Syllabus for: Cultural Anthropology - College of the Redwoods

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.