Anthropology of Power: Lands, Peoples and Knowledges (12213.1)

Politics is conventionally defined as the practice of power. This unit introduces students to concepts of power in order to explain where those concepts came from. This is done, first, by focusing on land, then peoples, and lastly by the knowledges they produce. The focus is on why concepts of power, such as coloniality, ethics, capitalism, modernism, and the Anthropocene are generated, how they are used, and what can be done in relation to them from a Canberra-centric perspective.
Students will explore and apply theories from a range of disciplines including anthropology, sociology, politics, economics, law, and linguistics. Using these theories to deconstruct real-world situations will develop a deeper understanding of starkly different human realities, and how those realities produce nuanced cultures and systems of power.
The unit employs critical thinking and perspective taking for students to unfold the political tensions in the production of various sorts of power. Through this practice, students can choose to contest, ignore or use different powers, thereby providing key skills in analysis and communication for use in the student's future undertakings.

Learning outcomes

After successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Apply theories of power from contemporary humanities and social sciences to real world scenarios;
2. Differentiate systems of thought that diverse human cultures have manifested to articulate imbalances of power (e.g. colonial v. Indigenous);
3. Analyse key concepts in contemporary humanities and social sciences and link them to productions of power;
4. Maintain a philosophical dialogue on a current political event utilising a logic covered in the unit; and
5. Use one of the eight ways of learning from UC's Indigenising the Curriculum Framework in the dialogue assessment to exhibit cultural awareness of First Nations peoples.

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development
4. UC graduates are able to demonstrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing - use Indigenous histories and traditional ecological knowledge to develop and augment understanding of their discipline

Prerequisites

None.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

11243 Political and Social Theory

Assumed knowledge

None.