introduction to sociocultural...

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

A N T H 2 4 0 D — S P R I N G 2 0 1 4

Official'Syllabus'

C l a s s m e e t s 9 : 3 5 - 1 0 : 5 0 , T u e s d a y & T h u r s d a y i n F a n e r H a l l , R o o m 3 5 1 5

D R . J O H N C . M C C A L L

O f f i c e : F a n e r 3 5 2 3 ( e n t e r t h r o u g h 3 5 2 7 ) O f f i c e H o u r s : 11:00-12:00, T-W-Th, or by appointment (or just talk to me after class) O f f i c e P h o n e : 4 5 3 - 5 0 1 1 , 4 5 3 - 5 0 1 0 E m a i l : j m c c a l l @ s i u . e d u

C O U R S E O B J E C T I V E S Sociocultural anthropologists study human cultural practices. They have developed a variety of theoretical and methodological tools with which to study human society. In this course we will examine the history of anthropological theory from its origins in Enlightenment philosophy to the present. In the process, we will review and discuss important ethnological research from different times and places.

This course emphasizes the theories and methods employed by anthropologists and the issues and debates that have been predominant in the discipline. Topics include: social evolutionism, functionalism, structuralism, cognitive approaches, sociobiology, symbolic anthropology, development anthropology, ecological anthropology, and reflexive and post-structural theory. We will see that cultural analysis is never a "neutral" exercise. Anthropologists work to construct culturally relevant knowledge in relations to our own a social contexts and constraints. Therefore, we must maintain a critical concern for the historical conditions shaping anthropologists’ views of the world at various times and places.

ANTH 240D Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology 2

REQUIRED READINGS

This course uses a textbook and an edited reader with selections from classic works in anthropology:

♦ A History of Anthropological Theory. (3rd edition) Paul A. Erickson & Liam D. Murphy. University of Toronto Press.

♦ Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory. (3rd edition) Paul A. Erickson & Liam D. Murphy. (Eds.) University of Toronto Press.

Additional perspectives on the readings and the issues that they raise will be explored in lecture with particular interest in the theoretical and methodological approaches of the authors. We will often explore alternative views in class and exam questions may test your ability to criticize a scholar’s position as well as “know” it. In general, the readings represent diverse topics and contradictory viewpoints. I do not expect you to memorize all the factual details contained in the readings but you will be required to know the main questions and issues that the various authors address, and the theoretical approaches they employ in their research.

Each time you read an assignment ask yourself the following questions:

• What does the researcher identify as the problem to be addressed? • What do they use as data? • What method do they employ to analyze the material? • What are their assumptions, stated and not stated? • What are their findings? • What do they conclude?

EVALUATION CRITERIA AND GRADES

Grades are based on three exams plus an attendance factor. All of the exams will consist of multiple-choice questions. Study guides will be provided before the exams. Students with more than two unexcused absences will be penalized half a grade per absence. Students who miss class for excusable reasons (illness, observation of a religious holiday, or a personal crisis) should contact me in person or by email before or immediately after the absence. I will assume that an absence is not excusable if you don’t explain it at the time. End of the semester petitions to retroactively excuse multiple absences will not be accepted.

IMPORTANT COURSE DATES

February 13: First Midterm Exam

March 20: Second Midterm Exam

March 8-16: Spring Break

May 8: Final Exam at 10:10 AM


C O U R S E C A L E N D A R & R E A D I N G S

January 14 Philosophical Foundations Introductory meeting January 16 ♦ “Introduction.” 15-20 in HAT. ♦ “Overview.” 3-21 in Readings. ♦ “The Early History of Anthropological Theory.” 21-43 in HAT. (1st half – through “Positivism”) January 21 Nineteenth Century Social Evolutionism ♦ “The Early History of Anthropological Theory” 43-89 in HAT. (2nd half). ♦ “General Summary & Conclusions.” From The Descent of Man. Charles Darwin. 57-66 in Readings. January 23 ♦ “The Organic Analogy Reconsidered.” (Herbert Spencer.) 52-56 in Readings. ♦ “The Science of Culture.” 30-42 in Readings. ♦ “Ethnical Periods.” Edward B. Tylor. 43-51 in Readings. January 28 Review of 19th Century Social Evolution Theory – be prepared for discussion!

January 30 American Cultural Anthropology ♦ “American Cultural Anthropology” 93-111 in HAT. ♦ “The Methods of Ethnology.” Franz Boas. 166-122 in Readings.

February 4 ♦ “Conclusion.” (Primitive Society). Robert Lowie. 123-130 in Readings. ♦ “What Anthropology is About?” Alfred Kroeber. 131-140 in Readings. ♦ “Introduction.” (Coming of Age in Samoa). Margaret Mead. 141-146 in Readings. ♦ “The Individual and the Pattern of Culture.” Ruth Benedict. 147-160 in Readings. February 6 Margaret Mead in Samoa (A documentary about Margaret Mead)

February 11

Exam Review – be prepared for discussion.

February 13 FIRST MIDTERM EXAM


February 18 Foundations of Social Theory ♦ “Bourgeois and Proletarians.” Karl Marx. 22-29 in Readings.

February 20 ♦ “Introduction.” (The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.) Emile Durkheim. 75-88 in Readings.

February 25 ♦ “The Sociology of Charismatic Authority.” Max Weber. 89-94 in Readings.

♦ “Nature of the Linguistic Sign and Synchronic and Diachronic Law.” Ferdinand de Saussure. 95-100 in Readings.

February 27 British Social Anthropology ♦ “The Subject, Method and Scope of This Inquiry.” (Argonauts of the Western Pacific) Bronislaw

Malinowski. 202-217 in Readings. March 4 ♦ “Introduction.” (African Political Systems) Meyer Fortes & E. E. Evans-Pritchard. 218-231 in Readings.

♦ “Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa.” Max Gluckman. 232-252 in Readings. March 6 French Structuralism ♦ “French Structural Anthropology” 111-122 in HAT.

♦ “Structuralism and Ecology” Claude Lévi –Strauss. 161-174 in Readings.

♦ “Structuralism in Social Anthropology.” Edmund Leach. 175-187 in Readings.

♦ “Introduction.” (Islands of History) Marshall Sahlins. 188-195 in Readings. March 11 & 13: Spring Break March 18

Exam Review – be prepared for discussion. March 20 SECOND MIDTERM EXAM March 25 Post-‘Sixties Anthropology ♦ “Theory in Anthropology Since the Sixties.” Sherry B. Ortner. 499-529 in Readings. March 27 Linguistic Approaches ♦ “The Unconscious Patterning of Behavior in Society.” Edward Sapir. 281-292 in Readings.

♦ “Cognitive Anthropology.” 138-140 in HAT. April 1 Ecology & Economy ♦ “Cultural Neo-Evolutionism & Cultural Materialism” 141-150 in HAT.

♦ “The Epistemology of Cultural Materialism.” Marvin Harris. 311-321 in Readings. ♦ “Energy and Tools.” Lesley White. 293-310 in Readings.


April 3 Nature & Culture Revisited ♦ “Biologized Anthropology.” 150-157 in HAT. ♦ “Sex on the Brain.” Stefan Helmreich & Heather Paxton. 565-583 in Readings. ♦ “Anthropology and The Bell Curve. Jonathan Marks. 584-599 in Readings. April 8 Symbolic Anthropology ♦ “Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology.” 157-168 in HAT. ♦ “Symbols in Ndembu Ritual.” Victor Turner. 322-340 in Readings. April 10 ♦ “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture.” Clifford Geertz 341-359 in Readings. April 15 Monday’ Girls (An ethnographic documentary about a rite of passage in Nigeria April 17 The Feminist Turn ♦ “Feminism and Anthropology.” 168-173 in HAT. ♦ “Language, Gender, and Power: An Anthropological Review.” Susan Gal. 360-369 in Readings. ♦ “Self-Interest and the Social Good: Some implications of Hagan Gender Imagery.” Marilyn Strathern.

370-391 in Readings. April 22 Post-Colonial & Historical Approaches ♦ “Political Economy” 173-180 in HAT. ♦ “Knowing the Oriental.” Edward Said. 392-405 in Readings. ♦ “Introduction.” (Europe and the People Without History.) Eric Wolf. 406-422 in Readings. ♦ “Globalization” & “Public Anthropology.” 194-202 in HAT. April 24 Practice Theory ♦ “Postmodernity.” 180-194 in HAT. ♦ “The Production and Reproduction of Legitimate Language.” Pierre Bourdieu. 451-468 in Readings. ♦ “The Birth of the Asylum.” Michel Foucault. 435-450 in Readings. April 29 Reflexivity ♦ “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” Arjun Appadurai. 556-565 in Readings. ♦ “Partial Truths.” James Clifford. 469-490 in Readings. ♦ “A Crisis of Representation in the Human Sciences.” George Marcus and Michael Fischer. 491-198 in

Readings. May 1 Review for Final Exam May 8 (Thursday) FINAL EXAM: 10:10 AM until 12:10 PM

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