2
Oberlin College Jack Glazier
Department of Anthropology Office: King 320B
Fall '08 Hours: MW 3:30-5:00
F 3:30-4:00 and apts.
CULTURE THEORY
(Anthropology 353)
MWF 2:30-3:20
COURSE GOALS
We will examine and discuss cooperatively the seminal issues and questions that have shaped anthropological thinking from the last half of the nineteenth century until the present. Our aim is to
reach a critical understanding of the most important modes of thought about the nature of culture, how it is studied, and the ways anthropologists from various theoretical points of view have interpreted and explained it. The course should enable you to organize your readings from this and other anthropology courses into a set of coherent frameworks.
The syllabus is organized chronologically, with each section (indicated by a Roman numeral) representing a particular mode of thinking that particular anthropologists share. We will notice that through time, anthropologists continue to grapple with certain enduring questions, which form part of the backdrop of this course. These include:
What is the relationship between the individual and
society?
What is the difference between society and culture?
What does it mean to be human?
What does a scientific or a humanistic anthropology
entail?
What is the relationship between cultural differences and
universal humanity?
What is the relationship between the observer’s
perspective and the participant’s perspective?
What is the relationship between the anthropologist’s
account and the reality described?
FORMAT
Cooperative, widely participatory class discussions are important because many of the readings for this course are not “page turners.” Discussion promotes understanding of difficult material. It’s essential to read the primary sources, that is, what Boas, Durkheim, Malinowski, Levi-Strauss, Geertz, etc have said, not just what others have said about them. Still, we will also read secondary material about these authors to enhance our understanding. Considering the nature of the course and its purpose, the amount of reading is often challenging but not burdensome, and so the instructor expects students to complete reading assignments on time. This is indispensable preparation for class discussions.
Each class will utilize both lecture and discussion. In lectures, the instructor will periodically pose questions that can lead to a wider discussion. In addition, every student will be expected to post on Blackboard one question/comment per week pertinent to the section and readings we are working on. Some of these will be taken up in class. While responses on Blackboard to the weekly questions/commentaries are not required, such responses are welcome as yet another way for us to engage our course work collectively. Please get accustomed to checking Blackboard each morning before our class in order to consider in advance questions/comments posted since the last session.
REQUIREMENTS
Papers. 5 page paper: due Friday October 17
5 page paper: due Monday November 17
12-15 page paper: due Tuesday December 16 2:00pm
Attendance. Attendance will be taken periodically and assessed on a Pass/Fail Basis. Three unexcused absences will result in an “F” for this segment of the course. To paraphrase Woody Allen, 15% of success in this course is just showing up.
Commitment. Regular, engaged participation in class discussions as well as Blackboard postings and an oral presentation constitute commitment.
In keeping with our emphasis on discussion and writing, we have no exams in this class (unless demanded by the class).
EVALUATION
5 PAGE PAPERS @ 15% EACH 30%
12-15 PAGE PAPER 35%
ATTENDANCE (PASS/FAIL) 15%
COMMITMENT 20%
Books
Erickson and Murphy, READINGS FOR A HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL
THEORY
Salzman, UNDERSTANDING CULTURE
Sahlins, WAITING FOR FOUCAULT, STILL (Recommended)
There are no periodic assignments in WAITING; it’s not that kind of book. It is a wry, witty set of commentaries, all brief, on the current state of Anthropology. Read any or all of it as we proceed, and keep your sense of humor.
Schedule and Readings
*indicate recommended reading
Book titles in Caps. Articles in books or xeroxes of articles indicated by quotation marks. All readings beyond the assigned texts are on BlackBoard (BB). Erickson and Murphy as well as Salzman are on Reserve. An asterisk* indicate recommended reading.
I. FOUNDATIONS: THEORY AND METHOD;
SCIENCE, EMPIRICISM, HUMANISM, CRITIQUES;
TAKING UP SOME OF THE ENDURING ISSUES, QUESTIONS, AND CONTROVERSIES IN ANTHROPOLOGY
September 3 Course Orientation
September 5 The Beginnings of Anthropology, Early Modern
Proponents
Erickson and Murphy, READINGS FOR A HISTORY OF
ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY, xiii-xiv, 3-20 (Overview)
Hereafter Erickson and Murphy = E and M)
September 8 The Sciences and the Humanities: Where
Does Anthropology Fit? What is the Relationship
of Ethnography to Theory?
Salzman, UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, pp. 1-12
BB:
Lett, pp. 15-30, *41-47 (from THE HUMAN ENTERPRISE)
Mintz, “Sows’ Ears and Silver Linings:
A Backward Look at Ethnography”
September 10 The Subjectivity/Objectivity Problem
in Anthropology and Social Science: A Feminist View
BB:
Slocum, “Woman the Gatherer:
Male Bias in Anthropology”
September 12 Anthropology and Contemporary Multiculturalism:
Another Route to the Subjectivity/Objectivity
Problem
BB:
Eller, “Anti-Anti-Multiculturalism”
Perry, “Why Do Multiculturalists Ignore
Anthropologists?”
September 15 Margaret Mead: "Coming of Age" (in class video)
E and M, Mead, Article 11
BB:
*Mead, “Introduction to Sex and Temperament in
Three Primitive Societies”
September 17 Margaret Mead and Samoa (in class video)
BB:
Freeman, “Mead’s Misconstruing of Samoa”
II. NINETEENTH CENTURY EVOLUTION,
BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL;
SCIENCE AND PROGRESS; EVOLUTION VS. HISTORY;
ETHNOGRAPHIC REALISM
September 19 The Background: Evolution, History, Function
BB:
White, "History, Evolution, and Functionalism . .”
September 22 Tylor: Rationality and Religion; the Comparative Method and the Roots of the HRAF (the Human Relations
Area File); Theory by Deduction; Evolution and “Survivals”
E and M, Tylor, Article 2
September 24 Morgan and the Evolution of Society: Kinship,
Materialism, and the Discovery of Social Structure;
Distinguishing Cultural from Biological Evolution
E and M, Morgan, Article 3
Darwin, Article 5
III. HISTORICAL PARTICULARISM/
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY;
REACTIONS TO CULTURAL EVOLUTION;
PSYCHOLOGY AND LINGUSTICS ENTER ANTHROPOLOGY
September 26 Theoretical Caution and Cultural Relativism;
The Beginnings of Culture from the Inside;
Psychological Anthropology; Salvage Ethnography;
E and M, Overview, 89-105; Boas, Article 8
Sahlins, Article 22
BB:
Boas, “The Aims of Anthropological Research”
OR
Boas, “The Limitations of the Comparative Method of
Anthropology”
American Museum, 2pdf “A Museum’s Eskimo Skeletons
and Its Own”
September 29 American Historical Ethnology (cont’d)
E and M, Lowie, Article 9
Kroeber, Article 10
October 1 Franz Boas: The Shackles of Tradition (Video)
October 3 Patterns and Configurations of Culture;
Culture and Personality
E and M, Benedict, Article 12
Salzman, pp. 67-71
October 6 Linguistics in American Cultural Anthropology
E and M, Sapir, Article 19
BB, Whorf, “The Relation of Habitual Thought and
Behavior To Language”
IV. RESURGENT EVOLUTION, MARXIST INFLUENCE, CROSS CULTURAL COMPARISON, CULTURAL ECOLOGY, CULTURAL MATERIALISM,
ECOLOGICAL FUNCTIONALISM
October 8 The Revival of Materialism and Evolutionism in
American Anthropology; White's evolution
and Culturology; comparison
E and M, 225-229; White: Article 20
Harris, Article 21
BB: Ember and Ember, “What Have We Learned from Cross Cultural Research?” Look under the title “General Anthropology”)
October 10 Marxism and Marxist Influence
E and M, Marx and Engels, Article 1
BB:
Leacock, “Interpreting the Origins of Gender
Inequality: Conceptual and Historical
Problems”
Bourgois, “From Jibaro to Crack Dealer: Confronting
The Restructuring of Capitalism in El Barrio”
*Weber, “Puritanism and the Spirit of Capitalism”
October 13 Marxism (cont’d)
BB:
E and M, Wolf, Article 27
October 15 Reconciling Cultural Evolution and History
Salzman, UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, pp. 87-111
BB:
Sahlins, "Evolution: Specific and General”
Steward, “The Patrilineal Band
October 17 Ecological Functionalism; Summing Up Oct 8-17
FALL BREAK
October 18-26
V. SOCIOLOGICAL THOUGHT, THE EMERGENCE OF FUNCTIONALISM, BRITISH SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
October 27 The Beginnings of Functionalism and Sociological
Thinking; the Roots of British Social Anthropology;
Social vs. Psychological Explanation
E and M, Durkheim, Article 6
BB:
Durkheim,” What is a Social Fact?
Freud, “The Return of Totemism in Childhood”
October 29 Functionalism and British Social Anthropology; the
Role of Psychology; Durkheim vs. Freud
E and M, Radcliffe-Brown, Article 15
Fortes and Evans-Pritchard, Article 17
Salzman, 13-30
October 31 Malinowski in British Anthropology
E and M, Malinowski, Article 16
BB:
Malinowski, “The Essentials of the Kula”
November 3 Malinowski, cont’d
“Bronislaw Malinowski: Off the Veranda”
In class video
BB: Geertz, "From the Native's Point of View"
November 5 Functionalism and Critiques, Emphasizing Change,
Process, Conflict, Interaction; Function vs. Meaning
E and M, Gluckman, Article 18
Salzman, pp.31-48
BB:
Evans-Pritchard, "Social Anthropology: Past
and Present"
VI. STRUCTURALISM, SYMBOLIC, AND INTERPRETIVE ANTHROPOLOGY:
PATHS TO THE STUDY OF MEANING
November 7 What is Structuralism?
E and M, Levi-Strauss, Article 13
Leach, Article 14
BB:
Levi-Strauss, “Structural Analysis in Linguistics
And Anthropology”
OR
Levi-Strauss, “Social Structure”
*Mauss, Excerpts from The Gift
November 10 cont’d
Salzman, 77-86
BB: Ortner, “Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?”
November 12 Cultural Classification, Symbol Social Structure
BB: Douglas, “External Boundaries”
November 14 cont’d
E and M, Turner, Article 23
November 17 Interpretive Anthropology; Postmodernist Stirrings
E and M, 229-246; Geertz, Article 24
Salzman, UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, 71-77
VIII POSTMODERNISM, CRITIQUES OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGY AS CRITIQUE; INTERPRETIVE ANTHROOPLOGY; PROBLEMS OF REPRESENTATION AND ANTI-SCIENCE;
DEVELOPMENTS FROM THE 90s FORWARD
November 19 What is Postmodernism? Defining Features;
Postmodernism in Anthropology and Other Disciplines; Confession and Subjectivity
Salzman, UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, pp. 113-125
BB: Rosaldo, “Grief and the Headhunter’s Rage”
November 21 NO CLASS THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
November 24 Representation
E and M, Clifford, Article 30
Marcus and Fischer, Article 31
November 26 The Scientific Response
BB:
Harris, “Cultural Materialism is Alive and Well . .
(On BB, find this article in the folder,
ASSESSING CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY)
Spiro, “Postmodernist Anthropology”
November 28 Embodied Experience
E and M, Lock and Scheper-Hughes, Article 33
BB:
Abu-Lughod, “A Tale of Two Pregnancies”
Foucault, “The Body of the Condemned”
December 1 Globalization, Power, and Agency
E and M, Appadurai, Article 34
Presentations
A 10-15 minute oral presentation on your 10-12 page
Paper in progress.
December 3 presentations
December 5 “
December 8 “
December 10 “
December 12 Summing Up/Course Synthesis
E and M, Ortner, Article 32 and Conclusion (525-530)
Salzman, UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, 127-142, 153-156
READING PERIOD
SATURDAY DEC 13-MONDAY DEC 15
NO FINAL EXAMINATION
FINAL PAPER DUE DEC 16, 2:00PM