INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY
Professor: Maria Tapias (tapias@grinnell.edu)
Lecture: MWF
9:00-9:50
Goodnow Hall 203 Goodnow 105
Phone:
269-3137
Office Hours: Tues: 4-5; W 10-12 . During office hours, please feel free to
stop by without an appointment. If you
don’t want to have an extended wait during office hours please email me and
we’ll set up a definite time. Of
course, if you have a conflict with the office hours please email me and we’ll
find a suitable time to meet!
Course Description: Anthropology is a course remembered by people long past their
college years as one that introduced them to the incredible social and cultural
diversity that exists in the world. The
discipline examines all aspects of human life through the lenses of four
sub-fields. These include: biological anthropology (the study of human
evolution and biological adaptations), archaeology (the study of human life in
the past through the analysis of their material remains), linguistics (the
study of the social uses of language and symbols) and cultural anthropology
(the study of diverse ways of life, systems of meaning and diverse peoples
living today). The course will be taught
using a combination of lectures, discussions, readings, films and short
projects.
Please
note that this is an introductory survey class in which we will cover a lot of
material. There may be times when we
will not be able to cover the materials with as much depth as you would like. I encourage you to ask questions when you
have them but the pace of the course will often be accelerated. The readings assignments may have to be
slightly modified according to pace.
You will be given notice when they are.
I
would like to encourage students with documented disabilities, including
non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head
injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, psychiatric disabilities, to
discuss with me, after class or during my office hours, appropriate
accommodations. You will need to
provide documentation of your disability to the Associate Dean and Director of
Academic Advising, Joyce Stern, located in the lower level of the Forum (x3702)
Required Texts:
1. William Haviland. (H)
Human Evolution and Prehistory Wadsworth Press 2000
Course Requirements:
Exams (70%) : There will be four exams in the course that shall be
worth the following percentages of your final grade:
(20%)
Exam 1.
Monday, February 24
(20%)
Exam 2.
Wednesday, April 2
(30%) Final Exam
Wednesday, May 14
Writing Assignment
(20%): There will be one individual
paper assigned (10%)and one group paper (5%) and presentation (5%) in this
class.
§
In
the individual paper where you will examine the material remains of a lounge or
kitchen at Grinnell College. The paper
is worth 10% of your final grade. This
paper requires a group Sunday meeting (March 9th).
Please put this on your schedule now.
From the data your group obtains you will try to reconstruct what
happened in these lounges in the recent past.
Due: March 14th in class.
No late papers will be accepted.
§
In
the group presentation and final report (each worth 5% of your final grade) you
will conduct research on a particular country to examine how violence has been
used or deployed to maintain the nation state.
Each group will have 15 minutes to do a presentation to the class (April 14th and 16th)
and a group final report is due on April
16th
Class
Participation/Attendance (10%): You are expected to attend all classes and
regularly participate in class discussions.
Each student is allowed 3 absences without suffering penalty. Missing more than 3 lectures without a valid
medical excuse or due to an emergency will result in a failing participation
grade. Notice must be provided through academic
affairs. Any exam or assignment that is
missed because of an UNEXCUSED absence will receive a zero. You are responsible
for obtaining missed notes from one of your peers. If you miss more than 4 classes you will be automatically dropped
from the class.
|
DATE |
TOPIC |
READING ASSIGNMENT DUE |
|
Mon,
Jan 20 |
Introduction
to Course |
No
Reading Assignment. |
|
Wed,
Jan 22 |
The
Four (5??) Fields of Anthropology |
H: Chapter 1 pp. 6-22 RR: (1) Patrick Huyghe: No
Bone Unturned (2) Daniel
Goleman: Shamans and Their Lore May
Vanish with the Forests. |
|
Fri,
Jan 24 |
Film: Anthropologists at work |
|
|
Mon,
Jan 27 |
Anthropology
in the Classroom |
H: 22-33 |
|
Wed,
Jan 29 |
Anthropological
Methods |
H: 36-52 |
|
Fri, Jan. 31 |
Methods
Continued |
H: 52-60 |
|
Mon,
Feb. 3 |
Principles
and Forces of Evolution |
H: 64-77 (up to “Adaptation”) |
|
Wed, Feb 5 |
Evolution (cont) |
H: 77-88 |
|
Fri, Feb 7 |
Primates Monkey
in the Mirror |
H : 94-109 |
|
Mon,
Feb 10 |
Primates
(cont) |
H: 110-125 |
|
Wed,
Feb 12 |
Early
Hominines |
H: 152-172 |
|
Fri,
Feb 14 |
Homo Habilis |
H: 178-197 (chapter 7) |
|
Mon, Feb 17 |
Homo
Erectus |
H: 202-222 (chapter 8) |
|
Wed. Feb
19 |
Skeleton’s
lab |
|
|
Fri. Feb 21 |
Review
Get together in groups to discuss lounges for “excavation” |
Come
to class with any questions…. Scope
out lounges for the “excavation” |
|
Mon,
Feb 24 |
EXAM 1
|
|
|
Wed,
Feb 26 |
Archaic
Homo Sapiens and the Middle Paleolithic |
H: 226-246 (chapter 9) |
|
Fri,
Feb 28 |
Modern
Humans and the Upper Paleolithic |
H: 250-266 |
|
Mon,
Mar 3 |
Modern Humans (cont) |
H: 266-276 Bring
a short paragraph explaining why you think a certain lounge or other area
would be good to excavate. |
|
Wed,
Mar 5 |
Modern
Human Diversity |
H: 346-368 R: pp.206-210 |
Fri,
Mar 7
|
The
Neolithic period: the development cultivation and domestication |
H: Chapter 11 |
SUNDAY
Mar 9 |
Excavation!! |
Meet
your group at the planned time and undertake your excavation…. Bring
some of your artifacts to class Monday as well as 2 extra photocopies each of
your map and your list of findings. |
|
Mon,
Mar 10 |
Group
Analysis of Excavation Data |
RR: “Garbage Demographics” |
|
Wed,
Mar 12 |
The
Urban Revolution |
H: Chapter 12 |
|
Fri,
Mar 14 |
Review
and catch-up |
EXCAVATION PAPER
DUE IN CLASS! NO LATE PAPERS
ACCEPTED. |
|
Mar
15-30 |
SPRING
BREAK |
Start
to read Dettwyler’s Dancing Skeletons over break and review for the
exam. |
|
Mon,
Mar 31 |
Culture
and Meaning |
R: Chapter 1
(pp. 2-14) |
|
Wed,
Apr 2 |
EXAM 2 |
|
|
Fri,
Apr 4 |
Culture
and Meaning (cont) |
R: Chapter 1 (14-30) |
|
Mon,
Apr 7 |
The
Meanings of Progress |
R: Pages 52-67 Dettwyler
continued… |
|
Wed,
Apr 9 |
Political
Organization |
R: Chapter 3. As you read the chapter please do some
preliminary research on a particular country to examine how violence has been
used to maintain the nation state.
See page 89 of your text for initial sources. In class you will be separated into groups and
together will select one of these coutries to prepare a presentation for the
class. Groups will be randomly selected to present on either Monday or
Wednesday. Each group will have 15
minutes to do their presentation. A
final 5 page group report is due on Wednesday. |
|
Fri. Apr 11 |
The
Social and Cultural Construction of Reality: Language
and Culture |
R: 100-111 |
|
Mon.
Apr 14 |
Violence
and the State Presentations… |
Be prepared to present
your research to the class. Each
group will have 15 minutes to present. |
|
Wed. Apr 16 |
Presentations
continued… |
Group Report Due. |
|
Fri. Apr 18 |
Language
and Identity: Film:
American Tongues |
Start
Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places: |
|
Mon
Apr 21 |
Non-verbal Communication |
WSP : Preface and Chapter 1 |
|
Wed. Apr 23 |
Language,
Place and Landscape |
WSP: Chapter 2 and 3 |
|
Fri Apr 25 |
Soc.
Construction of Reality (cont):
Rituals |
R: 111-123; 178-183 |
|
Mon
Apr 28 |
Kinship |
R: 140-150 |
|
Wed
Apr 30 |
Kinship
(cont) |
R: 150-167 |
|
Fri.
May 2 |
Identities: Self and Personhood |
R: 170-178 On Reserve in the
Anthropology Reading Room, Goodnow 3rd Floor : Judith Lorber “Night to His Day” |
|
Weekend Activity |
Gender
in the Making… |
Go
to a toy store (such as the one in Wal-mart), spend some time watching
Saturday morning cartoons, look at children’s birthday cards in the card
store downtown or check out children’s books in the public library and see
how gender is constructed in any of these mediums. Come to class with a few paragraphs describing what you observed. |
|
Mon
May 5 |
Gender
(cont) Tough
Guise |
Discussion
of your findings… |
|
Wed.
May 7 |
Economics
and Gift Giving |
R: 183-194 |
|
Fri. May
9 |
Social Hierarchies |
R : 198-206 ;210-216 ;
218-224 |
|
Wed. May 14 |
FINAL
EXAM |
9am – 12pm |