Introduction to Social Anthropology (Sample Syllabus)

Lecturer: Robey Callahan
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An Introduction to the Course
In its broadest sense, anthropology is the study of what it means to be human.  Those who study it seek answers to questions such as: What are the sorts of things which, as human beings, we all share, no matter where we are from?  What are the sorts of things we do not share?  Why are we willing to defend, perhaps even to die for, beliefs and causes which people in other cultures may find simply bizarre?  Why do people in other cultures think and do things we ourselves may find equally strange?

In this course, we shall be trying at every turn to walk a mile in the shoes of peoples of other cultures.  We shall be learning a bit about what makes them tick and, in the process, a bit more about ourselves.

Course Logistics
We shall be using a standard textbook (Miller 2004) every alternate class. 

Each "Miller" class will be structured thus:

The bulk of the class will consist of an informal lecture on the assigned readings.

With ten or fifteen minutes left in the class, I shall be handing out a sheet of background information and reading notes for the following class's assigned texts.  During this time, I shall also be providing more detailed background information to help you get more from those texts when you read them in preparation for the following class.

Each "non-Miller" class will consist of an informal lecture on and discussion of the assigned readings, along with particular attention to your prepared comments and questions (see the information about "question" papers below).

Course Requirements
Attendance is required.  Every assigned text must be read prior to the class for which it is assigned.

1. "Question" Papers
Students will write and submit at the start of each "non-Miller" class a "question" paper.  In total each student is required to write and submit on time seven of these "question" papers.

Each "question" paper must be between 125 and 150 words (about half a page typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times Roman).  It must include a brief summary leading up to one or two thoughtful questions relating to the assigned reading(s).  The summary should not encompass the entire reading(s); it should simply be a summary of the parts of the reading(s) relevant to your question(s).  Of course you can ask questions to which you already know the answers.  The purpose here is to get us all thinking about the most important points raised in the readings.

As the semester progresses, you can ask questions which link the currently assigned reading(s) with previous readings.  Seven "question" papers are due.  Each is worth 6% of your course grade (for a total of 42%).  You can, of course, submit more than seven over the course of the semester (there are more than ten opportunities in all), and I'll take the top seven into account when figuring your grade.  Note: You should expect to spend at least half an hour writing each of these "question" papers--this does not include the time you'll spend thinking about the readings before writing.

2. Exams
There are two exams: a mid-term and a final.  Both are part multiple-choice and part essay.  The mid-term is worth 23% of your course grade; the final, 35%.

Grading
As noted above, your course grade will be determined in the following manner:
Fifteen "question" papers--42% (6% each)
Mid-term exam--23%
Final exam--35% 

Books
Both of the following books (and the bulk-pack of readings) are available at the bookshop.  A copy of each is also on reserve in the library.

Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Monaghan, John, and Peter Just (2000)
Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Schedule
Introduction
Week 1 - Class 1
Discussion of class mechanics and a road map of the major themes of the course.

What Is Anthropology?
Week 1 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 1.

Monaghan, John, and Peter Just (2000)
Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ch. 2.

Week 2 - Class 1
Bohannan, Laura (1966)
Shakespeare in the Bush. Natural History 75(8/9): 29-33.

Lee, Richard Borshay (1969)
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari. Natural History 78(10):14-22.

Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1937)
The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events. In Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Pp 63-83. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Miner, Horace (1956)
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist 58(3):503-507.

Fieldwork
Week 2 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 2.

Week 3 - Class 1
Monaghan, John, and Peter Just (2000)
Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ch. 1.

Obbo, Christine (1990)
Adventures with Fieldnotes. In Fieldnotes: The Making of Anthropology. Roger Sanjek, ed. Pp 290-302. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Economics
Week 3 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 3.

Week 4 - Class 1
Monaghan, John, and Peter Just (2000)
Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ch. 6.

Boas, Franz (1966)
The Potlatch. In Kwakiutl Ethnography. Helen F. Codere, ed. Pp 77-104. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Consumption and Exchange
Week 4 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 4. 

Week 5 - Class 1
Malinowski, Bronisław (1922)
Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
Ch. 3.

Carsten, Janet (1989)
Cooking Money: Gender and the Symbolic Transformation of Means of Exchange in a Malay Fishing Village. In Money and the Morality of Exchange. Jonathan P. Parry and Maurice Bloch, eds. Pp 117-141. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The Life Cycle
Week 5 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Chs 5-6.

Week 6 - Class 1
Davis-Floyd, Robbie E. (2004)
Gender and Ritual: Giving Birth the American Way. In Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective. 4th Ed. Caroline B. Brettell and Carolyn F. Sargent, eds. Pp 449-461. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Herdt, Gilbert (1999)
Sambia Sexual Culture: Essays from the Field. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ch. 2.

Fernea, Elizabeth W. and Robert A. Fernea (2003)
Symbolizing Roles: Behind the Veil. In Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology. 11th ed. James Spradley and David W. McCurdy, eds. Pp 253-260. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 

Illness and Healing
Week 6 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 7.

Week 7 - Class 1
Wikan, Unni (1989)
Managing the Heart to Brighten Face and Soul: Emotions in Balinese Morality and Health Care. American Ethnologist 16(2): 284-312.

Finkler, Kaja (2001)
Mistress of Lo Espiritual. In Mesoamerican Healers. Brad R. Huber and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds. Pp 117-138. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Week 7 - Class 2
Mid-term exam.

Week 8 - Class 1
Fall recess.

Kinship and Social Organization
Week 8 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Chs 8-9.

Week 9 - Class 1
Monaghan, John, and Peter Just (2000)
Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ch. 4.

Goldstein, Melvyn (1987)
When Brothers Share a Wife. Natural History 96(3):39-48.

Kemper, Robert V. (1982)
The Compadrazgo in Urban Mexico. Anthropological Quarterly 55(1):17-30

Social Groups and Politics
Week 9 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Chs 10-11.

Week 10 - Class 1
Monaghan, John, and Peter Just (2000)
Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ch. 5.

Anderson, Benedict (1991)
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Ch. 10.

Order and Conflict
Week 10 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 12.

Week 11 - Class 1
Harrison, Simon (1995)
Four Types of Symbolic Conflict. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1(2):255-272.

Language and Culture
Week 11 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 13.

Week 12 - Class 1
Jackson, Jean (1989[1974])
Language Identity of the Colombian Vaup�s Indians. In Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking. 2nd Ed. Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer, eds. Pp 50-64. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Irvine, Judith T. (1989[1974])
Strategies of Status Manipulation in the Wolof Greeting. In Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking. 2nd Ed. Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer, eds. Pp 167-191. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Religion
Week 12 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 14.

Week 13 - Class 1
Monaghan, John, and Peter Just (2000)
Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ch. 7.

Turner, Victor (1969)
The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Ch. 3.

Expressive Culture
Week 13 - Class 2
Miller, Barbara (2004)
Cultural Anthropology. 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ch. 15.

Week 14 - Class 1
Geertz, Clifford (1983)
Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology. New York: Basic Books.
Ch. 5.

Week 14 - Class 2
Review for final exam.

[As Scheduled]
Final exam.