture, ideology, and values.
The aim of this paper is to offer a critical introduction to the literature on nationalism, race, and ethnicity both in and outside anthropology, and to explore the ideas advanced in that literature in relation to material drawn from specific historical and cultural contexts. This includes the intellectual history of the concepts of, respectively, nation and race, to be examined through the main relevant theoretical literature. Historical, anthropological, and sociological approaches are covered. Specific case material, drawn from a range of geographical and historical contexts, will address issues such as the politics of identity in Britain; thinking about conflict in Northern Ireland; 'tribalism' and the culture of post-colonial states in sub-Saharan Africa; communal identities and violence in South Asia; religion and communal mobilization; Diaspora communities and transnationalism; gendering the nation. The examples vary from time to time.
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Cambridge University Reporter, 18 July 2001
Copyright © 2001 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.