ANTH 207.003: CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

MWF, 11-11:50 a.m.

Li-005

Samuel G. Collins

Li-318A, x3199

scollins@towson.edu

www.towson.edu/~scollins

Office Hours:

Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-4:30 p.m.

Fridays, 1-3 p.m., or by appointment

class description:

In Laura Lippman’s 1997 mystery, Baltimore Blues, Tess Monaghan is called upon to clear her friend of a murder charge. In the process of solving the mystery of Michael Abramowitz’s death, Tess--very much in the fashion of detective-flaneur invented by Edgar Allen Poe--travels up and down the streets of Baltimore, ransacking newspaper records, court reports and archives. All this, together with her knowledge of literature and poetry, allows her not only to solve the mystery, but the enigma of the city as well. The course of her investigation gradually uncovers Baltimore itself, with its myriad race- and class-inequalities, its complex histories, the archaeology of its spaces. That is, it is not in the macro- or micro-, in the empirical or the hermeneutic, but in the play between these modes of seeing, that enables the detective to succeed where others, myopically holding to a single epistemology, have failed.

In this New Student Core–Baltimore Blues–we will endeavor to solve our own riddles with these same diverse tools. Like a detective, living in a complex time requires that we approach our problems from a variety of perspectives simultaneously critical, scientific and aesthetic. Taken separately, each is certainly productive of truth; together, they provide a tool-box of knowledge and understanding for living in the world today.

Anthropology–perhaps more than any other discipline–embodies this methodological and philosophical bricolage. By reflexively discomfiting "common sense" social and cultural categories in the perception of difference, anthropology opens a "middle ground" between "self" and "Other," "rationality" and "emotion," "politics" and "ritual." That "middle ground" is the locus of connections between discursive and geographic orders, potentially powerful sites allowing us to perceive the linkages between not only institutions and ways of knowing, but between places in the multiplying networks of global society. In this course, we will strive for that "middle ground," using studies of the local in an Odyssean cycle of travel and return to critique our common sense notions and to suggest the possibility of mediated understandings of "structure" and "agency", "group" and "individual", "nature" and "culture."

goals

Our goals are threefold: 1) to map the space of cultural anthropology as an academic discipline; 2) to make thematic and epistemological connections between anthropology the other classes in the New Student Core (i.e., Using Information Effectively in Social Sciences, Writing for a Liberal Education and Introduction to Sociology); and 3) to understand the relevance of cultural anthropology for everyday, modern life.

required readings:

The following texts are available in the campus bookstore:

Gates, Hill. Looking for Chengdu: A Woman's Adventure in China. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999.

Monaghan, John and Peter Just. Social & Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Roth, Joshua Hotaka. Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002.

Lippman, Laura. Baltimore Blues. New York: Avon Books, 1997.

1). attendance: Attendance in this course is required. Here’s how it works: students begin the course with an "A" in attendance and participation but, for each class missed, lose a "grade step" (e.g., A to A-, C+ to C). However: each student can miss two "grace classes" before being penalized.  Absences due to emergency or illness may be excused if students present acceptable documentation. 

2). homework: At various times throughout the semester, I will assign homework based on class readings, films and discussions. Students may complete the homework for extra credit on the midterm and final exam.

3). journal: As part of the group project we’re undertaking in our New Student Core, students will be required to keep a field journal of their participant observation in Baltimore. Students will receive both a style sheet and relevant examples of field journals.

4). midterm exam: The midterm exam will test both your reading knowledge and your understanding of class discussions and activities through a battery of short answer questions.

5). final exam: Our final exam will ask you to apply the ideas you've culled from readings, lectures, films and discussions and apply them to new or novel situations in an extended essay format.

Your final grade will be computed by adding together the following point values for graded assignments and examinations:

Attendance: 40 points

Homework: extra credit

Midterm Exam:60 points

Journal: 60 points

Final Exam: 40 points

A     186+

A-    180-185

B+    174-179

B       166-173

B-    160-165

C+    154-159

C    146-153

C-    140-145

D+    134-139

D    120-133

F <120

class schedule:

1st Week            Introduction to the course and explanation of syllabus.

(8/27-8/29)        What is cultural anthropology?

                           Assigned Reading: Monaghan and Just, pp. 1-12.

2nd Week           Fundamental Concepts

(9/3-9/5)             Assigned Reading: Monaghan and Just, 14-33

                           September 1: LABOR DAY

3rd Week           Globalization and Multiple Modernities

(9/8-9/12)           Assigned Reading: Monaghan and Just, pp. 34-52

                           Roth, Chps. 1-2

                           September 9: Last day to add/ last day to drop without a ‘W’

4th Week            Japan and Modernity

(9/15-9/19)         Film: The Funeral (1985)

                           Assigned Reading: Monaghan and Just, pp. 53-74

                           Roth, Chapter 3

5th Week            Conceptualizing Culture

(9/22-9/26)         Assigned Reading: Monaghan and Just, pp. 107-130

                           Roth, Chapter 4

6th Week            Conceptualizing Culture redux

(9/29-10/3)         Assigned Reading: Roth, Chapters 5-6

7th Week            Culture Change and Acquisition

(10/7-10/11)       Assigned Reading: Monaghan and Just, pp. 131-146

8th Week            Review for Midterm

(10/13-10/17)     Assigned Reading: Roth, Chapter 7

                           OCTOBER 15: Midterm Examination

9th Week             Politics and Power

(10/20-10/24)      Film: Herders of Mongun-Taiga

                            Assigned Reading: Monaghan and Just, pp. 89-106

                            Gates, Chps. 1-3

10th Week           Towards an Anthropology of Capitalism

(10/27-10/31)      Assigned Reading: Gates, Chps. 4-6

                            Film: Beijing Bicycle (2001)

11th Week           Assigned Reading: Gates, Chps. 5-7

(11/3-11/7)          November 7: Last day to withdraw with a ‘W’

12th Week           Assigned Reading: Gates, Chps. 8-10

(11/10-11/14)

13th Week            Kinship and Marriage

(11/17-11/21)       Assigned Reading: Monaghan and Just, pp. 75-88

                             Gates, Chps. 11-13

                             Film: Chunhyangjeon (2001)

14th Week            Anthropology and Modernity

(11/24)                 November 25: Journals Due

                             November 26-30: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

15th Week           Assigned Reading: Gates, Chps. 14-16.

(12/1-12/5)

16th Week

(12/8-12/12)         Assigned Readings: Gates, Chps. 17-19

                             December 12: Final Exam Review

December 15, 10:15 a.m.: FINAL EXAMINATION

1. Although exams and graded work will remain as stated above, I may have to change different

readings or films on the syllabus throughout the semester. I will, in any case, try to give you

ample warning of any syllabus changes.

2. Each student is required to be familiar with the University’s

rules regarding cheating and plagiarism (Towson University Undergraduate Catalog, Appendix

F). Neither will be tolerated in my class and will result in a flunking grade.

3. Students with learning disabilities should register at the Disability Support Services Office.

explanation of grading

Consistent with University policy, the following grades will be assigned according to the designated criteria:

A: A superior performance surpassing assigned work in unique and novel ways and

integrating diverse ideas from a wide range of sources in addition to those discussed in class.

A-

B+

B: Excellent work surpassing the expectations of the assignment and demonstrating initiative

and a willingness to move beyond the basic requirements of the assigned work.

B-

C+

C: Satisfactory work meeting all basic requirements of the assignment.

C-

D+

D: Work in some way less than satisfactory. Although conforming to basic requirements in

some way, the completed work is nevertheless not a coherent response to the

assignment.

F: A profoundly unsatisfactory performance which doesn't meet

the intent of the assignment at any level.