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Social/Cultural Anthropology - ANTH 3 Las Positas College Spring 2009 V01 - MW 11:00 - 12:15 PM, room 2203 [CRN: 31249] Instructor: Lauren Wells Hasten Email: lhasten@laspositascollege.edu (please put "ANTH 3" in the subject field) Office phone: 925-424-1210; please use email for urgent messages. Office hours: M, T, W: 12:30 - 1:30 PM, room 2411 C ** also available by appointment**
Important Dates: 2/8 - Last day for NGR; 2/20 - Last day for C/NC; 4/10 - Last day for "W".
Click here to jump to class schedule. Welcome to Cultural Anthropology. This is an introductory course in the study of human cultures, viewed through a lens that sees gender, class, and identity as implicit in all human relations. We'll explore the political history of cultural anthropology so we can use it responsibly to ask questions about the relationship between doing research and creating change in the real world. While traditional anthropology has sought to categorize and typify those who are different from us (the "other," i.e., Samoans, Trobriand Islanders, the Nuer), we'll try turning the analysis on ourselves; one cannot understand the "other" until one knows oneself. This is a class of student researchers, not simply a group of passive learners. You will all be working during the course of this term to produce your own original ethnographic research, not simply learning facts out of a textbook. You absolutely must complete a term project (the mini-ethnography) in order to pass this class. Students are expected to read the assigned pages for the week and log onto Blackboard to take the corresponding quiz before coming to class. More than 13% of your grade will be based on class participation, and you cannot contribute to the conversation if you have not done the reading. Success in this class depends upon: (1) your consistent and on-time attendance; (2) your successful completion of weekly online quizzes; (3) your informed participation in class discussions; (4) your submission of three written assignments; and (5) your performance on midterm and final examinations. It is important to keep up with your assignments and come to class prepared to participate. Plagiarism and cheating are serious academic offenses. Any time you provide information that is not common knowledge, you must tell the reader where you obtained it; if you do not, you have committed plagiarism. Plagiarism or cheating of any kind on any assignment will result in a grade of F on that assignment and a deduction of three times its point value from your total score; furthermore, plagiarism on any part of a multi-part assignment will result in the loss of any opportunity to complete that assignment. All instances of cheating or plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Students and noted on the student's academic record.
Class Policies: • No late papers or make-up exams will be granted except in cases of extreme need or emergency. • Regular attendance is required; I reserve the right to drop any student for poor attendance. • You must arrive on time and remain seated until the class is over. Students who consistently arrive late and/or leave early will be counted as absent and dropped from the class. • You must inform me in advance if you anticipate that you will be leaving early; please take a seat close to the exit so as not to distract your fellow students. • Once you have arrived in class you are expected to remain seated for the duration. Students who sign the attendance sheet and then leave without informing me will be counted as absent. • Films are required viewing; attendance is mandatory and notes should be taken. • All cell phones must be turned off during class time. • Any student who arrives for an exam after other students have taken it and left the room will not be allowed to take it. • Sleeping in class will not be tolerated; please stay home if you are that tired. • NO EXTRA CREDIT WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED. ************************************************************************************ There are no books to purchase. All required readings are available through LPC's Blackboard website; paper copies are also available in a coursepak on reserve at the LPC library. Please do your reading before coming to class. ************************************************************************************ Grading:
1. Weekly Online Quizzes (26% of your grade) Your instructor would prefer to have a discussion with you, rather than lecture to you. In order for productive discussions to occur, you must do the reading. Please make sure that you have read the texts assigned for that week's discussion before coming to class. Once you have done the reading for the week, you must log onto Blackboard, access the site for the course, and take the online quiz for the week. You will have only one opportunity to complete the quiz and you must complete it once you have begun, so do not open the quiz until you have completed the assigned reading! All quizzes must be completed by the beginning of class on the day they are due. All online quizzes will be composed of a random assortment of four multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and true-false questions. Each question will be worth 1/2 point for 2 points per week and a total of 30 points (26%) toward your final grade.
2. In-Class Participation (13% of your grade) You are required to speak in this class, and it is difficult to do well without doing so. Anthropology is impossible without dialogue, as is serious scholarship of virtually any kind. The surest way to learn something is to talk it over with someone else, which is the whole point and purpose of attending classes. Reading can be done alone, but change requires human interaction. Secondarily, the course will be a bore for everyone if the only one talking is your instructor. So do the reading, take the online quiz, and be sure to have at least one relevant thing to contribute to the class discussion each and every week. You can earn up to 15 points (13% of your final grade) through class participation, which is absolutely essential if you intend to earn an A or a B in this course.
3. Term Project - The Mini-Ethnography -- CLICK ON THIS! (Three parts worth a total of 26% of your grade) The best way to understand how anthropology works is by doing it; the it is ethnography -- learning firsthand about a culture and then writing about it. What better place to start than right here in your own world? There is no doubt that wherever you live or work, you are already in a complex community with an evolving story. How can you characterize your city? What makes it run -- or keeps it from running? What binds its communities together -- or keeps them apart? What do people do for a living? What do they do to survive? How do they feel about the world, about their jobs, about college, about anything? Whatever topic you choose, you will be conducting legitimate, constructive research, and you will be the first to do it. And since no one before you has written on the subject, there will be no one to disagree with you -- you'll be a pathbreaker! Early in the term, you'll be asked to find a culture different from your own to investigate through anthropological methods including participant observation and interviews. You'll need to do library research to make sure that you can relate parts of your work to existing scholarship, and you'll briefly outline your strategy for researching the topic you intend to discuss. Once your research plan has been approved you may commence fieldwork. Be sure to keep a journal of fieldnotes to refer to when you sit down to write your ethnography; I will collect and evaluate your fieldnotes about midway through the term. Later, you will have the option to submit a "free" outline or first draft for pre-grading feedback. Your final paper, a 10 page minimum mini-ethnography, will be DUE IN PERSON, IN CLASS at the LAST CLASS MEETING -- NO EXCEPTIONS . **There is a film option available to students who are registered in PHOT 58, have previously taken PHOT 58 or an equivalent course, or can demonstrate proficiency in filmmaking and video editing through the submission and subsequent approval of a sample project. Your instructor reserves the right to deny any student this option on any basis.** Click below for grading rubrics. Use them as guides for preparing your submissions. Print them out and attach them to the front page of the corresponding assignment as you submit it. Part Two: Interview Notes/Clips Part Three: The Final Paper OR The Final Film ** CLICK HERE FOR AN A+ SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER!** ** CLICK HERE FOR A B+ SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER!**
4. Exams (Midterm and Final Exams: 35% of your grade) Midterm and final examinations are predominantly short answers; the final examination focuses exclusively on material covered after the midterm exam.
(34 Classes over 18 Weeks) **A MORE SPECIFICALLY DETAILED COURSE SYLLABUS, ALL REQUIRED READINGS, AND ALL WEEKLY ONLINE QUIZZES ARE POSTED ON LPC'S BLACKBOARD WEBSITE. ** **READINGS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE IN A COURSEPAK ON RESERVE AT THE LPC LIBRARY.**
WEEK 1: Syllabus and Course Requirements.
WEEK 2: What is Anthropology? The Anthropological Perspective. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism.
WEEK 3:What is Culture? Enculturation. Film: Masai of Kenya: Masai Women
WEEK 4: How do Anthropologists Study Culture? Ethnography. Film: How Cultures are Studied Ethnography Proposal Due THIS WEEK at the second class meeting -- Click Here for a Grading Rubric to Attach to Your Submission
WEEK 5: Interpretivist and Cultural Materialist Approaches
WEEK 6: Theory of Cultural Materialism. Modes of Production. Sustainability, Property Rights, and the Division of Labor.
WEEK 7: Theory of Cultural Materialism, cont'd. Social Hierarchy, Extensive vs. Intensive Strategies, Entitlements. Film: The Sakkudei of Indonesia
WEEK 8: Fieldwork among Foragers
WEEK 9: Midterm Review and MIDTERM EXAM
WEEK 10: Reproduction and Marriage
WEEK 11: Kinship, Descent, and Inheritance
WEEK 12: Consumption and Exchange Interview Notes Due THIS WEEK at the second class meeting (notes from a minimum total of 5 hours of one-on one interviews with at least three different informants) -- Click Here for a Grading Rubric to Attach to Your Submission
WEEK 13: Government and Social Control
WEEK 14: Religion - Rituals and Rites of Passage Film: Love in the Sahel
WEEK 15: Religion - Taboo and Initiation Optional Outline or Draft due THIS WEEK.
**Online: The *Proto-Indo-European Language Family **Online: Indo-European Language Classification **Online: Indo-European Language Features and Cognates
WEEK 17: Current Trends Film: The Future of Food
WEEK 18: Review for Final Exam. **FINAL PAPER DUE AT THE LAST CLASS MEETING, IN CLASS AND IN PERSON.** **Click Here for a Grading Rubric to Attach to Your Submission.**
THE LAST DAY OF CLASSES FOR THE SPRING SEMESTER IS THURSDAY, 5/21. FINALS BEGIN FRIDAY, 5/22!
FINAL EXAM: 3 V01 (MW) -- Friday, May 22, *9:30 AM*
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Social/Cultural Anthropology Links - still under construction; here's a start. Please submit links! The Textbook Companion Site to Barbara D. Miller's Cultural Anthropology - Until the website to accompany the new 4th edition of the textbook appears, I'll continue to post this link to the review site for the previous edition. Use it to review topics and study for exams. Important Contributors to the Science of Cultural Anthropology - Photos and brief descriptions of some of the most important names in anthropology.
Ethnography: The AAA Code of Ethics - an absolute must read for every ethnographer. The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - An Ethnographic Web Site by Patty Gray
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