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Prof. K. Gibel
Azoulay Tel. 4324
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Office Hours:
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Mon, Tues 11-2:30, Fridays 8am-2pm and by appointment
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ANT 395 -02
AdvSpTp: After Postmodernism MW 8:00-9:50 Fine Arts 242
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This
course will explore the meanings of postmodernism, including the
historical moment in which the concept emerged. We will read anthropological
comments on the impact of postmodernist approaches on methodologies
and theories in anthropology and examine texts which interrogate
the relationship between power and knowledge, representations
and ethnographic authority, the question of subjectivity and objectification
and the consequences of globalization on dominant concepts which
ground the discipline of anthropology. As part of this examination,
we will watch several ethnographic films and commercial movies
which register the condition of postmodernity.
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Class Format
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Classes
will begin with introductory comments and move into a roundtable
discussion of the assigned readings. This requires active
student participation!
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1.
Each student shall come to class fully prepared to summarize the
key points of the assigned readings and to relate them
to previous class discussions.
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2.
In order to facilitate an informative class discussion, each student
shall come prepared to discuss a specific passage in the assigned
reading -- keep in mind: what did you learn? why
is the new information or perspective significant? relevant?
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N.B.
If you do not understand something B come
prepared to discuss what you did understand and to explain what
you think you do not understand. Keep in mind that we are
focusing on the broad themes in each article related to ethnographic
representations. Avoid getting distracted by extraneous details
and concentrate on key points.
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3.
Students will be required to keep a reading journal [see below].
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Course Requirements
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This
seminar aims to sharpen skills of critical reading and thinking
in order to identify and evaluate issues and arguments which unfolded
in debates over postmodernism and its relationship to anthropology.
Particular attention will be given to information presented in
a text as well as the ideas and interpretations grounded by the
information. This seminar 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:
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1.
Attendance is mandatory (5%). There is an automatic credit
for attendance. Therefore, students who miss more than three classes
will receive an automatic reduction in the final grade. Five absences
will be considered a withdrawal (WF) from the course.
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2.
Reading Journal (35%). Every student must keep a reading
journal. This represents a conversation with the text, the author
and class discussions. For instance: what did you learn? what
opinions or preconceptions did you have and did they change? how?
what insights did the reading provide
which can be applied to other topics you have studied in anthropology
(off-campus study etc)?
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 two page per reading assignment
[minimum four pages a week].
JOURNAL
ENTRIES ARE TO BE DATED AND PAGINATED CONSECUTIVELY. The journals
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." (Automatic extension: journal
entries may be turned in by noon at 1405 Broad Street. This is
the only extension!)
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3.
Active Participation in Class Discussions (15%): ADVANCE
PREPARATION OF READING ASSIGNMENTS IS ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED! Class
discussion represents an exchange of ideas -- it is a conversation
among peers. You are responsible for coming to class fully prepared
to discuss the readings in detail B therefore, you are responsible
for bringing notes and an outline to class in order to use
them as the reference for all discussions. Recommended: form
reading groups.
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 insights into analyzing the significance
of 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.
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4.
Class Presentations (20%) Two - three students will guide
a discussion of the readings and introduce main points in the
text(s) as well as questions/themes for discussion.
This group will prepare a written comment to present in
class which reflects on these questions/themes. This will be followed
by an open class discussion.
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5. Evaluation Paper (25%): A 6-7 page (maximum
10 pages) paper summarizing what you have learned throughout the
semester
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Week 1
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30 August Sat
1:15pm Film - Enemy of the State (1998)
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See
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,16507,00.html
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MON 1 Sept
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Background Reading:
Modernity (pp. 1-54; 280-306),
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Introductions
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In
Class Video Descartes, Berkeley, Locke, and the new way of
ideas / Stanford Alumni Association
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Wed 3 Sept: Modernity
(pp. 149-228)
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Discussion:
Knowledge and the crisis of narratives
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Jean-Francois
Lyotard defined postmodernism
Aas incredulity toward metanarratives.@ How does consensus function to normalize Atruth@? Is
there a distinction between Atrue@ and Atruth?@ What criteria establishes
the distinction?
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Week 2
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SAT 6 SEPT: film
1:15am - Wall Street (focus
on new capitalism)
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Mon 8 Sept:
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Reading:
Modernity (533-594)
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Using the internet,
look up information on the following hotels:
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Excalibur
Castle, Las Vegas
The
Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles
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Wed 10 Sept:
James
Clifford (1983) AOn Ethnographic Authority.@ Representations 2: 118-146 [JSTOR]
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Week 3
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Mon 15 Sept:
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Anthropology
as Cultural Critique
(Intro & Chapt 1)
The
Crisis in the Human Sciences:
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Ethnography, as a genre of description. In what ways does the
form and rhetoric of anthropological writing represent the reality
of social conditions?
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define
the following terms: fieldwork; observation; participation; translation?
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who observes?
who is observed? who
writes? for whom? for
what purpose?
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what is
interpretive anthropology? when
and why does it emerge?
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Wed 17 Sept
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Anthropology
as Cultural Critique
(Chapt 2& 3): conveying Aother@ cultural experiences and romanticization
of Athe other@
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Video
in class: The life and times of Sara Baartman
: "The Hottentot Venus" /
a film by Zola Maseko ; [present] Dominant
7, Mail & Guardian Television, France 3 and SABC 2 A documentary
film of the life a Khoikhoi woman who was taken from South Africa in 1810 and
exhibited as a freak across Britain. The image and ideas for "The
Hottentot Venus" (particularly the interest in her
sexual anatomy) swept through British popular culture. A court
battle waged by abolitionists to free her from her exhibitors
failed. In 1814, a year before her death, she was taken to France
and became the object of scientific research that formed the bedrock
of European ideas about black female sexuality
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Week 4
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Mon 22 Sept
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Reading:
Anthropology as Cultural Critique (Chapt
4): the political economy, historical contexts, technologies of
communication and moral positions
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Video
In Class: Ishi: the last Yahi / a film by Jed Riffe,
Pamela Roberts ; produced and directed
by Jed Riffe and Pamela Roberts ; written by Ann Makepeace. AIn 1492,
there were more than ten million Native Americans in North America.
By 1910, their numbers had been reduced to fewer than 300,000.
In California, massacres of Indians in the 1860s and 1870s had
nearly exterminated the Native peoples in the state. Therefore
the sudden appearance in northern California in 1911 of Ishi,
"the last wild Indian in North America," stunned the
nation. For more than 40 years, Ishi had lived in hiding with a tiny band of survivors.
When he walked into the white man's world, he was the last Yahi Indian alive.@‑‑publisher's
catalog
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Wed 24 Sept
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Anthropology
as Cultural Critique
(Chapt 5 &6)
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Week 5
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Mon 29 Sept [you
are responsible for making copies of this Geertz
& Minh-ha reading assignment and bringing to class]
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Clifford
Geertz
(from The Interpretation of Cultures, 1973): AThick
Description,@ ADeep Play,@
(from
Works and Lives, 1988): ABeing
There.@
--
Paul Shankman, (1984) AThe Thick and the Thin: On the Interpretive Theoretical
Paradigm of Clifford Geertz.@ Current Anthropology 25, 3 [JSTOR]
--
Sherry Ortner (1997) AIntroduction@ representations 59: 1-13.[JSTOR] [special issue
on >culture= and
Geertz
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Wed 1 Oct
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In
Class Video Passing girl, riverside: an essay on camera work
/ by Kwame Braun ; in collaboration
with Catherine Cole. Watertown, MA : Documentary Educational Resources,
c1997
A
young American ethnographic researcher in Ghana discusses issues
raised by filming, the ways he uses his subjects and the ways
they use him as well.
Discussion of
representations: who is behind the camera and does it matter?
What messages are conveyed? For what purpose? What differences
in authorial power are there between films and the written text?
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Week 6 Sat 4 Oct Film - W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography
in 4 Voices
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Du Bois Symposium 8-11 Oct: attendance
required for Lectures/Convo: Lucius Outlaw, David Levering Lewis, Emmanuel Eze (check campus memo or calender
for details)
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Mon:
6 Oct
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No
Class ** You should prepare Wed readings early B do not wait for Tues night!!
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Wed
8 Oct
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Sangren, P. Steven (1988) ARhetoric and the Authority of Ethnography:
>Postmodernism= and the Social Reproduction of Texts.@ Current Anthropology 29, 3: 405-424.(
8 Comments: pp 424-431; Reply 431-435).
Coombie, Rosemary J. (1991) AEncountering the Postmodern: New Directions
in Cultural Anthropology.Canadian
Review of Sociology & Anthropology 28, 1 [EBSCO]
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Week 7 Sun 12 Oct 2:15 pm FilmBlade
Runner (1982)
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Mon
13 Oct
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** David Harvey chapter (on Blade Runner)
Gupta, Akhil and James Ferguson (1992)
Beyond >Culture=: Space, Identity and the Politics of Difference.@ Cultural Anthropology 7,1: 6-23
[JSTOR]
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Wed
15 Oct
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Watts, Michael J (1992). ASpace for Everything (A Commentary).@Cultural Anthropology 7,1:115-129. [JSTOR] spatial representations and various
forms of identity
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Fall BREAK
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Week
8
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Mon
- NO CLASS
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Wed
29 Oct
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Kuper, Adam. (1994) ACulture, identity and the project of a
cosmopolitan anthropology.@ Man (N.S.) 29, 3: 537-554.
Weiner, Annette B. (1995) ACulture and Our Discontents.@ American Anthropologist N.S. 97,
1: 14-21 [JSTOR] 1993 presidential address to AAA in D.C.
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Week
9
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Mon
3 Nov
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[you
are responsible for making copies of this week=s readings In eds. Marjorie Garber et.
al. Fieldwork: Sites in Literary and Cultural Studies (Routledge 1996):
-- Mary Margaret Steedly. AWhat is Culture? Does It Matter?@ pp 18-25.
-- Henry Louis Gates. ANotes on the Globalization of Culture.@ pp. 55-66
Bruman, Christoph (1999).
AWriting for Culture: Why a Successful Concept
Should Not be Discarded.@ Current Anthropology S1-S27. Comments:
S13-S21; Reply:S21-S24.[JSTOR]
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Wed
5 Nov
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Moore, Henrietta (1997). AInterior Landscapes and External Worlds:
The Return of Grand Theory in Anthropology.@ Australian Journal of Anthropology
8,2: 125-145. [EBSCO]
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Week
10
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Mon
10 Nov
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Stoller, Paul.(Spring
2003) ACircuits of African Art / Paths of Wood:
Exploring an Anthropological Trail.@Anthropological Quarterly. 76, 2: 207-234.[Project Muse]
Susan J. Rasmussen (2003). AWhen the Field Space Comes to the Home
Space: New Constructions of Ethnographic Knowledge in a New African
Diaspora.@ Anthropological Quarterly 76,1:7‑32
[Project Muse]
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Wed.
12 Nov
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Quijano, Anibal(1993) AModernity, Identity, and Utopia in Latin America.@ Boundary 2, Vol. 20, No. 3, The
Postmodernism Debate in Latin America. pp. 140‑155. [JSTOR]
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Week
11
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15
NOV
SAT 10am Film:
Strange Days (1995)
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Mon
17 Nov
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Place/Space/Knowledge/humanity
vs. technology B voyeurism/ surveillance:
Carr, Brian (2002) AStrange Days and the Subject of Mobility.
Camera Obscura 50, 17, 2: 191-216
[EBSCO]
Sterritt, David (1995). A>Strange Days= probes import of vicarious living.@ Christian Science Monitor 87, 249:
13 [EBSCO] interview with Kathryn Bigelow (dir).
Maio, Kathi (1996)
A>Strange Days= and your average psycho killers.@ Fantasy & Science Fiction 90,
5:84. [EBSCO] technology, gov=t, surveillance, LAPD, LA riots after Rodney
King
Wed
19 Nov
TBA
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Week
12
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SAT
22 Nov 10:00 am FILM
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
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Mon
24 Nov
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Ranita Chatterjee (1996).
AAn Explosion of Difference: The Margins
of Perception in Sammie & Rosie Get laid.@ In eds. Deepika
Bahri and Mary Vasudeva.
Between the Lines...(Temple
UP). Pp. 167-184.
Stuart Hall (1996). ANew Ethnicities@ and AThe Local and the Global@ in Stuart Hall.
Wed
26 Nov
Leo Ching (2000)@Globalizing the Regional, Regionalizing the Global:
Mass Culture and Asianism in the Age
of Late Capital.@ Public Culture 12,1: 233‑257. [Project Muse]
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Week
13
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Mon
1 Dec
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Michael Fischer (1999) AEmergent Forms of Life: Anthropologies
of Late or Postmodernities.@ Annual Reviews of Anthropology
28: 455-78 [JSTOR]
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Wed
3 Dec
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Maurice Godelier (2000) AIs Social Anthropology Still Worth the
Trouble? A Response to Some Echoes from America.@ Ethnos 65, 3: 301-316. [JSTOR]
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Week 14 6 Dec SAT 10:am Film: The Matrix
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Mon
8 Dec Reality, Representation and Simulacra: consideration
of oppositions: Real v Copy - Original v Reproduction
Laura Bartlett and Thomas B. Byers (2003) ABack to the Future: The Humanist Matrix.@ Cultural Critique 53: 28-46 [Project
Muse]
Reality,
Representation and Simulacra: oppositions: Real v Copy - Original
v Reproduction
Laura Bartlett and Thomas B. Byers (2003) ABack to the Future: The Humanist Matrix.@ Cultural Critique 53: 28-46 [Project
Muse]
the interface of human beings and machines
and monstrous images of biotechnology; allegory of techno-capitalism,
labor relations and creative destruction See Lyotard
on Aderealization of familiar.@ (P74); subjectivity and the body (what
is a boundless, disembodied subjectivity?): can Neo be liberated
from the simulacrum?
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LAST
CLASS 10
Dec WED: Wrap Up
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Booyens, Johan (1998) AStruggle with Postmodernism in Anthropology.@South African Journal of Ethnology 21, 3 [EBSCO]
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