Angela Jancius, Ph.D.
email: acjancius@ysu.edu
web: www.as.ysu.edu/~ajancius

Prerequisites: None
Final Withdraw Date: March 24, 2006

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (3705)

Course Description: The discipline of anthropology studies humankind in its entirety and aims to produce useful generalizations about the behavior of people around the world and throughout time. This course will introduce you to the basics of cultural anthropology, the subfield of anthropology that studies present and recent cultures in a comparative context. You will learn key disciplinary concepts and methods and gain insight into the applied and interdisciplinary aspects of anthropological research. The seminar environment of our course provides an opportunity to discuss readings in depth and improve analytical and writing skills. The methods section offers an opportunity to practice the ethnographic methods of interviewing and participant observation in the Mahoning Valley.

Required Texts: Cultural Anthropology Course Packet (available for purchase in the bookstore).

Fadiman, Anne
1997. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Umble, Diane Zimmerman
2000. Holding the Line : The Telephone in Old Order Mennonite and Amish Life. Center Books in Anabaptist Studies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

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Attendance/Grading Policy: To keep pace with the material covered in this course, excellent attendance is strongly recommended. I will take attendance in this class. Students who miss three classes or less can expect to receive full credit for attendance and participation. Late assignments will be penalized with a two-point grade deduction for each class day late. Late discussion notes WILL NOT be accepted (see details below). These policies will be strictly enforced. A student with a valid emergency or critical circumstance is advised to visit my office hours or contact me via email to discuss the situation. To avoid being penalized for a serious circumstance, you must contacted me in advance of your impending absence or missed assignment.

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Discussion Notes. Your weekly discussion notes should:
1) Address any thought questions assigned by your instructor.
2) Write freely about an aspect of the reading which interested you most.

Discussion notes must be typed and should be no longer than 1 page, using standard margins and 12-point font. They will be collected at the end of the class period and returned within one week. Late notes will not be accepted, and you must be present to submit them. They will be graded on a 0-3 point range. To earn 3 points you must meet the three criteria listed above, and demonstrate that you have reflected on the ideas presented in the reading. At the end of the semester, I will drop the two lowest discussion note scores OR you may skip 2 assignments without penalty.

Participant Observation Assignment: "Restaurant Ethnography"
The purpose of this assignment is to gain experience in one of cultural anthropology's primary research methods: participant observation. This assignment revolves around one simple activity - you will observe the behavior of people at a restaurant, record the results, and reflect on your findings (2-3 pp.). The central aim of participant observation is to learn something about human behavior in a designated locale. Because observations are usually sharper in environments that are not entirely familiar to us, you should not complete this assignment at a restaurant you usually visit, or where you might encounter friends or family. It is therefore suggested that you choose a location that is not in the immediate vicinity of campus or your home. (See handout for further instructions.)

Interview Assignment: Interview with an Immigrant
You will find someone who immigrated to the US from another country after the age of 15 who is willing to meet with you. You will conduct an extensive interview with that person, and write a draft paper (5-6 pp.) outlining his or her story and observations about life in the country of origin and here, and your interpretations, explanations, and reactions (using anthropological approaches learned in this course). Guideline interview questions will be formulated in class. The interviewee may be a friend, a relative, someone you meet standing in line, or whatever - as long as her or she is not being interviewed for this assignment by someone else in this class. I will return your draft with comments, questions, and suggestions. The revised papers for this assignment will be archived on a special ethnographic portal on our class website, for all to read (see handout for further details).

Book Review
You will write a 5-6 page book review of either Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, or Diane Zimmerman Umble's Holding the Line. The choice is yours (see handout for further details).

An Active Learning Environment: Your participation helps to build an interesting and dynamic learning environment. There are no tests in this class. Your grade is based on preparation, class participation, and the timely completion of assignments. The writing, communication and analytical skills you develop in this classroom have the potential to serve you very well, regardless of your career path. Please note that 35% of your grade comes from discussion notes and attendance/participation. Since your notes may be turned only when you attend, regular attendance and the timely completion of assignments is the best way ensure that your grade in this course will reflect your potential.

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Tuesday, Jan. 17. Welcome to class

Thursday, Jan. 19 Key Concepts: Universalism, Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism
Reading: Horace Miner, "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema"
Clyde Kluckhohn, "Queer Customs"

Tuesday, Jan. 24 Key Concepts: Universalism, Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism
Reading: Corinne Kratz, "Circumcision, Pluralism, and Dilemmas of Cultural Relativism"
Shengde Zhai, "The Two Functions of Ethnocentrism in the Process of Modernization: The Tibetan Case" DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, Jan. 26 Ethnography
Reading: E. Paul Durrenberger, "Are Ethnographies "Just-So" Stories?"
Larry Niven, "The Alien in Our Minds"

Tuesday, Jan. 31. Ethnography
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Reading: Fadiman, Chapts. 1-4
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, Feb. 2. Ethnography
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Reading: Fadiman, Chapts. 5-9
Discussion of Participant Observation Assignment

Tuesday, Feb. 7. Ethnography
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Discussion of Participant Observation Assignment
Reading: Fadiman, Chapts. 10-12
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, Feb. 9. Ethnography
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Reading: Fadiman, Chapts. 13-16

Tuesday, Feb. 14. Ethnography
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Reading: Fadiman, Chapts. 17- end
Film: Inventing Reality

Thursday, Feb. 16. Restaurant Ethnography Presentations
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION ASSIGNMENT DUE

Tuesday, Feb. 21. Language and Culture
Reading: David Thomson, "The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Worlds Shaped by Words"
Daniel Maltz and Ruth Borker, "A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication"
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, Feb. 23. Language and Culture
Reading: Keith Basso, "'To Give Up Words': Silence in Western Apache Culture"
John Rickford, "Suite for Ebony and Phonics"

Tuesday, Feb. 28. Preparation for Interview Assignment
The Do's and Don'ts of Ethnographic Interviewing
Reading: Gary Ferraro, "Interviewing"
Merril Singer, "An Anti-Fable: The Anthropologist and the Snake"

Thursday, March 2. Religion and Belief
Reading: Gary Ferraro, "Defining Religion"
Brad Shore, "Loading the Bases: How Our Tribe Projects its Own Image in a National Pastime"

Tuesday, March 7. Religion and Belief
Reading: Jill Dubisch, "You Are What You Eat: Religious Aspects of the Health Food Movement"
Roy Rappaport, "Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations Among a New Guinea People"
Film: Mayan Lives
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, March 9. Presentation of Interview Assignments
Draft of Immigrant Interview Papers Due. Presentation of Research

Tuesday, March 14. Spring Break

Thursday, March 16. Spring Break

Tuesday, March 21. Economic Behavior and Subsistence
Reading: Lauriston Sharp, "Steel Axes for Stone-Age Australians"
Richard Lee, "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari"
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, March 23. Economic Behavior and Subsistence
Reading: Alvin Wolfe, "Welfare Reform-Self-Sufficiency or What?"
Lee Cronk, "Reciprocity and the Power of Giving"
Film Segment: A Poor Man Shames Us All

Tuesday, March 28. Politics, Law and the Conflict
Reading: Chart: Types of Political Organization (Haviland)
James Scott, "Cities, People, and Language"
Final Version of Interview Assignment Due

Thursday, March 30. No Class, Applied Anthropology Conference

Tuesday, April 4. Politics, Law and the Conflict
Reading: Paul Rosenblatt, "Human Rights Violations Across Cultures"
James Gibbs, "The Kpelle Moot"
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, April 6. Family and Kinship
Reading: Melvyn Goldstein, "When Brothers Share a Wife"
Barbara Yngvesson, "Going 'Home'": Adoption, Loss of Bearings, and Mythology of Roots"

Tuesday, April 11. Social Inequalities
Reading: American Anthropological Association's Official Statement on "Race"
Melvin Williams, "Racism: The Production, Reproduction, and Obsolescence of Social Inferiority"
Kevin Bales, "The New Slavery"
Film: Race: The Power of an Illusion
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, April 13. Social Inequalities
Reading: Judith Goode, "Let's Get Our Act Together: How Racial Discourses Disrupt Neighborhood Activism"

Tuesday, April 18. Social Inequalities
Reading: bell hooks, excerpt from Where We Stand: Class Matters
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, April 20. Communities and Social Change
Reading: Umble, Chapts. 1-2

Tuesday, April 25. Communities and Social Change
Reading: Umble, Chapts. 3-5
How to write a good book review
DISCUSSION NOTES DUE

Thursday, April 27 Communities and Social Change
Reading: Umble, Chapts. 6-7

Tuesday, May 2. Communities and Social Change
Reading: Umble, Chapts. 8-end.

Thursday, May 4. Applying Anthropology
Wrap Up Discussion

Tuesday, May 8. Final Exam Week
Your book reviews are due on May 8.

* This syllabus serves as a guideline. Your instructor reserves the right to make changes in the class schedule.