Syllabus for Roster(s):
- 14F ANTH 3590-002 (CGAS)
Anthropology of Time and Space
ANTH 3590-002 (16097) Frederick H. Damon
MW 5:00-6:15 New Cabell Hall 332 206 Brooks Hall
Scheduled Final Exam: TBA 924-6826//fhd@virginia.edu OH: M&F: 11-13 & by appointment
Anthropology of Time and Space
Syllabus
All societies position themselves in space and time. This course samples the anthropological discussion of the ways social systems have configured spatial/temporal orders. We will consider both internalized conceptions of time and space and the ways an analyst might view space and time as external factors orientating a society’s existence. We will sample classic discussions of spatial-temporal orientations in small and large, “pre-modern” and “modern” societies. What are the differences between these scales and kinds of societies? The course will close with a comparative study of US temporal constructs. Students will be responsible for producing up to three short essays (4-5 pages) about texts considered by the class as a whole and then a research paper (approximately 20 pages) devoted to a single society or part of the world. Class time will be divided between lecture format and discussion, increasingly turning to the latter towards the end of the semester as we focus on the US and as each student moves towards his or her own project. This course should satisfy the second writing requirement.
Books Available for Purchase
Primitive Classification, Durkheim and Mauss, U Chicago Press 9780226173344
At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An Andean Cosmology (1982) Gary Urton 10: 0292704046
ETERNAL FRONTIER – 1999 Timothy Flannery 0-8021-3888-8
BY NOON PRAYER: The Rhythm of Islam (2008) El Guindi, Fadwa 978 1 84520 097 8
(All Dates Are Tentative)
I. INTRODUCTION—anthropological foundations
A. Introduction to course scope, history and potential projects. 8/27
B. Considering Durkheim and Mauss’s Primitive Classifications (1903)? 8/27-9/10
-a reaction Granet, Marcel, "The right and left in China" (1933)
C. The First Steps 9/11-9/17
1). E.E. Evans-Pritchard Chapter 3, “Time and Space” from The Nuer.
2). E. P. Thompson 1967 “Time, Work-discipline, and Industrial Capitalism” Past and Present, #38:56-97.
D. The Next Steps 9/17-10/10
1). Claude Lévi-Strauss , “Do Dual Organizations Exist” (ca. 1956)
2). Gary Urton At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An Andean Cosmology (1982)
3). Mosko, Mark 2013 “Omarakana revisited, or ‘do dual organizations exist?’ in the Trobriands” JRAI (N.S.) 19, 482-509
Note bene: required lecture
Thomas R. Trautmann
Elephants and kings:
India in the optic of China
October 3, 2014
Brooks Hall, 1:00 P.M.-3:00 P.M.
October 8
No Class, Dinner at Damon’s, Discussion of 1st paper drafts
October 10, 5pm First Papers Due
II. ‘EXTERNALITIES’?
A. Totalizing the environment? 10/11-10/22
Tim Flannery ETERNAL FRONTIER (1999)
B. Totalizing Social Systems? 10/22-11/15
Regionality in Anthropology and Immanuel Wallerstein
1). Alfred Gell 1982 “The Market Wheel: Symbolic Aspects of an Indian Tribal Market” Man n.s. 17(3) 470-491.
2). Charles D. Piot 1992 “Wealth Production, Ritual Consumption, and Center/Periphery Relations in a West African Regional System” American Ethnologist, Vol. 19(1): 34-52.
3). Immanuel Wallerstein 2004 World-Systems Analysis—An Introduction.
11/12 Open Class Discussion of 2nd Papers
11/14, 5pm 2nd Papers Due
III. ‘INTERNALITIES’—Time and Calendrics
A. Time?
Nancy Munn 1992 “THE CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF TIME: A CRITICAL ESSAY. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 21, 1992: 93-123.
B. Calendars
1). El Guindi, Fadwa BY NOON PRAYER: The Rhythm of Islam (2008)
2). The US System
Totalizations— On the domains of ‘time’ and ‘space:’ life cycles and their rituals—family-education-business; sports; money and the organization of capital structures; politics (?).
FINAL RESEARCH PAPER
20+/- PAGES
DUE, 12/12/14 6 pm