Main Building, Room 803
email: [email protected]
*NOTE: the readings for the class are to be found in the bookstore, at Unique, and in Bobst under SECTION 3
1992 Language shift and cultural reproduction: socialization, self, and syncretism in a Papua New Guinean village. Cambridge: CUP.
Martin, Emily
1992 The woman in the body: a cultural analysis of reproduction. Boston: Beacon Press.
Myerhoff, Barbara
1994 Number our days: culture and community among elderly Jews in an American ghetto. New York: Meridian.
Trawick, Margaret
1990 Notes on Love in a Tamil Family. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Now we have some background, we will look at more recent developments in anthropology.
Readings:
Geertz, Clifford
1973 Thick Description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. in The interpretation of cultures. pp. 3-30. New York: Basic Books.
Brettell, Caroline
1993 Introduction: fieldwork, text, and audience. in When they read what we write: the politics of ethnography. Caroline B. Brettell (ed). pp. 1-24). Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey
Film Ishi: Last of the Yahi
Religion and ritual have been central concerns of anthropology for much of its history. Why has this been the case, and how have anthropologists dealt with these categories of human experience?
Readings:
Myerhoff, Barbara
1994 Number our days. (Chps. 1-4)
Readings:
Myerhoff, Barbara
1994 Number our days. (Chps. 5-7, Epilogue)
Film: tba
As a central marker of culture, language has often been the focus of anthropology: indeed, one of the four subfields of anthropology is devoted to its study. In particular, language socialization -- how people are taught to speak language, and taught to be competent cultural members through language -- offers useful insights for anthropologists. What does language tell us about culture, and what kinds of findings have been made by focusing on language?
Readings:
Kulick, Don
1992 Language shift and cultural reproduction. (Introduction, Chps. 1-4)
Anthropologists have frequently been accused of focusing on social cohesion and structure, and avoiding issues of cultural change. Using Kulick's work, we will consider how anthropologists have grappled with explaining and understanding such changes.
Readings:
Kulick, Don
1992 Language shift and cultural reproduction. (Introduction, Chps. 5-7, conclusion)
Film: American Tongues
From mothers' brothers to gay and lesbian families, "kinship" has been a central concern of anthropology. In this class, we will look at the idea of the family, kinship, and the cultural specificity of social relationships formed through bonds of kinship.
Readings:
Collier, Jane, Michelle Z. Rosaldo, and Sylvia Yanigisako
1997 Is there a family? New anthropological views. in The gender sexuality reader. Roger N. Lancaster and Micaela di Leonardo (eds.) New York: Routledge.
Schneider, David M.
1997 Power of culture: notes on some aspects of gay and lesbian kinship in America today. Cultural Anthropology 12(2):269-282. (and short responses by Herrell, Strathern, and Guti�rrez).
Readings:
Mullings, Leith
1995 Households headed by women: the politics of race, class, and gender. in Conceiving the new world order: the global politics of reproduction. Faye Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp (eds). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Jackson, Jean
1974 Language identity of the Vaup�s Indians. in Explorations in the ethnography of speaking. Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer (eds). London ; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Film: Dadi and her family
In the past 20 years, feminist anthropologists have raised many questions about the assumptions of anthropologists, and this questioning has led to profound shifts in how anthropology has come to think about gender, sexuality, and social structures. In this class, we will look at the history of feminist anthropology, and consider the readings in this light.
Readings:
Martin, Emily
1992 The woman in the body. (Introduction, Chapters 1-3)
Following the lessons learnt from feminist anthropology, anthropologists have also begun to understand sexuality and non-normative gender identities in terms of cultural frameworks. In this class, we will look at how anthropologists have dealt with categories such as homosexuality, polygamy, and non-normative gender.
Readings:
Martin, Emily
1992 The woman in the body. (Chps. 4-6, Conclusion )
Film: Paris is Burning or The Salt Mines
"Race" was one of the original concerns of anthropology... in this class, we'll look at different ways in which race has been thought about as a social category, and its implications for both anthropology and wider society.
Readings
Di Leonardo, Micaela
1997 White lies, black myths: rape, race, and the black "underclass." in The gender sexuality reader. Roger Lancaster and Micaela di Leonardo (eds). NY: Routledge.
Sacks, Karen
1994 How did Jews become white folks? in Race. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek (eds). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Film: Black is, Black Aint
One of anthropology's most annoying (and useful) features is that it has continually challenged what is assumed to be natural and universal about human experiences. In this class, we will look at the case for how even emotion can be seen as culturally specific.
Readings:
Trawick, Margaret
1990 Notes on Love in a Tamil Family. (Prologue, Chps.1-4)
Week 14: Anger! Compassion! The Anthropology of Emotion, Part II Plus... The Anthropology of the Body! (12/14/98)
If we can agree that emotion is culturally constructed, then surely the body itself must be a universal human experience? Bring yours, and let's talk about different ways of understanding "the body."
Readings:
Trawick, Margaret
1990 Notes on Love in a Tamil Family. (Prologue, Chps. 5-8, Epilogue)
Week 15 Course Review (12/21/98) Final Exam Due
The final exam questions will be handed out in class in Week 14 and is due in class today. In this class, we will consider the major themes we have dealt with in the past semester, and try to answer the burning question: so, what is culture anyway?
