Social and Cultural Anthropology subject report · May 2016

May 2016 extended essay reports Page 1 Social and cultural anthropology Overall grade boundaries Grade: E D C B A Mark range: 0 - 7 8 - 15 16 - 22 23 - 28 29 - 36 The range and suitability of the work submitted This May 2016 session has provided examples of essays at varying levels of achievement. Many candidates produced successful essays, well grounded in anthropological theory, concepts, readings and sources; applying appropriate theories and methodologies. However, a significant number of essays submitted were not anthropologi cally grounded, nor did the students present an anthropological approach. Most of these weaker essays did not present evidence of a background in the discipline. The fact that supervisors themselves appear to be unaware of the expectations and nature of this task, continues to be a concern. Senior examiners involved in EE assessment in Social and Cultural Anthropology continue to stress the recommendation of not encouraging students to write an essay in the discipline if they have not studied it. Too often an essay which shows evidence of hard work and sincere effort receives significantly lower marks than might have been expected by both the candidate and supervisor. The lack of a specific anthropological focus hinders an essay’s possibility of attaining high levels of achievement. Though the above mentioned is a recurring difficulty, it is also worth mentioning that this session also witnessed the production of successful essays which are the result of student engagement and effective supervisor support. S uch essays reveal insight into the selected topic and the skills necessary to produce a well -structured, focused and relevant investigation of a clearly stated research question. The most successful essays presented well informed topics solidly grounded i n anthropological theory and ethnographic readings. Timely issues were explored; globalization and modernity continue to produce interesting investigations, providing discussion on the local/global dynamics. These are the cases of an investigation on touri sm and commodification