INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL/CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

ANTH 201 – Fall 2004

 

9:25-10:40, Tuesdays and Thursdays                                    

Room: BL 131                                                                      

Office Hours: 11:00-12:30 Tuesdays & by appointment                   

Aimee Placas (placas@rice.edu)

Brian Riedel (riedelbs@rice.edu)
Offices: Sewell Hall 156 & 156A

Assignments: Readings are either in the required textbook, on reserve in the library, or available on the web through the course website.  The syllabus indicates where you can find each item: an O following the citation means it’s available online, and an R indicates it’s on reserve.  Readings must be done before class on the date they’re assigned.  Bring a printed copy of the assigned article, and/or your textbook, to class.  Class attendance is crucial: we will do a number of in-class exercises and writing assignments that will count towards your participation grade.  These are completed and handed in during class; they will not be accepted after class, without exception.

Required textbook: Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition, Sixth Edition.  Published in 2004 by Emily Schultz and Robert Lavenda. Available in the bookstore.

PRINT ARTICLES AND BRING THEM TO CLASS.

An Introduction to Anthropology

      August 24                     Introduction to the Course

     

      August 26                     S&L Chapter 1 & 2

 

Fieldwork

      August 31                     S&L Chapter 3

                                          Miner, Horace. “Body Ritual Among the Nacerima” O

                                         

      September 2                 Lee, Richard “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” O

                                          Bohannan, Laura “Shakespeare in the Bush” O

 

Anthropology in History: Capitalism, Colonialism, and Modernity

      September 7                 S&L Chapter 4

                                          Leavitt, Stephen. “Cargo Beliefs and Religious Experience” R

                                         

      September 9                 Film selections: the exotic in popular film

                                          Film: Trobriand Cricket

 

Language, Emotion, and the Self

      September 14               EXAM 1

 

      September 16               S&L Chapter 5

                                          Thomson, David. “The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis” R

     

      September 21               S&L Chapter 6

 

      September 23               Film: Latah

      

Play, Art, Myth, and Ritual

      September 28               S&L Chapter 7

                                         

      September 30               Edwards, Lynda “Myths over Miami” O

                                          “On Video Games, The Jury is Out and Confused” R

                                           

Religion and Worldviews

      October 5                    S&L Chapter 8

                                          Gmelch, George. “Baseball Magic” R

                                          BBC News “School Bans Harry Potter” O

                                         

      October 7                    EXAM 2

 

      October 12                  NO CLASS – MID-TERM RECESS

      October 14                  Film: Gates of Heaven

 

Social Organization and Power

      October 19                  S&L Chapter 9

                                         

      October 21                  Film: N!ai

CERTAIN ARTICLES BELOW USED TO HAVE LINKS -- THOSE LINKS WEREN'T STABLE.  INSTEAD, YOU'LL NOW FIND BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR THOSE ARTICLES.  GO TO THE FONDREN WEBSITE AND USE THE ONLINE JOURNALS LINK TO LOCATE THE ARTICLES YOURSELF -- THEY ARE ALL THERE. ( If you don't know how to access online journals, see a reference librarian.)

Economies and Consumption

      October 26                  S&L Chapter 10
Cronk, Lee. "Strings Attached: Reciprocity and the Power of Giving." The Sciences. 1989. Volume 29, Issue 3, pg 2. Use Fondren's Online Journals to access.

                                         

 

      October 28                  Bourgois, Philippe. "Workaday World -- Crack Economy."  The Nation. 1995. Volume 261, Issue 19, pg 706.  Use Fondren's Online Journals to access.

                             

Kinship, Gender, and Sexuality

      November 2                 S&L Chapter 11
Goldstein, Melvyn. "When Brothers Share a Wife." Natural History. 1987. Volume 96, Issue 3, pg 38. Use Fondren's Online Journals to access.

                                         

 

                                          Grady, Denise. “Few Risks Seen to the Children of First Cousins” R

                                         

      November 4                 S&L Chapter 12 & 13

                                          Daniels, Cora. “Not the Marrying Kind” R

     

      November 9                 EXAM 3

 

Class, Caste, Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism

      November 11               S&L Chapter 14

                                           Fish, Jeffrey. "Mixed Blood." Psychology Today. 1995. Volume 28, Issue 6, Pg 55. Use Fondren's Online Journals to access.

      November 16               Film: “We Are All Neighbors”

Globalization                                     

      November 18               S&L Chapter 15

                                          Fuentes, Annette and Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Women in the Global Factory” R

      November 23               NO CLASS                                  

 

      November 25               NO CLASS –  THANKSGIVING RECESS

 

Anthropology Applied

      November 30               S&L Chapter 16

                                         

      December 2                 EXAM 4 (non-cumulative)