AN2400,
Fall 2003
Principles of
Culture
This course is an introduction to the basic concepts, theoretical approaches, and methodological strategies employed in the study of traditional and contemporary sociocultural systems throughout the world. Attention will be given to research techniques and the insights derived from detailed case studies and cross-cultural comparisons. We will read some of the liveliest anthropological scholarship spanning the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. Our discussions of these works will be complemented by films, activities, and a few demonstrations.
Required Course Readings
Hurston, Zora
Neal. 1935. Mules and Men. New York,
NY: Harper Perrenial.
Powdermaker, Hortense.
1966. Stranger and Friend. New York, NY: W.W. Norton
& Company.
Turner, Edith. 1992. Experiencing Ritual: A New Interpretation of
African Healing. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Nanda, Serena. 1999. Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India. Second Edition. New York, NY: Wadsworth
Publishing Company.
Holtzman, Jon. 2000. Nuer Journeys, Nuer Lives: Sudanese Refugees in Minnesota. Boston,
MASS: Allyn and Bacon.
Also, On Reserve: Anthropology and Humanism
Volume 27, Number 1 (June 2002). Special Issue: Conflict at the Center of
Ethnography. Pp. 3-59.
Grading (See Grading Key for
complete instructions)
Attendance 20% Essay
Two 20%
Reading
Proofs 20% Essay
Two 20%
Exercises 20%
Attendance (20% of grade)
Your
presence and participation are essential to the quality of the experience for
others as well as yourself. Your attendance grade will be based on the number
of days you are absent, calculated as points missed on a one-hundred
percent scale. For example, if you attended 23 of 26 classes you would have 88
½% for your attendance grade, which would be about 18 out of 20 possible
points for this portion of your grade. You are allowed one excused absence
only, with fully documented, appropriate excuse. Additional excused absences
will be fully at my discretion (conference attendances are encouraged but only
one can be used for an excused absence; additional conferences, family trips,
alternative speakers or venues are your choice and will be tolerated but not
excused).
Reading Proofs (20% of
grade)
There
will be no formal examinations in this class. However, I do expect you to come
prepared to each class, having carefully read the assigned readings. You will
be asked at each class to spend five minutes (and no more) writing an answer to
a question (or two) I will pose. Your ability to answer these questions will of
course depend on your having done the reading. You will get a 0 for the day if
it is clear that you havenÕt read. You will get a 1 for the day if you have,
and a high pass (1.2) if your answer reflects a great deal of thoughtfulness.
Your reading proofs grade will be calculated like your attendance grade, but in
this case your high passes will allow you to get more than 20% of the spread to
boost your overall grade.
Exercises (20% of grade)
There
will be periodic small assignments relating to the topics we are covering. Many
of these will be accomplished in class, although some will require work outside
of class time. Combined, they will account for 20% of your overall grade.
Essay One (20% of grade)
Using
the books we have read so far, write an essay on the topic of your choice.
Suggestions will be given on a handout.
Essay Two (20% of grade)
Using
the books and articles from the second half of the course, write an essay on
the topic of your choice. Suggestions will be given on a handout.
Citation
method for essays: Include a bibliography for anything you cite. When you cite, quote,
or paraphrase in text, put an in-text citation in parentheses (authorÕs last
name, date, page number if a direct quote). It looks like this: (Straight 1997) for
citation or paraphrase, (Straight 1997: 37) for direct quote. You should always
cite when you are drawing upon someoneÕs research or ideas. If you conduct any
of your own interviews, you should create pseudonyms for your respondents and
cite quotations from those interviews like this (Miller interview, 2002).
Academic Integrity: You are responsible for
making yourself aware of and understanding the
policies and procedures in the Undergraduate Catalog (pp. 268-269)/Graduate
Catalog (pp. 26-27) that pertain to academic integrity. These policies include
cheating, fabrication, falsification
and
forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. If
there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you
will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the
opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe
you
are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should
consult with me if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior
to the submission of an assignment or test.
Bilinda
StraightÕs
Grading Key
All
letter grades are converted into a quantitative grade and quantitative grades
into a qualitative grade for the semester (see key below). All quantitative
semester grades are multiplied by the percentage of the spread they represent.
Thus, if attendance is worth 20% of the grade, it would be calculated as
follows: If you were absent 3 times out of 30 total class days, you would be
counted as absent 3 times. Three out of 30 is 10 percent absence, or 90%
presence. So you have a 90 on attendance, multiplied by 20% of the spread,
gives you 18. All grades thus calculated are added together to equal the total
percentage out of one hundred. Your
semester grade is then calculated as per the key below. Using this key and
instructions, you can keep track of your own grade as the semester progresses,
but always feel free to ask me for assistance in calculating it.
Grade Scale for Final Grades
97-100 A+
94-96 A
87-93 BA
84-86 B
77-83 CB
74-76 C
67-73 DC
60-66 D
below 60 E
Course schedule
Remember, as John Lennon
said, life is what happens while you're making other plans.
As Buddha said, change is
inherent in the universe.
Like everything, this
schedule is subject to change. Indeed, the only contract for readings I will
make here is that you will indeed read what follows. I reserve the right to add
readings as we go (though itÕs not likely).
Week One: 8/28
Topics: Overview of course (10
minutes). Introduction to Sub-Fields of Anthropology (10
minutes).
Activities: Film: Papua New Guinea:
Anthropology on Trial.
Week Two: 9/2
and 9/4
Topics: Overview of fieldwork methods,
ÒcultureÓ concept and cultural relativism, early evolutionist perspectives, preliminary
discussion of HurstonÕs book.
Activity: Reading Dr. SeussÕs ÒThe Sneetches.Ó
Reading: Zora
Neal Hurston—Read the Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Chapters One through
Four this week (through p. 75).
Week Three: 9/9 and 9/11
Topics: Franz Boas, anthropology,
gender, and race in the US during HurstonÕs era; language, fieldwork, and
ethnographic writing in context of HurstonÕs book.
Tuesday Activity: Card game (race concept).
Thursday Activity: Transcribing a spoken
story excerpt with dialogue
Reading: Zora
Neal Hurston, Chapters Five through Ten (through p. 179, end of Part I).
Week Four: 9/16 and 9/18
Topics: Colonialism; Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown,
and British anthropology (functionalism, structural-functionalism); discussion
of PowdermakerÕs book
Reading: Hortense
Powdermaker, Preface through Chapter Eight (pp.
9-99).
Week Five: 9/23 and 9/25
Topics: Anthropology of exchange;
discussion of PowdermakerÕs book
Tuesday Activity: Marriage Game (with
moieties, cross-cousin marriage)—20 minutes
Thursday Activity: Cost/benefit, Òrational
choiceÓ prestige game (with Hershey Kisses)—20 minutes
Reading: Hortense
Powdermaker, Chapters Nine through Eighteen (pp.
100-198)
Week Six: 9/30 and 10/2
Topics: Comparison between Hurston
and Powdermaker on doing fieldwork in the ÒnegroÓ
south, colonialism, gender, and race issues re-visited, responses to Powdermaker
Reading: Hortense
Powdermaker, Chapters Nineteen through Epilogue (pp.
199-306).
Week Seven: 10/7 and 10/9
Topics: Approaches to conflict,
conflict in fieldwork experience, critical approaches to reading and writing
anthropology (Tues); Confict cont.; Intro to symbolic
approaches, aesthetics (Thurs)
Reading: Anthropology and Humanism,
pp. 3-59 (on reserve).
Week Eight: 10/14 and 10/16
Topics: Victor Turner and symbolic
approaches to anthropology, art and aesthetics
Activities: Material Culture
Demonstrations (Thursday)
Reading: Edith Turner, Preface
through Chapter Two (pp. xi-53).
ESSAY ONE
DUE OCTOBER 14th IN CLASS
Week Nine: 10/21 and 10/23
Topics: Rationality arguments,
problem of belief, discussion of film (Thurs)
Activities: Film: Inventing Reality
(Tues).
Reading: Edith Turner, Chapters
Three and Four (pp. 54-102).
Week Ten: 10/28 and 10/30
Topics: Phenomenological and
experiential approaches, religion, belief
Activities: Ritual (with write-up
assignment)
Reading: Edith Turner, Chapters
Five through Coda (pp. 103-180).
For Next Tuesday: Gendering in Television
Ads Assignment (virtual handout)
Week Eleven: 11/4 and 11/6
Topics: Gender: critical
approaches
Tuesday Activity: Gendering in
television ads assignment discussion
Thursday Activity: Film Shorts: ÒXXXYÓ and
ÒNo Dumb QuestionsÓ
Reading: Serena Nanda, Chapters One
through Six (pp. 1-82).
Week Twelve: 11/11 and 11/13
Topics: Gender and transgender
Tuesday Activity: Film, ÒParadise BentÓ
Reading: Serena Nanda, Chapters
Seven through Epilogue (pp. 83-158).
Week
Thirteen: 11/18 NO CLASS 11/20 (Anthro Mtgs)
Topics: Globalization and
inequality, issues in economic development
Activities: Refugee Exercise
Reading: Jon Holtzman,
Chapters One and Two (pp. 1-27).
Week
Fourteen: 11/25 NO CLASS 11/27 (Thanksgiving)
Topics: Refugee issues,
anthropology of peace and war
Tuesday Activity: Debate
Reading: Chapters Three and Four
(pp. 29-70).
Week Fifteen: 12/2 and 12/4
Topics: Applied anthropology on
Tuesday; Review of Course and concluding discussions on Thursday
Reading: Chapters Five through
Seven (pp. 71-135).
ESSAY TWO
DUE FINALS WEEK