Syllabus for: Cultural Anthropology - College of the Redwoods

Syllabus for: Cultural AnthropologySemester & Year: Fall 2012Course ID and Section Number: ANTH3 -- #032451Number of Credits/Units: 3Day/Time: Monday and Wednesday 8:25 a.m. – 9:20 p.m.Location: Fort Bragg High SchoolInstructor’s Name: Tobias GreenContact Information: Office location and hours: Monday and Wednesday 1:30 p.m. –2:30 p.m. or by appointmentPhone: 707-962-2682Email: toby-green@redwoods.edu or tgreen@mcn.orgCourse Description (catalog description as described in course outline):An introduction to cultural anthropology that offers students an understanding of modern humancultural variation. Students study the concept of culture and the methods and theories of bothapplied and academic cultural anthropologists, using professional case studies as examples. Topicsinclude gender, subsistence, economic systems, political systems, marriage and the family, kinship,religion, the arts, ethnicity, and culture change.Student Learning Outcomes (as described in course outline) :1) Explain the relationship of cultural anthropology to other subdisciplines of anthropology andrelated biological and social sciences.2) Define major concepts in cultural anthropology.3) Analyze and defend viewpoints on controversial anthropological concepts, including how theseconcepts might apply to real-world situations.Special accommodations: College of the Redwoods complies with the Americans with Disabilities Actin making reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Please present yourwritten accommodation request at least one week before the first test so that necessaryarrangements can be made. No last-minute arrangements or post-test adjustments will be made. Ifyou have a disability or believe you might benefit from disability related services and may needaccommodations, please see me or contact Disabled Students Programs and Services. Students maymake requests for alternative media by contacting DSPS.Academic Misconduct: Cheating, plagiarism, collusion, abuse of resource materials, computer misuse,fabrication or falsification, multiple submissions, complicity in academic misconduct, and/ or bearingfalse witness will not be tolerated. Violations will be dealt with according to the procedures andsanctions proscribed by the College of the Redwoods. Students caught plagiarizing or cheating onexams will receive an “F” in the course.The student code of conduct is available on the College of the Redwoods website at:http://redwoods.edu/District/Board/New/Chapter5/AP%205500%20Conduct%20Code%20final%2002-07-2012.pdfAdditional information about the rights and responsibilities of students, Board policies, andadministrative procedures is located in the college catalog and on the College of the Redwoodshomepage.College of the Redwoods is committed to equal opportunity in employment, admission to the college,and in the conduct of all of its programs and activities.

QuizzesYou MUST complete the weekly online reading quiz by 8:00 AM on each Monday morning.Academic HonestyPlagiarism (presenting some else’s work as your own) and cheating (receiving unauthorized assistance) aredishonest practices and will not be tolerated in this class. CR’s policy provides severe penalties in these cases, fromwarning to permanent suspension. If you have any questions or doubts about this issue, ask the instructor.Expectations:Students will attend every class and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings. ALL written assignments must beclearly written in paragraphs of complete sentences. Assignments must be typed in 12-point Times Roman fontwith 1” margins on all sides. Late assignments will be penalized one grade increment for each day (includingweekends) that they are late.Projects:Film Culture Project: You will view a film which introduces you to a culture very different from contemporarymainstream US, analyze it from an anthropological point of view, and write a brief ethnography. More specificinstructions will be furnished by the professor.Kinship Analysis: You will interview an informant (not related to you by blood) regarding his or her descent group,and report on your findings with a kinship diagram and an analytical description. Your diagram will use conventionalethnographic symbols, and you may use additional resources for information. More specific instructions will befurnished by the professor.Movies/Videos:Movies and videos shown in class are part of the curriculum. Attendance in classes where these are shown isrequired, as for any other class meeting. Discussions during these class meetings will include material which youwill need for papers and examinations.Submitting the Projects:Your projects will be submitted in two formats. Submit both a paper and an electronic version by the beginning ofthe period on the due dates.Help:The Learning Assistance Center on campus is an excellent source of editorial help, both before and after submittingwork. Students will receive review sheets before each exam. In addition, English faculty are available to studentsfor several hours each week for focused help on building writing skills. Students receive from ½ to 1 credit for thisby registering for English 152.Benefits:Creating response papers and projects will give you the opportunity to explore some of the detail of anthropologyand specific cultures, which is often the most interesting part of the subject. It will also introduce you to theprocess of understanding culture by interpreting anthropological data. Finally, it will help you develop the skills youneed to succeed on the exams, in particular the critical thinking skill of putting particular objects or accounts ofevents in the broader context of cultural relativism.MORE:See the back page of the syllabus for additional information about special classroom and instructional arrangements,scheduling, expectations, and legalisms.Caveat:The above schedule and procedures are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances.

Cultural Anthropology – Fall 2012Week 1IntroductionsPeoples & Bailey: Ch. 1, “The Study of Humanity” (1-20)(8-27) Introductions(8-28) Working Backward: In The Emerald Forest - Is There a Trajectory of Civilization?(8-29) Interdisciplinary Thoughts: Anthropology, History, SociologyWeek 2Wrestling with the Culture ConceptP&B: 2, Culture (21-46) and 5, Methods of Investigation (95-111) ; Gottlieb: 1, Premonitions (3-23)(9-3) Labor Day – no class(9-4) What Is Culture?(9-5) Do You Have a Culture?Week 3Anthropology, Cultural Relativism, Colonialism, and HegemonyP&B: 4, “Development of Anthropological Thought” (68-94); Gottlieb: 2, Choosing a Host (24-57)(9-10) Cultural Relativism; Power and Resistance; Does Ethnography Benefit the Subject?Response Paper #1 due; choose movie for Project #1(9-11) The Concept of Hegemony(9-12) Can There Be Real Understanding Among Cultures?Week 4Evolution and RaceExtra reading on evolution; Gottlieb: 3, Trespassing (58-82)(9-17) Darwinian Evolution: Adaptation and Survival; Evolution as Applied to H. sapiens(9-18) Race Is Not Real, but It Is Also Oh, So Real(9-19) Cultural Constructions and Naturalization: WhitenessWeek 5Staying Alive: ReproductionP&B: 6, Culture and Nature (112-141) ; Gottlieb: 4, Adrift (83-110)(9-24) “The Communism of Daily Life” and “Debt”(9-25) Agriculture and PastoralismTurn in notes for Project #1(9-26) Industrialization: Our Factories, Our Selves

Week 6Exchange and Value: Deconstructing “Markets”P&B: 7, Exchange in Economic Systems (142-162) ; Gottlieb: 5, Elusive Epiphany (111-141)(10-1) Reciprocity(10-2) The “Market” Transformation: Forced or Natural?Outline of Project #1 (Movie Ethnography) due(10-3) Finance Capital and the Source of ValueResponse Paper #2 dueWeek 7Creating Relations: Marriage and Extending the FamilyP&B, 8, Marriages and Families (163-190) ; Gottlieb: 6, Bedazzled (142-173)(10-8) Who Is Your Family? – Kinship Workshop(10-9) Refreshing the Gene Pool; Creating Alliances; The Cultural Meanings of Marriage(10-10) Does Blood Make Family?Project #1 (Movie Ethnography) dueOctober 15-19 – FALL BREAK – NO CLASSESWeek 8Close Relations: Relatives and AncestorsP&B: (divided) 9, Kinship, and Descent (191-213) and 10, Enculturation and the Life Course (214-236); Gottlieb: (entire) 7, Divination (174-208) and 8, Transgressions (209-248)(10-22) Kinship: Are We Related?(10-23) Patriarchy Is Just Natural – or Is It?Choose informant for Project #2(10-24) EnculturationWeek 9Now Even Sex Is Cultural? and LanguageP&B: (divided) 11, Gender in Comparative Perspective (237-267) and 3, Culture & Language (47-68);Gottlieb: 9, Metamorphoses (249-278)(10-29) Gender: “Sex” as Cultural Construct(10-30) Shifting Gender, Challenging Patriarchy; The New Seduction: Sex and Advertising(10-31) In the Beginning Was the Word; Words Made Tangible; Abstraction and IdeasWeek 10Politics & World SystemsP&B: (divided) 12, The Organization of Political Life (268-289) and 13, Social Inequality andStratification (290-312); Gottlieb: 10, Parallel World (281-312)(11-5) Structure, Reciprocity, and Power Relations; Constructs of Power: Culture, Hegemony, and the Nation(11-6) The Big Picture: World Systems Theory and The Arrogance of Western ModernityResponse Paper #3 due(11-7) Querying the “Primitive”: Who Are the Beng?

Week 11“Religion”: Where Are the Spirits and What Do They Do?P&B: 14, Religion and Worldview (313-342); Sarris: Sarah Taylor’s Granddaughter (1-34)(11-12) A Spirit in Everything: Polytheism(11-13) Monotheism; The Religion of Crisis: Salvation and Missionizing(11-14) Where Was Lolsel and Who Was Sarah Taylor?Project #2 (Kinship) dueNovember 19-23 – THANKSGIVING BREAK – NO CLASSESWeek 12Art: The World through Other EyesP&B: 15, Art and the Aesthetic (343-362); Sarris: Carnivals, Madams (35-67)(11-26) Challenging the Vision(11-27) Is There Any Use for Art?(11-28)Week 13Dispossessed; Modernity is Complex, Primitive is Sooooooo SimpleP&B: (divided) 16, Globalization (363-386) and 17, Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict (387-410); Sarris:Medicine Woman (68-121)(12-3) Colonialism: “Development” for Whom?(12-4) The Colonial Project, Neocolonialism, and the Culture of GlobalizationEthnicity: Slippery but Powerful(12-5) Native American Life in Northern California; Locking the RoundhousesWeek 14Ethnohistory: Challenging the Linear, Speaking from the DreamP&B: 18, World Problems (411-438); Sarris: Prayer Basket (122-165)(12-10) Ethnohistory(12-11) Syncretism(12-12) Cultural Destruction, Cultural Revival, Cultural SurvivalWeek 15McCulture? Where In the World Are You?(12-17) Semester Roundup and Review(12-18) “The Spirit Is Everlasting”(12-19) Final Examination

Syllabus for: Cultural AnthropologySemester & Year: Fall 2012Course ID and Section Number: ANTH3 -- #032451Number of Credits/Units: 3Day/Time: Monday and Wednesday 8:25 a.m. – 9:20 p.m.Location: Fort Bragg High SchoolInstructor’s Name: Tobias GreenContact Information: Office location and hours: Monday and Wednesday 1:30 p.m. –2:30 p.m. or by appointmentPhone: 707-962-2682Email: toby-green@redwoods.edu or tgreen@mcn.orgCourse Description (catalog description as described in course outline):An introduction to cultural anthropology that offers students an understanding of modern humancultural variation. Students study the concept of culture and the methods and theories of bothapplied and academic cultural anthropologists, using professional case studies as examples. Topicsinclude gender, subsistence, economic systems, political systems, marriage and the family, kinship,religion, the arts, ethnicity, and culture change.Student Learning Outcomes (as described in course outline) :1) Explain the relationship of cultural anthropology to other subdisciplines of anthropology andrelated biological and social sciences.2) Define major concepts in cultural anthropology.3) Analyze and defend viewpoints on controversial anthropological concepts, including how theseconcepts might apply to real-world situations.Special accommodations: College of the Redwoods complies with the Americans with Disabilities Actin making reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Please present yourwritten accommodation request at least one week before the first test so that necessaryarrangements can be made. No last-minute arrangements or post-test adjustments will be made. Ifyou have a disability or believe you might benefit from disability related services and may needaccommodations, please see me or contact Disabled Students Programs and Services. Students maymake requests for alternative media by contacting DSPS.Academic Misconduct: Cheating, plagiarism, collusion, abuse of resource materials, computer misuse,fabrication or falsification, multiple submissions, complicity in academic misconduct, and/ or bearingfalse witness will not be tolerated. Violations will be dealt with according to the procedures andsanctions proscribed by the College of the Redwoods. Students caught plagiarizing or cheating onexams will receive an “F” in the course.The student code of conduct is available on the College of the Redwoods website at:http://redwoods.edu/District/Board/New/Chapter5/AP%205500%20Conduct%20Code%20final%2002-07-2012.pdfAdditional information about the rights and responsibilities of students, Board policies, andadministrative procedures is located in the college catalog and on the College of the Redwoodshomepage.College of the Redwoods is committed to equal opportunity in employment, admission to the college,and in the conduct of all of its programs and activities.

Cultural AnthropologyAnth 3 (032451) – Fall 2012 – Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday 8:15 – 9:20 at FBHSCourse website: http:// mycr.redwoods.edu/xsl-portalInstructor: Tobias Green; Office: #304; Phone: 962-2682; Email tgreen@mcn.orgOffice Hours: Monday and Wednesday 11:30-12:55 and 1:30-2:30, and by appointmentCourse Description:This course is an introduction that offers students an understanding of human culture across space and time.Students study the theory and history of the field, and explore ways to understand the belief systems andworldviews of other peoples by exploring particular cultures. They will compare and contrast those cultures in thespecific contexts in which they exist. Ethnographic readings include a study of the Beng people of western Africa,the biography of a Pomo woman from northern California, and various exemplars from the Kottak textbook.Videos provide visual and aural descriptions of a variety of cultures. The dynamic nature of culture is examinedthrough the investigation of syncretism and globalization.Objectives:Students will gain an understanding of: 1) the culture concept; 2) the diversity of human cultures, bothcontemporary and past; 3) the value of anthropological perspectives in today’s world.Student Learning Outcomes:1) Explain the relationship of cultural anthropology to other subdisciplines of anthropology and related biologicaland social sciences.2) Define major concepts in cultural anthropology.3) Analyze and defend viewpoints on controversial anthropological concepts, including how these concepts mightapply to real-world situations.Texts:James Peoples & Garrick Bailey, Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, 9 th ed. (Wadsworth, 2011)ISBN: 978-1-111-301521Alma Gottlieb & Philip Graham, Parallel Worlds: An Anthropologist and a Writer Encounter Africa (Chicago:University of Chicago, 1993) ISBN: 0-226-30506-6Greg Sarris, Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994) ISBN: 0-520-20968-0Occasional readings, access from websiteClass Format:Students will take the Weekly Quiz online before the first class on Monday morning. Monday’s class will begin witha discussion of the readings and a synthesis with the materials from the previous week’s class. The remainder ofthe week’s classes will consist of a topical lecture which focuses on a crucial topic of the period under study, avisual presentation (video, slides, physical evidence, etc.), and/or a class exercise. The order of these will varydepending on the material at hand.Grading:Weekly quizzes (10%): This brief online quiz includes factual material from the reading or a brief synthesis of readingand lecture material. The best twelve of these will comprise 10% of the final grade.Response Papers (20%): There will be several short response papers allowing students to reflect on theirunderstanding of culture and cultural interaction as the semester progresses.Projects (40 %): There will be two projects required for this class; see below under Projects for details. They willeach comprise 20% of the final grade.Examination (20%): There will be one Final examination, which will include two short answers and one essay. Thisexamination will comprise 20% of the final grade.Participation (10%): Regular attendance and participation in classroom discussion will be 10% of the final grade.

Cultural Anthropology – Fall 2012Week 1IntroductionsPeoples & Bailey: Ch. 1, “The Study of Humanity” (1-20)(8-27) Introductions(8-28) Working Backward: In The Emerald Forest - Is There a Trajectory of Civilization?(8-29) Interdisciplinary Thoughts: Anthropology, History, SociologyWeek 2Wrestling with the Culture ConceptP&B: 2, Culture (21-46) and 5, Methods of Investigation (95-111) ; Gottlieb: 1, Premonitions (3-23)(9-3) Labor Day – no class(9-4) What Is Culture?(9-5) Do You Have a Culture?Week 3Anthropology, Cultural Relativism, Colonialism, and HegemonyP&B: 4, “Development of Anthropological Thought” (68-94); Gottlieb: 2, Choosing a Host (24-57)(9-10) Cultural Relativism; Power and Resistance; Does Ethnography Benefit the Subject?Response Paper #1 due; choose movie for Project #1(9-11) The Concept of Hegemony(9-12) Can There Be Real Understanding Among Cultures?Week 4Evolution and RaceExtra reading on evolution; Gottlieb: 3, Trespassing (58-82)(9-17) Darwinian Evolution: Adaptation and Survival; Evolution as Applied to H. sapiens(9-18) Race Is Not Real, but It Is Also Oh, So Real(9-19) Cultural Constructions and Naturalization: WhitenessWeek 5Staying Alive: ReproductionP&B: 6, Culture and Nature (112-141) ; Gottlieb: 4, Adrift (83-110)(9-24) “The Communism of Daily Life” and “Debt”(9-25) Agriculture and PastoralismTurn in notes for Project #1(9-26) Industrialization: Our Factories, Our Selves

Week 11“Religion”: Where Are the Spirits and What Do They Do?P&B: 14, Religion and Worldview (313-342); Sarris: Sarah Taylor’s Granddaughter (1-34)(11-12) A Spirit in Everything: Polytheism(11-13) Monotheism; The Religion of Crisis: Salvation and Missionizing(11-14) Where Was Lolsel and Who Was Sarah Taylor?Project #2 (Kinship) dueNovember 19-23 – THANKSGIVING BREAK – NO CLASSESWeek 12Art: The World through Other EyesP&B: 15, Art and the Aesthetic (343-362); Sarris: Carnivals, Madams (35-67)(11-26) Challenging the Vision(11-27) Is There Any Use for Art?(11-28)Week 13Dispossessed; Modernity is Complex, Primitive is Sooooooo SimpleP&B: (divided) 16, Globalization (363-386) and 17, Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict (387-410); Sarris:Medicine Woman (68-121)(12-3) Colonialism: “Development” for Whom?(12-4) The Colonial Project, Neocolonialism, and the Culture of GlobalizationEthnicity: Slippery but Powerful(12-5) Native American Life in Northern California; Locking the RoundhousesWeek 14Ethnohistory: Challenging the Linear, Speaking from the DreamP&B: 18, World Problems (411-438); Sarris: Prayer Basket (122-165)(12-10) Ethnohistory(12-11) Syncretism(12-12) Cultural Destruction, Cultural Revival, Cultural SurvivalWeek 15McCulture? Where In the World Are You?(12-17) Semester Roundup and Review(12-18) “The Spirit Is Everlasting”(12-19) Final Examination

Additional InformationSpecial Arrangements:Part of my job is to make your learning experience as positive and fruitful as possible. DSPS students and otherstudents requiring special arrangements in the classroom, for taking exams, or for studying are encouraged to notifythe instructor as soon as possible in order to make the best use of instructional opportunities. If you are entitledto special accommodations for testing, please notify me at least 72 hours before the exam date.Examinations:You must attend examinations on the date indicated in the syllabus, unless you have made special arrangements foralternative testing ahead of time.Important Dates:September 7, 2012 – last day to drop a class, receive a refund, and have no record on your transcriptNovember 2, 2012 – last day to drop and have a “W” (withdrawn) appear your transcript.Attendance:Attendance in class is mandatory. The success of this course, not only for you but for all of us, depends upon youbeing here. We will discuss concepts and complete activities in class that you will not be able to make up. Pleasedo not deprive yourself and the rest of us from benefiting from your presence. Attendance is a major part of the10% of your grade identified as “Participation.” If you do have to miss class for an emergency, you are responsible forgetting the information which you missed from other students or from me.Reading:Reading must be completed on the day listed in the syllabus. Come to class prepared to discuss the reading.Lectures and class activities are based on the assumption that everyone is familiar with the material assigned.General Classroom Behavior:Learning is cooperative enterprise; you will benefit most and enjoy the class more by participating rather thansitting passively. Listen carefully; talk when you have something to contribute to the discussion at hand; listenattentively when your colleagues are speaking. Do not come to class stoned, drunk, or otherwise chemicallycompromised. Ask questions and give constructive criticism. This class includes some difficult concepts – if youhave a question, others probably do as well, so be the one speak up.This class includes some controversial ideas, and participation may often include enthusiastic and/or passionateexpression. Give and take is important, but you must listen openly and respond respectfully to the views of others;advocate strongly if you wish, but intimidation, yelling, or profanity are unacceptable.Inappropriate behaviors include: walking in late; packing or unpacking noisily; side conversations; leaving theclassroom early; doing work not related to this course.Office Hours:Office hours are there for your benefit. Please come by my office if you need help with class, but please also dropin to introduce yourself, brainstorm topic ideas, discuss your educational goals and interests, or pass the timebetween classes.