Introduction to Anthropology
Core 6: Topics in Social and Behavioral Science
Spring 2003
MWF 10:00-10:50 AM
Instructor: Julian M. Murchison
Room: SH 221
Office: SH 346
Office Hours: MW 1:30-3:30, or by appointment
Email: murchjm@millsaps.edu
Phone: Ext. 1437
Contents:
Course Description
Required Texts
Course Objectives
Course Requirements
Class Policies
Class Schedule
Course
Description:
At its root, anthropology is about understanding human beings and developing human understanding. This means that anthropology involves the study of people — a study that is defined very broadly. Anthropological questions overlap with questions asked in biological and physical sciences, in social sciences, in humanities, and in fine arts. What sets anthropology apart from these other disciplines is anthropology’s unique focus on “culture.” However, even within anthropology there is a lot of debate about what culture entails. Throughout this course we will examine culture and its many different aspects.
This introductory course focuses on socio-cultural anthropology, one particular subfield of anthropology. Socio-cultural anthropology, also known as cultural anthropology, is distinguishable from the other subfields of anthropology (physical/biological anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology) primarily through its reliance on ethnography as a means of doing research and collecting data. Ethnography usually involves long-term intensive research with living people in a specific cultural context; this research relies as heavily on participation as it does on observation. Using specific ethnographic research as their basis, anthropologists develop theories that seek to explain similarities and differences in cultural phenomena around the world. This theorizing that builds on specific ethnographic data to develop broader, more generalized theories is called ethnology. In this course, you will encounter a variety of different ethnographic examples in readings, film, and lecture. We will use these examples as an entry point into the theories that socio-cultural anthropologists have developed to try to explain and understand human beings in all their diversity.
1) James Spradley and David McCurdy (eds.). Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology. Longman, 2002 (11th edition).
2) Beverly Newbold Chinas. La Zandunga: Of Fieldwork and Friendship in Southern Mexico. Waveland, 1993.
3) Virginia Domínguez. White by Definition: Social Classification in Creole Louisiana. Rutgers, 1986.
4) Philippe Bourgois. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge, 2003 (2nd edition).
5) Serena Nanda. Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India. Wadsworth, 1998 (2nd edition).
6) Kenneth Good with David Chanoff. Into the Heart: One Man’s Pursuit of Love and Knowledge Among the Yanomami. Longman, 1996.
Additional Reading:
Luke Eric Lassiter. “Evolution and the Critique of Race: A Short Story.” In Invitation to Anthropology. Altamira, 2002. pp. 9-35.
This course meets the Core 6 (Social and Behavioral Science) requirement. As part of the Core Curriculum, this course will provide the context for honing skills key to analytical and critical thinking. In this course, you will employ and develop the following Liberal Arts abilities:
1) Reasoning – Academic and scholarly endeavor is predicated on well-reasoned and well-informed critique and analysis. All activities in this class, from reading to class discussion to writing assignments, will necessarily depend on and continue to develop your reasoning abilities. You will be asked and expected to develop your own analyses and arguments through complex reasoning as well as to evaluate and to critique the analyses and arguments of others.
2) Communication – Engagement with ideas depends on communication in various forms. You must be able to communicate your own ideas and analyses to others and to respond to the work of your peers and others. In this course, communication will primarily take the form of class discussion and various written assignments. You will learn to work toward communicating the depth and complexity of your thought in a straightforward, understandable, and thought-provoking manner.
3) Quantitative Thinking – Throughout the course, we will discuss when and how numbers and statistics are useful for critical analysis and when and how we can usefully consider an individual or group to be representative of a larger whole.
4) Historical Consciousness – In order to understand human existence, we must understand culture as multifaceted and constantly changing. Specific cultural manifestations are the product of particular historical circumstances. Throughout this course we will examine the evolution of culture and cultural diversity in different contexts.
5) Global and Multi-Cultural Awareness – Technologies and economies mean that the world today is interconnected on many levels. However, we, in the United States, are often under-informed and unappreciative of the complex and rich histories and cultures of other areas of the world. This course will expose you to a wide variety of cross-cultural ethnographic examples and prompt you to think about your own position in society and the world as well as the positions of others.
1) Attendance and Participation (15%) You are required to attend class and to participate in class discussions and activities. Full understanding of many anthropological concepts requires engaging with them in an actively analytical and critical manner. You should be prepared to participate in both small-group and classwide discussions. Each piece in Conformity and Conflict is accompanied by review questions, and I will provide review questions for the other readings. I will ask you to answer and discuss these review questions in class, and your ability to answer will serve as a key indicator of your readiness and willingness to participate. You will be required to submit to me via email a personal evaluation of your class participation every three or four weeks. These personal evaluations will allow you to reflect on your own participation and assist me in determining participation grades at the end of the semester.
Each of you is allowed two unexcused absences before your attendance and participation grade begins to suffer. Tardiness is disruptive for the entire class and will negatively affect your attendance and participation grade. If I find that the class as a whole is having trouble keeping up with the readings, I will administer occasional pop quizzes to test you on the reading.
3) Ethnography Comparison Papers (20%) These papers are designed to get you to engage critically with the readings and other materials on a regular basis. Papers should be 900-1,200 words in length. The first paper will compare a particular aspect of the first two ethnographies we read (i.e., La Zandunga and White by Definition). The second paper will compare a particular aspect of the next two ethnographies we read (i.e., In Search of Respect and Neither Man nor Woman). I will provide you with a list of possible topics for each paper assignment. All references to the texts and any other sources should be properly cited. These papers will be graded primarily with respect to original, analytical, and critical thought. (N.B. These reaction papers should not be book reports or summaries. I will have read and engaged with the same materials and do not need it summarized). Papers will also be graded for grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Each reaction paper will count for 10% of your final grade.
4) Film Assignment (10%) During the course of the semester we will watch three films relevant to particular anthropological topics. You will write a short essay (600-800 words) explaining which of these films, in your opinion, is most appropriate and informative anthropologically and why. You should base your paper on direct comparison, providing examples from the film you have chosen as most appropriate as well as the other two films.
5) Final Ethnographic Project (25%) This ethnographic project is your chance to learn firsthand about something you are interested in but with which you may not have much experience. It is also your chance to apply the theories and concepts that we will discuss in class. For this project, you must choose an ethnographic setting outside of the Millsaps campus in which to do fieldwork. You will begin work on this project early in the semester and carry it through in several stages. The initial stage will involve submitting a prospectus or plan for research with a proposed research question, a plan for collecting information, and a list of at least three relevant scholarly sources. Later in the semester you will submit a progress report detailing the research you have done up to that point, what you plan to do, and how your research question may have changed. Along with this progress report you will also submit a copy of your fieldnotes. Finally, you will produce an ethnographic paper (1,800-2,400 words in length) describing your research and conclusions. This paper should include a bibliography with at least three relevant, scholarly anthropological sources. If you wish, you can consult with me about submitting this paper for inclusion in your writing portfolio.
5) Exams (30%) — There will be a midterm and a final exam. These exams will not be cumulative. The format will primarily be identification, short answer, and essay. Exams will cover readings, films, and classroom lectures and discussions. Each exam will count for 15% of your final grade.
N.B. We will discuss each of these assignments in more detail as the due dates approach.
The dates provided on this syllabus for the submission of assignments are deadlines. You should submit all assignments by the beginning of the class meeting on the date due. You should also keep a hard copy of all assignments and save them on disk for your own records. Late submissions will only be accepted at the discretion of the instructor and, if accepted, will be penalized half of a letter grade (5%) for each day late. If legitimate, unavoidable circumstances require you to seek an extension, make sure you consult with me about an extension as early as possible before the deadline. No work will be accepted after the final exam date.
If you miss class, for whatever reason (i.e., excused or unexcused, including due to late registration), you are responsible for making up any work. Talk to me and fellow students to find out what was covered, get notes, etc. You will not be allowed to make up an exam without a medical excuse or other information that makes it clear you had a valid reason for missing class on that day.
You are responsible for doing all of the reading on time. Read ahead if you can. If a reading assignment is listed for a particular day, that reading assignment should be completed prior to the class meeting on that day. In order for reading to be useful, you must comprehend and engage with the material. Therefore, reading involves more than simply passing your eyes over the text; it involves taking notes and thinking critically about the words on the page. Reading will provide the basis for class discussion and examination of key anthropological topics. You should come to class prepared to answer and discuss the review questions for that day’s readings.
If you have a question about a topic covered in the readings, class, or elsewhere, please do not hesitate to ask me about it. You are welcome to contact me over email or to come to see me in office hours, but I also encourage you to ask questions in class, where your classmates can benefit from your questions.
As students at Millsaps, you have all pledged to abide by the Millsaps Honor Code. I expect you to meet the high standards of academic honesty embodied in the Honor Code. Academic honesty is vital for our intellectual endeavors. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating are acts of dishonesty. If I find that a student has been academically dishonest, college policies require that I report the case to the academic dean for consideration by the Honor Council. Please take your responsibilities under the Honor Code very seriously. You should always submit your own original work for this class and cite all sources upon which you have drawn in developing papers and other projects. I will be unable to grade your work if you fail to provide proper citations. If you have questions about these issues, please see me.
If you are challenged with a learning disability, it is your responsibility to register with Student Services and to inform me of any allowances granted by the college. I will be happy to work with you to make sure that we arrange for the appropriate allowances.
Week 1 (1/13/03-1/17/03): What’s Anthropology All About?
Monday (1/13): Syllabus
Wednesday (1/15): Conformity and Conflict (C&C), 1-22
Friday (1/17): C&C, 23-45
Week 2 (1/20/03-1/24/03): Fieldwork and Relativism
Monday (1/20): La Zandunga, 3-68
Wednesday (1/22): La Zandunga, 69-121
Friday (1/24): La Zandunga, 122-175
Week 3 (1/27/03-1/31/03): Religion
Monday (1/27): C&C, 336-357
Wednesday (1/29): C&C, 358-381
Friday (1/31): Film, “Holy Ghost People”
Week 4 (2/3/03-2/7/03): Race/Ethnicity
Monday (2/3): C&C, 248-252, 270-289; Lassiter, 9-35; White by Definition, xiii-xv, 1-20
Wednesday (2/5): White by Definition, 21-90
Friday (2/7): White by Definition, 91-132
*ETHNOGRAPHY PROSPECTUS DUE*
SELF EVALUATION OF CLASS PARTICIPATION DUE BY 4:00 P.M.
Week 5 (2/10/03-2/14/03): Race/Ethnicity (cont.)
Monday (2/10): White by Definition, 133-148, 183-204
Wednesday (2/12): White by Definition, 205-278
Friday (2/14): IN-CLASS PAPER WRITING WORKSHOP
Week 6 (2/17/03-2/21/03): Kinship and Family
Monday (2/17): C&C, 212-226
Wednesday (2/19): C&C, 227-247
Friday (2/21):
*FIRST ETHNOGRAPHY COMPARISON PAPER DUE*
Week 7 (2/24/03-2/28/03): Language
Monday (2/24): C&C, 58-77
Wednesday (2/26): C&C, 78-103
Friday (2/28): MIDTERM EXAM
Week 8 (3/3/03-3/7/03): Politics and Economics
Monday (3/3): C&C, 300-335
Wednesday (3/5): C&C, 104-133, 158-169
Friday (3/7): C&C, 170-180; In Search of Respect, 1-76
SELF EVALUATION OF CLASS PARTICIPATION DUE BY 4:00 P.M.
SPRING BREAK!
Week 9 (3/17/03-3/21/03): Politics and Economics (cont.)
Monday (3/17): In Search of Respect, 77-113
Wednesday (3/19): In Search of Respect, 114-173
Friday (3/21): In Search of Respect, 174-258
*ETHNOGRAPHIC PROGRESS REPORT DUE*
Week 10 (3/24/03-3/28/03): Economics of Development
Monday (3/24): In Search of Respect, 259-317
Wednesday (3/26): In Search of Respect, 318-351
Friday (3/28): C&C, 134-157, 191-200; Film, “Southern Treasures”
Week 11 (3/31/03-4/4/03): Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
Monday (3/31): C&C, 248-269
Wednesday (4/2): Neither Man nor Woman, ix-xxi, 1-12
Friday (4/4): Neither Man nor Woman, 13-54
*FILM ASSIGNMENT DUE*
SELF EVALUATION OF CLASS PARTICIPATION DUE BY 4:00 P.M.
Week 12 (4/7/03-4/11/03): Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
Monday (4/7): Neither Man nor Woman, 55-112
Wednesday (4/9): Neither Man nor Woman, 113-158
Friday (4/11):
Week 13 (4/14/03-4/18/03): Sex, Gender, and Sexuality (cont.)
Monday (4/14): Into the Heart, vii-x, 1-47
Wednesday (4/16): Into the Heart, 49-87
*SECOND ETHNOGRAPHY COMPARISON PAPER DUE*
Friday (4/18): HOLIDAY!
Week 14 (4/21/03-4/25/03): Anthropological Ethics and Compassionate Anthropology
Monday (4/21): Into the Heart, 89-139
Wednesday (4/23): Into the Heart, 141-198
Friday (4/25): Into the Heart, 199-257
*FINAL ETHNOGRAPHIC PROJECT DUE*
SELF EVALUATION OF CLASS PARTICIPATION DUE BY 4:00 P.M.
FINAL EXAM, Thursday, May 1, 9:00 a.m.