Ant 358 Syllabus

ANT 35801 Social Anthropology Dr. Dorothy D. Wills
12105 Cal Poly Pomona Winter, 2006

Course Syllabus

Class meetings: MWF 11:45-12:50, Bldg. 5-143
Units: 4 (no lab)
Format: Lecture, discussion, reading, activity/exercise
Final exam: Mar. 17, 11:30-1:30
Office: 5:147, MW 10:30-11:35, Tues. 10:00 - 12:00 A.M.; or by appointment.
Phone: X3582
Home page: http://www.csupomona.edu/~ddwills/
Email: ddwills@csupomona.edu

Required texts:

Northern Passage, Ethnography and Apprenticeship among the Subarctic Dene, Robert Jarvenpa. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1999. (paper)
The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior, an Autobiography, Tepilit Ole Saitoti. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986. (paper)
Small Places, Large Issues. An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, Thomas Hylland Eriksen. London: Pluto Press, 1995. (paper)

You will be doing research or exercises that require you to do additional reading. If you want to use Internet resources, please check them out with the instructor. Remember, anyone can publish anything on the Internet, which is not the case with scholarly journals, books, or most other print media.

Course objectives

After you complete this course successfully, you will be able to:

1. Apply critical principles to your own life and society.
2. Conduct a small-scale ethnographic research project, either individually or as part of a team.
3. Read, watch, or hear popular and journalistic programming related to the anthropology of social life from a more expert standpoint.
4. Understand what some of the differences between cultures mean, and how they are relevant to individual behavior.

This course is part of the standard required preparation for future anthropologists, whether you are going to graduate school or an applied field (CRM, etc.). It also provides an excellent background for future teachers, social workers, planners, international business managers, geographers, and many others. Students from all majors should be able to compete successfully with anthropology majors in the course, although ANT 102 is recommended for all.

This course is a support course for the Digital Media Minor degree program. It meets the criterion that students will be able to represent and communicate concepts and information in the field under study through multimedia, as part or all of their work. The instructor is not required to provide technical assistance to DM students in the class, but will be able to assess multimedia projects submitted to fulfill requirements. Technology support is available to DM students at Studio Six, IIT.

The following schedule is subject to change, either in terms of topics, dates, or readings. You will have two exercises and two projects to be done outside of class. The readings will be discussed in class, so keep on top of them. If changes are made, they will be reflected on the web site. You will not receive another printed syllabus.

Outline of Classes

Jan. 4 General introduction to the field. Social structure and social organization. Preliminary assessment.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 1. Maasai: pp. xiii-13.

Jan. 6 The sociocultural map today. How did it get that way? Debatable propositions. Discuss exercise #1 (issue statement).
READ: Maasai: pp. 13-25.

Jan. 9 Social groups, roles, and relations. Film: Maasai Women.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 2. Maasai: pp. 25-36.

Jan. 11 Research in social anthropology. Epistemology and methodology. Discuss projects: ethnography and fieldwork. Small scale versus complex society.
READ: Maasai: pp. 36-43.

Jan. 13 The basic lifeways of humankind: hunter/gatherers, pastoralists, farmers, and industrial modes of production. How is this the framework for society?
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 3. Maasai: pp. 43-56.

Jan. 16 NO CLASS

Jan. 18 Attend Campus Forum on Africa. BSC Centaurus Room 12:00.
READ: Maasai: pp. 56-66.

Jan. 20 Kinship and marriage: the core subjects of social anthropology and why. Basic ideas and controversies in the field. Descent types and groups. Alliance theory. Kinship diagramming for fun. Name of people for ethnography report due.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 4. Maasai: pp. 66-81.

Jan. 23 Kinship. Diagramming. Exercise #1 due.
READ: Maasai: pp. 88-95.

Jan. 25 Life cycle rituals. Age and generation as social classifiers. Age sets and age grades.
READ: Maasai: pp. 95-102.

Jan. 27 Forms of marriage. Marriage as exchange, ending marriage, second marriages.Gender, sex, sexuality, love, reproduction, marriage, and are they related? What's learned and what's not? Forms of the family, cultural ecology of family form.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 7. Maasai: pp. 102-112.

Jan. 30 Status and social stratification. Social roles, rules, and relations between groups.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 8. Maasai: pp. 112-118.

Feb. 1 NO CLASS Discussion board topics.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 9. Maasai: pp. 118-125.

Feb. 3 Wills missed class.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 10. Maasai: pp. 125-133.

Feb. 6 Case study of Wolof society. Issues in ethnographic research.

READ: Eriksen: Ch. 11. Maasai: pp. 133-144.

Feb. 8 Discussion of your ethnographic research and proposed fieldwork. Fieldwork topic due. Summary discussion of Maasai book.

Feb. 10 Quiz on the Maasai materials. Mid-quarter assessment.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 12. Dene: Prologue.

Feb. 13 Ethnographies due.
READ: Dene: Ch. One.

Feb. 15 Film. Discussion of quiz and ethnography papers.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 14. Dene: Ch. Two.

Feb. 17 Film Cree Hunters of the Mistassini.

Feb. 20 Discussion of Northern Passage.
READ: Dene: Ch. Three.

Feb. 22 Campus Forum. Discussion board topics.
READ: Dene: Ch. Four.

Feb. 24 Belief systems.
READ: Dene: Ch. Five.

Feb. 27 Cultures in contact and conflict. The effects of colonialism and the post-colonial situation. Quiz on Eriksen 3-10.
READ: Dene: Ch. Six.

Mar. 1 Social issues in the modern world.
READ: Eriksen: Ch. 18.

Mar. 3 Applications of social anthropology to the contemporary context. Assignment #3 (Ritual Participant Observation exercise) due. Quiz on Eriksen due.
READ: Eriksen: Epilogue.

Mar. 6 Review of Eriksen. Discussion of fieldwork projects.
READ: Dene: Aftershock.

Mar. 8 Summary discussion of Dene.

Mar. 10 Quiz on the Dene book and film, remaining Eriksen chapters.

Format of the class

Most of the class will consist of presentation of background material by the instructor or guest lecturers. This is likely to be new information for most of you, so do not hesitate to ask questions or bring up issues that occur. Other class periods will be spent in discussion of the readings, viewing films, or small group projects. There may be occasional ungraded quizzes on the reading and lectures for assessment purposes. I am attempting to arrange at least one field trip.
Requirements for an excellent grade

1. Regular attendance. Participation in discussions is very desirable. If this is difficult for you due to language, shyness, or a disability, please see the instructor. If you will be unable to attend class, please inform me ahead of time (except in cases of emergency or illness). You are expected to take your own notes, unless you arrange with a classmate to borrow theirs, during an illness or other excused absence.

2. Completing all assigned work on time, including readings, projects, exercises, and test preparation.

3. Use of good communication skills in written and oral communication. If you have any English language difficulties, help is available (see me for further information). Always proofread written work.

4. Good performance on the exercises, final exam, ethnographic report, and fieldwork project/report.

5. Adherence to high standards of student/scholar ethics. If you are unsure of the definition of plagiarism or other violations, please ask me. We will discuss the proper form for citation of sources in class. Group study is highly recommended. The end product should reflect your own effort only.
Evaluation

Your assignments for the course will consist of:

1. Quizzes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25%
2. Ethnography project #1 . . . . . . . . . .20%
4. Exercise #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%
5. Exercise #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%
6. Attendance and participation . . . . . . 15%
100%