TimeDaysLocationInstructorGERCreditOPUS Class NumberSyllabus (Tentative)
4:00pm-5:15pm
TuTh
Callaway Center S101
Bradd Shore. HSCW. 412695 TBA.

January 13, 2010- April 26, 2010

Catalog Description: Basic concepts and theories of cultural anthropology and linguistics. Comparative economic and political systems, social organization and the family, belief systems, and modes of communication. Diverse levels of sociocultural complexity from primitive tribes to industrial societies.

Semester Details: ANT 202 is an introduction to cultural anthropology through the close study of ethnographic texts. This course will introduce students to the study of culture through a detailed appreciation of ethnography:  reading major ethnographic texts, analyzing those texts, doing ethnographic fieldwork and writing your own ethnography.  

The texts, all models of excellent ethnographic writing, have been selected to highlight a number of important distinctions in ethnography. 

  • Differences in the kind of societies (differences in scale and social complexity, differences in primary modes of subsistence);
  • Differences between older "classic" ethnography and more contemporary ethnography'
  • Differences between major geographical regions of the world
  • Differences in theoretical or problem focus (i.e., ecology/economics, religion/worldview, gender and power issues, social stratification, social organization vs. culture, culture and personality)

This course is Writing Intensive. Writing assignments include five 6-8 page essays, in which students summarize and analyze critically major issues raised by these ethnographic writings.  Students will be required to post on Blackboard each week questions and issues that the week's readings have raised for them. 

In addition the class will divide into five research groups and each group will carry out a research field project of their joint choosing.  Each group will produce a collective project proposal 6-8 pages in length.  Each group member will be responsible for a section of this proposal. By the end of the semester the projects will result in a jointly written ethnography and analysis of 30-40 pages. Supplementary ethnographic material in the form of film or still pictures is optional.  Each member of the group will take responsibility for a roughly equal part of the written project which will be graded individually. The group project as a whole will also receive an overall grade which will count for 25% of a student's project grade (or just about 8% of the total grade). 

Groups will each present a 30 minute presentation on their project to the class during the last week of classes.  Grading, however, will be based on the project as handed.

Required Textbooks, Articles, and Resources

  1. Bourgois, Philippe. 2002. In Search of Respect: Selling Cracki n El Barrio.
  2. Schieffelin, Edward. 2004. The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers.
  3. Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2000. Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society.
  4. Tonkinson, Robert. 1993. The Mardu Aborigines: Living the Dream in Australia's Desert.
  5. Stromberg, Peter. 2009. Caught in Play: How Entertainment Works on You.
  6. Mead, Margaret. 1928/2009. The Coming of Age in Samoa: a Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation.

The schedule of courses on O.P.U.S. is the official listing of courses, including days and times they meet and the General Education Requirements they satisfy. Students should use course descriptions as general guidelines. Course requirements, grading details, book lists, and syllabi are subject to change.