Anthropology 101
ESSAY QUESTION FOR FINAL EXAM
Anthropology 101
ESSAY QUESTION (25 pts.).
Choose an event that is described in either Aman or Shadowed Lives. Describe what occurred: who were the participants and what did they do and say, where did it happen, what was the outcome? What concept from cultural anthropology can you use to explain what happened? Define this concept and tell what aspects of the event it illuminates for you. That is, what does it help you to understand that you didn’t understand before? What do you conclude from this change?
Dr. Phyllis Chock
Ms. Anna Zeng
T-Th 1:35 - 2:50 p.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,
or in architecture, 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:
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the diverse goals and ways of reaching them that people in families and communities have, |
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the symbolic resources through which people create meaningful lives together, |
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the ways that people construct identities, families, and communities, |
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the cultural and political economic processes that constrain them, and |
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the negotiations, contests, and conflicts that people enter into in order to accomplish their goals. |
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/schul
-- For late news about Anthropology, click on Anthro News.
-- For up-to-date information on human rights and humanitarian issues around the world, click on Catholic Relief Services.
-- For campus events, lectures, and courses on international social development, click on Committee on International Social Development.
-- For lots more links to Anthropology resources, click on AnthroTech virtual library.
Additional Text for Education Majors: (Choose one)
Additional Text for Nursing Majors:
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 also have reading assignments in the Kawagley or Vigil books that are starred (*) and color-coded below. Read the assignments for the book you have chosen. Nursing majors have reading assignments in the Fadiman 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 5. 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. All written assignments should be stapled in the upper left-hand corner. No loose pages, folders, or plastic covers will be accepted. There will be a penalty for late papers.Topics for the written assignment for
Education majors will be based on the Kawagley or Vigil books. Education majors will work on projects for classroom use and may assemble their projects in an appropriate fashion.Topics for the written assignment for
Nursing majors will be based on The Spirit Catches You..., Aman, or Shadowed Lives.You must go to the course webpage to print out your written assignment. Click on your assignment button below. For a world map, click here.
Written Assignment Nursing Assignment Education Assignment
Final grades will be based on the two midterm exams (25% each), final exam (25%), and written assignment (25%).
My office is 3 Marist, telephone 319-5080, e-mail chock@cua.edu . My office hours are Tuesdays 10-12 and Thursdays 10-12; 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 27 - "The anthropological
perspective"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 1.
Holism in the Anthropological Perspective
Tuesday, Sept 3 - "Global politics of rainforest
destruction"
Read Aman, Chs. 3-5, pp. 20-60.
Sources of Cultural Knowledge
Thursday, Sept 5 - "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 8 - "Urban legends and cultural
uncertainty"
Read Aman, Chs. 14-17, pp. 174-202.
The Social
Construction of Reality: How Beliefs Shape Behavior
Thursday, Oct 10 - "'Multiculturalism': Why Yup'ik children
can't learn to 'walk in two worlds" (R. Henze & L. Vanett)
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 8
Tuesday, Oct 22 - "The political power of the imagination: The Madres
de Plaza de Mayo and the 'Dirty War' in Argentina"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 9.
Thursday, Oct 24 - "Practices of war and peace"
Read Aman, Chs. 21-23, pp. 223-258
Read Chavez, Introduction, Chs. 1-2.
The Meaning of Progress
Tuesday, Oct 29 - "Getting a livelihood: Forms of
production, distribution, and consumption"
In class: Playing "The Game of Wealth"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 10.
*Vigil, Chs. 3 and 4.
Thursday, Oct 31 - SECOND MIDTERM EXAM
Patterns of Family
Relations
Tuesday, Nov 5 - "The problem of cooperation: Varieties of kinship
relations and what they do"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 11
Read Chavez, Chs. 5-6.
**Fadiman, Ch. 9-12
Thursday, Nov 7 - "Forms of 'family' and their stresses; marriage,
brideservice, bridewealth, and dowry"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 12.
*Vigil, Ch. 5.
SECOND MIDTERM GRADES GIVEN
The Social Construction
of Equality and Inequality
Tuesday, Nov 12 - "Secular ideologies of inequality: How Americans
learn to live inequality in high school"
In class: Quick & Dirty: "Judgment Day"
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 14
*Vigil, Chs. 6 and 7.
**Fadiman, Chs. 13-15
Polygyny and its Tensions
Thursday, Nov 14 - "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 19 - "Globalization"
In class: Game-playing: Economies of shortage
Read Schultz & Lavenda, Ch. 15.
**Fadiman, Chs.16,17
Thursday, Nov 21 - "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
Tuesday, Nov 26 - "Transnational Lives: Why are there 'illegal
aliens'?" Lecture and video "Uneasy Neighbors"
Finish reading the Chavez book.
*Vigil, Ch. 8.
**Fadiman Chs. 18,19
Tuesday, Thursday, Dec 3, 5 - "Last
Things"
Video: TBA
Review for final exam
Written assignment due
Nurses: In class role-playing of cross-cultural
communication based on the Fadiman book. Print out a copy of the eight questions from your written
assignment and bring them to class. Your papers are due at the final exam.
FINAL EXAM - Tuesday, Dec 10, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
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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 _____________________________________Date_______________________
(Rev. 11/05/02)