IB Group 3 · Individuals and Societies
Social and Cultural Anthropology
2019 syllabus · First assessment 2019
The comparative study of culture and human societies. A prescribed spine (the nine key concepts, the ethnographic method and ethics, anthropological theories and six big questions) plus all nine areas of inquiry and the fieldwork IA. Ethnographies are teacher-chosen, so examples are labelled illustrative, and HL-only content is clearly split.
0. How the course works
Anthropology is the comparative study of culture and human societies: making the strange familiar and the familiar strange. Start here for the three parts, the nine key concepts, the six big questions and how SL and HL are assessed.
COURSE — Nature, aims and structure
AN_AB_1 · Nature of the subject — The comparative study of culture and human societies; moving from what makes humans different to what makes us human; why ethnography is not anthropology.
AN_AB_2 · Aims and assessment objectives — The five course aims and the four assessment objectives (knowledge/understanding, application/analysis, synthesis/evaluation, and selection/use of skills).
AN_AB_3 · The three parts and how they connect — Part 1 (engaging with anthropology, the toolkit), Part 2 (engaging with ethnography, applying it) and Part 3 (engaging in practice, the IA), and how Part 1 threads through Part 2.
FRAME — Concepts and questions
AN_AB_4 · The nine key concepts — An overview of belief and knowledge, change, culture, identity, materiality, power, social relations, society and symbolism, and how they weave through the whole course.
AN_AB_5 · The six big anthropological questions — The six universal questions that underpin the course and frame Paper 1, and how ethnography helps students reflect on them.
ASSESS — Assessment
AN_AB_6 · Assessment at a glance — Paper 1, Paper 2 and the internal assessment: their weightings, durations and what each covers, and how SL and HL differ.
1. Part 1: Engaging with anthropology
The prescribed toolkit examined mainly in Paper 1: the language of anthropology (key concepts), the practice of anthropology (method and ethics), anthropological thinking (theories), the six big questions, and the HL ethics extension.
LANG — The language of anthropology
AN_P1_1 · Key concepts and how they thread the course — What the key concepts do: a shared framework, not a straitjacket, always explored through ethnographic material and across the areas of inquiry.
AN_P1_2 · The nine key concepts (I) — Belief and knowledge, change, culture, identity and materiality: defined and illustrated as anthropological tools.
AN_P1_3 · The nine key concepts (II) — Power, social relations, society and symbolism: defined and illustrated as anthropological tools.
AN_P1_4 · Inquiry-specific concepts — What inquiry-specific concepts are and how they sit under the key concepts within each area of inquiry.
PRAC — The practice of anthropology
AN_P1_5 · The ethnographic method and participant observation — The signature method of the discipline; the position of the observer; how the strange becomes familiar and the familiar strange.
AN_P1_6 · Fieldwork methods and data — Gathering, interpreting and presenting ethnographic data, and how the methods chosen relate to the anthropologist's theoretical perspective.
AN_P1_7 · Research ethics — Informed consent, reflexivity, power and representation, and avoiding harm: why ethics is central to anthropological practice.
THINK — Anthropological thinking (theories)
AN_P1_8 · What anthropological theory is — Things to think about (areas of inquiry) versus things to think with (theories and concepts); how theory frames analysis and ethnography feeds theory.
AN_P1_9 · Classic theories — Evolutionism, historical particularism, functionalism, structuralism, symbolic theories and Marxism, grounded in ethnography (illustrative, not prescribed).
AN_P1_10 · Contemporary theories — Neo-Marxism, feminist theories, practice theory, post-structuralism, postmodernism, post-colonial theories and globalization theories (illustrative, not prescribed).
BIGQ — The big questions and Paper 1
AN_P1_11 · The big questions and Paper 1 — How the six big questions are used across the course and assessed in Paper 1, and how Paper 1 is structured (unseen text plus a big-question response).
HLETH — HL extension: ethics
AN_P1_12 · HL extension: anthropological ethics — The HL depth on anthropological ethics and the Paper 1 Section B question based on a visual or written stimulus.
2. Part 2: Engaging with ethnography (the nine areas of inquiry)
The nine areas of inquiry, in three groups, examined in Paper 2. SL studies three areas (one per group), HL studies four. Each area is taught through the key concepts and real-world issues, using ethnographies chosen by your school.
P2INTRO — How Part 2 works
AN_P2_0 · Areas, groups and Paper 2 — The nine areas in three groups; SL studies three (one per group), HL studies four; making connections (a key concept, an area and a real-world issue); how Paper 2 Sections A and B work, with the HL difference.
CLASS — Classifying the world
AN_P2_1_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_1_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
HEALTH — Health, illness and healing
AN_P2_2_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_2_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
BODY — The body
AN_P2_3_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_3_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
BELONG — Belonging
AN_P2_4_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_4_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
COMM — Communication, expression and technology
AN_P2_5_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_5_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
MOVE — Movement, time and space
AN_P2_6_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_6_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
CONFL — Conflict
AN_P2_7_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_7_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
DEV — Development
AN_P2_8_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_8_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
PEC — Production, exchange and consumption
AN_P2_9_1 · Scope and inquiry-specific concepts — What this area covers and its inquiry-specific concepts.
AN_P2_9_2 · Key concepts, debates and the exam — How the key concepts apply, the main debates and real-world issues, and how the area is examined (illustrative ethnographies labelled as examples).
3. Part 3: Engaging in anthropological practice (the internal assessment)
The experiential internal assessment: doing anthropology through fieldwork. SL completes limited fieldwork across four activities; HL completes full fieldwork across three activities.
DOING — Doing anthropology
AN_P3_1 · What fieldwork and experiential practice is — The observer's position, selecting and interpreting methods, gathering and reflecting on data, and ethics in the field.
IA — The internal assessment
AN_P3_2 · SL internal assessment — The four SL activities: observation report; methodological and conceptual extension of initial fieldwork; second fieldwork data collection and analysis; critical reflection.
AN_P3_3 · HL internal assessment — The HL fieldwork activities: the fieldwork proposal form; critical reflection; and the research report and reflection.
AN_P3_4 · How the IA is marked — The assessment criteria and what strong anthropological practice looks like, with the SL and HL differences noted.
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