INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY

Ant.104-01 Spring 2002

Professor: Maria Tapias (tapias@grinnell.edu)   Lecture: MWF 9:00-9:50     Goodnow Hall 203                                         Goodnow Rm 105

Phone: 269-3137

Office Hours: MW 4-5 and Th. 11-1; 2-4. During office hours, please feel free to stop by without an appointment. If you don’t want to have to wait during office hours please email me and we’ll set up a definite time or sign up for a time on my door. 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.

Required Texts:

  1. Kehoe, Alice 1998. Humans: An Introduction to Four-Field Anthropology Routledge Press.
  2. Whitten, Phillip 2001 Anthropology: Contemporary Perspectives Allyn and Bacon
  3. Kamp, Kathryn 1998 Life in the Pueblo: Understanding the Past Through Archaeology Waveland Press.
  4. Basso, Keith 1996 Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache University of New Mexico Press.
  5. Dettwyler, Katherine 1994 Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa Waveland Press.
  6. There will be a few readings placed on reserve in the anthropology reading room on the 3rd floor of Goodnow Hall. Copies should not be removed from Goodnow for more than 15 minutes at a time (for photocopying purposes).

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.

Course Requirements:

Exams: There will be three exams in the course that shall be worth the following percentages of your final grade:

(20%)        Exam 1. Friday, Feb 22       

(20%)        Exam 2. Wednesday, April 3           

(30%)        Exam 3. Monday, May 13    

Writing Assignments: There will be two papers assigned in this class.

(10%) Lounge Project. We shall examine the material remains of diverse lounges at Grinnell College. This requires a Sunday meeting (March 10th). Please put this on your schedule now. From the data we obtain we will try to reconstruct what happened in these lounges in the recent past. Due: March 15th.

(10%) Toy project. This project will require a bit of “fieldwork” on your part over the course of a weekend. You can either go to the Wal-mart in town or preferably go to a larger toy store in Iowa City or Des Moines. We will examine how gender is constructed in toy stores. Due: May 1st.

Class Participation/Attendance:

(10%) You are expected to attend all classes and regularly participate in class discussions. I will take attendance at every class. Each student is allowed 3 absences without suffering penalty. Missing more than 3 lectures will be reflected in a significant decrease in the participation grade. Any exam or assignment that is missed because of an UNEXCUSED absence will receive a zero. Excused absences will still count towards your three, but you will be allowed to make up the assignments. An excused absence is given only in the case of medical emergencies or a death in the family. Notice must be provided through academic affairs. You are responsible for obtaining missed notes from one of your peers.

  1. INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY

DATE

TOPIC

READING ASSIGNMENT DUE

M

1/21

Introduction/Review of Syllabus

None for today.

W

1/23

The four fields of anthropology (or is it five??)

Careers in Anthropology

Kehoe: Chapter 1

Whitten: Article 1 “Finding Anthropology”

F

1/25

FILM: Anthropologists at Work

Whitten: Article 53: “No Bone Unturned”, Article 54 “Shamans and Their Lore May Vanish with the Forests”, Article 55 “Coming of Age in Palo Alto” Article 56 “Why Buy Kazoos You Can’t Use?”

M

1/28

Knowing What We Know

Origins of Anthropology

Anthropological Methods

Kehoe: Chapter 2
  1. BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

DATE

TOPIC

READING ASSIGNMENT DUE

W

1/30

Principles of Evolution

Darwin’s Theory and Its Impact on Society

Whitten: Article 2: “Darwinism Defined: The Difference Between Fact and Theory.”

F

2/1

Genetics

Population Variability

Kehoe: Chapter 3.

Whitten: Pages 11-13. “Biological Anthropology”

M

2/4

Primates

FILM: Monkey in the Mirror (first half)

Kehoe: Chapter 4.

W

2/6

Primates (continued)

FILM: Monkey in the Mirror (second half)

Whitten: Article 27: “Koko: ‘Fine Animal Gorilla’”

F

2/8

The Development of the Genus Homo

Kehoe: Chapter 5.

M

2/11

Genus Homo (continued)

Whitten: Article 3: “The Great Leap Forward” and Article 4: “The Secret Life of the Neanderthal”

W

2/13

Genus Homo (continued)

Whitten: Article 5: “The Search for Early Man”

F

2/15

Human Variation

Kehoe: Chapter 6

Whitten: Article 6: “Designed for Another Time: Modern Problems for an Ancient Species”

M

2/18

The Concept of Race

Whitten: Article 12: “Racial Odyssey”, Article 13: “Race”: Myths Under the Microscope”

RESERVE READING: “AAA Statement on Race”

W

2/20

Left over materials and REVIEW FOR EXAM

Review your notes and come to class with questions, your exam is FRIDAY!!!

F 2/22

EXAM #1

  
  1. ARCHAEOLOGY

DATE

TOPIC

READING ASSIGNMENT DUE

M

2/25

Prehistory and the Importance of Context

Separate into groups to select lounge for project.

Kehoe: Chapter 7 (only pages 75-84)

Whitten: Article 15 “Fingerprints in the Sand”

W

2/27

Interpreting Early Hominids

The Paleolithic

Guest presentation: Professor John Whittaker

Kehoe: Chapter 7 (only pages 84-99)

Whitten: Article 19 “Images of the Ice Age”

F

3/1

The Neolithic and the Development of Agriculture

 

Kehoe: Chapter 7 (only pages 99-104)

Whitten: Article 20 “New Clues Show Where People Made the Great Leap to Agriculture”

M

3/4

The Urban Revolution

Kehoe: Chapter 7 (only pages 104-112)

Whitten: Article 22 “The World’s First City”

W

3/6

Archaeological Methods

Whitten: Article 16 “Garbage Demographics”

Start Kamp: Chapters 1-2

F

3/8

FILM: Other People’s Garbage

  

SUN

3/10

Grinnell’s Garbage and what it can tell us….

Excavation!!! Meet with your group at agreed-upon time to undertake your lounge “excavation”. Bring a few sheets of graph paper to map your sites as well as handouts and pencils.

M

3/11

Case Study: Lizard Man Village.

Bring the original copies of your excavation report to hand in to me and enough copies for each member of your group

Kamp: Chapters 3-4

W

3/13

Lizard Man Village (continued)

 

Kamp: Chapters 5-8

F

3/15

Lizard Man Village

Grinnell’s Lounge Paper due!!

Kamp: Chapters 9-11

3/16-

3/31

SPRING BREAK

Study for exam and begin reading Keith Basso’s ethnography: Wisdom sits in places.

M

4/1

Review for exam and begin linguistics section…

Whitten page 155-157; Kehoe, Ch 8.

W

4/3

EXAM # 2

  
  1. Linguistic Anthropology

DATE

TOPIC

READING ASSIGNMENT DUE

F

4/5

Language and Culture

Non-Verbal Communication.

Whitten: Article 30 “Close Encounters” and Article 31 “Flirting Fascination”

M

4/8

Language and Identity: Regional Variations.

FILM: American Tongues

  

W

4/10

Language and Identity: Gender and Language

BRING IN GRAFFITI SAMPLES

Whitten: Article 28 “Women’s Talk” and Article 29 “Power of Talk”

F

4/12

Language, place and landscape

Keith Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places: Preface, chapter 1 and 2.

M

4/15

The use of stories to guide and correct behavior

Keith Basso: Wisdom Sits in Places: Chapter 3, 4 and Epilogue
  1. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

DATE

TOPIC

READING ASSIGNMENT DUE

W

4/17

Fieldwork

FILM: Off the verandah (first half)

Whitten: Article 32 “Shakespeare in the Bush”, Article 33 “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” and Article 34 “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”

F

4/19

Analyzing Societies: Cultural Ecology

Kehoe: Chapter 9

M

4/22

Analyzing Societies: Identity.

The Construction of Gender.

Analyzing advertising…. Toy project assignment given out.

Reserve Room Reading: Judith Lorber “’Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender” and

Whitten: Article 42: An Immodest Proposal

Do your fieldwork for the toy project in the next week!

W

4/24

The Construction of Masculinity

FILM: Tough Guise

Reserve Room Reading: The Manhood Puzzle

F

4/26

Analyzing Societies: Economics

Kehoe: Chapter 10 “Economics”

M

4/29

Economics continued: The Kula Ring (Off the verandah, part 2)

Whitten: Article 39 “In Search of Affluent Society.”

W

5/1

Regulating Societies

Power and Politics

TOY PAPER DUE!!

Kehoe: Chapter 11 pp. 169-191

F

5/3

Kinship

Kehoe: Chapter 11 pp 191-197

Whitten: Article 36 “Marriage: For Love, Profit or Politics?”

M

5/6

Religion

Kehoe: Chapter 12 “Religion”

Whitten: Article 45 “Devils, Witches and Sudden Death”

W

5/8

Development and Health

Dettwyler: Chapters 1-7 (pages 1-74)

F

5/10

Anthropology and Ethics

Dettwyler: Chapters 7-14 (pages 75-164)

F

5/13

FINAL EXAM