SEX, GENDER AND CULTURE
Anthropology 202
Tuesday & Thursday, 3:10 - 4:25 p.m., Pangborn Hall 205
Dr. Vasiliki Neofotistos
neofotistos@cua.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 4:30-6:00 p.m. or by appointment, Marist Hall 3
Course Description
The course will examine sex, gender, and culture in societies around the world. We will focus on three issues throughout the semester: (1) the creation, maintenance and change of cultural differences in gender; (2) the work of culture in sexuality; and (3) equality and inequality between men and women in different societies. Specifically:
(1) People's beliefs, institutions and practices inform the construction of gender differently in different societies, even though all societies are situated somewhere in the modern world. We will look carefully at how "female", "male" and other genders are defined and practiced in different parts of the world. We will also look at how gender informs the lives of women and men.
(2) Sexuality is shaped by culture. We will explore how desire is constructed in various social contexts, how men and women learn sexuality and how they experience desire.
(3) We will examine preoccupations with rank, status, equality and inequality in social life. How are women and men valued differently in different cultures? In different aspects of the same culture? On what cultural grounds? How do the different values placed on women and men affect their lives?
As we examine gender, sexuality and status in other cultures, we will be re-thinking our own understandings and practices. We will take a critical look at what we take to be "the way things are" (the common sense that tells us that things could not be otherwise), our beliefs and actions, and the various critical stances of "feminism."
Course Texts
Brettell, Caroline & Carolyn Sargent. 2000. Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 4th Edition. Pearson: Prentice-Hall.
Meneley, Anne. 1996. Tournaments of Value: Sociability and Hierarchy in a Yemeni Town. University of Toronto Press.
Nanda, Serena. 1999. Neither Man Nor Woman: Hijras of India, 2nd Edition. Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Articles (to be distributed in class)
Ginsberg, Faye and Rayna Rapp. 1991. The Politics of Reproduction. Annual Review of
Anthropology (20): 311-343.
Hayden, Robert M. 2000. Rape and Rape Avoidance in Ethno-National Conflicts:
Sexual Violence in Liminalized States. American Anthropologist 102 (1): 27-41.
Ortner, Sherry. 1974. “Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?” In Michelle Z.
Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere, eds. Woman, Culture and Society, pp. 66-87. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Course Requirements
The reading assignments given below are required for satisfactory work. Class members are expected to have prepared reading assignments for each class and are responsible in class and in exams for all this material whether or not it has been covered in lectures. This includes all material in lectures, readings, maps, videos and films, and discussions.
Two exams will be given, one mid-term and one take-home exam.
The mid-term exam will include short answer questions.
The take-home exam will begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, December the 13th and finish at
5 p.m. on Thursday, December the 15th. Three essay questions will be distributed via e-mail shortly before 9 a.m. on 12/13 and students will be asked to respond to two questions. Answers to each question should not exceed 8 double-spaced pages (12 point font). Students will be asked to send their take-home exams to Dr. Neofotistos via e-mail as Word attachments. Take-home exams that are turned in after 5p.m. on 12/15 will not be accepted.
Finally, a short paper (6-8 double-spaced pages, 12 point font) is required. Please see me by November 3 to discuss and have your topic approved. Papers on topics that are not approved will not be accepted. The paper is due at the last class meeting on Wednesday, December 6. There will be a grade penalty for students who do not submit their papers on time.
Grades: Mid-term exam: 30%; take-home exam: 30%; term paper: 30%; and class participation: 10%
Course Outline
Week One: Biology and Human Evolution
Tuesday, Aug 30: Course Introduction: Sex and Gender
Thursday, Sept 1: Biology, Gender and Human Evolution
Brettell & Sargent, I: pp.1-21
Nanda: Introduction
Tuesday, Sept 6: Questioning Dualisms
Handout: Sherry Ortner, “Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?”
Thursday, Sept 8: Women and “Female” Roles
Brettell & Sargent, I: pp. 21-48
Nanda: Chapter 1
Week Three: Prehistory, Gender and Ritual
Tuesday, Sept 13: Prehistory and Gender
Brettell and Sargent, II: pp. 49-80
FRIDAY, Sept 16: Gender and Ritual
Nanda: Chapters 2 and 3
Week Four: Domestic and Public Worlds
Tuesday, Sept 20: Women’s and Men’s Spaces
Brettell and Sargent, III: pp. 81-133
VIDEO: "Some Women of Marrakech"
Thursday, Sept 22: Equality and Gender
Brettell and Sargent, IV: pp. 141-169
Nanda: Chapter 4
Week Five: The Cultural Construction of Gender
Tuesday, Sept 27: Gender and Personhood
Brettell and Sargent, V: pp. 185-240
Thursday, Sept 29: Constructing Masculinity
Nanda: Chapters 5 and 6
VIDEO: Monday’s Girls
Week Six: Gender and Sexuality
Tuesday, Oct 4: Sexuality and Culture
Brettell and Sargent, VI: pp. 241-298
Thursday, Oct 6: Gender and Social Place
Nanda: Chapters 7 and 8
Week Seven: Gender Variations
Tuesday, Oct 11: ADMINISTRATIVE MONDAY (no classes)
Thursday, Oct 13: Gender Identities and Roles
Nanda: Chapters 9, 10 and Epilogue
Week Eight: Gender, Bodies and the State
Tuesday, Oct 18: MIDTERM EXAM
Thursday, Oct 20: Gender and Political Experience
Brettell and Sargent, VII: pp. 299-319
Meneley: Introduction
Week Nine: Political Ideologies and Gender
Tuesday, Oct 25: Nations, Ideology and Gender
Brettell and Sargent, VII: pp. 320-348
Meneley: Chapter One
Handout: Hayden, Robert M. “Rape and Rape Avoidance in Ethno-National Conflicts: Sexual Violence in Liminalized States”
Week Ten: Gender, Kinship and Household
Tuesday, Nov 1: Family and Gender
Meneley: Chapters 2 and 3
Brettell and Sargent, VIII: 349-372
Thursday, Nov 3: Marriage and Gender
Brettell and Sargent, VIII: pp. 372-389
Meneley: Chapters 4 and 5
Thursday, Nov 10: Gender and Rituals II
Brettell and Sargent, IX: pp. 421-442
Meneley: Chapter 7 and 8
VIDEO: “Without Fathers or Husbands”
Week Twelve: The Politics of Reproduction
Tuesday, Nov 15: Reproductive Behaviors
Brettell and Sargent, X: pp. 443-470
Thursday, Nov 17: Surrogate Motherhood and Female Circumcision
Brettell and Sargent, X: pp.471-494
Handout: Ginsberg, Faye and Rayna Rapp, “The Politics of Reproduction”
Tuesday, Nov 22: Gender and Human Rights
Handout: Abu- Lughod, Lila, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?”
VIDEO: “Not Without My Veil Among the Women of Oman”
Thursday, Nov 24: THANKSGIVING RECESS
Tuesday, Nov 29: Women and Development
Brettell and Sargent, XI: pp. 495-535
Week Fifteen: REVIEW
Tuesday Dec 6: Review for Final Exam (please bring your questions)
Thursday December 8: Patronal Feast of the Immaculate Conception (HOLIDAY)
TERM PAPER DUE
TAKE HOME EXAM: 9a.m. Tuesday, Dec 13 – 5p.m. Thursday, Dec 15
Last Revised 16-Nov-05 11:39 AM.
