GESM 120, Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry Spring 2017

Thinking about Time

GESM 120, Seminar in Humanistic Inquiry| Spring 2017

Instructor: Emily Zeamer, PHD |

Office Hours: TH9:00-10:30 amKaprielian Hall (KAP) 348A, and by appointment

Section 1) 35356R, TU-TH 12:30-1:50pm, Grace Ford Salvatore Hall (GFS) RM 229

Section 2) 35384R, TU-TH 3:30-4:50pm, Grace Ford Salvatore Hall (GFS) RM 229

Course description

We are all aware of the passage of time: humans everywhere share the capacity to remember the past and anticipate the future. Yet how different peoples think about time, how they measure, use, and even locate themselves in time has varied across cultures and throughout history. Anthropologists and historians have found that different communities have developed distinct ways of measuring the rhythms of daily life and marking or remembering history. A closer look at the technologies of modernity, including the ubiquitous use of clocks and calendars, reminds us that these instruments are human constructions, createdto serve culturally and historically distinct purposes, whether spiritual, instrumental, or scientific. Though challenging to define, time is nevertheless a fundamental fact of life, marking the boundaries of a lifetime, and containing the various textures of experience itself. By studying time, we gain a better understanding of what it is to be human; and how distinct beliefs and ideas about time shape the diverse ways that people understand the universe and their place in it.

This interdisciplinary course examines time as experience, theory, and social construct. Topics discussed include the anthropology of time, including cross-cultural perspectives on birth and death; religious time; labor and work time; history and knowledge; and representations of time in art and literature. Materials for this course are drawn from across disciplines and genres, including ethnography, philosophy, history of science and technology, visual art, film, and literature. Course participants will learn to apply specific theoretical and expository techniques to the analysis of diverse intellectual works through seminar discussions, informal class presentations, and formal and informal written assignments.

Objectives

The objectives of this course are to use the tools of cultural theory, especiallyas they apply to thestudy of cultural anthropology, history, and comparative literature, to examine three questions:

1. How is the concept of time shaped by culture? Specifically, how and why do societies differ in the ways that they measure, define, and even experience time? (keywords: culture, calendars, religion, ritual)
2. What is the relationship between time and social experience? Specifically, how do humans define themselves in relation to personal and collective pasts, or imagined futures? (keywords: history, memory)
3. What is the relationship between time and being? For example, how do diverse individuals and cultures define life itself? How do communities construct meaning around the phases of life, and the realities of birth and death? (keywords: lifecycles, subjectivity, ontology)

Course texts

Articles and shorter texts marked (CR) are printed in the Course Reader, available through the campus bookstore and on reserve at Leavey Library, and in PDF form through the course website in Blackboard.

The following required texts are available for purchase at the campus bookstore, and on reserve at Leavey Library. Please make a special effort to acquire the specific editions marked * to ensure everyone in the class has the same pagination.

• Amis, Martin. 1992. Time’s Arrow, Or the Nature of the Offense. 0679735720
• Faust, Drew Gilpin. 2009. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. New York: Vintage Books.0375703837
• Gleiser, Marcelo. 1997. The Dancing Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang. New York: Dutton.9781584654667
• Gilmore, Lee. 2010. Theater in a Crowded Fire: Ritual and Spirituality at Burning Man. Berkeley: University of California Press.0520260880
• Lakoff and Johnson. 2003 [1980].Metaphors We Live By. 0226468011
• Mintz, Steven. 2004. Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood. Harvard University Press.0674019989
• Ozeki, Ruth. 2013. A Tale for the Time Being. Penguin. 0143124870
• Trouillot, Michel-Rolf. 2015 [1995]. Silencing the Past. Beacon Press. 9780807080535
• Thoreau, Henry David. 2012. Walden, Or, Life in the Woods; and ‘Civil Disobedience.’ New York: Signet Classics.9780451532169 *
• Woolf, Virginia. 1989 [1927]. To the Lighthouse. Harvest / Harcourt edition. 0156907399 *

GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

Participation

Class meets for one hour and twenty minutes twice per week, and our meetings will be a mix of lecture, discussion, and group work. As this is a seminar, you should prepare for class by reading all the all the texts assigned for that day, and be ready to fully participate in class discussion.

Attendance

Class attendance is mandatory, and each recorded absence will automatically result in a 2% reduction of the final grade. Studentsmay submit additional work to make up for up to 2 recorded absences, no questions asked; see your instructor for details.

According to university policy, there are extenuating circumstances that define excused absences in cases such as severe injury, loss of a family member, religious holidays, etc.If the student feels that she/he has missed/will miss falls into this category, the student should immediatelycontact the instructor to arrange make-up work for missed class time, as well as any missed assignments.

Distraction-free discussion

As this is a seminar requiring active class participation and engaged discussion, personal electronic equipment may NOT be used in the classroom. Cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices should be powered off during class. When a digital device is needed for instruction, students will be notified.

Bring readings to class

Please bring hard copies of all readings to class (notes, required texts, Course Reader print-outs) so that you can participate fully in class discussion. Each student will need to refer to their own copy of assigned readings to complete periodic in-class assignments.

Your instructor has the penalize those who attend class without course texts by deducting 1/2 from your attendance for that day. In general, I will not penalize for occasional forgetfulness; but you establish a pattern of coming to class unprepared, be warned that deductions will begin!

Respect and consideration

In classroom discussions and outside assignments, all are expected to listen and respond with respect and consideration to the viewpoints of others.

ASSIGNMENTS

Assignment deadlines

See the Course Schedule below for assignment deadlines.

Essays

All students must write four formalessays.Guidelines detailing the requirements for each essay will be distributed prior to the due date.

Examinations

Both the Midterm and Final Exams will be take-home essay and short answer exams, in which students will be asked to engage in a critical or comparative analysis of readings covered up to that point in the course. See the Course Schedule below for dates and deadlines.

In-class assignments

Variousin-class assignments, such as film notes to be completed during classroom film screenings, will be announced in class throughout the semester, to be completed either in class, or for the next class meeting. In general, these assignments will be evaluated check/check-plus/check-minus, with the highest marks reserved for work completed with thoroughness and/or insight, and low marks for inaccurate or incomplete work.

Response papers & teaching contribution

Each student will sign up to play a leading role in 2 class discussions in the semester. When more than one person is to present on same day, you may choose (though you are certainly not required) to coordinate your presentations. A sign-up sheet will be circulated in the first few weeks of classes to determine the schedule for these assignments.

This assignment has 2 parts:

1)Response paper (3 pages). Each student must submit ashort essay that engages directly with the readings for that day, addresses a topic or issue that you will present that day in class discussion, and shows how this discussion topic relates to the readings for that day. The deadline for submitting the response paper is by 12 noon on the day beforeyour in-class presentation.

2)Teaching contribution. Each presenter will deliver a brief (maximum 6 minute, not including class response), extemporaneous presentation drawing attention to a key theme or problem from the readings. At the conclusion of your presentation, you should pose one or two discussion questions for the class. Your aim should be to prompt a thoughtful discussion that also engages different perspectives. For the remainder of the class, each presenter will continue to participate as a key discussant in the broader conversation.

These are extemporaneous presentations. While you may refer to notes or the course text as needed, you may not simply read from a piece of paper!

Your grade for the teaching contribution part of the assignment will reflect your demonstrated grasp of the readings, and your openness in engaging the comments, critiques, and alternative readings offered by classmates. Bring your insights and ideas, and come prepared to act as a primary conversant in a lively conversation!

GRADING

Class participation...... 10%

In-class assignments, including film notes...... 5%

2 Response papers & teaching contributions @ 10% each...20%

Essay 1 @ 5% ...... 5%

Essays 2, 3 & 4 @ 10% each...... 30%

Midterm exam...... 15%

Final exam...... 15%

Further notes:

●Even if a hard copy is required, written work completed outside of class should always be uploaded electronically via Blackboard ( by the deadline in order to receive full credit. Unexcused late work will be docked 1/3 letter grade each 24 hours it is late, with the clock starting 1 minute after the deadline.

●In-class assignments must be delivered to the instructor before the end of class to receive credit, unless otherwise instructed.

●Written assignments should adhere to the following format: 12-point font; double-spaced; 1” top, bottom, right and left margins. Staple your paper and number your pages (no folders please); do not include a title page. Be mindful of length requirements: 1 page ≈ 300 words.

●Bibliographic entries should be formatted according to either MLA or APA format. Sample guidelines are available on the web at:

COURSE SCHEDULE

Readings and assignments may change throughout the semester, at the discretion of the instructor. Announcements regarding changes will be made in class and via Blackboard announcements and university email; but it is your responsibility to keep abreast of these changes. Remember, if you have any questions, just ask!

Topic / Date / Assignment
Week 1 / Introduction / Tu 1.10 / Introduction
Th 1.12 / (CR) Delaney, Carol. “All We Have Is Time.” 2011. In Investigating Culture, 2nd Edition. Cornwall UK: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 79–109. (30)
(CR) Goodman, Ellen. “Time is For Savoring,” In Investigating Culture, pp. 109-110. (1)
(CR) Boroditsky, Lera. July 24, 2010. “Lost in Translation: New Cognitive Research Suggests That Language Profoundly Influences the Way People See the World....” The Wall Street Journal. (2)
(CR) Singer, Natasha. 2015. “Can’t Put Down Your Device? That’s by Design.” New York Times, December 5, Business Section.
Week 2 / Lifetimes / Tu 1.17 / Mintz, Steven. 2004. Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood. Harvard U. Press, Ch. 1-5, pp. 1-117. (117)
(CR) Lepore, Jill. 2013. “Introduction.” In The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death. New York: Vintage Books, pp. xv – xxxiii. (18)
Th 1.19 / Drew Gilpin Faust. 2009. “1: Dying: ‘To Lay Down My Life,’” and “3. Burying: ‘New Lessons in Caring for the Dead,’” In This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, pp. 3-31 and 61-101. (68)
(CR) Myerhoff, Barbara. "Rites and signs of ripening: The intertwining of ritual, time, and growing older." Age and Anthropological Theory (1984): 305-330. (25)
Week 3 / Tu 1.24 / (CR) Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. 1995. “Culture, Scarcity, and Maternal Thinking: Maternal Detachment and Infant Survival in a Brazilian Shantytown.” Ethos 13: 291–317. (26)
(CR) Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. 1993. “9: Our Lady of Sorrows” (selection). In Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, pp. 412–23. (11)
(CR) Briggs, Jean L. 2012. “Ethnographic Case Study: Inuit Morality Play and the Danish Medical Officer.” In Formative Experiences: The Interaction of Caregiving, Culture, and Developmental Psychobiology, edited by C. M Worthman. Cambridge University Press, 284-292. (9)
(CR) Briggs, Jean L. 2000. “Emotions Have Many Faces: Inuit Lessons.” Anthropologica 42 (2): 157–64. (8)
Sacred time / Th 1.26 / (CR) Turner, Victor W. 1995. “Betwixt and Between: Liminal Period.” In The Forest of Symbols, pp. 93-111. (18)
Gilmore, Lee. 2010. “Introduction,” Ch. 1 and 2, in Theater in a Crowded Fire: Ritual and Spirituality at Burning Man. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1-67. (67)
Week 4 / Tu 1.31 / (CR) Eliade, Mircea. “Sacred Time and Myths,” The Sacred and the Profane, pp. 68-113. (45)
(CR) Harris, Lis. “Sabbath,” In Holy Days: The World of a Hasidic Family. pp. 54-76. (22)
Th 2.2 / Gilmore, Theater in a Crowded Fire. Ch. 3-6, pp. 68-167 (100).
Mo 2.6 / Paper 1 DUE @ 12 noon
Week 5 / Time and space / Tu 2.7 / Gleiser, Marcelo. 1997. “Part I: Beginnings,” In The Dancing Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang. (60)
Th 2.9 / (CR) Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. 1978. “Railroad Space and Railroad Time.” New German Critique 14: 31–40. (9)
(CR) Sears, John F. 1999. “Mammoth Cave: Theater of the Cosmic,” and “Conclusion,” In Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 31-48 and 209-216. (24)
Week 6 / Language and time / Tu 2.14 / Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 2003. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 1-105. (105)
Th 2.16 / (CR) Sensui, Hidekazu. 2003. “On Cognitive Aspects of Rhetorical Time Reckoning: Metaphor and Image-Schema in Calendrical Divination in Okinawa.” Asian Folklore Studies 62 (2): 291–321. (30)
(CR) Schieffelin, Bambi. 2002. “Marking Time: The Dichotomizing Discourse of Multiple Temporalities.” Current Anthropology 43: 5–17. (12)
Week 7 / Work time / Tu 2.21 / FromMarx, Karl. 1978. The Marx-Engels Reader, edited by R. Tucker, 2nd ed., New York: Norton:
(CR) “Marx on the History of His Opinions,” pp. 3–6. (3)
(CR) “Wage Labor and Capital,” pp. 203–17. (15)
(CR) Selections: “Capital, Volume I,” 361-367 and 373-376. (11)
Th 2.23 / (CR) Sahlins, Marshall. 2006. “The Original Affluent Society” (abridged version). In The Politics of Egalitarianism: Theory and Practice, edited by J. Solway. Berghan Books, pp. 79–98. (19)
(CR) Thompson, E. P. 1967. “Time, Work Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism.” Past and Present 38: 56–97. (41)
Mo 2.27 / Paper 2 DUE @ 12 noon
Week 8 / Tu 2.28 / Weber, Max. [1930]. “Ch. 1 Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification, “Ch. 2: The Spirit of Capitalism,” and “Ch. 5: Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism.” In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, translated by Talcott Parsons, Charles Scribner’s Sons.
(CR) Bourgois, Philippe. 2005. “Office Work and the Crack Alternative.” In Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology, 12th edition. Spradley and McCurdy, Eds. Boston: Pearson, pp. 165-177. (12)
Modernity / Th 3.2 / Thoreau, Henry David, 2012 [1852]. “‘1. Economy” pp. 1-37; “2. Where I Lived and What I Lived For;” “4. Sounds,” “5. Solitude,” and “6. Visitors,” In Walden, Or, Life in the Woods ; and “Civil Disobedience.”Signet Classics.
Midterm questions distributed in class
Mo. 3.6 / MIDTERM EXAM DUE @ 12 noon
Week 9 / Science and cosmology / Tu 3.7 / Gleiser, Marcelo. 1997. “Part II: The Awakening,” and “Part III: The Classical Era,” In The Dancing Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang. Dutton, pp. 61-189. (128)
Th 3.9 / Gleiser, Marcelo. 1997. and “Part IV: Modern Times,” “Part V: Modeling the Universe,” and “Conclusion: Dancing with the Universe.” In The Dancing Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang. Dutton, pp. 190-312. (122)
Week 10 / Tu 3.14 / SPRING BREAK
Th 3.16 / SPRING BREAK
Week 11 / History and memory / Tu 3.21 / Amis, Martin. Time’s Arrow,Ch. 1-4.
Th 3.23 / Amis, Martin. Time’s Arrow,Ch. 5-end.
Week 12 / Tu 3.28 / Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 1995. Ch. 1 "The Power in the Story,"Ch. 2 “The Three Faces of Sans Souci,” and Ch. 3 “An Unthinkable History,” In Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press.
Recommendation: read Chapter 1 last.
Th 3.30 / FILM: Brown, Margaret. 2008. The Order of Myths.
Film notes assignment completed in class.
Mo 3.27 / Paper 3 DUE @ 12 noon
Week 13 / Time, being, and ontology / Tu 4.4 / Woolf, Virginia. Part 1 "The Window," In To The Lighthouse.
Th 4.6 / Woolf, Virginia. Part 2 "Time Passes," and Part 3 "The Lighthouse" In To The Lighthouse.
Week 14 / Tu 4.11 / Ozeki, Ruth. 2013. A Tale for the Time Being, part 1.
Th 4.13 / Ozeki, Ruth. 2013. A Tale for the Time Being, part 2.
Week 15 / Tu 4.18 / Ozeki, Ruth. 2013. A Tale for the Time Being, part 3-end.
Thought experiments / Th 4.20 / (CR) Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1974. Selections, From The Gay Science; with a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs. Trans. by W. Kaufmann. New York: Vintage Books.
Week 16 / Tu 4.25 / FILM: Ramis, Harold. 1993. Groundhog Day.
Film notes assignment completed in class.
Th 4.27 / (CR) Bradbury, Ray. "A Sound of Thunder," in Susan Schneider (ed.), Science Fiction and Philosophy, pp. 287-296. (9)
(CR) Heinlein, Robert A. "All you zombies," In The Worlds of Science Fiction, Robert P Mills, Ed., 1963, pp. 127-141. (14)
(CR) Wilhelm, Kate. "Forever yours, Anna," In The Wesleyean Anthology of Science Fiction, pp. 598-653. (55)
Fr 4.28 / Paper 4 DUE @ 5 pm
Exams / We 5.3 / Final Exam Questions distributed
Mo 5.8 / FINAL EXAM DUE @ 5pm

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