Anth 300D. Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology

Spring 2008. Professor Jane Adams

MWF 3:00-3:50 Faner 3515

Office Hours: MWF 10 a.m. -11:30 a.m., 4:00-4:30 p.m.

Website: http://www.siu.edu/~anthro/adams/

Course Description: Sociocultural anthropology is the broadest of the social sciences, studying all aspects of human social life on scales ranging from small, face-to-face communities to global flows of people, technologies, and ideas. Anthropology developed as a discipline in the 19^th century, developing new intellectual tools to comprehend the diversity of human societies that were being incorporated into European empires and trade networks. This course is both an intellectual history of the theories through which anthropologists have made sense of this world, and an engagement with the ethnographic work of the past century. When you have completed the course you will be acquainted with the major ideas and methods that have animated the profession and some classic ethnographic studies, and as well as some major contemporary debates among anthropologists.

Textbbooks:

Paul A. Erickson and Liam D. Murphy, A History of Anthropological Theory, Second Edition. Broadview Press, 2003 [HISTORY]

Introduction to Socio-cultural Anthropology. Compiled by Jane Adams [READER]

Readings from JSTOR, and as noted. (NOTE: Readings may be slightly revised. Stay alert for changes on the course web site: http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/~jadams/300d/Syllabus300dSp08.pdf

Grading:

1)      Attendance: The content of this course requires student participation. Attendance is therefore critical. Students are required to attend all classes. You are allowed three (3) absences without penalty. You will lose 1/3 (one-third) letter grade for each class you miss in excess of three absences.

2)      Reading: You will read assigned chapters and articles in your textbooks and available through JSTOR.

3)      Summaries of readings. You will write a short (1 page, 250 words) summary of each article assigned. These summaries are due in class the on the day assigned. Summaries should include the following:

a)      Full reference to the article (formal bibliographic form)

b)      Your name and date

c)      Author’s thesis, problem, primary topic

d)      Method through which the author addresses the thesis

e)      Author’s conclusion.

f)        Be sure to include enough specifics so that a reader can follow your discussion.

4)      Research papers/reports. You will write a research papers on a major figure or theoretical tradition in sociocultural anthropology, which will be assigned to you.

I will assign you a major sociocultural anthropologist or theoretical tradition on which to write, based on interests you have indicated. You may exchange topics with classmates, but please let me know if you have done so. Schedule: Preliminary bibliography week 6, consult with Dr. Adams, week 7, paper due week 14. Submit both a digital (email) and hard (paper) version of your paper. You may, in close consultation with Dr. Adams, do a piece of creative work – creative writing, web site, video, or other work.

a)      Paper must be a minimum of 12 pages (3000 words) exclusive of bibliography.

b)      Papers must conform to standard academic standards regarding spelling, syntax, punctuation, citation, and bibliography (see “Statement on Academic Honesty” below regarding citations). If you are unclear about proper form, please ask me. Papers that do not meet minimum standards will be returned ungraded. Plagiarism will result in a zero for the paper. I will be glad to review papers before the deadline so that you can make needed revisions. One full letter grade will be deducted from the final grade of any paper that has been returned due to failure to meet minimum standards. For bibliographic style, see http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/~jadams/300d/StyleGuide.pdf

c)      Late papers will be docked one (1) letter grade for each day (including sat. and sun.) they are late. If you have a legitimate emergency that prevents you from meeting the deadline, let me know BEFORE the deadline if possible.

d)      You may use a non-traditional format such as a web page, a short story, or other non-social science format. If you want to take this option, consult with me so we can specify the standards you need to meet.

5)      Exams. There will be a midterm and a final exam. Exams will test for knowledge of material covered in class, so take good notes on classroom lectures and discussion.

6)      Grading:

Midterm

25%

Final

35%

Research Paper

20%

Summaries

20%

100%

Emergency Procedures:

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for study and work. Because some health and safety circumstances are beyond our control, we ask that you become familiar with the SIUC Emergency Response Plan and Building Emergency Response Team (BERT) program. Emergency response information is available on posters in buildings on campus, available on the BERT'S website at www.bert.siu.edu, Department of Public Safety's website www.dps.siu.edu (disaster drop down) and in the Emergency Response Guidelines pamphlet. Know how to respond to each type of emergency.

Instructors will provide guidance and direction to students in the classroom in the event of an emergency affecting your location. It is important that you follow these instructions and stay with your instructor during an evacuation or sheltering emergency. The Building Emergency Response Team will provide assistance to your instructor in evacuating the building or sheltering within the facility.

Week 1

Jan. 14-18

Overview

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Voyages of Geographical Discovery

Scientific Revolution

Enlightenment

HISTORY: pp. ii-40

Lectures on the Renaissance and Enlightenment

ASSIGNMENT (Friday): Create one example of deductive reasoning and one example of inductive reasoning.

Week 2

Jan. 21-25

NO CLASS

MONDAY

Enlightenment

Rise of Positivism

Marxism

HISTORY: pp. 40-42

Lecture on early 19th century

Lecture on Sociocultural Evolution

Herbert Spencer, “The Social Organism” access here: http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=330&chapter=119773&layout=html&Itemid=27

Lecture on Spencer

ASSIGNMENT: (due Friday) Create an explanation, based on what you know, of the changes in human life from the earliest modern humans to the present. What caused some people to shift hunting and gathering bands to living in large settled communities, create agriculture, build cities, develop writing, etc. etc.? Do you believe that the people who lived in Africa, the Americas , and Asia in the 1800s can be viewed as examples of people who lived thousands of years ago?

Week 3

Jan 28-Feb.1

Classical Cultural Evolutionism

Darwinism

Evolutionism vs. Diffusionsim

[OMIT Archaeology Comes of Age]

HISTORY: pp. 54-57, 60-72 (skim “Archaeology Comes of Age”)

READER: Abram Kardiner and Edward Preble,  Edward Tylor: Mr. Tylor’s Science, Pp. 2-9

Lewis Henry Morgan, Ancient Society Chapter 1, Ethnical Periods. Access here: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/morgan-lewis/ancient-society/ch01.htm (for entire book, http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/morgan-lewis/ancient-society/ )

Ledture on Tylor and Morgan

ASSIGNMENT (Due Friday) What is the primary difference between how Edward Tylor viewed cultural evolution and the way that Lewis Henry Morgan viewed cultural evolution?

Week 4

Feb 4-8

Franz Boas,

Robert Lowie, and Alfred Louis Kroeber

The Influence of Sigmund Freud and Development of Psychological Anthropology

HISTORY: pp. 73-88

JSTOR: Franz Boas, The Origin of Totemism. The Journal of American Folklore 23(89, 1910):392-3

JSTOR: A. L. Kroeber, Decorative Symbolism of the Arapaho American Anthropologist 3(2, 1901):308-336.

Lecture on Boas and his students

Lecture on Boas and Kroeber

ASSIGNMENT (Monday): Turn in summary of Boas. (Wednesday) Turn in Summary of Kroeber.

Week 5

Feb 11-15

Lecture on Institutionalization of anthropology, social sciences

Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict

Robert Redfield, Community Studies and “Acculturation”

JSTOR: Ruth Benedict, Configurations of Culture in North America . American Anthropologist 34(1, 1932):1-27.

JSTOR: Robert Redfield, Ralph Linton, and Melville J. Herskovits, Memorandum for the Study of Acculturation.

READER: Was Margaret Mead’s Fieldwork on Samoan Adolescents Fundamentally Flawed? Pp. 21-42 American Anthropologist 38(1, 1936):149-152

READER: Do Some Illnesses Exist Only Among Members of A Particular Culture?

Lecture on institutionalization of anthropology

Lecture on Benedict and Mead

ASSIGNMENT (Friday)  ½ the class will debate Mead’s research; ½ will debate illnesses. Turn in your arguments.

Week 6

Feb 18-22

French Structural Anthropology – Influence of Èmile Durkheim

Marcel Mauss

HISTORY: pp. 89-93

Emile Durkheim, Excerpts from Rules of Sociological Method, 1895, and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, 1912. [access through online syllabus]

Finish Psychological Anthropology, IntroduceLecture on Durkheim

Durkheim

BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE

ASSIGNMENT (Wednesday): Turn in summary of Durkheim readings. Include one example of a “social fact” in that you encounter in your daily experience.

Week 7

Feb 25-29

British Social Anthropology

Durkheim in the British Tradition

A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

Bronislaw Malinowski

HISTORY: pp. 100-104

READER: Bronislaw Malinowski, Magic, Science and Religion: And Other Essays. Pp. 10-16

JSTOR: A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, On the Concept of Function in Social Science. American Anthropologist 37(3, 1935):394-402

Lecture on Functionalism and Malinowski

Lecture on Radcliffe-Brown

MEET WITH DR. ADAMS ABOUT YOUR PAPER

ASSIGNMENT (Monday): Turn in summary of Malinowski. (Wednesday): Turn in summary of Radcliffe-Brown. (Friday): Write one example of a way that some aspect of your world functions. Is this an example of a Malinowskian or a Radcliffe-Brownian meaning of “function”?

Week 8

March 3-7

E.E. Evans-Pritchard

Max Gluckman and the “ Manchester School ”

The legacy of British Social Anthropology

HISTORY: pp. 105-112

READER: E. E. Evans-Pritchard. Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events. Pp. 17-20

Lecture on British Social Anthroplogy

MIDTERM EXAM

ASSIGNMENT (Monday): Turn in summary of E. E. Evans-Pritchard

Week 9

March 10-14

SPRING BREAK

Week 10

March 17-21

Claude Lèvi-Strauss

Edmund Leach and Mary Douglas

HISTORY: pp. 94-98

EXCERPT: Claude Levi-Strauss. Structural Anthropology [access through syllabus on line]

Lecture on Levi-Strauss

EXCERPT: Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. [access through syllabus on line]

Lecture on Mary Douglas

ASSIGNMENT (Monday): Turn in summary of Levi-Strauss. (Wednesday): Turn in summary of Douglas

Week 11

March 24-28

Cultural Neo-Evolutionism

Leslie White, Julian Steward, Marshall Sahlins & Elman Service

HISTORY: pp. 117-121 (Omit “The New Archaeology)

JSTOR: Julian Steward, Shoshoni Polyandry. American Anthropologist 38(4, 1936):561-564

JSTOR: Marshall D. Sahlins, Poor Man, Rich Man, Big-Man, Chief: Political Types in Melanesia and Polynesia . Comparative Studies in Society and History 5(3):285-303.

READER: Are San Hunter-Gatherers Basically Pastoralists Who Have Lost Their Herds? Pp. 43-64

Lecture on mid-20th century sociocultural evolution

Suggested, JSTOR. Julian Steward, Cultural Causality and Law: A Trial Formulation of the Development of Early Civilizations. American Anthropologist 51(1, 1949):1-27

ASSIGNMENT: (Monday): Turn in summary of Steward. (Wednesday): turn in summary of Sahlins. (Friday): Debate San Hunters. Turn in your debate notes

Week 12

March 31-April 4

Structural Marxism and Cultural Materialism

Marvin Harris

Cognitive Anthropology

Symbolism and Meaning in Anthropology and Archaeology

HISTORY: pp. 99-100, 115-117, 123 [omit Biologized Anthroplogy, Reader article on Yanomami]

JSTOR: Roy A. Rappaport. Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations among a New Guinea People. Ethnology 6(1, 1967):17-30.

Lecture on Rappaport

READER: Do Native Peoples Today Invent their Traditions? Pp. 112-129

ASSIGNMENT: (Monday): Turn in summary of Rappaport. (Friday) Debate Invent Traditions. Turn in your debate notes.

Week 13

April 7-11

Symbolic Anthropology

Victor Turner

Clifford Geertz

Transactionalism, Fredrik Barth

HISTORY: 131-144

JSTOR: Victor Turner, Social Dramas and Stories about Them, Critical Inquiry 7(1, 1980):141-168

Lecture on symbolic anthropology

Clifford Geertz, Thick Description. In The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books, 1973. pp. 3-30 [access online through syllabus]

Lecture on Clifford Geertz

ASSIGNMENT: (Monday): Turn in summary of Turner. (Wednesday): Turn in summary of Geertz. (Friday) Be prepared to discuss the difference between Geertz and Turner.

Week 14

April 14-18

Critical approaches

Feminist

Political Economy (Power, Resistance, Agency)

HISTORY: 145-154

JSTOR: Sherry B. Ortner, Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture? Feminist Studies 1(2, 1972):5-31

Lecture on Ortner

READER Should Anthropologists Try to Eliminate the Practice of Female Circumcision? 200-219

JSTOR: Pierre Lamaison; Pierre Bourdieu, From Rules to Strategies: An Interview with Pierre Bourdieu. Cultural Anthropology 1(1, 1986):110-120

Lecture on Bourdieu

RESEARCH PAPER DUE

ASSIGNMENT: (Monday): Turn in summary of Ortner. (Wednesday) Debate Female Circumcision. Turn in debate notes. (Friday) Turn in summary of Lamaison and Bourdieu

Week 15

April 21-25

Postmodernity

HISTORY pp. 155-181

JSTOR: Eric R. Wolf, comments by Regna Darnell, Joel S. Kahn, William Roseberry, Immanuel Wallerstein. Perilous Ideas: Race, Culture, People. Cultural Anthropology 35(1, 1994):1-12

Lecture on political economy

READER: Is Ethnic Conflict Inevitable? pp. 130-151

ASSIGNMENT: (Monday): Turn in summary of Wolf and commentators. (Wednesday) Debate ethnic conflict.

Week 16

April 28-May2

Application and Ethics in the profession

READER: Did Napoleon Chagnon and Other Researchers Harm the Yanomami Indians? Pp. 152-117

READER: Does It Matter if Nobel-Winner Menchú’s Memoir Contains Inaccuracies? Pp. 178-199

ASSIGNMENT: (Monday): Debate Chagnon (Wednesday): Debate Menchú.

Week 17

FINAL EXAMS

Thursday, May 8, 3:10-5:10 p.m.