06W, 07W: 11
The course provides an introduction to the peoples and cultures of Native North America. In each major region ("culture area"), one or two indigenous ethnic groups (nations) are highlighted to emphasize the particular forms of economy, social organization, and spirituality, as well as modes of their integration. While the focus of the course is on the more traditional American Indian cultures prior to intensive European contact and/or the establishment of Western domination, some crucial aspects of the more recent American Indian culture history and modern-day situation are also discussed. While many of the readings are by anthropologists (Native and non-Native), works by American Indian academic and tribal historians and other spokespersons are also included to provide a more balanced and sensitive portrayal of the indigenous cultures of North America. The course also emphasizes the experience of individual Native American women and men, especially by using autobiographies by traditionalist persons. Native American guest speakers will also offer their own unique perspective on the subject matter of the course.
Open to all classes. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Kan.
06S: 10A
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 ethonographic 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 experiencing rapid and profound social change.. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Cullinane.
06W: 2A
Ethnography, both as a set of 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.
05F, 07S: 2A
With their complex social organization, elaborate ceremonies, fascinating mythology, and flamboyant "art," the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast represent a truly unique "culture area" of Native North America. The course surveys several cultures of this region (from the coast of Oregon to southeastern Alaska), drawing upon early travelers' accounts, anthropological works, native testimony, artifacts from the Hood Museum of Art, and films. Lectures, class discussions, and student presentations will deal with the "classic" Northwest Coast cultures of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries as well as their modern versions. Open to all classes. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NA. Kan.
06W: 2
The cultures of Southeast Asia are remarkably varied, ranging from elaborate Hinduized civilizations (Bali) and modern city-states (Singapore) to "hill tribes" (e.g., the Meo of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam) and nomadic foraging bands (e.g., the Semang of Malaysia). This course is a survey of Southeast Asian societies focusing on the question of why their cultures take the form they do. This entails an examination of the modes of environmental adaptation of the various peoples, their integration into regional and world-wide systems, and the historical influences of the great civilizations of India, China, the Middle East, and Europe. The course looks at how Southeast Asians live and at the religions that give meaning to their lives. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Endicott.
Not offered in the period 05F through 07S
This year's focus is on the Middle East and North Africa. Topics include how changing notions of personal, tribal, ethnic, and religious identities influence politics locally and internationally; religion and mass higher education; the multiple meanings and prospects of democracy; conflict over land and natural resosurces; political and economic migration; new communications media; the global and local bases for extremist movements; and the changing faces of Islam and other religions in the region's public spaces. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Eickelman.
06F: 11
Ethnography, both as a set 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 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 constructed nature of Latin@ culture in its varied regional and ethnic contexts. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NA (W or CI for the class of 2008 or later).
06S: 2
This course focuses on the experiences of Mexican, Central American, Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican migrants living in the US. The literature will draw from anthropology and its neighboring disciplines in an attempt to understand the social, political, and economic processes that shape the varied experiences of Latino migrants living in the United States. In so doing the class will examine Latino migrant experiences in relation to issues such as the changing character of capitalism as an international system, the organizing role of networks and families, changing patterns of gender relations, the emergence of a second generation, and the cultural politics of class formation. (ETHN) Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NA (W or CI for class of 2008 or later). Gutierrez.
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 include 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.
07S: 9L
A comparative study of the Hispanic and indigenous societies of Mexico and Guatemala, this course will focus upon the synthesis of three developments that play a major role in the problems of nation-building and the formation of national consciousness in this region of the world: (a) the mixing of Spanish and pre-Columbian civilizations that has led to the creation of vital, if contradictory, indigenous cultures; (b) the role of conflicting social relations between the masses and elites and their effect upon demographic, economic, and intellectual developments; and (c) the new geopolitical importance of this region for the U.S. and the reciprocal growing influences of Hispanic culture in contemporary North America.
Prerequisite: One course in Anthropology or Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Watanabe.
06W: 12
This course will survey principal changes in institutions and ideologies which have taken place in rural and in urban communities of southern, central, and west Africa over the past half century. Emphasis will be placed on study of the responses and adaptations of indigenous arts (sculptural, architectural, ritual, and healing) and associated cultural ideologies to the intrusions into, and appropriations of, African communities by Western institutions and interests. Case study material will draw on peoples of the modern African nations: South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Mali.
Prerequisite: One introductory course in anthropology or in AAAS or by permission. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Alverson.
06F: 12
Despite nearly five hundred years of conquest, colonialism, and change, native peoples still survive in culturally distinct enclaves within the dominant Iberian traditions of Latin America. This course examines the roots as well as the endemic social inequalities and prejudices that resulted. Selected cast studies will relate to such contemporary problems as international drug trafficking, deforestation of the Amazon basin, and ongoing political repression and revolution in Central America. The course draws on the insights of local ethnographic studies to shed light on global problems, while anthropologically situating native cultures of Latin America in their larger historical and geopolitical context.
Prerequisite: One course in anthropology or Latin American and Caribbean Studies. (ETHN). Dist.: SOC; WCult: CI Watanabe.
05F, 06F: 12
This course will deal with the ancient, historical, and contemporary aboriginal peoples of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and New Guinea. It will investigate migrations of humans into the Pacific, their adaptation to the island environments, the variety of sociocultural systems that arose, and the relationships between the various peoples of the region. It will also consider some effects on Oceanic cultures of trade, colonialism, missionaries, the second world war, tourists, ethnic self-consciousness, and national independence.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 1 or 3 or permission of the instructor. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Endicott.
07W: 2
This course explores the emergence of ethnic identity and nationalism among the peoples of the Russian empire, the Soviet Union and their successor states. Drawing on anthropological and historical works, it examines the process of formation of a centralized multiethnic Russian empire and the liberation struggle of its nationalities prior to 1917. It then proceeds to the crucial period of 1917 - 1991 and explores the theory and practice of nationalistic politics of the Bolshevik, Stalinist, and late Soviet socialism. The dissolution of the USSR, the rise of interethnic conflicts, and the relations between ethnic groups in Russia and the successor states are the focus of the second half of the course, where several case studies are discussed in depth. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: EU. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Kan
06W, 07W: D.F.S.P.
This course is an introduction to the study of traditional and contemporary Maori society and culture. topics for study include: pre-european Maori history, origin and migration traditions, land ownership and use, religion, leadership, meeting ground (marae) protocols, the colonial experience, struggles of resistence and of cultural recovery. (ETHN) Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Watanabe, Endicott.
