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ANT 405 Anthropology of Gender 11686 Dr. Dorothy D. Wills
Cal Poly Pomona University Winter, 2010
Course Syllabus
Instructor: Dorothy D. Wills, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Chair, Dept. of Geography and Anthropology.
Class meetings: MWF 10:30-11:35, 5:143.
Office hours: MW 8:00-9:00, Tues. 9:00-11:00, 1:00-2:00, or by appointment, located in Bldg. 5-149, phone 869-3582, or department office 869-3569.
Email: ddwills@csupomona.edu
Web page: www.csupomona.edu/~ddwills
Course Description
ANT 405 Anthropology of Gender (4) Interdisciplinary cross-cultural examination of gender. Includes anthropology of men and women; role and status; culture and personality; expression and behavior; past and future trends in relationships. Student research and presentations. 4 hours seminar. Pre-requisites: Lower division GE Areas A, two courses from C, and two courses from D.
Required Background or Experience
Lower division GE Areas A, two courses from C, and two courses from D.
Expected Learning Outcomes
This course synthesizes the humanistic and social scientific perspectives on gender cross-culturally. It draws from history, ethnography, literature, psychology, critical theory, and other fields. It takes into consideration both expressions of men’s and women’s own points of view in different cultures, as well as studies carried out by outsiders. Thus, students grow in appreciation of diverse forms of experience and expression and in analytical reasoning ability.
Students will:
1) Build a new perspective on the varied contributions of women and men of different social groups in different cultures around the world and through history, whether in the arts, social movements, public action, domestic maintenance, or invention and production,
2) Analyze and question the continuity between traditional/historical and contemporary patterns of role and status for the sexes/genders, for groups based on sexual orientation, and for life cycle categories such as age groups,
3) Evaluate the gender-related problems of minority groups in various cultures, their individual problems of accommodation to norms established by dominant groups, and the political and cultural processes that produce change,
5) Critically assess artistic, periodical and popular materials on sex and gender.
Students will also:
6) Integrate and evaluate both humanistic and social scientific approaches to the understanding of human society and culture, through the lens of gender, and
7) Synthesize factual and interpretive material from lower division general education courses, and propose solutions to problematical issues.
CSU Employee Furloughs – Impact on Classes
This year across this campus and around the CSU system some class days will be cancelled because of furloughs. A furlough is mandatory un-paid time off; faculty and staff on each CSU campus are being “furloughed” two days per month.
These cancelled class days are marked on your syllabus below. It is important to recognize that these days off are not holidays. Instead, they are concrete examples of how massive state budget cuts have consequences for you as students and for me as a faculty member.
The CSU has suffered chronic underfunding for at least 10 years. This year the budget cuts are the worst in the history of our university system — $584 million or 20% of our budget.
The CSU administration is attempting to deal with these cuts with huge increases in your student fees (32%), eliminations of your classes, and lay-offs of faculty and other university employees.
In addition to paying higher fees, you will be affected by reduced services and classes. The library will have shorter hours. Many campus support services will be decreased or eliminated. It will be more difficult to get signatures to meet deadlines. Classes you need may have been cut from the class schedule or are full.
If you would like to take action, or simply learn more, I strongly recommend you contact the California Faculty Association or Students for a Quality Education yourvoice_calpoly@yahoo.com on campus.
Furlough dates: 1/21, 1/27, 2/5, 2/22, 3/2, 3/11. I will not be available on any of these days. This list is subject to change, but if I have to change a furlough day I will let you know in advance in class and on Blackboard.
Text and Readings
Students will read the text, case studies, short stories, and other materials placed on the course web site or Blackboard in common. They will also read a literary work, additional scholarly book(s), and Internet materials outside of class individually.
Text
Brettell, Caroline B. and Carolyn F. Sargent, eds., Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall (latest ed.).
Course Outline
Week 1 – Jan. 4 -. Overview and introduction. Theme: An Evolutionary Perspective on Gender. Some topics:
Mammals, primates, and humans.
Sexual dimorphism.
Mating and reproduction.
Status and sex.
Socialization of offspring.
Student Learning Goal: Review biological and evolutionary context.
Assignment: Field and reading log. Friday meeting on-line for discussion on Blackboard.
Reading: Preface and Section I.
Week 2 – Jan. 11 -. Theme: Gender, Sex, Sexuality, Reproduction. Some topics:
Is anatomy destiny?
Normativeness and deviance: labelling theory.
Cross-cultural variation.
The concepts of role, status, relative rights.
Student Learning Goal: Critique the language, terminology, meanings, and functions.
Assignment: Sselect topic for research paper and prepare to discuss next week. Friday meeting on-line for discussion on Blackboard. Maintain log.
Reading: Section II and III.
Week 3 – Jan. 20 - . Theme: Women and Men in Small-Scale Societies. Some topics:
Case studies: !Kung foragers.
Maasai pastoralists.
Yanomami horticulturalists.
Student Learning Goal: Synthesize historical and cultural factors and variations through research and literature review.
Assignment: TOPICS DUE JAN. 20. Friday meeting on-line for discussion on Blackboard. Maintain log.
Reading: Section IV.
Week 4 – Jan. 25 - . Theme: Agricultural Nations. Some topics:
Case studies: the Navajo and Mojave
Oman.
Nepal.
Student Learning Goal: Relate civilization to environmental and economic factors.
Assignment: Friday meeting on-line for discussion on Blackboard. Check-in with logs.
Reading: Section V.
Week 5 – Feb. 1 - . Theme: Complex Society and Divided Gender. Some topics:
Case studies: the hijras of India.
West African societies.
Contemporary United States.
Philosophy and writing of otherness.
Student Learning Goal: Expand vision of modern cross-cultural experience.
Assignment: Friday meeting on-line for discussion on Blackboard.
Reading: Section VI.
Week 6 – Feb. 8 - . Theme: The Cultural Construction of Personhood and Identity. Topics:
Socialization patterns across cultures.
Ritual and religious ideology.
The public/domestic division.
Culture and personality.
Adulthood rites.
Symbolic biological events; puberty, menopause.
Student Learning Goal: Compare and contrast longitudinal (life cycle) and ritual data across cultures. Explore the artistic contributions of women and men.
Assignment: Friday meeting on-line for discussion on Blackboard.
Reading: Section VII.
Week 7 – Feb. 15 - . Theme: Marriage, Parenthood, and Other Contracts. Some topics:
Differential rights and obligations of men and women.
Reproductive politics.
Community, church, and family authority.
Student Learning Goal: Frame gender and sex in legal, ritual and political perspectives.
PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE FEB. 17.
Assignment: Prepare to discuss field and reading logs.
Reading: Sections VIII and IX.
Week 8 – Feb. 22 - . Theme: Communication, Gender, and Sex. Some topics:
Women's and men's language and art.
Obscenity and pornography.
Non-linguistic signification, e.g., veiling, eating customs.
Homosexuality, transgender phenomena, sexual behavior.
Student Learning Goal: Analyze interactional and social data.
Assignment: Prepare to discuss book of report.
Reading: Section X.
Week 9 – Mar. 1 - . Theme: Colonialism and Development. Some topics:
Case studies: the Middle East
Thailand and other Asian nations.
Eco-feminism.
Modern political movements.
Assignment: Prepare brief presentation on research project.
Reading: Section XI.
Student Learning Goal: Relate gender theory and activism to other post-modern theory and social movements.
Week 10 – Mar. 8 - . Theme: Inequality. Some topics:
Gender and nature.
Gender and hierarchy.
The archeological record: ancient society.
Patterns of work, opportunity, the distribution of resources. Privileged persons and classes.
Student Learning Goal: Prepare for social transformation. What does it mean to me?
Assignment: Final presentations.
NO FINAL EXAM.
The course consists of:
1. Lecture/discussion/student presentation of theoretical background, case studies, readings.
2. Use of films, slides, web-based materials, etc., to supplement readings.
3. In- and outside-class writing projects for discussion.
4. Research outside class, resulting in term paper and book report.
5. Small group discussion and research, sometimes utilizing Blackboard.
6. Compilation of a comprehensive reference notebook.
7. Maintaining a journal (which includes the above notes).
Note on syllabus. This should be regarded as a flexible document. We may need to make changes to accommodate scheduling issues, due dates, interest in different topics, etc. The course is intended to be a hybrid – that is, some readings, discussions, and activities may be conducted on-line, using Blackboard. A tutorial on the use of Blackboard is available through the IIT site.
Students will maintain a log or journal, in which they record observations and conclusions, attempting to integrate ideas from the course into their own analysis of their social world. The logs can be used for notes on reading. Suggestions will be made in class. Peer comment will be utilized where appropriate. They will also use the log to enter bibliographic references they encounter during the research process, to check with the professor. Students will do two projects, which may be in the form of written reports or multimedia presentations: a critical review and summary of a book by an international literary figure whose subject matter is pertinent to the gender analysis we have engaged in, and a research paper addressing a cross-cultural gender issue, whether from a social scientific or philosophical perspective. Students are expected to demonstrate in class discussion and writing exercises (whether in person or on-line) a command of the conceptual material and an independence from ethno-, hetero- or gender-centric ideas about men and women.
Evaluation
Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%
Book report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30%
Research project . . . . . . . . . . 30%
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%
100%
Course listing | Ant 405 Home | Syllabus | Assignments | Readings | Assessment