3. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
05X, 06W, 06S, 06X, 07S: 10
Cultural anthropology is the study of human ways of life in the broadest
possible comparative perspective. Cultural anthropologists are interested in
all types of societies, from hunting and gathering bands to modern industrial
states. The aim of cultural anthropology is to document the full range of human
cultural adaptations and achievements and to discern in this great diversity
the underlying covariations among and changes in human ecology, institutions
and ideologies. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW. Alverson, Endicott, Didier,
Alverson, Endicott.
9. Introduction to the Study of Language and Culture
05X, 06X: 12
This course will introduce students to the study of human language as a
species-specific endowment of humankind. In this investigation we will examine
such issues as: 1) the reltionship between language use (e.g. metaphoric
creativity) and cultural values, 2) the relationships between language
diversity and ethnic, political, economic stratification, 3) language use and
the communicating of individual identity, thoughts, and intentions in
face-to-face interaction, 4) the cultural patterning of speech behavior, and 5)
whether or not the structure of specific languages affects the characteristics
of culture, cognition, and thought in specific ways. (CULT) Dist:
SOC. Alverson.
12. Experimental Courses
- In 06W: 2A The Ritual Life of South Asia. As the
birthplace of numerous religious traditions (including Hinduism, Buddhism and
Jainism), and as the home of the largest cohort of Muslims in the modern world,
the south Asian subcontinent functions as a remarkable melting pot of sacred
doctrine and ritual practice. Contemporary events demonstrate, however,
theat the region can also serve as a cauldron of hatred, intolerance and
violence. To explore this world of remarkable religiosity, we will focus
not on sacred texts or ancient history, but on the ritual practices that infuse
daily life in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The importance
of these religious rituals is reflected not only in terms of vast public and
private participation, but also in the attempts by the state and its various
leaders to harness the power -- be it spiritual, economic or political -- that
ritual can often unleash. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult:
NW. Didier.
- in 06S: 10A 12.2 Anthropology of Contemporary Japan.
As the first non-Western country to achieve economic parity with the West,
Japan has long occupied the margins of the anthropological world.
Although it is often branded as "exotic" and "inscrutable,"
it is also widely admired for its main exports: pop culture and
technology. In this course we will study Japan through its educational
institutions, occupational categories, gender roles, class hierarchies, and the
racial ideologies that render most minorities invisible in that country.
Recognizing that all ethnographic accounts are always "situated,"
thereby reflecting the values and biases of their authors, we will strive to
relate our readings to the context of their production. At the same time
we will strive to understand what it is like to live, work, and play in Japan
-- a society that is presently undergoing rapid and profound social
change. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW.
Cullinane.
- In 06S: 10A 12.3 Anthropology of Art. Under the Hood (Museum that is) or, "the Social Life
of Things." This course examines the roles that art plays in the
world's diverse cultures. During the term we will explore symbolism in art and
how form can be associated with different kinds of social, religious, and
cosmological meanings. Virtually all societies have decorative forms that
most of us would consider art. Many of these artists do not carve or
paint for aesthetic reasons, but do so for religious reasons, for social
purposes, or with political ends in mind. We will consider how
anthropologists have historically looked at art objects and how anthropologists
today approach these objects differently. We will consider a variety of
questions: Why is art central to some societies and much less important
in others? What role can art play in technologically simple societies and
in our own? Why should art play any social role at all? Does art
communicate common meanings to people in a particular culture? Are
aesthetics a universal experience? Is there such a thing as
"primitive art?" How does art change over time? Do
meanings necessarily change with changes in form and style? During the
term we will explore these questions through our readings and discussion, and
with objects in the Hood Museum's collection, by examining objects in the
Bernstein Study-Storage area, and in an exhibition of art from the Papuan gulf
of New Guinea in the Jaffe and Hall Galleries. (CULT)
Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Welsch..
- In 06S: 2A 12.4 Museum Anthropology. Museums have
played a key role in the history of anthropology. In the nineteenth and
early twentieth century museums were the source of employment for many
anthropologists and the source of nearly all research funding. Most early
anthropological projects were regional and comparative in nature. But
with the rise of functionalism and -- perhaps more importantly -- the
ethnographic village-based study, anthropology gradually shifted away from
comparative studies of material culture to much more narrowly defined
ethnographic questions about social organization, ritual, politics, and
exchange. By 1970 few cultural anthropologists were interested in
museums, museum collections, or museum anthropology. All of this changed
again in the 1980s when the post-modernist revolution cast its critical eye on
museums and museum collectors. Studies by Appadurai, Kopytoff and
Stocking suggested an important new role for these early museum
collections. Anthropologists began to see museum collections as a rich
source of historical data about societies that had subsequently experienced
profound social change as a direct result of colonialism. More recently
still, anthropologists have begun to contribute to the ongoing dialogue about
the role museums can and should play in framing historical and social trends
for the public. Museums like the newly opened Museum of the American
Indian and exhibits such as the Enola Gay are controversial because they raise
questions about who controls the past. During the course of the term we
will consider all of these themes and trends in the world of museum
anthropology. Students will have a hands-on project involving objects in
the Bernstein Study-Storage facility at the Hood Museum, and will also be asked
to write a critique of an exhibition scheduled to open at the Hood Museum at
the beginning of the term. (CULT) Dist: SOC; WCult:
NW. Welsch.
- in 06W: 2A 12.5 The Politics of Latin@ Ethnography
(Identical to LATS 46) Ethnography, as a set of both
methodological and textual practices, is central to anthropology. In this
course we will explore the development of Latin@ ethnographic traditions by
examining tensions emerging out of and in response to ethnographic
writing. Latin@ critiques to ethnographic projects that construct Latin@s
as homogenous, pathological, and pre-modern have taken various forms. In
this course we will consider Latin@ ethnographic, autobiographical, and
literary texts that grapple with issues of representation (gender, class,
sexuality, race), power, and history to understand the socially construcged
nature of Latin2 culture in its varied regional and ethnic contexts.
(ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NA (W or CI for the class of 2008 or
later). Gutierrez.
- in 06S: 2A 12.6 Gender and Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective
(identical to Women's and Gender Studies 30). This course will
explore some of the dominant theories of sex, gender, and sexuality that have
emerged in the social sciences in the past century. Decentering theories of sex
differences that are rooted in biology, we will begin by considering the ways
in which scientific narratives are themselves shaped by cultural and social
context. We will then consider Marxist, structuralist, feminist, and
performance-based approaches to the study of gender and sexuality in diverse
cultural settings. We will look at gender roles, attitudes toward same-sex
sexuality, and the cultural construction of machismo and masculinity through
case studies from various societies including Papua New Guinea, Egypt, Mexico,
Bolivia, Africa, and the United States (CULT). Dist:
SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Cullinane.
14. Death and Dying
07S: 10A
Death is a universal human experience, yet the attitudes and responses
toward it develop out of a complex interplay between the personality of the
individual and her or his sociocultural background. Using anthropological,
historical, and biographical works, as well as novels and films, the course
explores the meaning of death in a variety of cultures and religious
traditions. Particular attention is paid to understanding native ideas about
the person, emotions, life cycle, and the afterlife, as well as the analysis of
mortuary rituals and the experience of the dying and the survivors. The course
also offers an anthropological perspective on the development of the modern
Western (particularly American) mode of dealing with death and dying and
addresses the issue of mass death in the twentieth century. (CULT) Dist:
SOC or INT. Kan.
15. Political Anthropology
06F: 2A
The political anthropology of non-Western societies raises basic questions
concerning the nature of authority, coercion, persuasion, and communication in
both small-scale and complex societies. Classical approaches to problems of
freedom and order are challenged through examples drawn from various societies.
Topics include the ideologies and language of political domination, revolution,
wealth, and the transition to post-modern societies are assessed, as are
factions, knowledge and control, state secrecy, state and non-state violence,
and religious fundamentalism. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW.
Eickelman.
16. Secrecy and Lying in Politics, Law and Society (Identical to Public
Policy 81.7)
06X: 10A
Claims to secret knowledge—in families, organizations, and states—is a form
of authority over those who do not possess it. This seminar explores how claims
to secret knowledge and lying relate to the institutional and cultural
frameworks in which knowledge is produced, the use of "leaks" to
challenge hierarchical controls and sometimes sustain them, and the ways in
which secrecy, deception, and lying form a necessary and often desirable part
of social, political, and economic life. (CULT) Dist: SOC.
Eickelman.
17. The Anthropology of Health and Illness
06S, 07S: 12
In this course, we will examine pain, suffering, and healing as universal
aspects of the human condition which are, nonetheless, heavily shaped by the
cultural, social, and political context in which they occur. In addition
to considering the symbolic dimensions of both illness and healing, we look at
health care provision as a complex social, cultural, and political phenomenon
in its own right. We begin by reading some of the early anthropological
classics, written before the emergence of medical anthropology as we know it
today. Next we consider the cultural logic of Western medicine (i.e.
biomedicine) and the role of metaphor and narrative in helping patients and
providers spin webs of meaning in the midst of uncertainty. We consider
chronic pain and the particular challenges that this condition poses to Western
medicine. In the realm of mental health, we look at the cultural, social,
and political aspects of depression. Finally, we move on to examine the
way in which the HIV/AIDS epidemic throws the individual, social, and political
dimensions of human suffering into stark relief. This leads us to a
discussion of the global inequalities that lead to the uneven distribution of
illness, suffering, and medicine throughout the globe. While
acknowledging the social origins of much pain and suffering, we will also
consider the role of medicine in exacerbating and/or alleviating human distress
in all its forms. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT.
Cullinane.
Required Texts:
Farmer, Paul. 1990. AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the
Geography of Blame. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Jackson, Jean. 2000. Camp Pain: Talking with Chronic
Pain Patients. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press.
Kleinman, Arthur. The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing,
and the Human Condition.
O'Nell, Theresa. 1996. Disciplined Hearts: History,
Identity, and Depression in an American Indian Community. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Sontag, Susan. Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors.
Doubleday Press.
18. Introduction to Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology (formerly
ANTH 20)
05F, 06F: 3A
This course will introduce students to the premier method of empirical
research in cultural anthropology: participant observation, and associated
informal dialogue and interviewing. We will study techniques for planning and
carrying out such research, and for recording, checking validity and
reliability, storing, coding, analyzing and writing up of ethnographic data.
Students will undertake "mini" research projects, and become familiar
with basic ethical issues, informed consent, writing of research proposals,
formulating research contracts, and sharing results with cooperating
individuals and groups.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1 or 3 or one ethnography/culture area course.
(CULT) Dist: SOC. Alverson.
19. Islam: An Anthropological Approach
06W, 06F: 10A
This course challenges conventional approaches to the study of Islam.
The anthropological approach values the study of sacred texts, critical
historical moments, and influential activists, it focuses on Islam in practice,
as it is lived by Muslims whose voices are seldom heard, who have little
prominence in intellectual or political circles, and gives equal weight to the
Muslim experience in the Middle East and to the majority of Muslims who live
elsewhere and who have contributed to the vitality of the Islamic
tradition. Ethnographic fieldwork and social history serve as our window
onto the world of modern Islamic diversity and contested meanings and
practices. Viewing religion "from the bottom up" thus
contributes to re-thinking popular assumptions concerning what
"authentic" Islam entails and who speaks for Islam. (CULT)
Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Didier, Eickelman.
34. Comparative Perspectives on the US-Mexican Borderlands
(Identical to LATS 45)
06W: 10A 06F: 2
The borderlands will be examined in ways that take us from a concrete
analysis of the region, including conflict and organizing efforts at the border
to more abstract notions that incude strategies of cultural representations and
the forging of new identities. We will consider several analytical
perspectives relevant to anthropology including: gender, identity,
resistance, economics, globalization, migration, and the politics of everyday
life. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NA (CI for class of
2008 or later). Gutierrez.
44. Globalization from Above and Below
07W: 12
Globalization is used to describe various differing social, economic, and
political processes. Most commonly, globalization is used to refer to
increasing interconnections of people, ideas, and money across the world.
while some scholars may praise the connections offered by globalization, others
provide more critical accounts of the homogenizing impacts of globalization on
culture, and the exploitative nature of transnational corporations of both
people and the natural environment. In this course we examine botht he
ways that globalization is producing a world that while diverse, is changing
through increased interconnectedness and new form of mobilization on the ground
that challenge various forms of inequalities. (CULT) Dist: SOC
or INT; WC: CI. Gutierrez.
46. Culture, Economy, and Development Policy in the World's Poorer
Regions
05F: 11
This course will review some key assumptions and concepts of economic and of
cultural analysis which have been applied to the study of, and policy planning
for, "economic development." Important debates within anthropology,
which have been informed by different schools of economic thought will be
presented. Important outcomes of these debates, upon which much development
policy formulation, development planning, and project implementation have been
predicated, will be appraised by means of case studies from among small-scale
rural and urban communities of Africa, South America or South Asia.
Prerequisite: Anthro 1 or 3 or Permission; Economics 1 or equivalent is useful
preparation. (CULT) Dist: SOC. Alverson.
47. Hunters and Gatherers
05F: 10
This course explores the hunting and gathering way of life, the sole means
of human subsistence until the development of agriculture 10,000 years ago, now
represented by only a few dozen groups around the world. We will examine a
number of hunting and gathering peoples living in highly disparate
environments— deserts, tropical forests, arctic regions—in an attempt to
discover how they adapt to their natural and social environments, how they
organize and perpetuate their societies, and how they bring meaning to their
lives through religion. Understanding contemporary hunter-gatherers illuminates
the workings of earlier human societies as well as fundamental features of
human society in general, such as the sexual division of labor.
Prerequisite: One introductory Anthropology course. (CULT) Dist: SOC or
INT; WCult: NW. Endicott.
48. Anthropology of Religion
06S, 07S: 11
 In this course religions are seen
as cultural systems which give shape and meaning to the world in which people
live and provide a means, in the form of rituals, by which they can attempt to
manipulate those worlds. The emphasis is on understanding non-Western
religions, especially those of tribal peoples, through the interpretation of
myth, ritual, and expressed beliefs. The role of religion as a social
institution is also examined. Alternative approaches to the
interpretation of myth, ritual symbolism, deity conceptions, witchcraft, etc.,
are explored.
Prerequisite: One course in anthropology or religion or permission of
the instructor. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult:
NW. Kan, Watanabe.
49. Sex, Death and Identity in Modern China (AMES 22)
China's economic transformation and opening to the world have created
massive social and economic changes while at the same time fostering profound
social problems. This course explores some of the major social problems faced
by China since the post-1978 economic reforms and examines their implications
for China's future. Topics to be explored include crime, drug abuse,
prostitution, HIV/AIDS, nationalist conflict, corruption, family breakdown, and
juvenile delinquency. The course employs materials and methods from many
scholarly disciplines and traditions: anthropology, sociology, history,
political science, economics, and cultural studies. (CULT) Dist: SOC;
WCult: NW. Rudelson
51. Colonialism and Its Legacies in Anthropological Perspective
06W, 07W: D.F.S.P.
Between the early 16th and mid 20th centuries, European nations and Japan
colonized much of the rest of the world. This course looks at the history of
colonialism in various parts of the world, focusing on the similarities and
differences between colonialism as practiced by different colonial rulers in
different regions at different times. It also traces the ways in which the
colonial process and experience has shaped the world we live in today, both in
developed and developing nations, in such areas as political systems, economic
systems, religions, and interethnic relations.
Prerequisite: Any two courses in anthropology; Anthropology 38 highly
recommended. (CULT) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW. Endicott, Watanabe,
Endicott.
60. Knowledge, Power & Representation in Native American Studies
(NAS 54)
06W: 2A 07W: 2A
One of the key goals of Native American Studies is to re-center the
representation of Indians from the perspective of Native American peoples and
communities. This course wil examine the structural and the disciplinary
constraints that prevent this goal from being realized, as well as the
potential intellectual downfalls of this goal. In particular, the course
will explore the critiques of academic representation and research practices
offered by contemporary Native American scholars and place them in dialogue
with scholars from the "dominant" disciplines that study Indians --
anthropology, history and literature.
Open to all classes. Dist: SOC. Class of 2007 and
earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later:
WCult: CI. Ranco.
73. Main Currents in Anthropology
05F: 12 06F: 3B
This is a course in anthropological theory, not the history of
anthropology. As such, it takes what historian of anthropology George
Stocking calls an "enlightened presentist" rather than
"historicist" approach to the discipline's past. Neither homage
to canonical "great books" nor a review of dead-letter formulations
rooted in the past, the course examines seleceted anthropological studies for
what they reveal about the ongoing intellectual questions and practical
methodologies that define anthropology as a discipline. Course readings
begin with the naure of anthropological inquiry and issues of
"culture" and "society," then turn to specific
ethonographic case studies that combine important theoretical milestones with
the varied and changing human worlds anthropologists have sought to
explain. (CULT) Dist: SOC. Watanabe, Alverson.
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