North West University

Social Anthropology

SANL122, 2023
Lectures: Tuesday 9:30 – 10:30
Wednesday 11:00 – 12:45

Course Convener: Tebogo Maribe Course Lecturer: Ms Roxanne Mathobie

Potchefstroom Campus Vanderbijlpark Campus
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Introduction and welcome

Welcome to the Second Semester. We look forward to working with you. THIS
DOCUMENT CONTAINS ALL THE INFORMATION YOU WILL NEED TO
COMPLETE THE COURSE! PLEASE READ IT VERY CAREFULLY! Note: there will
actually be a test on this, so we mean it!

SANL122 has been designed to build your analytic skills and support you in critical thinking.
It is an intense course and will require you to be well-organised. Every class will require
SIGNIFICANT preparation and the completion of MANDATORY Readings and Practical
Exercises. These are outlined in this document and will be refined throughout the semester.
Please be aware that in some instances, deadlines may clash with those of other courses.
Learning how to manage your time is a critical life skill and your other coursework is not an
acceptable excuse for late submissions in anthropology.

SANL 122 is based on COURSE WORK AND A FINAL WRITTEN EXAM, and over the
course of the semester your grade will be determined by a combination of assignments as
outlined on Page 4. This requires constant, and consistent, work. There are penalties for late
work that is submitted without prior arrangement. Please ensure you are aware of these
penalties in advance.

We truly want you to succeed in your work this term, and to enter the world both qualified
and confident. This will require hard work, careful reading, attentive listening, planning, and
attention to detail. SANL 122 will be highly enjoyable for all concerned, but to navigate any
city, there must be a map. Please read this document very carefully.

Sessions will take place on Tuesdays from 9:30 – 10:30 for the content lecture, and on
Wednesdays from 11:00 – 12:45 for group discussion and learning activity.
Lecture Venues: Vaal – Tuesdays A 24 G13, Wednesdays A24 G12

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 Potch – E5 B03

All students now have permission to access campus, so you are all expected to attend class in
person.

1) About the Course

Social anthropology is all about using detailed observation to understand social relationships
in their complex contexts. For that reason, we used last semester to learn some of the
centrally important basics of anthropology and thinking like an anthropologist. In that
module you practiced collecting data using observation; you were introduced to ritual and
exchange theory; and you used that theory and those skills in learning activities and
assignments to identify and analyze relationships and connections in your own immediate
environment.
In SANL122 we are going to build on those research, conceptual, and analytical skills by
expanding our ability to identify and analyse more distant but equally important relationships
and connections. The relationships you identified and analysed last semester do not exist in
isolation. They have complicated contexts that can’t be simply observed using the techniques
you learned last semester. Describing these complex contexts is an important element in
deepening your anthropological analysis.
The point of SANL122 is therefore to build your ability to describe these broader contexts by
equipping you with a new set of conceptual skills and some new research techniques and to
develop your capacity for academic reading. Your course has been broken down into 11
weeks, for the first five weeks we will be engaging in the critique of anthropology and
following through to an introduction to viewing and understanding the world as being
incomplete in a manner that fosters spaces for communal being and convivial relationships.
The next few weeks will be spent introducing you to ethnography as narrative, power,
language, digital ethnography, and a few chapters from an ethnographic text.

2) Module Aims and Objectives

Module code: SANL122 Semester 2 NQF level: 5
Module outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
● Have a basic knowledge and an informed understanding of themes in Social
Anthropological research; and
● Demonstrate basic qualitative research skills to identify, analyse and reliably
communicate, according to the academic conventions of the discipline, the complexity
surrounding research questions in Social anthropology.

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 3) Consultation Hours

Roxanne Mathobie is available for consultation on Tuesdays from 11h - 13h or via
appointment. Please email to schedule an appointment. (Vaal)

Tebogo Maribe is available for consultation on Tuesdays from 11h - 13h or via appointment.
Please email to schedule an appointment. (Potch)

4) Tools

Efundi: All communications and submissions will be done through efundi. Please ensure that
you know how to navigate the platform and ensure that you check and engage with it daily.
All necessary resources for this course are located on the platform

Telegram: Additionally, each campus will have its own telegram group chat for ease of
communication. The telegram link will be shared at the end of the first lecture.

5) The Right to Disconnect

Electronic communication can be wonderful, but it can have serious consequences for mental
health. With this in mind, Anthropology observes the Right to Disconnect. This means that
no departmental work will be communicated outside of working hours (Mon-Friday,
08h00-17h00). We ask students to refrain from contacting staff and faculty outside of those
hours as well unless in emergency circumstances.

6) Assessments and Penalties:

The semester is happening on a tight timeline. Each week is critical. Unless exceptional
circumstances unfold, you are expected to attend all classes. If work is submitted late, there
will be an automatic 2% penalty taken off the mark for every 24-hour period. Therefore, if
your work is due on Friday, and you submit it on Monday, you will lose 6% unless you make
prior arrangements with the instructor. In the case of illness, medical certificates will be
accepted. After two weeks of lack of submission, the assignment will no longer be accepted,
and you will receive a 0.

7) Professional Communication

Professional Communication is an essential skill that you will need at university and in the
workplace when you graduate. Please abide by the following guidelines:

When writing emails:

- Begin with Dear Ms. (Insert lecturers surname)

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- Include your name, student number, and the course code in all communication
- Use full sentences and correct punctuation.
- Be polite and friendly.
- Understand that we have many students and might not be able to respond accordingly.

8) Study Bubbles

We recommend you make study bubbles to learn from one another and to support each other
through this journey. They can also be virtual study bubbles if you have wifi and/or data to
support that.

9) Assignment Schedule:

Assignment Task Due Date Weighting

1 Introductory Quiz 28 July 2023 10%

2 Referencing Assignment 6 August 2023 10%

3 Written Activity: Research 27 August 2021 20%

Interest

4 Kinship Assignment 17 September 2023 20%

5 Essay 15 October 2023 30%

6 Participation (submission of Ongoing (latest submission 10%

class activities) 15 October)

7 Exam 1 November 2023 40%

10) Assignment Instructions

Assignment #1: Quiz - due 28 July

Please complete the quiz on eFundi. To do so, you will need to have read this document
very carefully.

a.) Please tell us about yourself: (3 Points)

o Who you are
o Why you are taking this module
o What are you most interested in knowing more about humans,
relationships, and everyday life?

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 b.) If you start to fall behind and are struggling to keep up with the course, what
should you of? (1 point)
c.) How do you intend to structure your time for this course? (1 point)
d.) How will your grades be determined for this course? (2 Point)
e.) Gave you read through your course outline? (1 Point)
f.) What are the assessment penalties for this course? (1 Point)
g.) What is your lecturer’s contact details? (1 Point)

Assignment #2: Intext Referencing and Bibliography - due 6 August

This is one of the most important aspects of academic writing. Plagiarism is a very serious
academic offense. When writing assignments you will need to consult published work by
other authors. Invariably, you will want to draw on some of their ideas, theories, studies and
arguments in your own work. When you do so, it is important that every idea you lift from a
source and every piece of evidence you use in support of your own ideas, whether quoted
directly from the source or paraphrased, is acknowledged by referencing. In Anthropology we
use the Harvard guidelines for referencing in all essays, assignments, and research projects. It
is important that you learn this system well since you will be allocated marks for referencing
correctly in all your written pieces of work. Moreover, if you do not learn to reference
correctly, your work may be considered plagiarized, which will result in serious
consequences. For this reason, we have set up an assignment in which you are asked to
practice making use of in-text referencing as well as putting together a reference list.

BEFORE YOU DO THIS ASSIGNMENT WE WILL HAVE A DEMONSTRATION

SESSION IN CLASS ABOUT IT. IT IS CRITICAL THAT YOU ATTEND THIS
CLASS. WE WILL ALSO SHARE SLIDES ON EFUNDI AND ON TELEGRAM.

Your task is to read through and familiarise yourself with pages 5-57 of the NWU
referencing guideline (located in the resources tab labeled assignment 2 resources). Once
you have read through the guide you are required to:

1) Put together a reference list for the 5 texts posted under the assignment tab.
2) Pick two of the texts and provide us with a paraphrasing of the main purpose of the text
and a direct quote indicating the argument the author is making.

Marking rubric for assignment #2

0-1 2 3-4 5

Bibliography 0-1 of the Student has Student has Student has

references correctly correctly perfected the

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 correctly formatted 2/5 formatted 3/5 reference list
formatted. texts required texts required across all 5
for the for the sources
0 if student has bibliography bibliography
not included a
bibliography

Intext No intext Student has Student has Student has

Referencing referencing. attempted but correctly perfected the
incorrectly referenced paraphrasing
referenced both either the main and quotation
the main purpose or of both the
purpose of the main argument texts.
text and the of the both
main argument texts.

OR

Student has
correctly
referenced the
main purpose
and argument
of 1 text and
not the other

Total marks _/10

Assignment #3: Written activity: research interest due 27 August

The aim is for students to show their current essay writing skills.
The essay will be based on the following questions:
What are you most interested in about humans, relationships, and everyday life?
Why are you interested in this?
What existing anthropological research has been done regarding the specific topic? What
more would you like to know?
Objective Needs Good Exceptional Mark
Criteria improvement
Structure: Structure non- Structure Clear essay outline /6
Into, body existent attempted but
conclusion needs some
improvement

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Body: No use of Good use of Excellent use and /10
Content, literature to literature from understanding of
argument and support argument the course to course literature to
use of support support argument
literature argument

Response to Written response

writing prompts is Written response addresses all essay
unclear or vague addresses most question writing
of the writing prompts clearly and
prompts clearly directly.
and directly.
Coherence, Response is well Response The response /4
quality and organized and indicates indicates depth and
Organisation developed with simplistic or complexity of thought
appropriate repetitive in answering the
support to make thoughts in essay question. The
meaning clear answering the response is well
(well-chosen essay question. organized and
examples). Response is developed
fairly organised
and developed,
presenting
generalizations
without adequate
support.
Total: /20

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Assignment #4: Kinship due 17 September
1. Find the person who knows your kinship story the most. Ask them to narrate the story for
you. Make notes of the narration.
2. Download the kinship diagram templates and choose the one that you are most comfortable
working with. You can also use the following link to create on an app: Kinship Diagram
Template | Miro

3. Read the literature under Week 5 on ‘Kinship, Community, Belonging, and Networks’ and
Week 6: Narrative in Ethnography.
4. Find information on your kinship and fill in the template that you have chosen.
5. What you have after this process will be your data.

6. With the use of your data and the literature, write an ethnography in the form of a narrative
essay of your kinship story (600-1200 words)
Objective Criteria Needs Good Exceptional Mark
improvement
Structure: Into, Structure non- Structure Clear essay outline /5
body conclusion existent attempted but
needs some
improvement
Body: Content, No use of literature Good use of Excellent use and /15
Narrative, use of to support literature from the understanding of
literature argument course to support course literature to
argument support argument

Response to Written response

writing prompts is addresses most of Written response
unclear or vague the writing prompts addresses all writing
clearly and directly. prompts clearly and
directly.
Coherence, quality Response Response is well Response indicates /5
and Organisation indicates simplistic organized and depth and
or repetitive developed with complexity of
writing. appropriate thought in
Response is fairly support to make answering the essay
organised and meaning clear question. (well-

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 developed, chosen examples).
presenting
generalizations
without adequate
support.
Creativity and Little to no attempt Attempt at Excellent visual /5
Presentation at finding creative storytelling and presentation of
ways to present creativity was diagram.
diagrams. moderate Narrative/storytelling
Little or no attempt captures reader.
at storytelling.
Total: /30

Assignment #5: Essay: Development and its unintended consequences due 15 October
Ferguson and Lohman (1994) described what they called ‘the side effects of “failure”’ of a
development project in Lesotho. By doing so they effectively brought an anthropological
perspective to bear to question the commonly held assumption that ‘development’ and
development projects actually improve people’s lives. Write an essay in which you outline
Ferguson &Lohman’s argument and consider its usefulness in understanding the unintended
social and socio-political consequences of an upgrade from shack-style houses in ‘The Park’
to formal housing in ‘The Village’ about which Ross (2010) writes in Raw Life, New Hope
and the ingenuity and resilience in “There is life in this place” by Victor (2014).

Your essay should be between 1200 – 1500 words and should include.
1) A title
2) An introduction in which you contextualise the topic, indicate the chapter/s you have
chosen to focus on, and provide a roadmap of your essay.
3) A body in which you outline the argument made by Ferguson & Lohman, its
usefulness and bring it into discussion with either of the two supplementary texts
4) A conclusion
5) A bibliography

Rubric:
STRONG CHARACTERISTICS Grading WEAK CHARACTERISTICS
1. Content (33 percentage points) /33
1.1 Relevance to question: directly Excellent Relevance to question: off the point
to the point of the question/topic Poor of the question/topic
54321
1.2 Main issues all addressed Excellent Partial answer only
Poor
54321
1.3 Basic/core terms & concepts— Excellent Basic/core terms & concepts—
correct grasp; well deployed Poor elementary mistakes in use &

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 54321 understanding
2. Referencing, Language & Presentation (10 percentage points) /10
2.1 Referencing, bibliography: both Excellent No referencing or bibliography;
properly and fully done Poor evidence of plagiarism
54321
2.2 Language: Clear, concise Excellent Language: Difficult to understand
Poor
54321
3. Coherence and Planning (33 percentage points) /33
3.1 Coherent: parts hang together Excellent Unplanned; summary list of issues;
around an ARGUMENT Poor rambling; repetitive
54321
3.2 Planning—Introduction spells Excellent Planning—Introduction non-
out argument and outline of Poor existent or very brief and simply
discussion to follow 54321 reproduces essay/assignment
topic/question
Body: Is thoughtfully and logically Body: comprises a disjointed series
argued of unrelated points and a lot of
quotes and/or paraphrasing of
readings
Conclusion offers succint analytical Conclusion non-existent; essay ends
commentary on argument and its with new ideas/information that do
implications not complete the argument of
essay
3.3 Planning— Creative title; Excellent Planning— No title or copying the
Paragraphs each internally Poor assignment title; paragraphs
structured to argue an main 54321 comprising random sentences that
idea; clear connectors and are jumbled & unconnected; no
connections between connectors or connections between
paragraphs
paragraphs
4. Comprehensiveness (12 percentage points) /12
4.1 Comprehensive essay that is Excellent Superficial coverage without any
detailed, thought through, thorough Poor evidence of thinking about use of
and logical 54321 material for topic
5. Creativity & initiative (12 percentage points) /12
5.1 New ideas, insights, applications Excellent Predictable and/or routine
& connections; critique and/or use of Poor coverage of set topic only. No
personal examples 54321 attempt at application
5.2 Much wider reading than that Excellent Only reading set with topic or very
set for the topic Poor selected or no reading done
54321
/100

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 11) Weekly Summary

Week 1: 17 July 2023

Introduction and Orientation
Only one lecture this week

No reading for this week but it is important that you come to class ready to work through
your course outline and class expectations.

Week 2: 24 July 2023

Being Human

Ingold, T., 2018. Anthropology: why it matters, why it matters. Polity Press, Medford.,
Chapter 2: Similarity and Difference

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Reminder: Introductory Quiz due 28 July

Week 3: 31 July 2023

Incompleteness

Nyamnjoh, F.B., 2017. Incompleteness: Frontier Africa and the currency of conviviality.
Journal of Asian and African Studies, 52(3), pp.253-270.

Reminder: Referencing assignment due 6 August

Week 4: 7 August 2023

Problematizing Development
Only one lecture this week

Ferguson, James & Larry Lohman (1994) ‘The Anti-Politics Machine: “Development” and
Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho’ The Ecologist 24(5): 176-181

Week 5: 14 August 2023

Kinship, Community, Belonging, and Networks

What kinship is (part one) Marshall Sahlins (2011) University of Chicago

Ross, F. (2010). Raw Life New Hope: Decency, Housing, And Everyday Life In A Post-
Apartheid Community. Chapter 4: Relationships that count and how to count them.

Reminder: Research interest assignment due 27 August

Week 6: 21 August 2023

Narrative in Ethnography

Rodolfo Maggio, 2014. The anthropology of storytelling and the storytelling of anthropology

Georgina, D. (2015). Ethics in Anthropology. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=8ex51uXKgGU

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 Week 7: 28 August 2023
Making Life Hopeful and Buoyant

Ross, F. (2010). Raw Life New Hope: Decency, Housing, and Everyday Life In A Post-
Apartheid Community. Chapter 1: “Teen Die Pad, Die Bos.’

Hestia Victor (2019) “There is life in this place”: “DIY formalization,” buoyant life and
citizenship in Marikana informal settlement, Potchefstroom, South Africa, Anthropology
Southern Africa, 42:4, 302-315

Week 8: 4 September 2023

Language and Agency in Community

Deumert, A. and Vold Lexander, K. 2013. Texting Africa: Writing as performance. Journal
of Sociolinguistics, 17(4), pp. 522-546

Ditsele, T. and Mann, C.C. 2014. Language contact in African urban settings: The case of
Sepitori in Tshwane. South African Journal of African Languages, 34(2), pp. 159-165.

Reminder: Kinship assignment due 17 September

Week 9: 11 September 2023

Exam Prep

No new text, this week we will spend time on revision and doing a mock exam question.

Week 10: 9 October 2023

Multi-sited Ethnography

Marcus, G.E. 1995. Ethnography in/of the world system: the emergence of multi-sited
ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, pp. 95-117.

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Van Duijn, S. 2020. Everywhere and nowhere at once: the challenges of following in multi-
sited ethnography. Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 9(3), pp. 281-294

Reminder: final essay due 15 October

Week 11: 16 October 2023

Digital Ethnography

Miller, D. 2018. Digital Anthropology. In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology

(eds) F. Stein, S. Lazar, M.Candea, H. Diemberger, J. Robbins, A. Sanchez & R. Stasch.

Boellstorff, T. 2013. Rethinking digital anthropology. In: Horst, H.A. and Miller, D. eds.
Digital anthropology. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 39-60.

Week 12: 23 October 2023

Consultations and exam prep are to be arranged.

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