 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Anthropology of Engagement/Engaged Anthropology
Sarah Lawrence College (ANTH-3105-R)
Fall 2001 |
|
|
Instructor: David Valentine
Office: Sheffield 01
Phone: 914/395-2363 |
|
|
Location: DL 04, Tues. &Thurs. 3:35-5:00pm
Fall class dates: September 11 - December 20, 2001
email: [email protected] |
|
|
|
|
| Course Description: |
|
|
What are the possibilities and pitfalls of using ethnography in public policy and social justice work? Anthropology has long been associated with an ethos of "engagement," but the complex and oftentimes irresolvable dilemmas of the relations between anthropologists and their study participants highlight the gendered, racial, class, and cultural problematics of doing cross-cultural research where Western anthropologists study the "Other" - or even when they study communities in their own societies.
In this year-long seminar, we will explore a range of topics that have brought anthropologists and their subjects into relationships which result in sometimes common, sometimes opposing, policy goals including: the debates over clitoridectomy and intersexual surgeries; representations in ethnographic texts; the repatriation of Native American remains; hate crimes law; human rights as a paradigm; prostitution and trafficking; immigration and diasporic communities; organ donation and the commodification of body parts; HIV/AIDS and other epidemics; the role of the museum; anthropologists and espionage; environmental issues; abortion/reproductive rights; problems of studying the powerful; and the role of anthropologists in marketing and advertising. |
|
|
| These issues revolve around a series of questions: what are the relations of social power that pertain in ethnographic encounters? What happens when anthropologists' views of what is "right" clashes with those of their study participants? Who reads what anthropologists write? How is ethnography used in public policy debates? And how does an anthropologist use her/his data to aid her/his study participants -- and is that aid always welcome? |
|
|
| In the Fall 2001 semester, we will look at the discipline of anthropology and its various "engagements" with its subjects. In order to do so, we will spend quite a bit of time looking at anthropology's dark side: the involvement, and sometimes collaboration, of anthropologists with governments who are waging war, their role as spies, and the ethical issues that arise out of these situations. Toward the end of the semester, we will consider anthropologist's attempts to contribute positively to their subjects lives, and intervene in the field of public policy and decision making -- even as those contributions may be contested by the people they work with. We will continue these issue-oriented components in the Spring 2002 semester looking at housing and homelessness, labor issues, the problems of studying the powerful, and the intersections of anthropology and grassroots activism. |
|
|
The course will include a practical component which will take place in the Spring 2002 semester, in which students will be expected to do ethnographic research in a setting that relates to one of the course topics. The ethnographic project component will run concurrently with a speaker's series which students are required to attend.
Course Requirements:
You are, naturally, expected to attend all classes and conferences associated with this class. It is expected that if you have to miss a class for a valid reason (such as illness or family emergency), you inform me as soon as possible prior to the class, or as soon after as is possible. Class work for the semester will consist of the following formal projects: |
|
|
| 1. 4-5 page reaction papers due on October 2, October 18, November 8, and December 11. |
|
|
2. 3 short research projects to be prepared for class discussion, the first on September 18. The dates of the other projects will be established during the semester.
Required Texts: |
|
|
| A course reading packet is available at the library, and from me should you want to borrow it. As well as the reading packet, the following books will be needed, all of which are on reserve at the library and available for purchase in the bookstore: |
|
|
| Fetterman, David M. 1993 Speaking the language of power: communication, collaboration, and advocacy (translating ethnography into action). Washington, DC: The Falmer Press. |
|
|
| Ginsburg, Faye D. 1989 Contested lives : the abortion debate in an American community. Berkeley: University of California Press. |
|
|
|
Stoll, David 1999 Rigoberta Menchu and the story of all poor Guatemalans. Boulder: Westview Pre |
|
|
|
COURSE OUTLIN |
|
|
| PART 1: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF ENGAGEMENT/ENGAGED ANTHROPOLOGY |
|
|
| September 11: Introduction to the Course |
|
|
| September 13: Anthropologists as Social Actors |
|
|
| 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. |
|
|
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy 1993 The way of an anthropologist companheira. In Anthropology and the Peace Corps: case studies in career preparation. Brian E. Schwimmer and D. Michael Warren (eds.) pp. 100-113. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
September 18: Social Problems and Engaged Anthropology |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Loseke, Donileen R. 1999 The problem with social problems. In Thinking about social problems: an introduction to constructionist perspectives. pp 3-23. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. |
|
|
| Fetterman, David M. 1993 Words as the commodity of discourse: influencing power. In Speaking the language of power: communication, collaboration, and advocacy (translating ethnography into action). David M. Fetterman (ed.) pp. 1-18. Washington, DC: The Falmer Press. |
|
|
Kimball, Solon T. 1987 Anthropology as a policy science. In Applied anthropology in America. Second Edition. Elizabeth M. Eddy and William L. Partridge (eds.) pp. 383-397. New York: Columbia University Press.
September 20: Early Anthropology's Engagement with Social Problems |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Mead, Margaret [1928] Coming of age in Samoa: a psychological study of primitive youth for Western civilisation. New York: W. Morrow & Company (selections) |
|
|
| Boas, Franz [1911] Introduction to the handbook of American Indian languages. in Language, culture and society: a book of readings. Ben G. Blount (ed). p. 12-31. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop. |
|
|
| PART 2: ANTHROPOLOGY ON (THIN) ICE: HISTORY, POWER, ETHICS |
|
|
| September 25: Bones of the Ancestors I:� Ishi's Brain Is Missing!Film: Ishi: the last Yahi |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Foster, George M. 1999 �Responsibility for Ishi. Anthropology News, October 1999:5-6. |
|
|
| Killion, Thomas et al. 1999 The facts about Ishi's brain. Anthropology News, September 1999:9. |
|
|
| Thomas, David Hurst. 2000 Skull wars : Kennewick man, archaeology, and the battle for Native American identity. New York: Basic Books(prologue, chapter 9). |
|
|
| September 27: Bones of the Ancestors II: Museums, NAGPRA and Repatriation of Burial Remains |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
Thomas, David Hurst. 2000 �Skull wars : Kennewick man, archaeology, and the battle for Native American identity. New York: Basic Books (Part IV).
October 2: War, Espionage, Colonialism, and Ethics I |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Asad, Talal 1973 �Introduction. In Anthropology & the colonial encounter. Talal Asad (ed.) pp. 9-19. New York: Humanities Press. |
|
|
Kuper, Adam 1983 �Anthropology and colonialism. In Anthropology and anthropologists: the modern British school. London: Kegan Paul.
October 4: War, Espionage, Colonialism, and Ethics II |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Price, David 2000 �Anthropologists as Spies. The Nation, November 20, 2000. |
|
|
Wakin, Eric 1992 �Anthropology goes to war: professional ethics & counterinsurgency in Thailand. Madison: University Press of Wisconsin, Center for Southeast Asian Studies (chapters 1-2)
October 9: War, Espionage, Colonialism, and Ethics III |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Tierney, Patrick 2000 The heart of darkness. The New Yorker |
|
|
| Chagnon, Napoleon 2001 Napoleon Chagnon Responds to Darkness in El Dorado http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/chagnon.html |
|
|
| AAA 2001 Code of Ethics of the American Anthropological Association http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm |
|
|
| Shea, Christopher 2000 Don't talk to the humans: the crackdown on social science research. Lingua Franca10(6):27-34. |
|
|
| Scheper-Hughes, Nancy 1995 �The primacy of the ethical: propositions for a militant anthropology. Current Anthropology 36(3):409-420. (also read brief response by Crapanzano) |
|
|
| Recommended: |
|
|
| American Anthropological Association 2001 �El Dorado interim report/request for information http://www.aaanet.org/eldoradoupdate.ht |
|
|
| PART 3: REPRESENTATION AND THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL ENTERPRISE |
|
|
| October 11: Representing the Self and Other I |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Clifford, James 1986 �Introduction: partial truths. In Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography. Clifford,James and George E. Marcus (eds.) pp.1-26. Berkeley: University of California Press. |
|
|
Brettell, Caroline B. 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
October 16 (no classes - October Study Days)
October 18: Representing the Self and Other II |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Ginsburg, Faye D. 1997 �"From little things, big things grow": indigenous media and cultural activism. In Between resistance and revolution: cultural politics and social protest. Richard G. Fox and Orin Starn (eds). Pp.118-144. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. |
|
|
| Myers, Fred R. 1988 Locating ethnographic practice: romance, reality and politics in the outback. American Ethnologist 15:609-624 |
|
|
| PART 4: ISSUES I: ENGAGING THE BODY (I) |
|
|
| October 23: Abortion, Reproduction, and Contraception I |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
Ginsburg, Faye D. 1989 �Contested lives : the abortion debate in an American community. Berkeley: University of California Press.
October 25: Abortion, Reproduction, and Contraception II |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Ginsburg, Faye D. 1989 �Contested lives : the abortion debate in an American community. Berkeley: University of California Press. |
|
|
Pearce, Tola Olu 1995 �Women's reproductive practices and biomedicine: cultural conflicts and transformations in Nigeria. In Conceiving the new world order: the global politics of reproduction. Faye Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp (eds). pp. 195-208. Berkeley: University of California Press.
October 30: Abortion, Reproduction, and Contraception III |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Ginsburg, Faye D. 1989 �Contested lives : the abortion debate in an American community. Berkeley: University of California Press. |
|
|
Jeffery, Roger and Patricia M. Jeffery 1993 �Traditional birth attendants in rural north India: the social organization of childbearing. InKnowledge, power and practice: the anthropology of medicine and everyday life. Shirley Lindenbaum and Margaret Lock (eds.) pp. 7-31. Berkeley: University of California Press.
November 1: Abortion, Reproduction, and Contraception IV |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Ginsburg, Faye D. 1989 �Contested lives : the abortion debate in an American community. Berkeley: University of California Press. |
|
|
| November 6: Epidemics and Diseases: AIDS I |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Farmer, Paul 1992 �New disorder, old dilemmas: AIDS and anthropology in Haiti. In The time of AIDS: social analysis, theory and method. Gilbert Herdt and Shirley Lindenbaum (eds.) pp.287-318. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. |
|
|
| Weeks, Margaret R. and Jean J. Schensul 1993 �Ethnographic research on AIDS risk behavior and the making of policy. In Speaking the language of power: communication, collaboration, and advocacy (translating ethnography into action). David M. Fetterman (ed.) pp. 50-69. Washington, DC: The Falmer Press. |
|
|
| November 8: Epidemics and Diseases: AIDS II |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Baer, Hans, Merrill Singer and Ida Susser 1997 �AIDS: a disease of the global system. In Medical anthropology and the world system: a critical perspective. Westport: Bergin and Garvey. |
|
|
| Farmer, Paul, Shirley Lindenbaum, and Mary-Jo Delvecchio Good 1993 �Women, poverty, and AIDS: and introduction. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 17(4):387-397 |
|
|
| PART 5: ISSUES II: DEVELOPMENT, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND LAND RIGHTS |
|
|
| November 13: Anthropology and Development |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Pottier, Johan 1993 �The role of ethnography in project appraisal. In Practising development: social science perspectives. Johan Pottier (ed.) pp.13-33. New York: Routledge. |
|
|
| Green, Edward C. 1986 �Themes in the practice of development anthropology. In Practicing development anthropology. Edward C. Green (ed.) pp. 1-9. Boulder: Westview Press. (not in reading packet) |
|
|
Robins, Edward 1986 �The strategy of development and the role of the anthropologist. In Practicing development anthropology. Edward C. Green (ed.) Pp. 10-21. Boulder: Westview Press. (not in reading packet)
November 15: Gender and Development |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Agarwal, Bina 1992 �The gender and environment debate: lessons from India. Feminist studies 18(1):119-158 |
|
|
Elson, Diane 1995 �Male bias in marco-economics: the case of structural adjustment. In Male bias in the development process. Diane Elson (ed). pp.164-190. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
November 20: Land Rights |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
Sponsel, Leslie E., 1997. �The Master Thief: Gold Mining and Mercury Contamination in the Amazon. In Life and Death Matters: Human Rights and the Environment at the End of the Millennium. Barbara Johnston (ed.) pp. 99-127. (not in reading packet)
Conklin, Beth A. and Laura R. Graham 1995 The Shifting Middle Ground: Amazonian Indians and Eco-Politics. American Anthropologist 97(4):695-710. |
|
|
Parker, Linda and Bertney Langley 1993 �Protocol and policy-making systems in American Indian tribes. In Speaking the language of power: communication, collaboration, and advocacy (translating ethnography into action). David M. Fetterman (ed.) pp. 70-75. Washington, DC: The Falmer Press.
November 22 (no class - Thanksgiving Break |
|
|
| PART 6: ISSUES III: HUMAN RIGHTS, VIOLENCE AND SOCIAL SUFFERING |
|
|
| November 27: Human Rights and History |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
Stoll, David 1999 �Rigoberta Menchu and the story of all poor Guatemalans. Boulder: Westview Press.
November 29: Human Rights and History II |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Stoll, David 1999 �Rigoberta Menchu and the story of all poor Guatemalans. Boulder: Westview Press. |
|
|
Wilson, Richard A. 1997 �Human rights, culture and context: an introduction. In Human rights, culture and context: anthropological perspectives. Richard A. Wilson (ed). pp. 1-27. London: Pluto.
December 4: Human Rights and History III |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Stoll, David 1999 Rigoberta Menchu and the story of all poor Guatemalans. Boulder: Westview Press. |
|
|
Kleinman, Arthur and Joan Kleinman 1996 The appeal of experience; the dismay of images: cultural appropriations of suffering in our times. InSocial suffering. Arthur Kleinman, Veena Das, and Margaret Lock (eds.) Pp. 1-23. Berkeley: University of California Press.
December 6: Human Rights and History IV |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Stoll, David 1999 �Rigoberta Menchcu and the story of all poor Guatemalans. Boulder: Westview Press. |
|
|
| PART 7: WHAT IS TO BE DONE... FOR NOW? |
|
|
| December 11: Action in the World |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Fetterman, David M. 1993 Ethnography and policy: translating knowledge into action. In Speaking the language of power: communication, collaboration, and advocacy (translating ethnography into action). David M. Fetterman (ed.) pp. 156-175. Washington, DC: The Falmer Press. |
|
|
Hess, G. Alfred Jr. 1993 �Testifying on the Hill: using ethnographic data to shape public policy. In Speaking the language of power: communication, collaboration, and advocacy (translating ethnography into action). David M. Fetterman (ed.) pp. 38-49. Washington, DC: The Falmer Press.
December 13: Community Organizing |
|
|
| Readings: |
|
|
| Alinsky, Saul David 1971 �Prologue. In Rules for radicals: a practical primer for realistic radicals. New York: Vintage Books. |
|
|
Biklen, Douglas P. 1983 �Action Research. In Community organizing: theory and practice. pp. 241-275. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
December 18: Course Review and planning session for Spring 2002 semester |
|
|
 |
 |
|