ANTH 216D CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY Winter 2010 MW 1400 - 1550; meets in HSS 111

INSTRUCTOR
Dr. Robin L. Smith
smithr@wou.edu
Phone: 838-8357
Office: HSS 209
Office Hours: MW 1600-1650, T 1400-1450; R 1400-1550

Note: If you have a disability that might require assistance or accommodations for any aspect of this course, please come and discuss this with me early in the term. You may also contact the Office of Disability Services, at 838-8250 V/TTY, for information about accessibility and accommodations.

DESCRIPTION
Cultural Anthropology is the scientific study of living peoples with the goal of explaining cultural similarities and differences among the diverse groups that compose humankind. In this course we will 1) explore the basic concepts and methods employed by anthropologists, 2) become familiar with several different cultures, 3) and be challenged to apply the insights of anthropology to contemporary problems at home and throughout the world.

TEXTS
Jolles, Carol Zane with Elinor Mikaghag Oozeva
2002 Faith, Food & Family in a Yupik Whaling Community. Seattle:University of Washington Press.

Yan, Yunxiang
2003 Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949-1999. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Barker, Holly M.
2004 Bravo for the Marshallese: Regaining Control in a Post-Nuclear, Post-Colonial World. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.

EVALUATION
1. PREPARATION & PARTICIPATION. Attendance and participation are mandatory. In order to participate, you must prepare by reading the assignments and taking notes on the main points in each chapter. These notes should summarize, in your own words, and apply terms and concepts from lectures to the information in the ethnographies. BRING YOUR NOTES TO CLASS ON DISCUSSION DAYS. BE PREPARED TO SHARE AND TURN IN. 25% total.

2. ESSAYS. Two formal essays are required. Each is a review essay based on one of the first two ethnographies that also incorporates information from a recent journal article and from lectures. Papers are due as indicated on the schedule; no late papers. Since the essay must reflect ideas presented in class and issues raised in discussion, take notes on lecture, discussion, and films. 25% each, 50% total.

More detailed information is provided in this Essay Guide.

3. FINAL EXAM. An essay style exam based on the third ethnography that incorporates specific terms and concepts presented in lecture as well as content of films and readings. 25%.

Grades are assigned using the following scale: A = 93-100, A- = 90-92; B+ = 87-89; B = 83-86; B- = 80-82; C+ = 77-79; C = 73-76; C- = 70-72; D+ = 67-69; D = 63-66; D- = 60-62; < 60 = F.

ACADEMIC CULTURE GUIDE

• You are responsible for a grade if your name remains on the Registrar's role past the last drop date, at the end of week 6.
• The "Incomplete" grade is reserved for the rare case in which the student was making satisfactory progress when documented circumstances beyond the student's control caused a significant but discrete portion of the course to remain unfinished at the end of dead week. If this applies to you, speak to me in person as soon as you become aware of a problem. You must negotiate and sign an Incomplete Contract to receive an I.
• I place a high value on academic honesty and expect my students to do the same.  Please ensure you understand the definition of academic dishonesty in the Code of Student Responsibility. I refer apparent cases of academic dishonesty to the Coordinator of Campus Judicial Affairs for ajudication. If you have any questions or concerns about how you have quoted, paraphrased or cited sources, seek my assistance before you submit your work.
  
• Please make wise use of email:
  • use your WOU email address.
  • use the subject line to identify the course and yourself:"ANTH 216 Last Name". 
  • DO NOT send written assignments by email unless specified in the assignment.
  • avoid sending email messages (to anyone) when angry or upset.
  • use office hours, not email, for requests for special accommodations
    
• Are you packing a cell phone? Please turn it off at the beginning of class and put it away for the duration of class.

GOALS
I hope that this brief introduction to the anthropological perspective will give you new insights into the many ways human groups enact and express their humanity. Here are some of the questions we will explore:

• What is anthropology and how is it different from other social sciences?
• What do cultural anthropologists do?
• What are some of the ways in which cultural anthropology has changed during the 20th century?
• What is culture?
• How is culture reproduced from generation to generation? How does it change?
• Why are most human groups strongly ethnocentric?
• What factors shape the differences in lifeways we see when different cultures are compared?
• How do human societies regulate their size and the behavior of their members?
• How do insider's and outsider's perspectives on human cultural behavior differ?
• What can or should anthropologists do to influence the direction of cultural change in the world today?
  

SCHEDULE
Part I: The Anthropologist and the "Other"

1 INTRODUCTIONS

Week 1A
Monday January 4
Lecture: The Anthropological Perspective
film: Franz Boas, 1852-1942

Week 1B
Wednesday January 6
Discussion: Jolles Chapters 1, 2, 3

2 WHY DO FIELDWORK?

Week 2A
Monday January 11
Lecture: The Anthropologist as Instrument

Week 2B
Wednesday January 13
Discussion: Jolles Chapters 4, 5, 6

3 INFRASTRUCTURE: PRODUCTION

Week 3A
Monday January 18 Martin Luther King Day / No Class

INSTEAD, Please go to WOU Online and read this:
Lecture: Model of Culture -- Infrastructure

Week 3B
Wednesday January 20
Discussion: Jolles Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10

4 INFRASTRUCTURE: REPRODUCTION

Week 4A
Monday January 25
Lecture: What good are children?

Week 4B
Wednesday January 27

*** ESSAY 1 Due NO LATER THAN 5:00 PM Friday Jan 29 ***

Thursday and Friday, January 28th & 29th
WHY THE ARCTIC MATTERS
A Community Symposium

Carol Zane Jolles will speak. I understand you have other classes and obligations, but if you can, attend Jolles's presentation and any others that look interesting.

Part II: The "Native" as Anthropologist

5 CHINA RISING

Week 5A
Monday February 1
Lecture:An Ancient Agricultural Tradition
Film: Please Vote for Me (58 min.)

Week 5B
Wednesday February 3
Discussion: Yan Chapters Preface, Intro, 1, 2, 3

6 KITH AND KIN

Week 6A
Monday February 8
Lecture: What good are relatives?
Kinship Jargon these are note on Chinese kinship
film: Small Happiness: Women of a Chinese Village (58 min.)

Week 6B
Wednesday February 10
Discussion: Yan Chapters 4, 5, 6

7 ECONOMICS

Week 7A
Monday February 15
Lecture: Production, Exchange, Consumption, Control
film: Wuxing Peoples Commune (57 min.)

Week 7B
Wednesday February 17
Discussion: Yan Chapters 7, 8, Conclusion

8 POLITICS

Week 8A
Monday February 22
Lecture: Why rule? Why accept rulers?

Week 8B
Wednesday February 24
Film: China Blue (86 min.)

*** ESSAY 2 Due NO LATER THAN 5:00 PM Friday Feb 26 ***

9 RELIGION
Week 9A
Monday March 1
Lecture: Beliefs and Believers
Film: The Navigators (59 min.)

Week 9B
Wednesday March 3
Discussion: Barker Chapters Preface, Intro, 1, 2, 3

Week 10A
Monday March 8
Discussion: Barker Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7

Week 10B
Wednesday March 10
Discussion: Barker Chapters 8, 9, 10, 11
film: Radio Bikini(56 min.)

11 EXAM WEEK

Friday 19 March
Final Exam 800 -- 950

Essay exam* based on goals for this course and the third ethnography, Bravo for the Marshallese.

*You must take the exam at the scheduled time unless you have written permission for an alternate time from the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.