PastPaper.workedSolution
To construct a high-scoring essay, students should structure their response as follows:
1. **Introduction**:
- Clearly define the chosen key concept (either **materiality** or **symbolism**).
- Define the real-world issue: **forced displacement due to environmental degradation** (e.g., rising sea levels, desertification, extreme weather events).
- State the chosen area of inquiry (e.g., *Movement, time and space* or *Belonging*) and introduce the central ethnographic case study (e.g., ethnographies of Pacific Islanders facing sea-level rise like Tuvalu or Kiribati, or displaced indigenous groups due to deforestation/climate shifts).
- State a clear thesis: for example, that focusing on *materiality* reveals how the physical loss of land and infrastructure dismantles social relations and cultural continuity, or that *symbolism* illustrates how environmental displacement is experienced as a cosmic or ontological disruption rather than just a physical move.
2. **Conceptual Framework**:
- If **materiality** is chosen: Discuss how material environments, landscapes, and objects are not merely backdrops to human life but are active participants in constructing social identities, memories, and agency (drawing on theorists like Daniel Miller or Tim Ingold).
- If **symbolism** is chosen: Discuss how landscapes and physical environments are imbued with symbolic meaning, ancestral presence, and cosmology (drawing on theorists like Clifford Geertz or Victor Turner).
3. **Ethnographic Analysis**:
- Utilize specific ethnographic details to ground the argument. For instance, using Heather Lazrus's work on Tuvalu, or Susie Crate's research on the Viliui Sakha in Siberia.
- Show how the selected concept directly helps illuminate the lived experience of displacement. For example, explain how the physical melting of permafrost (materiality) alters the very path of seasonal migration and cattle herding, which in turn fractures community kinship structures. Alternatively, discuss how the submergence of ancestral burial grounds under water (symbolism) represents a catastrophic break in genealogical connection and spiritual belonging.
4. **Critical Discussion and Synthesis**:
- Compare the anthropological perspective with non-anthropological viewpoints (e.g., purely economic or policy-driven models that treat displaced persons merely as statistical 'climate refugees' or demographic units).
- Discuss the ethical and political dimensions: how does focusing on materiality or symbolism empower or marginalize displaced voices in international climate negotiations?
5. **Conclusion**:
- Synthesize the main points, restating how the chosen concept deepens our understanding of the profound cultural crises underlying physical displacement.
PastPaper.markingScheme
### Markbands for Paper 2 Section A (15 Marks)
**[13–15 Marks]**
- **Knowledge and Understanding**: Demonstrates outstanding, detailed, and nuanced knowledge and understanding of both the chosen area of inquiry and the real-world issue of environmental displacement.
- **Application and Analysis**: The selected concept (materiality or symbolism) is seamlessly and powerfully integrated to analyze the real-world issue. The essay shows highly sophisticated critical thinking.
- **Use of Ethnography**: Ethnographic material is highly relevant, rich in detail, and exceptionally well-integrated to support the argument.
- **Evaluation**: Offers an excellent, well-structured evaluation, potentially considering theoretical limitations, ethical issues, or alternative interpretations.
**[10–12 Marks]**
- **Knowledge and Understanding**: Demonstrates good, detailed knowledge and understanding of the area of inquiry and the real-world issue of environmental displacement.
- **Application and Analysis**: The chosen concept is applied effectively and consistently to analyze the issue, though some analytical paths could be further developed.
- **Use of Ethnography**: Uses relevant and clear ethnographic material to support the main points.
- **Evaluation**: Includes explicit evaluation or critical reflection, though it may not be fully sustained throughout.
**[7–9 Marks]**
- **Knowledge and Understanding**: Demonstrates clear understanding of the area of inquiry and the real-world issue, but descriptions may occasionally overshadow critical analysis.
- **Application and Analysis**: The chosen concept is applied to the real-world issue, but the connection is sometimes superficial or lacks depth.
- **Use of Ethnography**: Relevant ethnographic material is presented, but its application is more descriptive than analytical.
- **Evaluation**: Limited or superficial evaluation.
**[4–6 Marks]**
- **Knowledge and Understanding**: Shows basic knowledge of the area of inquiry or the real-world issue, with significant gaps or misunderstandings.
- **Application and Analysis**: Minimal or highly descriptive application of the chosen concept.
- **Use of Ethnography**: Ethnographic references are vague, highly generalized, or lack direct relevance to the question.
**[1–3 Marks]**
- **Knowledge and Understanding**: Minimal understanding of the task. The essay is highly disorganized and lacks clear reference to anthropological concepts, areas of inquiry, or relevant ethnographic material.
**[0 Marks]**
- The work does not reach any of the standards described above.