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CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Spring 2010 |
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106d Ettinger Bldg. Office: (484) 664-3437
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Required Textbooks:
1. Napoleon Chagnon, Yanomamo (Fifth Edition), Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 2. Marvin Harris & Orna Johnson, Cultural Anthropology (seventh edition). Pearson, 2007. 3. Asen Balikci, The Netsilik Eskimo. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1970. |
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Internet Sources:
Course Description:
Anthropology is most simply defined as the study of humankind. The term, anthropology, derives from the Greek word anthropos meaning "man". There are three sub-fields of anthropology: biological anthropology, cultural anthropology and archaeology. Cultural anthropology is that sub-field within anthropology that examines the variety of human societies and cultures throughout different times and places. Among other things, anthropologists are interested in how various peoples have interacted with their environments, how they have provided for their material needs, how they have organized themselves into social groups, the different types of families that have existed, the various gender roles that different peoples have adopted, the different forms of government that have evolved, and how different people have viewed the world around them and their place in it.
However, as a science of human behavior, cultural anthropology attempts to explain, not just describe, the diversity of societies that exist today and that have existed in the past. In other words, anthropologists want to understand the processes that have created the immense variety of human lifestyles over the past two million years. This course will introduce the student to some of the concepts, principles and methods used by cultural anthropologists in their study of human social systems, as well as to many of the issues that have been raised as a result of anthropological research. The general goal of the course is to acquaint the student with the unique perspective that cultural anthropology offers towards an understanding of the human condition. More specifically, the course will present students with a systemic, scientific understanding of human social behavior, diversity and evolution. By reading and discussing studies about specific groups of people with lifestyles quite different from that of urban and suburban United States, it is hoped that the student will come to appreciate and understand the causes of human social and cultural diversity and the rational basis of alternate social behaviors. At the same time, the course will adopt an evolutionary approach and emphasizes the importance of taking a longitudinal view of contemporary issues rather than approaching them from rather limited short term social of political perspectives.
But cultural anthropology is not just about "primitive" peoples living exotic lifestyles in far away places. Studying the lifestyles of other peoples should provide the student with a new understanding of the behavior, organization and values that prevail in our own society. As a science of human behavior, cultural anthropology has as much to say about the workings of American society as it does about the Dobe Ju/'hoansi, the Yanomamo, the Inuit and the many other peoples traditionally studied by anthropologists. An important objective of the course, then, will be to apply anthropology as a tool for examining issues and topics in contemporary American society.
Teaching Methods:
Examinations:
Written Assignments: 1. Each student will write a 6-page (1,500-1,800 word) essay that provides a systematic anthropological explanation of the material presented in class. The purpose of this essay is to determine how well the student understands the material discussed throughout the course and is able to apply the concepts and principles presented in class to that material. This paper will be treated as a research paper (meaning that it must be detailed and referenced) in which the sources used will be the course readings and class presentations. The essay is due on Thursday, April 22nd.
2. All written assignments MUST be typed. Handwritten materials will NOT be accepted.
3. Although the primary concern is with the quality of the ideas and analysis presented, essays and other written assignments will also be evaluated in terms of their adherence to accepted writing standards. They must be typed clearly and legibly. They must also be organized, grammatically correct and free from spelling errors. Papers must, therefore, be carefully proof read before they are submitted. A sloppy and poorly written paper will not receive as high a grade as a comparable paper which is neat and clearly written, which expresses a coherent theme, and which contains few spelling and grammatical errors. Having an idea that you cannot express clearly and concisely is little better than not having the idea at all. Developing good writing skills is, thus, very important.
Grading Policy:
1. ALL assignments and examinations must be completed or taken at the time scheduled. Late essays will only be accepted and make-up tests will only be given in the event of an emergency and will receive a 10-point reduction in grade for each day they are late, i.e., a score of 80 on a make-up test will be recorded as a 70, 60, 50, etc. (Computer problems or printer dysfunction are NOT valid excuses for a late paper. They indicate that the student waited until the very last minute to complete an assignment.) Similarly, incomplete course grades will be reduced by 10 points when they are completed. The grade on any exam not taken or assignment not completed will be zero. Plagiarized assignments will also receive a grade of zero.2. ALL materials assigned for reading, presented or discussed in class (including films) or distributed in class and/or by email will be potentially included in examinations.
3. Attendance will not be taken, but absence from class is NOT an acceptable excuse for a student's failure to complete an assignment or examination. It is the student's responsibility to obtain the necessary information on days that he or she misses class. In addition, a student who regularly misses class cannot expect special consideration in the event of poor grades.
4. In the final analysis, responsibility for completing all course requirements rests with the student. If the student has any doubt on any matter regarding the course, he or she should contact the instructor BEFORE the problem becomes insurmountable. One of the benefits of the small size of the Muhlenberg Campus is the potential that exist for easy faculty-student contact.
5. Plagiarism constitutes a violation of the Academic Behavior Code and will be dealt with VERY STRICTLY. The Sociology and Anthropology Department treats plagiarism cases very seriously. Depending on the nature of the plagiarism, a student could receive a failing grade for the course; be referred to the Dean's Office for judicial review; and have a "VF" (violation of Academic Behavior Code) grade entered on their transcripts. If a student is in doubt about a specific situation, it is his or her responsibility to consult the instructor or some other appropriate person (such as a librarian or writing tutor) for clarification.
Extra-Credit Option:
1. Students may also choose to complete a research paper for up to 10 extra points on the final grade for the course. (The grade received on the research paper will be added to a student's grade after all of the other calculations have been made.) The research paper should be approximately 12 pages long (3000 words) and must be written on a topic approved in advance by the instructor. The research paper will be strictly graded according to the guidelines described at the end of the syllabus. All research paper topics must be approved by Thursday, March 4th. NO UNAPPROVED PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.All students working on extra-credit papers are expected to meet with the instructor to discuss the progress of their research papers. The paper is due on Thursday, May 6th (the last day of class). NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.2. Students writing research papers will need to obtain research materials that are not available in the Trexler Library in order to complete a satisfactory paper. This will necessitate either travel to other libraries in the Lehigh Valley or extensive use of Interlibrary Loan services through the Trexler Library. Students should be aware that obtaining research materials through Interlibrary Loan may take several weeks and should, therefore, start their research papers as soon as possible. Not receiving adequate sources in time to analyze your subject and write your paper will seriously affect the quality of the paper you submit and the grade your paper receives.
Additional Comment:
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Cultural Anthropology Class, Fall 2009
Section 1
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Section 3
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SCHEDULE
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Unit:
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TOPIC |
READING ASSIGNMENTS* |
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1 |
Introduction: Taking an Anthropological Perspective |
Life is a comedy to those who think and a travesty to those who feel. |
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!!! One Hundred Percent American !!!
"Philosophy: unintelligible answers to unsolvable problems"
--Henry Adams
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1. Miner, Body Ritual among the Nacirema.. 2. Hughes, The Sacred Rac. 3. Fisher, "Africa Adorned," Nat. Geog. Nov. 1984 and "The Eloquent Surma of Ethiopia." Nat. Geog., Feb. 1991. (R) 4. Chagnon, "Prologue" & Chapter 1.
Film: "Mondo Cane"
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5. Harris & Johnson, Chapters 1 & 2. 6. Sharp, "Steel Axes for Stone-Age Australians." (R) 8. Furedi, North Waging Cultural War against South. 9. Abruzzi, Ethnocentrism in American News Reporting 10. Abruzzi, You are a Fluke of the Universe
Ethnocentrism (ppt)
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Elaine Davidson, the most pierced woman in the world, shows off some of her 2,520 piercings at the 50th anniversary of the Guinness World Records in London.
American Anthropological Association
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2 |
Thinking Critically |
Militant Agnostic! I don't know and you don't either. |
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"THE NEW LOGIC: It would be nice if it worked. Ergo, it will work." -- H. L. Mencken
Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?
Snopes.com: Urban Legends Reference Page
"The aim of scientific
research is to formulate explanatory theories which are: (1)
predictive (or retrodictive), (2) testable (or falsifiable), (3)
parsimonious, (4) of broad scope, and (5) integratable or cumulative
within a coherent and expanding corpus of theories."
--Marvin
Harris (1994) |
2. Abruzzi, The Myth of Chief Seattle 3. Zindler, Did Jesus Exist? 4. Abruzzi, The Jesus Movement. 5. Bible Gateway: Genesis 1-2 & Exodus 9-14.
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6 7. Abruzzi, Hurricanes and Global Warming 8. Abruzzi, Logging and Deforestation 9. Abruzzi, Taliban War on Women 10. Abruzzi, Is There a Bias in Higher Education?
Critical Thinking (ppt)
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10. Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection 11. Abruzzi, Science and Anthropology 12. Abruzzi, Aristotelian vs. Galilean Forms of Explanation 13. Kurin, Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief
Film: "A Man Called Bee" (R)
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"Sacred Cows make the best hamburger." --Mark Twain
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And Jesus said . . .
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine."
--Matthew 7:6
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3 |
Ecology, Adaptation and Evolution |
Ecology begins at home: Clean up your room. |
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Every minute
"Psychiatry:
the care of the id by the odd."
--Anon.
Working
Time Needed to Buy a Big Mac
The Good Life!
According to
The Economist (August 9, 2003), Americans receive an average of
16 vacation days per year (but most workers only take 14). By
contrast, Europeans receive far more vacation days per year than do
Americans: Italians receive 42; French receive 37; Germans
receive 35; and the British receive 28. Over the past 20
years, average annual working hours have increased in the U.S., but
decreased in Europe. America's higher level of productivity is
attributed by many economists not to our greater economic
efficiency, but rather to the fact that we work more hours than
anyone else. Americans now work, on average, 200 hours per
year more than the Japanese, the world's former most industrious
nation.
Climate Change Skeptics
Bet
$10,000
"It takes approximately 3,000 liters of
water to grow enough food to feed one person for one day -- or about 1
liter for each calorie consumed."
(The
Economist,
Sept. 2, 2006) |
1. Harris & Johnson, Chapters 5, 6 & 7, plus pages 290-291. 2. Balikci, Chapters 1 - 2. 3. Chagnon, Chapter 2. 4. Lee, "Environment and Settlement" & "Subsistence: Foraging for a Living". (R)
Film: "Nanook of the North"
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5.
Abruzzi,
It Isn't
Easy Being Green
6.
Abruzzi,
Sociopolitical
Implications of the Persistent Western Concern with Global Population
Growth.
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7.
Abruzzi,
Infanticide.
8. Balikci, Chapters 7 - 8..
*Ecology and Social Evolution (ppt)
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"Sociology is the outhouse in the grove of academe."
--H.L. Menken
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First Exam: Thursday, February 25th
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4 |
Kinship and Social Organization |
It is one of the cruelties of life that you don't get to choose your relatives. |
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A young Ju'hoansi woman nearing the age of marriage.
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1. Harris & Johnson, Chapters 8 & 9. 2. Chagnon, Chapter 4.
3.
Balikci, Chapters 3 - 6.
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4. Hillman, "The Occurrence of Polygamy." (R) 5. Goldstein, “When Brothers Share a Wife.” (R) 6. Cohen, "Disappearance of the Incest Taboo." (R)
Kinship and Social Organization (ppt)
Polygamy (ppt)
Incest (ppt)
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5 |
Gender-Related Behavior |
The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once. |
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"There are more methodological problems in regards to the study of cognitive sex differences and sex differences in general than there are actual sex differences."
--Dr. Carolyn N. Jaklin
Black Widows: Female Murderers
A Woman's Mouse
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1. Abruzzi, On Gender Difference Research. 2. Fausto-Sterling, Two Sexes Are Not Enough
Film: "Fight to Be Male"
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3. Harris & Johnson, Chapter 14. 4. Friedl, Society and Sex Roles 5. Cronk, "Parental Favoritism towards Daughters," (R) 6. "Female Power", The Economist
Sex and Gender (ppt)
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7. Soitoti, "The Initiation of a Maasai Warrior." (R) 8. Sillah, "Bundu Trap." (R) 9. Abruzzi, Circumcision.
Films: "Female Genital Mutilation" "Womanhood and Circumcision: Three Maasai Women Have Their Say" "LA Mohel"
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"What's the point of having this superior military you're always talking about if we can't use it?" --Madeleine Albright (former Secretary of State) to Colin Powell (former Secretary of Defense).
Armed Iraqi women assembled in Tikrit
to demonstrate their
readiness for a possible war.
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Second Exam: April 1st
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6 |
Politics, Political Organization, Conflict and Warfare |
Stop repeat offenders! Don't re-elect them! |
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Yanomamo Warriors
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1. Harris & Johnson, Chapter 10. 3. Balikci, Chapter 9. 2. Chagnon, Chapters 5, 6 & 7. 3. Anderson, "Drugs, Violence and Street Crime." from Code of the Street. (R) 4. Abruzzi, Genealogy, Politics & History in the Bible.
Yanomamo Warfare (ppt)
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"Revolution: an abrupt
change in the form of misgovernment."
--Ambrose Bierce
German
Engineering vs. Arab Technology
"The number of Americans in
prison exceeded 2 million last year, according to a new Justice
Department report. This means that one person in every 142 is in
the slammer at any one time. America's jail population --the
world's largest-- has nearly doubled since 1990." (The Economist,
April 12, 2003:6) |
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Drug Violence
Below is a short article which discusses how the Mexican cartels have begun to grow marijuana in the U.S. in part to circumvent the U.S. Border Patrol. It indicates that the largest cartels are operating marijuana "grows" in several U.S. states. They have even begun to use National Forests, due to the isolation they provide. It is rather interesting that, while most Americans stand aghast at the wealth, power and violence associated with the cartels, most Americans seem to ignore the fact that it is Americans themselves who fund the cartels, and that this is not the first time Americans have funded such violent criminal organizations. According to most estimates, marijuana provides up to 75% of the Mexican drug cartels' revenues. This means that the cartels and the violence they produce are being funded, not by crackheads and heroin addicts, but by your average recreational American pot smoker --your average Joe. This was the same person who funded organized crime (and all of the violence they produced) in Chicago, Detroit, New York and dozens of other American cities during prohibition. The simple fact is that if you make a popular product illegal, you will create a black market for it, increase its street value and lead to individuals and groups fighting to dominate or control its trade. It is simple supply and demand. Just as the cartels are getting rich on pot, the mob got rich on alcohol and prostitution during the 1920s. Gang wars in U.S. cities today are also based on the control of lucrative drug distribution territories. This is no different than the spectacular rise in Plains Indian warfare that occurred during the 19th century as increasing numbers of Indians competed with one another over the declining numbers of buffalo whose hides they sold to trading posts established throughout the mid-West to meet the increased demand for buffalo products in the cities of the U.S. and Europe. In the same way, the violence in Mexico and in the streets of America -past and present- is caused by competition over the sale of a resource made increasingly valuable by an increasing demand for it among American consumers and a restricted supply caused by legal authorities to prevent its distribution. And ironically, each success at decreasing the available supply only increases a drug's street value in the U.S., and thus the profits that the cartels can earn by providing it. So, Americans create the violence in Mexico in two ways: by increasing the demand for pot in the U.S. by consuming it in greater and greater quantities; and by restricting the supply of marijuana by making it illegal and by imposing restrictions on its importation. I guess you would call this a lose-lose situation. Indeed, the whole situation is best expressed in a famous quote taken from Pogo, a popular cartoon of the 1950s & 1960s . . .
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7 |
Religion and World View |
God protect me from your followers! |
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1. Harris & Johnson, Chapter 16. 2. Chagnon, Chapter 3. 3. Balikci, Chapters 3 - 6. 4. Harris, "Phantom Cargo" (R)5. Abruzzi, The Jesus Movement.
Film: "Ghost Dance"
American Indians and Palestinians: Similar Responses to Colonization.
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Billboard in Farmington, New Mexico
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Last Day of Class: Thursday, May6th
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Third Exam
Time: T.B.A.
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