ASS329 - Anthropology of Crime and Violence
Unit details
| Year | 2025 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 1: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online, Community Based Delivery (CBD)* |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Unit Chair: | Trimester 1: Gillian Tan |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Corequisite: | Nil |
| Incompatible with: | ASS229 |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour on-campus lecture per week 1 x 1-hour on-campus seminar per week |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour online lecture per week (recordings provided) 1 x 1-hour online seminar per week |
| Typical study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site. |
Note:*Community Based Delivery (CBD): only for students of the National Indigenous Knowledges, Education, Research and Innovation NIKERI Institute (located at the Waurn Ponds campus) | |
Content
Violence and crime, their forms and controls, are fundamental to human social existence and are central to theories regarding the nature of humanity, society and the state. The anthropology of crime and violence addresses these points from a comparative cross-cultural perspective. Emphasis is given to the situational nature of violence and human conflict with case studies of warfare, state-based violence, genocide and ethnic conflict.
A key proposition in this unit is that attempts to define human violence as an aspect of a transcendental human nature -- an element of humanity as a whole -- tend to conflate specific instances with laboratory-like definitions. Instead, the particular social, cultural and historical situations must be grasped in all their complexity. Attention is also given to different forms of social collectives including the modern bureaucratic State.
Learning Outcomes
| ULO | These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can: | Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs) |
|---|---|---|
| ULO1 | Articulate specific instances of crime and violence from an anthropological perspective, and compare these with other approaches in the social sciences | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities |
| ULO2 | Understand factors that underlie specific examples of violence in various cultural and social contexts | GLO2: Communication GLO7: Teamwork |
| ULO3 | Judge the various factors that may underlie human violence in Western and non-Western contexts | GLO4: Critical thinking |
| ULO4 | Assess different forms of violence as well as different systems of social collectives, with a critical focus on the State | GLO4: Critical thinking GLO5: Problem-solving |
Assessment
| Assessment Description | Student output | Grading and weighting (% total mark for unit) | Indicative due week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1 - Research and Writing Exercise | 800 words or equivalent | 20% | Week 4 |
| Assessment 2 - Group Presentation | 800 words or equivalent | 20% | Week 10 |
| Assessment 3 - Major Essay | 2400 words or equivalent | 60% | Week 11 |
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
Learning resource
The texts and reading list for ASS329 can be found via the University Library.
Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Unit Fee Information
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current Students website.