ANTH 3010 (403BU)                                                                                                                      FHDAMON

A3010-100 (10341)                                                                                                                                  206 Brooks Hall

TuTh 9:30AM - 10:45AM                                                                          OH: M&W: 12:30[2:30]-5 & by appointment Maury Hall 115

Scheduled Final Exam: Friday, December 18, 2015: 1400-1700

                                                                                                                                                                                

 HISTORY AND THEORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY

Syllabus

 

               Designed for students majoring in anthropology, this course reviews the history of anthropology from the late 18^th century to the present. It explores both the development of theory and the discipline’s experience in learning about the human condition in specific places across the globe. Mindful that anthropology is itself a social process, developing through certain times and distinctive places, the course will consider both the discipline’s generated content and the role proto and contemporary anthropologists have played in their societies.  Student must enroll in one of the discussion sections, 3010D which will be organized after the first class. These sections will be partly devoted to considering assigned class readings and lectures in a seminar format. Such discussion should aid in moving students on the required essays, and organize the reading and writing for the Biographies and Special Topics Books.         

                Although the central readings for this course come from the history of Social or Cultural Anthropology, selected essays from or about linguists or linguistic anthropologists and archaeology permeate the syllabus.

 

This course should meet the second writing requirement. Page margins are to be no larger than 1" (top, bottom and sides).Papers must be enumerated. Names, titles and dates must head every paper, and names and dates inscribed as footers on every page. Papers will be read and graded by both Damon and Andre-Johnson.  

 

Prior to your Discussion Section’s second meeting during the week of September 1-3, watch and be prepared to discuss in that meeting one of these three movies: The Mission (1986), Black Robe (1991) or The Bounty (1984). All three are significant movies of their time, and maybe more than their times. Watch them all!

NOTEBENE: ALL DATES ARE TENTATIVE

 

INTRODUCTION                                                                                             August 25, 2015

                                                            Explanation of the course and its responsibilities

 

PART I ORIGINS ca 1750-1920              Peopling the World

Old White Men’s Stories about Dead Old White Men and those Others

                                                                                  August 27-September 25

A. Contemporary Analyses of The 2^nd Great Expansion & Anthropology’s Beginning

1. Wallace, Anthony F.C. 1999 JEFFERSON and the INDIANS                                                         

2. Sahlins, Marshal1 1987 Islands of History 

3. Thomas Trautmann (2008 2^nd ed.) Lewis Henry Morgan and the Invention of Kinship

                                                                                                                                                                                

September 10 & 15: Archaeology and Linguistic interlude: J. W. DAY JR., J. D. GUNN, W. J. FOLAN, A. YÁÑEZ-ARANCIBIA, AND B. P. HORTON  2007“Emergence of Complex Societies after Sea Level Stabilized” 2007 EOS, TRANSACTIONS, AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION 88(15):169-170 & McIntosh, S. K.  and R. J. McIntosh 1984 “The Early City in West Africa: Towards an Understanding,” The African Archaeological Review, Vol. 2 (1984), pp. 73-98 & Jacobson, Roman 1956 “Two Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances” Originally in Fundamentals of Language by Roman Jacobson and Morris Halle. The Hague & Paris: Mouton on Aphasia. 115-133

2-page summation due on 9/18, 5pm

 

                                                                                                                                                                                

First paper due, Friday September 25: 10-15 page discussion of these 3 books

                                            

PART II  ca 1920-1970                  Institutionalizing Anthropology              

THE CHILD OF COLONIALISM

                                                                                 September 29-October 29

A. Mid-Century Critiques of the Elders

 

1. "20^th Century French Sociology" (1945) by Claude Lévi-Strauss in Twentieth Century Sociology. Edited by Georges Gurvitch and Wilbert E. Moore. Publication info: New York Philosophical Library 1945 HM51 .G85 1945 

2. "History, Evolutionism, and Functionalism: three types of interpretation of culture" by Leslie White, SW Journal of Anthropology, 1945.

3. Chapter 15, “Social Structure,” by Claude Lévi-Strauss in Structural Anthropology, 1953[56]

4."The Epistemological Foundations to Malinowski's Empiricism" (1957) by Edmund R. Leach in Man and culture; an evaluation of the work of Bronislaw Malinowski. Edited by Raymond Firth GN8 .F5 Publication info: London, Routledge & K. Paul [1968, c1957] 

Tuesday, October 13, in-class presentation of Biographies; joint papers due on 10/16

 

Tuesday October 20 Archaeology and Linguistic interlude:2) Ardener, Edwin (1971) “Introductory Essay: Social Anthropology and Language” in Social anthropology and language; edited by Edwin Ardener, ix-cii. & Terence N. D'Altroy, Timothy K. Earle 1985 “Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy [Comments and Reply   , David L. Browman, Darrell La Lone, Michael E.Moseley, John V. Murra, Thomas P. Myers, Frank Salomon, Katharina J. Schreiber and John R.Topic] Current Anthropology,Vol. 26, No. 2 (Apr., 1985), pp. 187-206

2-page summation due on 10/23, 5pm

 

B. What Children!                              

 

1. Lévi-Strauss, Claude The Savage Mind (trans. 1966)

2. Douglas, Mary Purity and Danger (1966)

3. Geertz, Clifford The Interpretation of Culture (1973)

 

Second paper due, Friday October 30: 10-15 page discussion of these essays and books.

 

 

 

PART III ca. 1980- 2015, Phase Changes?

Alternate Generation Struggles

                                                                                                       

A. Redefining the Classic

Gregory, Christopher 1982/2015 GIFTS AND COMMODITIES

Tuesday November 3 Archaeology and Linguistic interlude: 3) Blanton, Dennis B. 2003 “THE WEATHER IS FINE, WISH YOU WERE HERE, BECAUSE I’M THE LAST ONE ALIVE ‘Learning’ the environment in the English New World colonies” in COLONIZATION OF UNFAMILIAR LANDSCAOPES The archaeology of adaptation. Edited by Marcy Rockman and James Steele  London and New York: Routledge     Pp. 190-200. & Ford, Richard I. “Ethnoecology Serving the Community: A Case Study from Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico” in ETHNOECOLOGY Edited by Virginia D. Nazarca, Pp. 71-87. & Robbins, Joel “Some Things You Say, Some Things You Dissimulate, And Something Things You Keep to Yourself: Linguistic, Material, and Marital Exchange in the Construction of Melanesian Societies” Chapter 1 in THE SCOPE OF ANTHROPOLOGY  Maurice Godelier’s Work in Context, Edited by Laurent Dousset and Serge Tcherkézoff , New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books: 25-45.

2-page summation due on 11/6, 5pm

 

B. Redefining Ritual and Myth

Mosko, Mark & Fred Damon  2005 ON THE ORDER OF ‘CHAOS’ Social Anthropology & the Science of ‘Chaos’

C. Redefining the Material World

Essays by Posey, Berlin, Lansing, Carse

Tuesday November 24 Archaeology and Linguistic interlude: 4) Steponaitis, Vincas and C. Margaret Scarry (2014). "New Directions in Moundville Research." and "Moundville Palettes: Prestige Goods or Inalienable Possessions?" In Rethinking Moundville and Its Hinterland, edited by Vincas P. Steponaitis and C. Margaret Scarry, chapter 1/2. University of Florida Press, under review. [Draft of March 9, 2014.] [PDF] & Blust, Robert 1980 “Early Austronesian Social Organization: The Evidence of Language” [and Comments and Reply] Author(s): Robert Blust, David F. Aberle, N. J. Allen, R. H. Barnes, Ann Chowning, Otto Chr. Dahl, Jacques Faublée, James J. Fox, George W. Grace, Toichi Mabuchi, Kenneth Maddock and Andrew Pawley Current Anthropology, Vol. 21(2): 205-247 & Fox, James J (in press) “EASTERN INDONESIA IN AUSTRONESIAN PERSPECTIVE: THE EVIDENCE OF RELATIONAL TERMINOLOGIES” to appear in Archipel Pp. 1-27

 

D. Redefining Kinship

Susan McKinnon and Fenella Cannell 2013 VITAL RELATIONS Modernity and the Persistent Life of Kinship

 

Tuesday, December 1, in-class presentation of Special Topics books: Papers due on 12/4

                                                                                                                                                                                  

Final paper due on 12/18: 14:00. 10-15 page discussion of 3 of these 4 ‘books.’  

 

 

CLASS REQUIREMENTS AND OBLIGATIONS:

 

1) Prior to your Discussion Section’s second meeting during the week of September 1-3, watch and be prepared to discuss in that meeting one of these three movies: The Mission (1986), Black Robe (1991) or The Bounty(1984).

2). Attending and participating in Lectures (Tuesday and Thursday) and your 3010D Discussion section is mandatory. Missing more than 2 classes (Lecture or Discussion) will lead to grade reduction (1/3 of a grade/: E.g., if you miss a combined 3 lectures and discussion sections but otherwise earn a B your grade will be dropped to a B-.). Lecture attendance will be taken frequently by questions you give to Damon at the conclusion of each class. The question must be hand written on half a sheet of paper and deal with something derived from either the week’s reading or the day’s lecture.

3). Written Assignments:

               a). Three 10-15 page discussions of assigned books or collections of essays in the three principal course Parts—dates above. Although you should discuss your work in the Discussion sections and with Damon and/or Andre-Johnson, these papers are to be individually written. But you may use Damon’s Pledge: “I have both given and received help on this paper.” Individual papers should follow one of two strategies: Either provide a comprehensive review of the books or essays; or, after briefly describing the whole set/, create a synthetic argument which demonstrates serious reading of the assigned texts.

               b). A 10-30 page discussion/summary of one of listed biographical subjects written collectively by the people who have selected that book. Each group will summarize their biography on Tuesday October 13^th  then make papers available to everyone by October 16^th.

Or

               c). A 10—30 page discussion of the Special Topic  Book written collectively by the people who have selected that book. Each group will summarize their book on Tuesday December 1^st then make papers available to everyone by Friday December 4^th.

 

5) Grades. Your final Grade for this course will be determined by the following approximate guide:

Discussion Section Participation                                                                                                                15%

Lecture Attendance and Participation (E.g. quizzes...)                                                                       5-15%

Three 10-15 page essays:                                                                                                                            50%

The Biography and Special Topic Book Presentation and paper                                                          15%

              

Biography List

Michael Young’s MALINOWSKI: Odyssey of an Anthropologist, 1884-1920 New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Either or both: Young, Virginia Heyer 2005 Ruth Benedict: beyond relativity, beyond pattern. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Or (Schachter) Modell, Judith 1983 Ruth Benedict, patterns of a life.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

 

Special Topics Books

Christopher Taylor’s 2001 SACRIFICE AS TERROR Bloomsbury Academic.

Scott Atran’s 2010 TALKING TO THE ENEMY Religions, Brotherhood, and the (un) Making of Terrorists  Harper-Collins

Carrie Douglass (ed.) 2005 BARREN STATES:  The Population Implosion in Europe Bloomsbury Academic

Joseph Masco 2006 THE NUCLEAR BORDELANDS The Manhattan Project in Post-Cold War New Mexico Princeton