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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.