Fall 2005

Introduction to Anthropology / ANT 104-02

 

Lecture

MWF:  11:00-11:50 a.m.

Goodnow Hall   Rm. 105

 

Instructor

Monty Roper

204 Goodnow Hall

Office phone: 269-3017

e-mail: roperjm@grinnell.edu

 

Office Hours: M-F 1:15-2:00, M/W/F: 4:15-5:00, T/TH 10-12 (excluding convo dates), and by appointment.  Basically, I welcome you to stop by my office any time; however, during non-office hours, I may be occupied and unable to meet.  I will, however, be happy to schedule appointments during non-office hours.

 

Accommodations for students with disabilities: Any student eligible for and needing academic adjustments or accommodations because of a documented disability is requested to speak with the professor no later than September 16th.  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).

 

Course Description and Goals

This course is a general introduction to anthropology.  It will be taught using a combination of lectures, readings, class discussion, projects, and films (when time and pace permit).  The purpose of the course is to introduce you to the diverse field of anthropology – the study of humans – through a consideration of the four fields of anthropology.  These include biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistics and social/cultural anthropology.  One of our goals will be to gain a general understanding of the nature of the discipline.  As such, throughout the course we will explore what anthropologists do, how they gather their data, and how this helps to understand the human condition.  Our other main goal is to examine how anthropological study has broadened our understanding of the species.  Some of the underlying questions that we will address include:  How did humans evolve as a species and what makes us unique?  What kinds of similarities and differences have been found between societies and cultures, and how can we explain these?  How and why are cultures changing today as interactions and communication between diverse groups increase?

            Please understand that this is an introductory course to a field of study with an enormous breadth of inquiry.  I am certain that there will be times when we cover only very briefly materials that you would like to explore in more depth.  I encourage you to ask questions whenever you have them, but understand that the pace of the course will often be rapid.

 

Required Texts:

1.       C. Ember, M. Ember, and P. Peregrine.  Anthropology (11th Edition)

2.       P. Whitten (8th edition) Anthropology: Contemporary Perspectives

3.       Kenneth Good  1996  Into the Heart: One Man’s Pursuit of Love and Knowledge among the Yanomamo

4.       Richard Lee  2003 The Dobe Ju/’hoansi

 

A number of articles will also be assigned as required readings.  These will be made available on the class blackboard site.

 

 

Course Requirements

1.       Examinations: (65% of grade) There will be three exams respectively worth 20%, 20%, and 25% of your final grade.  Exams will include multiple choice, short answer and short essay questions.

2.       Projects and Papers:

·       1.  Name that Skull project (10% of grade): Early in the semester, I will arrange a set of labs during which time each student will be required to analyze and identify a number of hominoid skulls.  The final report will identify the mystery skulls, explain the logic of the identification, and answer several questions that will be posed.

·       2.  Archeological Dig Project (5% of grade).  Project specifics TBA

·       3.  Group Sociolinguistics Project (5% of grade).  The class will break into several groups, each of which will be responsible for recording and analyzing data, and writing a brief research report on the use of graffiti in distinct social contexts.

·       4.  Culture Change Paper (10 % of grade).  Each student will write a brief paper in which she/he makes an argument relating to an issue affecting a cultural group of the student’s choice.

3.       Participation (5% of grade) Everyone should keep up with the reading and come to class prepared to answer questions, ask questions, and/or engage in discussion of materials with the class.  In the course of lecturing, I will often ask questions related to the reading and to materials that we have covered in past classes.  We will also devote a number of classes primarily to discussion and will undertake some group activities in class.  Everyone's participation is expected.  On occasion, I will also provide opportunities for students to research information for the benefit of the class and/or present information in class.

4.       Attendance.  Attendance is required.  Tardiness and absences will negatively affect the participation grade.  Any exam or in-class assignment that is missed because of an unexcused absence will receive a zero.  An excused absence is given only through prior permission of the instructor, for verified illness, or family/personal emergency.  In the later two cases, notice must be provided through the health center or academic affairs. 

 

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

(Subject to change as deemed necessary by the professor)

 

Date

Topic

Readings

EEP: Ember, Ember and Peregrine Textbook

Wh: P. Whitten “Contemporary Perspectives”

CD: Companion CD to EEP

BB: Blackboard Readings

Fri 8/26

Course Introduction.

Anthropology and the Four Fields.

·       EEP Ch 1

·       Wh 1 The Evolving Study of Anthropology (rec)

Part I

Human Evolution and Variation

Mon 8/29

Studying the past: methods and analysis

·       EEP Ch 2

8/31

Principles of adaptation and evolution

·         EEP Ch 3

·         Wh 2 Darwinism Defined

9/2

Primates

·         EEP Ch 4

·         Wh 7 What are friends for?

·         CD 4 Why are Primates So Smart?

·         CD 7 Chimpanzee Hunting Behavior and Human Evolution

Mon 9/5

Evolution: from the first primates to appearance of hominoids

·         EEP Ch 5

·         CD 5 Miocene Apes

9/7

Early Hominines: Australopithecines and the origin of bipedalism

·         EEP Ch 6

·         BB: AE Ph 19  Sunset on the Savanna

·         ----------------

·         CD 6 Australopithecus afarensis and Human Evolution (optional)

9/9

The Emergence of Homo species and its culture(s)

·         EEP Ch 7

·         BB: AE Ph 21 A New Human Ancestor?

·         BB: AE Ph 22 Asian Hominids Grow Older.

Mon 9/12

Homo sapiens

·         EEP Ch 8

·         Wh 3 The Great Leap Forward

·         Wh 4 The Secret life of the Neanderthal

 

9/14

The question of race

 

·         EEP Ch 12

·         BB: AAA Statement on Race

**Project 1 Due in Class**

9/16

Human Variation

·       Wh 12 Racial Odyssey

·       Wh 14 The Tall and the Short of it

 

Part II

Cultural Evolution and the Study of Prehistory

Mon 9/19

Archeological Methods

The Upper Paleolithic World

·       (review parts of Ch 2)

·       EEP Ch 9

·       Wh 18 The First Americans

·       Wh 19 Images of the Ice Age

CD 9 Lithic Analysis

9/21

The Neolithic Transition

·        EEP Ch 10

·       Wh 20 New Clues Show Where People Made the Great Leap to Agriculture

·       Wh 38 Life Without Chiefs

9/23

Exam I

Mon 9/26

Rise of Cities and States

·       EEP Ch 11

·       Wh 22 The World’s First City (?)

CD 11 Urbanism and Urbanization

9/28

Hot Topic in Archeology: Whose Remains and Whose History

·         BB: AE Cul (03/04) # 5, “Battle of the Bones”

·         BB: Endicott and Welsch "Should the Remains of Prehistoric…”

·         BB: Arch AE 39 Protecting the Past: An Interview with Walter Alva

·         BB: Arch AE 40 The Antiquities Market

9/30

Archeology in the Modern World

·         Wh 16 Garbage Demographics

·         BB: Arch AE 18 Yes, Wonderful Things

 

Part III

Language and Communication

Mon 10/3

The evolution of language

·       EEP Ch 15

·       Wh 26 The Gift of Gab

**Project II – Due in Class**

10/5

Hot Topic: Can apes learn language

 

·       BB: Endicott and R. Welsch "Can Apes Learn Language?"

·       Wh 27 Koko “Fine Animal Gorilla”

·       BB: Phys AE 11 Language Training of Apes

10/7

Language and Culture

Silent Communication

 

·         Wh 32 Shakespeare in the Bush

·         BB:  AE Cul (89/90) The Sounds of Silence

·         CD 13 The Nandi of Kenya

Mon 10/10

Sociolinguistics

·         BB: AE: #7, “Why Don’t You Say What You Mean?”

·       Wh 29 The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why

·       CD 15 The Haitians of the Caribbean

·       Wh 28 Women’s Talk

10/12

Gendered Graffiti in Class project

·       BB: Cole, “Oh Wise Women of the Stalls…”

·       BB: Nwoye, “Social Issues on walls: graffiti in university lavatories”

**Project III – Due in Class**

 

Part IV

Ethnography and Ethnology

10/14

Culture and the Anthropological Perspective Cultural Theory

·         EEP Ch 13

·         EEP Ch 14

·         Wh 34 Body Ritual among the Nacirema

 

Fall Break – Relax, Have Fun 

 

Mon 10/24, 10/26, 10/28

 

Case Study: The Yanomamo

(Anthropological methods and ethics)

·      Good, “Into the Heart”

·      BB: AE Cult 1 Doing Fieldwork Among the Yanomamo

Mon 10/31

 

Exam 2

 

11/2

Case Study: Introduction to the San

·       Lee Ch 1-3

11/4

Getting Food

·       EEP Ch 16

·       Lee Ch 4

Mon 11/7

Economic Systems

·         EEP Ch 17

·         Wh 39, In Search of the Affluent Society

11/9

Social Stratification

·         EEP Ch 18

·         (review Life Without Chiefs)

·         Lee: Eating Xmas in the Kalahari

·         CD 18 The Tlingit of Southern Alaska

11/11

Sex and Gender

·         EEP Ch 19

·         BB: AE Cul 25 The Berdache Tradition

·         Wh 44, Life Behind the Veil

Mon 11/14

Marriage and Family

·         EEP Ch 20

·         Lee Ch 6

·         Wh 37 The Marriage of Yongsu’s Mother

11/16

Marital Residence and Kinship

·         EEP Ch 21

·         Lee Ch 5

11/18

Associations and Interest Groups

·         EEP Ch 22

·         BB: AE Cul 28, The Initiation of a Maasai Warrior

Mon 11/21

Political Life

·         EEP Ch 23

·         Lee Ch 8

·         CD 23 The Iroquois of North America

11/23

Psychology and Culture

·       EEP Ch 24

·       Lee Ch 7

·       Wh 11 Isn’t She Lovely

·       BB: AE Cul 20 Death Without Weeping

11/25

No Class – Thanksgiving Break

Mon 11/28

Religion and Magic

·       EEP Ch 25

·       Lee Ch 9

·       Wh 46 The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead

·       CD 25 The Sierra Otomí of Mexico

11/30, 12/2

Culture change, and Globalization

·       EEP Ch 27````````````````

·       Lee Chs 10-13

·       AE Cul 32 Why Can’t People Feed Themselves

·       Wh 48 Societies on the Brink

·       Wh 50 The Last Tribal Battle

·       CD 27 The Eskimos of North Alaska

**Nov 30 - Project IV – Due in Class**

Mon 12/5, 12/7

Applying Anthropology

·       EEP Ch 28, 29, 30

·       Wh 52 The Stone-Age Diet: Cuisine Sauvage

·       BB: AE Cul 4 Coping with Culture Clash

·       CD 29 The Saraguros of Ecuador (Med anth)

12/9

Wrap Up

 

Tues 12/13

Final Exam