Proposal For A New Course (Within An Existing Degree Scheme)

SC286 Anthropology of Latin America:

Race, Gender and Identity

Mondays 1-3

5B-11A

Andrew Canessa, Room 6.326 Tel: 2656

General Introduction to Course

This course looks at a number of issues of concern to anthropologists such as ethnicity, race, social stratification and gender, and how they all intertwine, in the context of Latin America.

Teaching

The course group meets weekly for two hours at a time. The sessions will be characterised by a mixed format of lecturing, group activity and open discussion. A typical session will consist of a half-hour lecture after which students will read a short piece of text relevant to the lecture. After reading, students will form themselves into groups (this is flexible - groups may be as small as three and as large as six) in which they will discuss a number of questions relating to the reading and the preceding lecture. After a period of small group work the discussion is opened to include everyone. The process is repeated with more lecturing for short periods followed by group work and discussion. The final twenty minutes to half hour of the session will normally be devoted to discussion of the key texts set for reading.

The aims of this teaching method are as follows:

· To allow students to understand, absorb, and critically examine lecture material before they leave the lecture theatre. The alternative is an hour-long lecture in which students passively take notes without really engaging with the material until they subsequently review their notes.

· To give students the opportunity to discuss material in a small (and therefore less intimidating environment) before opening the discussion to all. It is envisaged that students will feel more able to express their ideas in public if they have already had the opportunity to do so in a smaller group and perhaps write down what they wish to say. In this way an important skill is developed.

Course Aims and Objectives

· To gain an understanding of contemporary Latin America through anthropology

· To be familiar with a range of societies and cultures in Latin America

· To have in-depth knowledge of how issues of identity, race and gender are interlaced.

· To have an appreciation of culture as processual, historical and contested

Office hours

Andrew Canessa’s office hours are on Mondays between 11and 12 and on Tuesdays between 10 and 11. You will find an appointment sheet on my door.

Course Structure and Work Requirements

The course runs for ten weeks and students are expected to read at least two articles or chapters per week. This should be considered the absolute minimum. Efforts will be made to ensure that readings are easily available for all students.

You are expected to attend all sessions and contribute to discussion and debate.

Course Assessment

Assessment is as follows:

There are four kinds of assessment for this course

· Structure of the assessment

Coursework / 70% of total
Reading Assessment / Twelve assignments / 30%
Test / Two assignments / 20%
Essay / Three assignments / 50%
Total coursework / 100%
Exam / 30% of total
Total Exam / 100%

A pass constitutes 40% or above in the overall assessment.

· Reading Assessment – Twelve exercises.

Students will be given questions relating to that week’s reading which will be posted on the web. They must answer the questions based on their reading and hand them in the following week. The answers will be discussed in class. The maximum number of points awarded is five.

An adequate answer is one that represents a considered response to the question based on the reading. In some cases there may be several possible ‘adequate’ answers to the question.

A good answer is one that show particularly close reading of the article; a very complete answer; and an answer which shows very good understanding.

Note that a maximum of 100% can be obtained in this assessment.

Reading assignments must be handed in in class and will usually be marked and left for collection the same day. Because the answers are discussed in class it is not possible to hand the reading assignments in late. If you find you are unable to make the class I will permit you to hand in the reading assignment before the class; but under no circumstances will I accept them after the class has taken place.

Pedagogical Justification:

Directed reading is a very useful way for students to learn. The question will direct students to important points in the texts and teach them to read in a more focused and critical manner. This mode of assessment will also encourage a more sustained engagement with the course.

Note: Students will be expected to purchase the course reader which will include all the assessed readings. The readings will also be available in the library.

Test – Two tests, 20% of the coursework. The test is 35 minutes’ long.

The test will require short answers to questions. This will be: asking for definitions of key concepts; key facts, including geographical facts; asking to demonstrate understanding of ethnographic material; asking for outlines of key theories. The format of the test will be discussed fully before the date of the test.

Pedagogical justification

These tests will assess students’ grasp of key concepts and ideas and test their understanding of the material discussed in class. They will also aid the teacher in assessing his own effectiveness in communicating key concepts etc with time to take remedial action if necessary.

Note: Provisions will be made for students with certifiable illnesses or accepted extenuating circumstances to re-take the tests.

· Essay - Three essays, 50% of the coursework mark

Students are encouraged to consider their own topics for essays and agree an essay title with me. Please note I have to confirm the essay title. Some essay titles will be given out towards the end of the term.

A note on essays

Each essay should be between two and three thousand words. Essays should be typed, proof-read and contain a bibliography in a standard style. Please pay attention to questions of grammar and spelling. If you are unclear how a bibliography should be laid out have a look at any academic article or see the notes in my web page. It is strongly advised that you consult my document ‘Some tips on writing essays’ before submitting an essay. This document is available on my website.

I will assume that everyone has read the relevant pages of the Green Book which relate to plagiarism.

Please note that I cannot give extensions to essays. If you think you need an extension, you need to consult the undergraduate director.

· Exam – One 2-hour exam, 30% of the final assessment.

Ethnographies

You must read at least three of the ethnographies on this list for the exam, at least one from each section. The exam consists of making comparisons between two or more of these books.

Highlands

Colloredo-Mansfeld, Rudi . (1999). The Native Leisure Class: Consumption and Cultural Creativity in the Andes. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Allen, Catherine (1988). The Hold Life Has: Coca and cultural identity in an Andean community. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Orlove, Ben (2002) Lines in the Water: Nature and Culture at Lake Titicaca. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Wachtel, Nathan (1994). Gods and Vampires: Return to Chipaya Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Sallnow, M. (1987). Pilgrims of the Andes Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institute Press.

Weismantel, Mary (1988) Food Gender and Poverty in the Ecuadorian Andes. Philadelphia: Philadelphia University Press.

Arnold, D. (2006) The Metamorphosis of Heads: Textual Struggles, Education, and Land in the Andes. Pittsburgh: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Lowlands

Brown, Michael (1985) Tsewa’s Gift: Magic and Meaning in an Amazonian Society. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian University Press.

Viveiros de Castro, Eduardo (1992). From the Enemy’s Point of View: Humanity and Divinity in an Amazonian Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Descola, Philippe (1998) The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle. New Press

Crocker, William and Jean (1994) The Canela: Bonding through Kinship, Ritual and Sex. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Descola, Philippe (1994) In the Society of Nature: A Native Ecology in Amazonia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Basso, Ellen (1995) The Last Cannibals. Austin: Texas University Press

Jacques Lizot (1991) Tales of the Yanomami: Tales of Life in the Venezuelan Rainforest. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rival, Laura (2002) Trekking through History: The Huaroani of the Amazonian Rainforest. New York: Columbia University Press

Guss, D. (1989) To Weave and Sing: Art, Symbol, and Narrative in the South American Rainforest. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Neil Whitehead (2002) Dark Shamans: Kanaimá and the Poetics of Violent Death.Duke University Press.

Gow P. (2001) An Amazonian Myth and its History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Urban Latin America

Telles, Edward, (2004) Race in Another America: The Significance of Skin Color in Brazil. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Goldstein, Donna, (2003) Laughter out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, and Sexuality in a Rio Shantytown. Berkeley: University of California Press. HV 4075.R45

Sherriff, Robin, (2000). Dreaming Equality: Color, Race and Racism in Urban Brazil. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Sansone, Livio (2003) Blackness without Ethnicity: Constructing Race inBrazil. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Collins, John (2008) The Revolt of the Saints: Memory and Redemption in the Twilight of Brazilian ‘Racial Democracy’. Duke University Press. (on order)

Kulick, Don (1998) Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture Among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes. Chicago: Chicago Unviersity Press.

Burdick, J. (1993) Looking for God in Brazil Berkeley: University of California Press BX 1466

Lazar, Sian (2008) Citizenship in an Indigenous City: Self and Political Agency in El Alto, Bolivia. Duke University Press. (on order)

Goldstein, Daniel (2005) The Spectacular City: Violence and Performance in Urban Bolivia. Duke University Press

David Guss (2000) The Festive State: Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism as Cultural Performance. Berkeley: University of California Press.

This list is not exhaustive. If you come across and ethnography you would like to read for the course which is not on this list please come and see me in order to approve. Any additional books need to be approved by me.

Please note:

The reading assessments must be submitted in class. All other assessments must be handed in to the Sociology Department office.

(a) Departmental Guidelines stipulate the minimum amount of work you must do each term - ideally you will do more.

(b) Late essays are not acceptable unless there are clear extenuating circumstances

Handouts will be distributed week by week. They will normally be available on the website at least a day in advance

Assignment Schedule

Autumn Term

Week 2 / Introduction / No assessment
Week 3 / Ethnic & Racial Identities I / Reading 1: Allen ‘Coca and Cultural Identity’
Week 4 / Ethnic & Racial Identities II / Reading 2: Orlove ‘Down to Earth’
Week 5 / Reading Week: No assessment
Week 6 / Mixed identities / No assessment
Week 7 / Blood, Fear and Vampires / Reading 3: Canessa ‘Fear and Loathing’
Week 8 / Gender, Sex and Identity / Reading 4: de la Cadena ‘Women are more Indian’
Week 9 / Nature / Reading 5: Descola ‘In the Society of Nature’.
Week 10 / Hyperreal Indian / Reading 6. Ramos ‘The Hyperreal Indian’.
Week 11 / Mobilisation / Test

Spring Term

Week 16 / Machismo and Marianismo I / Reading 7: Stevens ‘Marianismo..
Week 17 / Machismo and Marianismo II / Reading 8. Gutmann, Ch 9 ‘Machismo’
Week 18 / Travestis and Homosexuals / Reading 9. Kulick ‘Brazilian transgendered prostitutes.’
Week 19 / Tourism / Reading 10. Zorn ‘ Visit Taquile.’
Week 20 / Sex Tourism / No assessment
Week 21 / Reading Week - No assessment
Week 22 / Fantasies / Reading 11. O’Connel Davidson ‘The sex tourist’
Week 23 / Brazil I / No assessment
Week 24 / Brazil II / Reading 12. Goldstein ‘Colour Blind Erotic Democracies’
Week 25 / Test

Course Outline

Syllabus and Reading List – Autumn Term

Items marked with an asterisk are in your course reader.

Week Two: Introduction: A potted history of race, ethnicity and multiculturalism in Latin America, 1350 to 1950.

I will offer a brief introduction to the course: structure, content, themes and modes of assessment. We will also look at two of the largest pre-Columbian polities in Latin America, the Inca and Aztec States. Multi-ethnic states were common in the Americas and many of the features we think now as ‘postmodern’ are, in fact, decidedly pre-modern. I will be introducing some of the key concepts and themes of the course through this material.

Reading

Gruzinski, S. & Wachtel, N. 1997 ‘Cultural Interbreedings: Constituting the Majority as a Minority’. Comparative Studuesin Society and History. Vol. 3, pp 231-250.

Wachtel, Nathan. (1977). The Vision of the Vanquished. New York: Barnes and Noble F3442.

Collier, George, Renato Rosaldo and John Wirth (eds) (1982) The Inca and Aztec States,

1400-1800 New York: Academic Press F1219.I6

Sinclair Thomson (2003) We Alone will Rule. F 2230.2.A9T5

Week Three: Ethnic and racial identities I

We move on from the previous week and consider what we mean by ‘ethnic’ or ‘racial’ identity. How does one differ from or inform the other? Are the differences between indigenous peoples and others in Latin America ones principally rooted in class, culture, or race? Or perhaps all three?

Key Reading

*Friedlander, J., (1975) Being Indian in Hueyapan: A Study of Forced Identity in

Contemporary Mexico. F 1219.1.M6 Chapter Four: ‘What it means to be Indian in Hueyapan’.

*Allen, Catherine (1988). The Hold Life Has: Coca and cultural identity in an Andean community. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Chapter Nine: ‘Coca and Cultural Identity.’ F 2230.2.K4