Introduction to Cultural Diversity and the World System
(ANTH 1005W)
Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota


Spring 2005


David Valentine                                                              Class location: Anderson Hall 270
Class dates:10:10 A.M. - 11:00 A.M. , M,W,F (01/18/2005 - 05/06/2005)
Office: 364 HHH Center                                                   Phone: 612.626.8692
Office Hours: Wednesday 3-5pm                                      Email:
[email protected]

TA: Xenia Cherkaev                                                        Email:
[email protected]
Office Hours: MWF 11:05-12:05


                        What do love and globalization have in common?


The brief answer is that both are products of the ways human beings make meaning about and take action in the world.  The longer answer is available to students who enroll in this class, an exploration of similarities and differences in these processes across cultures.  We will take a broad approach to culture and meaning making, examining a range of topics including love and globalization, but also other issues central to anthropology: kinship, political and social organization, religion, language, gender/sexuality, and social change.  There are three primary goals of this class: (a) to give students an introduction to the discipline of anthropology and its basic methods and theories; (b) to give students the tools to understand how, across the globe, human beings employ different frames of meaning to make sense of common human experiences; and (c) to think about how globalization is complicating and changing the terms in which people can make sense of their worlds.

This class fulfils the Cultural Diversity and International Perspectives CLA requirements, and is also a writing intensive class.

Course Requirements

Your grade will be assessed according to a formula which takes into account not only your written work, but also your participation in classroom and section discussion, and your preparedness.  As such, it is expected that you will have completed the reading assignments listed prior to attending class so that you can fully participate in discussions.  The grade formula is:

Paper   40 % 
Midterm Exam  20 %
Final Exam  20 %
Section Projects: 10 %
Participation  10%

Finally, attendance at all classes is essential.  If you have a medical or other emergency that prevents you from attending class, you should inform me prior to the class, or as soon after as is possible.  Absences that are not accounted for by a doctor's note or other documentation will be reflected in your grade.

Plagiarism and Grading

Plagiarism will not be tolerated, will result in a failing grade, and will be reported to the Student Conduct Committee.  The university policy on plagiarism is available at:
http://writing.umn.edu/tww/plagiarism/definitions_sara.htm

The university grading policies can be found at:
http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/policies/gradingpolicy.html

Required Texts


Serena Nanda and Richard L. Warms
2004 Cultural Anthropology.  8th Edition.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. (NW in syllabus)

William A. Haviland, Robert J. Gordon, and Luis A. Vivanco
2002 Talking about People: Readings in Cultural Anthropology.  3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill. (HGV in syllabus)

Cathy Small
1997 Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs.  Ithaca: Cornell University Press

Lila Abu-Lughod
1986 Veiled sentiments: honor and poetry in a Bedouin society.  Berkeley: University of California Press.

Honors section:

Becker, Anne E.
1995  Body, Self and Society: the view from Fiji.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.



Course Outline

1. Week of 1/17/05 � Introduction to Anthropology and the Idea of Culture


Wednesday: Introduction to the course (no reading)

Friday:  NW chapters 1 and 4    
  McIntosh and Maybury-Lewis (article 5 in HGV)
 
2. Week of 1/24/05 � What do Cultural Anthropologists do?

Monday: NW chapter 3     
   Garland (article 33 in HGV)   

Wednesday: Benedict (article 2 in HGV)   
  Cornish (article 37 in HGV)   
  Welsch (article 4 in HGV)   
  McRae (article 45 in HGV)   

Friday: Veiled Sentiments (chapter 1)  
        
3. Week of 1/31/05 � Being a Person and Expressing the Self

Monday: NW chapter 6     

Wednesday: Veiled Sentiments (chapter 2)   

Friday: Morgan (article 7 in HGV)   
  Ojeda (article 12 in HGV)    
  Martin (article 14 in HGV)   
  Gottlieb (article 13 in HGV)   

4. Week of 2/7/05 �  Social Control and Social Power

Monday: NW chapter 12 and 13   

Wednesday: Veiled Sentiments (chapter 3)  

Friday: Shearing and Stenning (article 34 in HGV) 
  Van Den Berghe (article 35 in HGV)  
  Whitehead and Ferguson (article 36 in HGV)
  Williams (article 27 in HGV)   

5. Week of 2/14/05 � Gender and Sexuality


Monday: NW chapter 11    

Wednesday: Veiled Sentiments (chapter 4)   

Friday: Coggeshall (article 23 in HGV)  
  Buijs (article 24 in HGV)   
  di Leonardo (article 25 in HGV)  

6. Week of 2/21/05 �  Language and Culture

Monday: NW chapter 5     

Wednesday: Veiled Sentiments (chapters 5 and 6)  

Friday: O'Barr and Conley (article 8 in HGV) 
  Mufwene (article 9 in HGV)   
  Sheidlower (article 10 in HGV)     Stavenhagen (article 11 in HGV)   

7. Week of 2/28/05 � Marriage and Kinship
         
Monday: NW chapters 9 and 10   
  Yuan and Mitchell (article 28 in HGV) 
  Egan (article 29 in HGV)   
  Nanda (article 22 in HGV)   
  Houston (article 26 in HGV)     

Wednesday: Veiled Sentiments (chapter 7)  
 
Friday: Film: Dadi's Family     

8. Week of 3/7/05 �  Emotion

Monday: Veiled Sentiments (chapter 8)  

Wednesday: Mid Term Course Review

Friday: Mid Term Exam     

Week of 3/14/05 � SPRING BREAK (No classes)

9. Week of 3/21/05 �  Ritual, Religion, Magic, And Science                      **Paper Draft Due**


Monday: NW chapter 15    

Wednesday:  Film:

Friday: Niehaus (article 38 in HGV)   
  Rodgers (article 39 in HGV)   
  Nordstrom (article 40 in HGV)  
  Reichel-Dolmatoff (article 16 in HGV) 

10. Week of 3/28/05  � Work and Labor

Monday:  NW chapter 7 and 8    

Wednesday: Voyages (pp. 3-49)

Friday: McNamara (article 19 in HGV)  
  Sennett (article 21 in HGV)   
  Bourgois (article 20 in HGV)   

11. Week of 4/4/05 � Group Identity in a Global Context

Monday: NW Chapter 14    

Wednesday: Voyages (chapter pp.51-100)   

Friday: Zarembo (article 30 in HGV)   
  Williams (article 31 in HGV)   
  de Waal (article 32 in HGV)   

12. Week of 4/11/05 � Social and Cultural Change I                    **Paper Due**


Monday: NW chapter 17    

Wednesday: Voyages (pp. 121-146)   

Friday: Voyages (pp.147-158)   


13. Week of 4/18/05 � Social and Cultural Change II

Monday: Voyages (pp.159-205)   

Wednesday: Film: Trobriand Cricket

Friday: Brain (article 41 in HGV)   
  Ferguson (article 42 in HGV)   
  Apffel-Marglin (article 43 in HGV)  
  de Waal (article 44 in HGV)   

14. Week of 4/25/05 � The Uses of Anthropology in a Globalizing World

Monday: Voyages (pp. 101-120)   

Wednesday: Voyages (pp.206-216)   

Friday: Bodley (article 1 in HGV)   
  McIntosh (article 46 in HGV)  
  Ginsburg (article 47 in HGV)   
  Cleaver (article 48 in HGV)   

15. Week of 5/2/05 � Course Review

Monday: Discussion Groups

Wednesday: Group Reports

Friday: Course Review


Final Exam: Saturday, May 14 (10:30 am � 12:30 pm)
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