Identity and Community in the U.S.

ANTHROPOLOGY 366
Spring semester 2004

Dr. Phyllis Chock
T-Th 10:35-11:50

VIDEO LINK "Nuyorican Dream"

Americans are preoccupied with "identity" and "community."  This course will examine how Americans make identities and communities, what meaning their identities and communities have in people's lives, what makes identities and communities "American," and what people do with them.  We will examine how the meanings of identity and community  are organized as images, themes, myths, and rituals 

            Our focus will be on social categories such as those of gender, class, region, race and ethnicity, religion, or language.  Social categories can have many meanings, and these meanings are contingent, unstable, ambiguous, and often contradictory. So we will examine how meanings are produced and changed. We will examine contexts such as social movements or social practices and institutions, including those of law, family and kinship, land use, and the media, in which categories are used. We will ask by whom and for what ends are these categories used? Which categories and meanings are powerful and why? What makes these categories problematic for Americans?

            In order to make the myths and rituals of identity and community less familiar to those of us who are "American," we will read what others have to say about them.  The Sanos, the Japanese anthropologists who wrote one of our textbooks, for example, follow in the tradition of the great 19th-century French observer of life in the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville.  De Tocqueville noted, for example, how important civil associations were to Americans, how democracy affected everyday social practices, how Americans showed a "restless prosperity," and much more.  We will also read selections from other anthropologists who apply their ethnographic skills to study life in the United States.  

COURSE TEXTS

Anderson, Jon W. & William B. Friend, eds. 1995. The Culture of Bible-Belt Catholics. Paulist Press.

DaVita, Philip R. and James D. Armstrong, eds. 2002. Distant Mirrors: American as a Foreign Culture

Glasser, Ida, et al.  2000. Braving the Street.

Sano, Mariko Fujita & Toshiyuki Sano. 2001. Life in Riverfront. Harcourt Brace.

Recommended texts: (These books are available in the bookstore, if you don't want to deal with long electronic reserves texts.)

Merry, Sally E. 1990. Getting Justice and Getting Even. U. of Chicago Press.

Wagner-Pacifici, Robin.  1994. Discourse & Destruction. U. of Chicago Press.

Reading assignments in these books will also be in Central (electronic) Reserve.  Other readings on the syllabus will be available in Central Reserve and in the Anthropology Department Reading Room.

Video on reserve: "Nuyorican Dream" is available to class members on line.  Click here from a campus-network computer.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Written assignments are two essay exams -- a midterm (25%) and a final (25%), an auto-ethnography journal (25%) due in class as assigned below, and short notes on required readings (25%). Required reading assignments (indicated by one asterisk* below) should be prepared for each class on the date indicated so that you are ready to discuss the material. Written notes are due on the dates announced in class.

The auto-ethnography (with thanks to John Caughey) is a semester-long project for which you will keep a journal of your own experiences and observations about social categories, symbols, rituals, and meanings in your life.  In these assignments we will identify social categories that we use regularly, where and when we use them, and what meanings we attach to them.  We will share and discuss topics in our auto-ethnographies with each other.  Important: you do not need to reveal anything about yourself in the auto-ethnography that you do not want to reveal. Keep notes in your journal that answer the questions that are posed for each auto-ethnography assignment.  Assigned reading notes should be handed in on the dates announced, and when you get them back, assemble them together with your auto-ethnography entries.

As you write the auto-ethnography and prepare essays for exams, you are encouraged to use the Writing Center, where tutors are available to go over your draft for problems with composition. Call the Center for an appointment well before an assignment is due so that you have time to revise your draft after your visit. Good composition, clear exposition, and correct spelling will be considered in the grade.

Course Topics and Reading Assignments

 January 14  Introduction: Body Rituals

*Linton, Ralph. "One Hundred Percent American." Ch. 1 in Distant Mirrors (hereafter DM).

*Miner, Horace.  "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema"  Ch. 3 in DM.

*Cerroni-Long, E.L. "Life and Cultures." Ch. 17 in DM

Martins Ramos, "My American Glasses" Ch. 7 in  DM

Auto-ethnography.  Describe one or more of your own body ritual(s) (e.g., sports training, piercing, grooming, dieting,...).   Do you share any with anybody else?  With whom?  Where and when do you practice the rituals?

January 13, 15  Communities

*Sano & Sano. Ch. 1. "What is 'Middle' America and Riverfront?" In Riverfront

*Anderson, Jon W.  Ch. 1. "An Ethnographic Overview..."  In Bible-Belt Catholics

*Sano & Sano. Ch. 6. "Your Baby Will Be Half-Polish" In Riverfront

*Tsuji, Yohko. "Encounters with the Elderly in America"  Ch. 11 in DM.

Greenhouse, Carol.1992. "Signs of Quality: Individualism and Hierarchy in American Culture." American Ethnologist 19:233-254.

Varenne, Herve. 1977. Americans Together: Structured Diversity in a Midwestern Town. New York: Teachers College Press.

Auto-ethnography.  The chapters of your life: If you were going to write your autobiography up to this point, what would the chapters be?  Are there turning points (moving to a new home, changing schools, facing a crisis, becoming more religious,...) around which you would organize chapters?  What are they?  What went on/is going on/ in each phase?  What cultural traditions have you learned in these experiences? 

Classroom dramatization: "An American Love Story" (H. Varenne)

*Sano & Sano, Ch. 2. "What Church Do You Go to?" in Riverfront.

*Varenne, Herve. "America and I." Ch. 10 in DM.

*Holmes, Lowell D. and Ellen Rhoads Holmes. "The American Configuration" Ch. 2 in DM.

Beeman, William. 1986. "Freedom to Choose: Symbols and Values in American Advertising." In Symbolizing America, ed. H. Varenne. Lincoln: U. of Nebraska Pr.

Auto-ethnography.  What kind of a person are you?  Finish the sentence, "I am a person who ..." as many ways as you can.  List your responses.  What concept system does each response belong to?  (e.g., work -- waitress, psychological -- child in a blended family, bureaucracy -- 111-22-3333, etc.)  

January 27, 29 Communication

*Kim, Jin K.  "American Graffiti...."  Ch. 8 in DM

*Natadecha-Sponsel, Poranee. "The Young, the Rich, and the Famous." Ch. 9 in DM.

*Peeradina, Saleem. "Giving, Withholding, and Meeting Midway."  Ch. 14 in DM.

*Hunt, Geoffrey. "Learning to Hug...." Ch. 18 in DM.

Auto-ethnography.  What social scenes, institutions, or groups do you move through in the course of a day, a week, month, or year?  What are your work worlds, school worlds, clubs, businesses, religious institutions, entertainment worlds?  Explore one of these worlds: what is its dominant cultural tradition? What role do you play? Do you follow the dominant tradition or a minority one?  What complementary roles are others playing? What expectations or obligations do you have? What problems, strains, successes do you find there?

February 3, 5 Family and Kinship

*Neville, Gwen K.  Ch. 5. "Metaphors of Church and Community..." In Bible-Belt Catholics.

*Ojeda, Amparo. "Growing Up American...."  Ch. 6 in DM.

*Marcus, George E. 1988. "The Constructive Uses of Deconstruction in the Ethnographic Study of Notable American Families." Anthropological Quarterly 61:3-16.

Schneider, David M. 1980. Ch. 3 "The Family." In American Kinship: A Cultural Account, rev. ed. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.

Dolgin, Janet. 1994. "Family Law and the Facts of Family." In Naturalizing Power, ed. S.Yanagisako and C. Delaney. NY: Routledge

MacKinnon, Susan. 1994. "American Kinship/American Incest: Asymmetries in a Scientific Discourse." In Naturalizing Power, ed. S. Yanagisako and C. Delaney. NY: Routledge.

Ragone, Helena. 1994. Surrogate Motherhood: Conception in the Heart. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Rapp, Rayna. 1994. "Heredity, or Revising the Facts of Life." In Naturalizing Power, ed. S. Yanagisako and C. Delaney. NY: Routledge.

Weston, Kath. 1992. Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship.. NY: Columbia U. Press.

Auto-ethnography.  Describe your family.  Which members do you feel close to?  Why are you close to them?  Which ones do you feel more distant from?  Why?

February 10, 12 Identities, Meanings, and Communities

*Anderson, Jon. Ch. 4. "Catholic Imagination ... Contemporary South" In Bible-Belt. Catholics

*McDonough, Gary. Ch. 6. "Catholic Aesthetics..." In Bible-Belt Catholics.

*Murray, Paul. Ch. 7. "Literature on the Catholic Church in the South" In Bible-Belt Catholics.

Auto-ethnography.  What was your most important religious experience?  Why is this experience particularly meaningful to you?  Where and when did it take place?  Who else was there and what did they do?

February 17  MIDTERM EXAM

February 19 Creating Identity and Community in a Global Society

Video: "Daughter from Danang"
For more information about this film, including interviews with the filmmakers, photos of Heidi's hometowns in the U.S. and Vietnam, cultural background on Vietnamese families, information about BabyLift, and more, click on Daughter to link to PBS.

February 24, 26 Learning to be American

*Toom, Andrei. "A Russian Teacher in America." Ch. 15 in DM.

*Sano & Sano. Chs. 7&8. "Don't Spoil Your Baby," "Share!" In Riverfront.

*Varenne, Herve. 1978. Ch 2 "Individuality, Humanity, and the Person" In Americans Together. Teachers College Press.

Eckert, Penelope. 1989. Ch. 6 "The Corporate Structure of the School" In Jocks and Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity in the High School. New York: Teachers College.

Ikada, Keiko. 1998. A Room Full of Mirrors: High School Reunions in Middle America. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.

Moffatt, Michael. 1989. Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American Culture. New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Patthey-Chavez, G. Genevieve. 1993. "High School as an Arena for Cultural Conflict and Acculturation for Latino Americans." Anthropology and Education Quarterly 24:33-60.

Auto-ethnography   The Culture of Dreams: Where would you like to be ten years from now?  What would you be doing?  What communities would you belong to?  Who would be the other people in those communities?  How would you have reached your goal?

March 9 Gender Identities

*Sano & Sano. Ch. 9. "Boys Became Independent" In Riverfront.

*Stone, Linda, and Nancy P. McKee. 2002. "Gender on the College Campus." Ch. 6 In Gender and Culture in America, 2nd ed. Prentice Hall.  A copy will be available in the Anthropology Reading Room, 8 Marist.

Canaan, Joyce. 1986. Ch. 9. "Why a 'Slut' is a 'Slut'" In Symbolizing America.

Canaan, Joyce. 1990. "Passing Notes and Telling Jokes: Gendered Strategies Among American Middle School Teenagers." In Uncertain Terms, ed. F. Ginsburg & A. Tsing.

Carothers, Suzanne. 1990. "Catching Sense: Learning from Our Mothers to Be Black and Female." In Uncertain Terms, ed. F. Ginsburg & A. Tsing.

Holland, Dorothy and Margaret Eisenhart. 1990. Educated in Romance. Chicago IL: U. Chicago Press.

Newton, Esther. 1972. Ch. 2. "The Queens." In Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America. U. Chicago Press.

Auto-ethnography  How do we learn gender identities without noticing that we do?  Choose a two-hour block of children's programming on TV.  Watch the commercials in this two-hour block.  Compare girls and boys in the commercials on the dimensions of Grooming, Behavior,  Location, Sound, Color, Language, Number of appearances of girls vs. boys.

March 11, 16 Making Justice

*Merry, Sally Engle. 1990. Ch. 5 "Problems and Cases" and Ch. 6 "The Discourses of the Lower Court" In Getting Justice and Getting Even: Legal Consciousness Among Working Class Americans. Chicago: U. of Chicago Pr.

Greenhouse, Carol. 1986. Praying for Justice: Faith, Order,…. Ithaca NY: Cornell U. Pr.

Greenhouse, Carol. 1989. Interpreting American Litigiousness. In History and Power in the Study of Law, ed. J. Starr and J.F. Collier. Ithaca NY: Cornell U. Pr.

Auto-ethnography  Pick your favorite among the TV courtroom shows.  Describe one or two of the disputes you find there.  Do the disputes draw upon legal, moral, or therapeutic terms?

March 18, 23 Violence at the Margins

*Wagner-Pacifici, Robin. 1994. Ch. 2 "What is MOVE?" Ch.3 "The Language of Domesticity" Ch. 5 "The Law and Its Apparatus" In Discourse & Destruction: The City of Philadelphia vs. MOVE. U. Chicago Press.

Chavez, Leo. 1992. Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society. Fort Worth: HW College Pub.

Herrell, Richard. 1996. "Sin, Sickness, Crime: Queer Desire and the American State." Identities 2(3): 273-300.

Hill, Jane H. 1993. "Hasta La Vista, Baby: Anglo Spanish in the American Southwest." Critique of Anthropology 13(2):145-176.

Auto-ethnography  Follow a case of violence in the media.  Collect newspaper or magazine clippings, print stories off media websites, about the case.  What kinds of categories do you find are being used?  Categories of domesticity? bureaucracy? law? others?  Is there any evidence of organic mediators in this case?  Who are they?

March 25, 30 The Problem of Homelessness

*Glasser, Ida, et al. 2000. Braving the Street.

April 1, 6 Rules for Living Together

*Moffatt, Michael. 1990. "The Discourse of the Dorm" In Symbolizing America, ed. H.Varenne. U. Nebraska Press.

*Moffatt, Michael. 1989. Ch. 3."A Year on Hasbrouck Fourth" In Coming of Age in New Jersey. Rutgers U. Press.

*Yang, Hanggang. "Neighborly Strangers"  Ch. 12 in DM.

*Dussart, Françoise.  "First Impressions" Ch. 16 in DM

Perin, Constance. 1977. "Domestic Tranquility." In Everything in Its Place: Social Order and Land Use in Ametica. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Anderson, Elijah. 1990. Street Wise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Auto-ethnography.  Greeting rituals: As you walk around campus tomorrow, try this exercise: What thought processes do you use as you see someone you know approaching you? How do you classify people on campus? What options do you have in choosing how to greet each kind of person? How do you decide which option to use? What would happen if you chose to violate the rules?

April 13, 15 Constructing "Differences" 

Video: "Oaxacalifornia"

*Sano & Sano. Chs. 4&5. "The Northside is Polish Territory", "This is Our Way..." In Riverfront.

*Ernst, Gisela. "País de mis Sueños..." Ch. 13 in DM

*Urciuoli, Bonnie. 1996. Ch. 1. "Racialization and Language." In Exposing Prejudice: Puerto Rican Experiences…. Boulder CO: Westview Press.

Chock, Phyllis P. 1995. "Culturalism: Pluralism, Culture, and Race in The Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups." Identities 1(4): 301-323.

Frankenberg, Ruth. 1993. The Social Construction of Whiteness: White Women, Race Matters. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.

Gregory, Steven. 1993. "Race, Rubbish, and Resistance." Cultural Anthropology 8:24-48.

Lippi-Green, Rosina. 1997. English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States. New York: Routledge.

Herrell, Richard. 1994. "Gay Americans: In the (National) Life." POLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 17(2):37-44.

Rosaldo, Renato. 1994. "Cultural Citizenship in San Jose, California." POLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 17(2):57-64.

Auto-ethnography  Of what communities are you a member?  What makes you a member of each one?  Have any community memberships changed over your lifetime?  Why did they change?

April 20, 22 Images in Mass Culture

Video: Disney's "Pocahantas."

*Strong, Pauline Turner. 1996. "Animated Indians: Critique and Contradiction in Commodified Children’s Culture." Cultural Anthropology 11(3):405-424 in Central Reserve and Anthropology Reading Rm.

*Vivanco, Luis. 2001. "Totally LOST!" in Anthropology News, November, p. 68.  In Central Reserve and Anthropology Reading Room

Coutin, Susan B. and Phyllis P. Chock. 1995. "'Your Friend, the Illegal'": Definition and Paradox in Newspaper Accounts of U.S. Immigration Reform." Identities 2: 123-148.

Handler, Richard and Eric Gable. 1997. Ch. 5 "Social History on the Ground" In The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg. Durham NC: Duke U. Pr.

Lutz, Catherine and Jane Collins. 1993. "A World Brightly Different." In Reading National Geographic. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.

Auto-ethnography.   Make a list of at least 20 figures (actors, sports figures, politicians, musicians, fictional characters) you know about through mass media (TV, film, radio, magazines...) and describe how you feel about each one in a sentence or two.  Pick one figure who is significant to you.  How do you conceptualize or emotionally orient yourself to this figure.  Do you like him or her or not?  What real relationship is analogous to the imaginary, mediated relationship you have with this figure (friend, enemy, role model, hero, lover)?  What are your experiences with this figure like?  How does the figure affect your consciousness, dreams, memories, daydreams?  How does this figure affect your actual relationships?  (talk about the figure with others, join fan clubs, use the figure as a model of how to behave or not behave...)  How does this figure connect to your social and cultural location in U.S. society?

April 27Review

Final auto-ethnographies due

FINAL EXAM during Exam Week

(rev. 10/02/03)