AMS/ANT 235

AMS/ANT 235.01: Anthropology of American Cultures (Spring 2003)

TUES 10-11:50 and THURS 10-10:50

Fine Arts 242

Prof. K. Gibel Azoulay Tel. 4324

Office Hours:

Mon, Tues 11-2:30, Fridays 11-3:00 and by appointment

Course Description: To be read and referred to periodically

We live in a time and a place in which values and attitudes shape and are shaped by consumerism and (re)presented as popular culture. The aim of this course is to examine, in order to disrupt, "naturalized" ideas behind the meaning of what is called "mainstream" or "dominant" American culture. We will explore issues and themes which shape what and how we think of American culture(s). Specifically, we will focus on issues which cumulatively -- and subtly --inform national conversations and narratives about American culture and citizenship, democracy, political participation, class consciousness and the power of media to shape opinions. These topics are highly charged by attitudinal shifts towards race, class, gender -- intersecting social positions -- as well as religion and religiosity. For this reason, these factors are central themes in this course. They frame the national political culture of the U.S. and ground the historical perspective in the texts (readings and films) which we will be using to guide our discussion.

In the mid-1980s, debates emerged over theories, methods and most of all, ethnography -- the end product of an anthropological project which focused on the politics of representation. Increasingly, many anthropologists turned away from the idea of discrete groups to look at the socio-political and economic contexts in which communities were situated as well as how these contexts inform and are informed by the cultivation of collective (local and national) identities. Some of the questions which motivated new research projects included: Who and What gets represented or ignored, by whom, for what purpose and with what rhetorical strategies? When is a topic newsworthy and the recipient of widespread coverage? What research projects are funded and recognized as valuable? In other words, what makes something visible for examination? And how do the initial questions we ask shape the answers we produce? Finally, what are the historical contexts and conditions which generate certain questions and narratives and not others? These questions will remain central throughout all our readings and discussions.

Class Format

Classes will begin with introductory comments and move into a general discussion of the assigned readings.

1. Each individual student shall come to class -- with reading notes -- fully prepared to summarize the key points of the assigned readings and to relate them to previous class discussions.

2. In order to facilitate an informative class discussion, each student shall come prepared to discuss specific passages in the assigned reading -- keep in mind: what did you learn? why is the new information or perspective significant? are there implications applicable to current events?

Students will be required to keep a reading journal [see below]. Discussion of assigned films will usually be integrated into class discussion and you should keep up with relevant current events. (This is best done by subscribing to a daily newspaper, listening to NPR once a day or watching the evening news).

Course Requirements

This course aims to sharpen skills of critical reading and thinking in order to isolate and evaluate methods used to elicit the information presented in a text as well as the ideas and interpretations which the authors present. This course does not include any exams -- however extensive writing and active participation in class discussion are expected and will be graded. In order to facilitate this process, students will be expected to adhere to the following requirements:

1. Attendance is mandatory. There is an automatic credit for attendance. Therefore, students who miss more than three classes will receive an automatic reduction in the final grade. If you are absent, you are responsible for finding out what you missed. Five absences will be considered a withdrawal (WF) from the course. Class begins on time -- if anyone has scheduling conflicts which will cause tardiness, please discuss this with me at the beginning of the semester.

** If there is no convocation, Thursday class will sometimes extend to 11:50. Feature films to be seen will be shown on a series of Sundays at 2:15. As they are announced, there may be several convocations or afternoon lectures which you will be required to attend. You should therefore keep 11:00 free.

** We will see several related feature films. These films are supplementary texts which will often dramatize events and processes we read about. In addition to providing visual representations, you will consider the various messages which seem to be explicitly and/or subtly conveyed to different audiences.

2. Reading Journal (35%). Every student must keep a reading journal. The dated entries represent a conversation with the text, the author and class discussions. All entries should include comments on what you learned? what opinions or preconceptions did you have and did they change? how? was the author's presentation convincing? why? why not? are there points of identity between your life experience and what you found? how does the representation contribute to a sense of "Americanness?" You may choose any writing style(s) with which you feel comfortable. The journals are to be typed and an entry should be made at least once a week. You will be expected to write at least 3 pages per reading assignment [minimum 6 pages a week].

-- JOURNAL ENTRIES ARE TO BE DATED AND PAGINATED CONSECUTIVELY. Journal entries are due in my office each Friday no later than 4:30pm. Your ideas will not be graded as correct or incorrect -- rather this is an opportunity to bracket "opinions" and explore new "ideas." I will be evaluating the cumulative quality of the content of your entries.

-- There is an automatic extension for journals: Saturday 11am to be turned in at 1405 Broad Street. -- There are no other extensions!!

3. Active Participation in Class Discussions (20%): Class discussion represents an exchange of ideas -- it is a conversation among peers. In addition to individual responsibility for class discussions, each week, different groups of students will be assigned to address questions raised in the readings and to comment on them.

Shared perspectives as well as differences of opinion further our own understanding of a topic. Critical thinking and an engaging exchange of ideas depends on listening carefully to another person's perspective and responding respectfully. The focus should be specifically on what and why there are points of agreement or disagreement -- how is one interpretation different and in what ways should it be valued as more or less persuasive? Personal experience is important, but you may draw on it as an additional resource -- not a substitute -- for evidence from the texts we will be reading. In other words, your arguments need to be situated within the context of the readings. These may be supplemented with outside sources.

4. Design a Research Project (20%): Using the models of the texts we have read, write a two-page research proposal to investigate an aspect of American culture that you can observe, experience and/or in which you are or can be a participant. You will need to revisit the introductory chapters of our texts in which the subject of study is mapped out for the reader. If your project requires field work and interviews, explain why this is necessary and how it relates to your research project. What do you want to investigate? Why? what is the significance? You are responsible for setting up an appointment to meet with a research librarian to discuss your project and to get assistance in finding research sources. Your final proposal should include a bibliography of at least 10 items which represent your initial review of materials that introduce you to the topic. These should include books, journal articles and, if relevant, films and documentaries. The format of your bibliography should follow the Chicago Manual (available in the library and at the Writing Lab). This research project will be due Thursday 18 May

5. Evaluation Paper (25%): A 5-6 (maximum 8 pages) paper summarizing what you have learned throughout the semester about American culture and its relevance in your own life experiences and body of knowledge. This is not a soul-searching exercise – rather it allows you to review your journal entries, films & documentaries as well as supplementary material (hand-outs, news etc) in order to reflect on the information and analyses which you have encountered in this course. and evaluate their significance to the lived experiences which shape your understanding of Americanness (themes may include immigration & assimilation; the formation of class consciousness or other group-based collective identity; socializing values in school, church or home; urbanization & suburbanization, shopping at malls, insights from cultural events such as museums, theater, television, involvement in the political process etc.).

Your research proposal, evaluation paper, and journal entries are due on Wednesday May 14, 2003 by 4pm -- without exception. Do NOT reprint your journal essays. SUBMIT ALL THE MATERIAL INSIDE A STAMPED, SELF-ADDRESSED ENVELOPE!

TEXTS for AMS/ANT 235

CONSTRUCTING PUBLIC HISTORY

Richard Handler & Eric Gable, The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg (Duke University Press, 1997).

Documentaries:

Williamsburg Sampler

Where America Began

Story of a Patriot

Digging for Slaves

Unearthing the Slave Trade

THE RACIAL ODYSSEY OF ASSIMILATION

Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998)

Films: Joe Hill

Gentlemen’s Agreement

CBS Segregation Northern Style

THE STRATEGIC PRODUCTION OF INEQUALITY

Pem Davidson Buck, Worked to the Bone: Race, Class, Power & Privilege in Kentucky (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2001).

Documentry – Trouble Behind, Corbin, Kentucky

IDENTITY PRACTICES AND MOBILIZING LABOR

Sharon Kurtz, Workplace Justice: Organizing Multi-Identity Movements (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002).

Doucmentary --With Babes and Banners

Documentary -- At the River I Stand

ALTERNATIVE POLITICAL PERSPECTIVES

Angela D. Dillard, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Now? Multicultural Conservatism in America. (New York: New York University Press, 2001).

Film: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

** READINGS BELOW ARE FOR CLASS DISCUSSION AS LISTED BY DATES BELOW (AND INCLUDE READING FOOTNOTES!)

Creating the Past – How is “history,” stories about the past, (re)presented in the present? For whom is history created? What are the meanings of “authenticity,” “facts”? How is the egalitarian discourse of corporations contradicted by organizational hierarchy? What is the relationship between capitalism and educating the public? How does this shape the kind of histories created in a “living museum?”

WEEK#1

Tues: 21 Jan

Introduction: Collection of Outlines; Distribution of Syllabi

Two Documentaries:

Williamsburg Sampler (29 min)

Where America Began (60)

Thurs: 23 Jan [Convo Attendance required]

Handler & Gable, Acknowledgment, Chpt 1

Week 2

Tues 28 Jan Handler & Gable pp. 28-101

Chapter 2 (prevailing images)

Chapt 3 (historiography)

Chapter 4 (politics of interpretation)

Thurs 30 Jan Handler & Gable pp. 102-169

Chapter 5 (ethnographic account)

Chapter 6 (central values of “corporate culture”)

Week 3

SUN 2 Feb – 2:30-4:30 3 Documentaries:

Story of a Patriot 36 min

Digging for Slaves 50 min

Unearthing the Slave Trade 28 min

Tues 4 Feb Handler & Gable pp.170-209

Chapter 7 (contact points with the public)

Chapter 8 (labor relations)

Thurs 6 Handler & Gable pp 209-220

Chapter 9 “The Bottom Line”

The Formation of Generic Whiteness - the vocabulary of ethnicity has erased the racial transformation of immigrants from Europe in the 19^th and early 20^th century. How does excavating archaic ways of seeing races shed light on current attitudes towards race and citizenship on the one hand, and whiteness and privilege on the other hand? What is the political history of whiteness? What is the relationship between perception and conception? What are the socio-political, legislative, economic and cultural processes which radically alter ways of thinking and seeing?

Week 4

Tues 11 Feb Jacobson pp. ix-90

Note on Usage

Introduction

Chapt 1 (1790-1840 the racial logic of citizenship)

Chapt 2 (1840-1924: Anglos-Saxons and the discourse of immigration restriction versus the discourse of naturalization)

Thurs 13 Feb Jacobson pp. 91-135

Chapt 3 (from white to Caucasian; from alien to citizen)

Week 5

Sunday 16 February 2:30 Documentary: Joe Hill (90 minutes)

Tues 18 Feb Jacobson pp. 137-170

Chapt 4 (an archaeology of 1877: race as conceptual and perceptual categories)

Thurs 20 Feb Jacobson pp. 171-199

Week 6

Sunday 23 Feb 2:30 Film: Gentlemen’s Agreement

Tues 25 Feb Jacobson pp. 201-245

Chapt 6 (imperialism and the transformation of racial lines into color lines)

Chapt 7 (the legal construction of whiteness)

Wed 26 Feb 4:15- 5:15

CBS Documentary (1964): Segregation Northern Style

Thurs 27 Feb Jacobson pp. 246-280

Chapt 8 (the homogenization and consolidation of whiteness and the emergence of a discourse on “race relations”).

Epilogue: the legacy of racialism in American political culture

Worked to the Bone - how have big business strategically intervened against racial alliances? How does the discourse of egalitarianism facilitate economic inequality? In what ways did the racial rhetoric of white supremacy inhibit economic alliances between the poor and working poor? How has racism been used to sustain the power of elites at the expense of the poor? What is the relationship between power and privilege on the one hand, and race and class on the other? Who benefits from white privilege? What is the relationship between racial prejudice and class prejudice?

Week 7

Tues 4 March Buck pp. vii-64

Intro- Chapt 5

Thurs 6 March Buck pp. 65-102

Chapt 6-8

Week 8

Tues 11 March Buck pp. 103-176

Chapt 9-13

Wed 4:15- 5:15 Documentary: Trouble Behind (Corbin Kty)

Thurs 13 March Buck pp. 177-228

Chapt 14-17

SPRING BREAK

Week 9

Tues 8 April

In Class - 2 documentaries

With Babes and Banners (45 min)

At the River I Stand (59 min)

Thurs 10 April Kurtz pp. xi-40

Acknowledgments, Introduction, Chapter 1

Week 10

Tues 15 April Kurtz pp. 27-106

Chapter 2-5

Thurs 17 April Kurtz pp. 107-147

Chapt 6

Week 11

Tues 22 April Kurtz pp. 149-210

Chapt 7-9

Thurs 24 April Kurtz pp 211-222

Appendix: methodological issues in social research

Multicultural Conservatism – how did the discourse of equality and justice that emerged from the civil rights movement open the door to political participation in conservative movements for men and women of color, white women, and homosexuals? How does the notion of cultural authenticity inform political identities? Is there a contradiction between opposition to affirmative action and cultivating diversity within the political Right?

Week 12

Sunday 27 April 2:30 Film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Tues 29 April Dillard pp. ix-55

Preface, Intro, Chapt 1

Thurs 1 May Dillard pp.56-98

Chapt 2

Week 13

Tues 6 May Dillard pp. 99-170

Chapt 3-4

Thurs 8 May Dillard pp. 171-182

Conclusions

REMINDER: Research proposal, evaluation paper, and journal entries are due on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 by 4pm -- without exception. Do NOT reprint your journal essays. SUBMIT ALL THE MATERIAL INSIDE A STAMPED, SELF-ADDRESSED ENVELOPE!