Cult Anthro: Theory and Ethnography

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Anthropology 300

Cultural Anthropology: Theory and Ethnography

Spring Semester, 2015

Tuesday and Thursday, 2:30PM - 3:45PMSocial Science 6232

Yukti [email protected] Social Sciences Building, Observatory DriveO!ce Hours: Tuesday 3:45 - 5:45 pm. or by appointment.

Course DescriptionThis course surveys cultural anthropology with emphasis on ethnographic description,methodology, and contemporary theory. The course focuses on both humanistic andsocial scientific approaches to human sociocultural diversity.

Assessments1) Class participation 20%Participation in class discussion is very important. To facilitate discussion, before at-tending the class, students must take notes and prepare at least 5 questions relatingto the readings. Team up with one of your classmates to summarize the main ideasand interesting points of the weekly readings. Turn in a soft copy of the note viaemail before the TUESDAY class. Bring a copy of the note for your discussion inthe class.

2) Two book reviews 40% (=20+20)Each student must write two 5-page (double-spaced) book review essays. Choose twobooks from the following list to review:- Keith Basso. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western

Apache. Albuquerque: University of. New Mexico Press, 1996.- Ruth Behar. Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in between Journeys. Duke University Press

Books, 2013.- Katherine A. Dettwyler. Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa. Waveland,

1994.- Tim Ingold. Lines: a brief history. Routledge: London, 2007.- Saba Mahmood. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.- Daniel Miller. Tales from Facebook. Cambridge: Polity, 2011.

- Kirin Narayan. Alive in the Writing: Crafting Ethnography in the Company ofChekhov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.

- Aihwa Ong. Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, the New America. Berkeley, CA:University of California Press, 2003.

- Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Silencing the Past: power and the production of history. Bea-con Press, Boston, 1995.

- Andrew Walker. Thailand's Political Peasants: Power in the Modern Rural Economy.Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2012.

The book review essays must present the book’s main arguments or issues as well asthe reviewer’s (the student’s) critical and academic discussion about the author’s con-tent, argument, and data. Students must bring issues discussed in this class or the

class materials into the book reviews.

The book reviews are due on Thursdays of WEEK V and Week X. Turn in the softcopy via email.



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3) Filednotes 15%Starting from Week XI to Week XV, each student will conduct his/her ethnographic fieldresearch and write fieldnotes recording collected data necessary for writing an ethno-graphic research paper (see below). Turn in a 1-page research proposal in Week X.During ethnographic research weeks, students should spend at least 3-hour ethno-

graphic research and write the fieldnotes. Bring a hard copy of at least 2 pages of thefieldnotes to the class and turn in the fieldnotes after the class.

4) Ethnographic research paper 25%Write one ethnographic paper based on field experiences, fieldnotes, documents,course materials, interviews, participant observation, and other necessary information.Topics of the paper are various. Use theories, concepts and information taken from theassigned readings as a starting point. Students must consult the instructor while gath-ering data and report briefly to the class periodically. An ethnographic paper is 8-10pages (double-spaced).

The research paper is due on May 13, 2015 at 4 pm. Turn in the soft copy viaemail.

Class Schedule

PART ONE: OVERVIEW

Week I (January 20, 22)IntroductionRead:- Bruce M. Knauft. “Stories, Histories and Theories: Agendas in Cultural Anthropology”

In Genealogies for the Present in Cultural Anthropology. Pp. 9-39. New York: Rout-ledge.

- James Urry. “A History of Field Methods” In Ethnographic Research: A Guide to Gen-eral Con- duct. ed. R.F. Ellen (1984), pp. 35-61.

- Sherry B” Ortner. “Theory in Anthropology Since the Sixties” Comparative Studies inSociety and History. 26 (1984): 126-166.

PART TWO: ANCESTORS OF ANTHROPOLOGY

Week II (January 27, 29)Evolutionism

Read:- Herbert Spencer, The Social Organism (1860) In Anthropological Theory: an intro-ductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

- Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, The Science of Culture (1871) In Anthropological Theory:an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill,2008.

- Lewis Henry Morgan, Ethnical Periods (1877) In Anthropological Theory: an intro-ductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

Week III (February 3, 5)The Foundations of Sociological ThoughtRead:

- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Feuerbach. Opposition of the Materialist and IdealistOutlook (1845-1846) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGeeand R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.



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- Karl Marx. "Manifesto of the Communist Party” In The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed,by Robert C. Tucker (New York: Norton, 1978). Pp. 473-500.

- Max Weber. “The Fundamental Concepts of Sociology.” In The Theory of Social andEconomic Organization. Talcott Parsons, ed. Pp. 87-157. (New York: Free Press,1947).

- Emile Durkheim. What is a Social Fact' (1895) In Anthropological Theory: an intro-ductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

PART THREE: ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY, THE CLASSICAL

Week IV (February 10, 12)BoasianRead:- Franz Boas, The Methods of Ethnology (1920) In Anthropological Theory: an intro-

ductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.- A. L. Kroeber, Eighteen Professions (1915) In Anthropological Theory: an introducto-

ry history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.- Benjamin L. Whorf, The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language(1939) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L.Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

- Ruth Fulton Benedict, Psychological Types in the Cultures of the Southwest (1928) InAnthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.).Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

- Margaret Mead, Introduction to Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) In AnthropologicalTheory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGrawHill, 2008.

Film: Odyssey Series: Franz Boas (1981).

Week V (February 17, 19)Functionalism and British Social AnthropologyRead:- Bronislaw Malinowski, The Essentials of the Kula (1922) In Anthropological Theory:

an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill,2008.

- Bronislaw Malinowski. "Introduction" In Argonauts of the Western Pacific, pp 1-20.- A. R. Radcli" e-Brown, On Joking Relationships (1940)- Max Gluckman, The Licence in Ritual (1956) In Anthropological Theory: an introduc-

tory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.- Evans-Pritchard’s Witchcraft, Oracle and Magic. Chapter One.

Week VI (February 24, 26)Cultural Materialism and Cultural EcologyRead:- Leslie White, Energy and the Evolution of Culture (1943) In Anthropological Theory:

an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill,2008.

- Julian Steward, The Patrilineal Band (1955) In Anthropological Theory: an introducto-ry history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

- Marvin Harris. The Cultural Ecology if India’s Sacred Cattle (1966) In AnthropologicalTheory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGrawHill, 2008.

- Roy Rapport. Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations among a New GuineaPeople (1967) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R.L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.



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- Eric Wolf. Peasantry and Its Problems (1966) In Anthropological Theory: an introduc-tory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

Week VII (March 3, 5)Structuralism

Read:- Saussure, Ferdinand de. 2000. [1916] “The Nature of the Linguistic Sign,” “Languageand Linguistics,” “Linguistic Value” In The Routledge Language and Cultural TheoryReader. Burke, Lucy, Tony Crowley, and Alan Girvin. eds. Pp. 21-32, 53-63,105-113. London: Routledge.

- Claude Levi-Strauss. Linguistics and Anthropology (1952) In Anthropological Theory:an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill,2008.

- Claude Levi-Strauss. Four Winnebago Myths: A Structural Sketch (1960) In Anthro-pological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston:McGraw Hill, 2008.

- Sherry B. Ortner, Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture? (1974) In Anthropological

Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGrawHill, 2008.

Week VIII (March 10, 12)Symbolic and Interpretive AnthropologyRead:- Mary Douglas, External Boundaries (1966) In Anthropological Theory: an introducto-

ry history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.- Victor Turner, Symbols in Ndembu Ritual (1967) In Anthropological Theory: an in-

troductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.- Cli" ord Geertz, Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight (1973) In Anthropologi-

cal Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: Mc-Graw Hill, 2008.- Cli" ord Geertz. 1973. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture”

In The Interpretation of Cultures. Pp. 3-30. New York: Basic Books.

PART FOUR: ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY, THE CONTEMPORARY

Week IX (March 17, 19)The Postmodernism and the Post-StructuralismRead:- Rosaldo, Renato. “Subjectivity in Social Analysis” In Culture and Truth: The Remaking

of Social Analysis. (1989), pp. 168-195.- Pierre Bourdieu, Structures, Habitus, Practices (1980)- Renato Rosaldo, Grief and a Headhunter's Rage (1989) In Anthropological Theory: an

introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.- Lila Abu-Lughod, A Tale of Two Pregnancies (1995) In Anthropological Theory: an

introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

Week X (March 24, 26)Cultural Studies and Post-colonialismRead:- Raymond Williams. (1977) “Hegemony,” Traditions, Institutions, and Formations,”

Dominant, Residual, and Emergent,” and “Structures of Feeling” In Marxism and Lit-erature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.



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- Raymond Williams. (2002 {1958]) “Culture is ordinary” In The Everyday Life Reader.Highmore, B. ed. Pp. 91-100. London: Routledge.

- Stuart Hall. (2005 [1980]) “Cultural Studies and the Centre: some problematics andproblems.” In Culture, Media, Language: Working papers in Cultural Studies,1972-79. Hall, S. et al. eds. Pp. 2-35. London: Routledge.

- Dick Hebdige. (1979) “Introduction,” “From culture to hegemony” In Subculture: Themeaning of style. London: Routledge.- Dephesh Chakrabarty. (2002) “A small history of subaltern studies” In Habitation of

Modernity. Pp. 3-19. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

SPRING RECESS: MARCH 28 - APRIL 5

PART FIVE: ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND WRITING

Week XI (April 7, 9)Writing Fieldnotes

Read:- Emerson, Robert M., Fretz, Rachel I. and Shaw, Linda L. 1995. Writing Ethnographic

Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ch. 1, 2, 3.Film: Margaret Mead and Samoa (1988).

Week XII (April 14, 16)Writing People, places, and timesRead:- Emerson, Robert M., Fretz, Rachel I. and Shaw, Linda L. 1995. Writing Ethnographic

Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ch. 4, 5.

Week XIII (April 21, 22)Documenting MeaningsRead:- Emerson, Robert M., Fretz, Rachel I. and Shaw, Linda L. 1995. Writing Ethnographic

Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ch. 6, 7.

Week XIV (April 28, 30)Picturing CulturesRead:- “From Pictorialization to Visual Anthropology” In Handbook of Methods in Cultural

Anthropology. Ber- hard, H. Russell (ed.) Lanham: Altamira, (2000 [1998]).

Week XV (May 5, 7)Writing Theory and Ethnographic ArgumentRead:- Nader, Laura. (2011) Ethnography as Theory. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory

1(1): 211-219.- Wilson, William J. (2010) “The Role of Theory in Ethnographic Research” Ethnography

10(4): 549-564.- Gay y Blasco, P. and Wardle, H. “Ethnography as Argument” In How to Read Ethnog-

raphy. London: Routledge, 2007.

READING MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT THE LIBRARY RESERVE (https://lcp.li-

brary.wisc.edu/viewer/show/34501). RECOMMENDED AND REQUIRED BOOKS ARE RE-SERVED IN THE LIBRARY.

https://lcp.library.wisc.edu/viewer/show/34501

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Cult Anthro: Theory and Ethnography