Anthropology 101
http://arts-sciences.cua.edu/anth/cohen/culturalspr.htm
Dr. Lucy M. Cohen
T-Th 10:35 - 11:50 a.m.
Cultural anthropologists of the modern world want to understand what it is that connects rock stars with Indians of the Amazonian rainforests, Guatemalan weavers with tourist markets, a minor 19th-century French aristocrat with present-day steroids scandals in sports, international migrants with middle-class Americans.
Today there are no more "primitive cultures." Our lives are all touched by media images and information, by consumer desires, international markets, and global ecology, by diverse and conflicting political aspirations, and by religious revivals and rewritten histories of the world's peoples. Anthropologists pose questions about unexpected links among such phenomena.
Our questions
and answers in this class will always have two parts. First, we will be comparative.
Cultural anthropology uses the study of other cultures to gain a perspective
on our own, so anthropologists look at relationships between cultures. What makes other
lifeways different from ours illuminates what is contingent about ours.
Second, our views of other cultures will be holistic,
that is, we will look at connections between practices and beliefs within cultures,
and not at isolated, odd customs.
Finally, in posing and answering
questions about cultures, we will acquire and use some of the concepts and methods of
anthropological inquiry. We will then consider cultural differences in the United States
-- how these differences are made and unmade, how some differences are made into
inequalities, and how these inequalities are contested.
For those who are majors in education, in nursing, in architecture, or minors
in second language learning and cultural diversity, we will examine social and cultural environments that surround schools
and education; health, illness, and well-being; landscape and environment; and
transnational lives, respectively. Our study will focus on:
 | the diverse goals and ways of reaching them that people in families and communities have, |
| the symbolic resources through which people create meaningful lives together, |
| the ways that people construct identities, families, and communities, |
| the cultural and political economic processes that constrain them, and |
| the negotiations, contests, and conflicts that people enter into in order to accomplish their goals. |
Minors in Second Language Learning and Cultural Diversity, please see me about your portfolio.
COURSE TEXTS
Barnes, Virginia Lee and Janice Boddy. (1994) Aman: The Story of a Somali Girl.Vintage Press.
Chavez, Leo R. (1992) Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society. HBJ.
Schultz, Emily and Robert Lavenda. (2001) Cultural Anthropology, 5th ed. Mayfield Press.
Schultz and Lavenda. On-line Study Guide. http://www.mayfieldpub.com/schultz
Additional Texts for Education Majors and SLLCD Minors:
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The class reading assignments in the Schultz and Lavenda, Chavez, and Barnes and Boddy books are given below and are required reading for satisfactory work in the course. The Chavez and the Barnes and Boddy books will be used for examples throughout the semester. Class members are expected to have prepared reading assignments for each class and to attend class; they are responsible in class and in exams for all this material whether or not it has been covered in lectures. Class members are also responsible for all information that is announced in class, whether or not they attended the day an announcement was made.
Education majors and SLLCD minors also have reading assignments in the Kawagley and Vigil books that are starred (*) and color-coded below. Nursing majors have reading assignments in the Giger & Davidhizar book, double-starred (**) and color-coded below.As well, lectures will cover material that is not in the textbooks; make-up work will only be available to those who have excused absences. You are also responsible for all material in class lectures and exercises, in maps, and in films and videos.
Two midterm exams will be given during the semester, one before the middle of the semester and one after; then a two-hour final exam will be given during finals week. All exams include multiple choice, short answer, map, and essay questions. Essays must be well-written and show mastery of course concepts; essays will ask that you use concepts to think about examples from your own experience. The online Study Guide gives detailed examples of how to prepare assignments and to review for exams. There are also many sample exam questions.
A short
written assignment of 5 double-spaced, typed pages is due at the last class meeting, December 4. Topics will be based on visits to Smithsonian museums that will be assigned later in the semester. The "Written Assignment" page below lists the exhibits from which you may choose. For your essay you are asked to view an exhibit and then to use a concept that you have learned this semester to think about the exhibit, react to it, criticize it, or relate it to something else you know. You are encouraged to visit the Writing Center to get critiques of all your written assignments and essays; call for an appointment.Topics for the written assignment for
Education majors and SLLCD minors will be based on the Kawagley and Vigil books. We will work on some projects for classroom use.Topics for the written assignment for
Nursing majors will be based on the Giger & Davidhizar book.You must go to the course webpage to print out your written assignment. Click on your assignment button below. For a blank map, click on the map button.
Final grades will be based on the two midterm exams (25% each), final exam (25%), and written assignment (25%).
My office is 10 Marist, telephone 319-5080, e-mail cohen@cua.edu . My office hours are Tues. 1-3 and Wed 1-3; you may arrange another time with me if those hours aren't possible for you.
Course Topics and Reading Assignments
Cultures and Meanings
Tuesday, Aug. 28 - "The anthropological
perspective"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 1.
Holism in the Anthropological Perspective
Tuesday, Sept. 4 - "Global politics of rainforest
destruction"
Read Aman, Chs. 3-5, pp. 20-60.
Sources of Cultural Knowledge
Thursday, Sept. 6 - "Fieldwork as a source of cultural
knowledge"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 3.
The Explanation of Cultural Differences
Language and Culture
FIRST EXAM GRADES GIVEN
Tuesday, Oct. 9 - "Urban legends and cultural
uncertainty"
Read Aman, Chs. 14-17, pp. 174-202.
The Social
Construction of Reality: How Beliefs Shape Behavior
Thursday, Oct. 11 - "'Multiculturalism'.
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 8
The Meaning of Progress
Tuesday, Oct. 30 - "Getting a livelihood: Forms of
production, distribution, and consumption"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 10.
SECOND MIDTERM GRADES GIVEN
The Social Construction
of Equality and Inequality
Tuesday, Nov. 13 - "Secular ideologies of inequality: How Americans
learn to live inequality in high school"
In class: Quick & Dirty: "Judgment Day"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 14
Polygyny and its Tensions
Thursday, Nov. 15 - "Women and men negotiating polygynous
marriage"; MOVIE: "Asante Market Women"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 13
Aman, Chs. 24-27; Chavez, Chs. 3,4,7.
Cultural
Diversity in Today's World
Tuesday, Nov. 20 - "Globalization"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 15.
No Class, Nov. 22 (Thanksgiving)
Tuesday, Nov. 27-
"Why we don't wear
polyester any more: Consumer Tastes and Social Change" (J. Schneider); In class:
Quick & Dirty: What we do wear and why
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 16
Chavez, Chs. 8-9
*Vigil, Chs. 6 and 7
Thursday, Nov. 29 - "Transnational Lives: Why are there 'illegal
aliens'?" Lecture and video "Uneasy Neighbors"
Finish reading the Chavez book.
*Vigil, Ch. 8.
**Giger & Davidhizar, Ch. 9. "Mexican Americans"
Tuesday, Dec. 4 - "Last
Things"
Video: "Red White Blue November" about Hmong-Americans
Review for final exam
Written assignment due
Nurses: In class role-playing of cross-cultural
communication. Your papers are due at the final exam.
Exam week: FINAL EXAM
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I have read the syllabus carefully and noted the assignments and the tests. I am responsible for turning in the work on the dates indicated.
Signed ____________________________________________________________
(Rev. 08/06/2001
)