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Theories of Culture Anth 280.01 – Fall 2005 |
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Lecture MWF: 2:15-3:05 Goodnow 109 |
Instructor Monty Roper 204 Goodnow Hall Office phone: 269-3017 e-mail: roperjm@grinnell.edu |
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Office Hours: M-F
1:15-2:00, M/W/F: 4:15-5:00, T/TH 10-12 (excluding convo dates). 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 am happy to schedule
appointments during non-office hours. |
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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 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). |
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Course Description and Goals This course provides a survey of major Western theories and theorists in the
history of social anthropology.
Beginning in antiquity, we will examine how anthropological ideas
about human society, social relations and, in particular, culture have
evolved over time. While the breadth
of the material is considerable, it is certainly not exhaustive (despite what
your sentiments may be around mid-semester).
There are many persons and theories that we will simply not have time
to explore. Our focus will be
primarily on twentieth century theories, particularly those developed prior
to the last decade. Additional
coverage of recent theory is found in the department's 300-level courses, and
some 200-level courses. A basic goal of the course is to come to recognize
and understand a number of central theoretical schools of thought (such as
historical particularism, functionalism, cultural ecology, structuralism,
postmodernism, etc.), some of the main proponents of these, and how
such approaches have informed ethnographic inquiry. The course is also intended to elucidate a
number of key themes and debates that have recurred over the history of
social theorizing. These include
questions on the nature of culture, the integration of culture or society,
and the role of the individual, as well as the tensions between
materialism/idealism, historical/ahistorical approaches, culture/society,
emic/etic, particularism/comparativism, and psychological/sociological
emphasis. The goal of the course is not to attempt to judge
what theories are “true”. Knowledge is
always tentative and partial in any case, and theories are simply ways to try
to expand and order knowledge. As
such, they can be more or less useful, and we will be asking in what
ways particular theories are useful for helping us to see or understand
something about society and culture.
When we encounter differences of opinion about the usefulness
of particular theories, we will ask why such differences of opinion
exist. In particular, by taking a
chronological approach, we will examine how ideas develop and unfold out of
the matrix of pre-existing ideas and the social context of the time. The focus of the course is quite intentional for
the department. We found in the past
that students in upper-level seminars experienced difficulty contextualizing,
and therefore in comprehending, current approaches in anthropology because
they did not understand how current approaches developed, what they were
reacting against, and what they were carrying over from the past. At the request of students, we developed
this course in the history of anthropology to better prepare them for
developing an overall grasp of the discipline. |
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Required Texts
Reserved Readings will be placed on the
course blackboard site. |
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A Note on the Readings and
Class Preparation It
is imperative that you keep up on the readings for this course and plan your
schedule so that you have enough time to do a thorough reading. The most
difficult readings will be the original essays (primarily from McGee and
Warms). A good way to read these is to
read them first very quickly to get a general idea of the material, and then
read them more carefully, making sure that you understand the main argument,
and thinking about how this responds to or relates to other ideas that we
have read and discussed. I strongly
recommend that you take notes on what you see as the key points or ideas from
the readings. These will serve in both
discussion and in preparation for the exams.
The Moore book can be read more quickly and will help to set the
context for the original essays. It
will also provide a set of ideas concerning relations to other theorists and
strengths and weaknesses that you might want to consider. Note
that I have also placed review questions on the blackboard site. These will be useful both for guiding a
day’s discussion and in preparation for exams. |
Course Requirements
1. Examinations (55%): There will be 3 in-class
1-hour examinations (15%, 20%, and 20% respectively). These will be composed of essay and short
answer questions. 2. Paper 1 and Presentation (10%): Biographical/theoretical review
of prominent theorist. 3. Final Paper (15%): Theoretical/research
review of a chosen topic. 4. Leading Class Discussion (5% total): Each student will be required to serve on two
group panels that will help to lead class discussion. 5. Participation (15%): Each class will include a mixture of
lecture and discussion. It is
essential that you keep up with the reading and come to class prepared to
answer questions, ask questions, and engage in discussion of materials with
the class. Having simply read the
materials is rarely sufficient. You
should make notes as you read and, when you are done, make a list of
questions that occur to you, connections that strike you from other readings,
etc. 6. Attendance: Attendance
is required. Any exam or in-class
activity that is missed because of an unexcused
absence will receive a zero. An
excused absence is given only through prior permission of the instructor, in
the case of illness, or for personal/family emergencies. Appropriate notices must be provided by the
health center or academic affairs. Students
will lose one percent of their final grade for each unexcused absence. |
COURSE SCHEDULE
(Subject to modification
as necessary) |
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Date
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Topic
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Readings MW: McGee and Warms EM: Erickson and Murphy RR: Reserved reading (available on blackboard site) |
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Section I: Overview of Theoretical Paradigms |
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8/26 |
Course
overview. The point of theory and some
major divides. |
Prefaces and Introductions |
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Mon 8/29-8/31 |
Early
History |
EM Chpt 1 Supplementary: RR Malefijt, Images of Man. Harris,
“Enlightenment”, and “Reaction and Recovery” |
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9/2 |
Early
20th Century |
EM Chpt 2 |
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Mon 9/5-7 |
Later
20th Century and beyond… |
EM
Chpt 3 |
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9/9- Mon 9/12 |
19th Century
Evolutionism ·
Spencer and Tylor ·
Morgan |
MW:
Spencer, Tylor, and Morgan Moore:
Tylor and Morgan Supplementary RR: Spencer “1. The Evolution of Society” |
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Section II: Historical
Foundations of Anthropological Theory |
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9/14 |
Marx:
Dialectical Materialism and the foundations of political economy |
MW: K. Marx and F. Engels Supplementary RR: K. Marx and F. Engels, “Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) and Alienated Labor (1844)” In Roberts and Hite. |
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9/16 |
Durkheim: Foundations of
Sociology and European Anthropology |
MW and Moore: Émile
Durkheim |
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Section III: Cultural Theory in the Early 20th Century |
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Historical Particularism |
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Mon 9/19 |
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MW
and Moore Supplementary RR: Boas “4. The Limitations of the Comparative Method of Anthropology” |
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9/21 |
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MW
and Moore MW Supplementary RR: Kroeber “6. The Concept of Culture in Science” |
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Functionalism |
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9/23 |
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Bronislaw Malinowski (functionalism) |
MW
and Moore Supplementary RR: Malinowski “17. The Group and the Individual in Functional Analysis” |
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Mon 9/26 |
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A.R. Radcliffe Brown (structural functionalism) |
MW
and Moore Supplementary RR: R-B “18. On the Concept of Function in
Social Science”, “19. On Social Structure” |
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9/28 |
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Evans Pritchard |
MW
and Moore |
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9/30 |
Exam 1 |
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Culture and Personality |
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Mon 10/3 |
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Ruth Benedict |
MW
and Moore Supplementary RR: Benedict “10. The Integration of
Culture” |
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10/5 |
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Margaret Mead |
MW and Moore |
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Section IV: Anthropology Diversifies.
Theory at Mid Century |
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Neo-evolutionism and
Cultural Ecology |
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10/7 |
·
Leslie White |
MW
and Moore |
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Mon 10/10 |
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Julian Steward |
MW
and Moore Supplementary RR: Steward “20. The Concept and Method of Cultural Ecology” |
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Neo-materialism
and Ecological Anthropology |
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10/12 |
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Marvin Harris |
MW and Moore Supplementary RR: Harris “24. Theoretical Principals of Cultural Materialism” |
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10/14 |
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Roy Rappaport and Benjamin Orlove |
MW:
Rappaport RR:
Benjamin S. Orlove, “Ecological Anthropology” |
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Fall
Break – Relax, Have Fun |
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Structuralism |
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Mon 10/24 |
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Claude
Lévi-Strauss |
MW
and Moore |
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10/26 |
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Sherry Ortner |
MW and Moore |
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Ethnoscience and Cognitive
Anthropology |
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10/28 |
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Eward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf |
Moore: Edward Sapir RR: Whorf “9. The Relation of Habitual Thought
and Behavior to Language” Supplementary RR: Sapir “8. The Status of Linguistics as a Science” |
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Mon 10/31 |
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Stephen Tyler and Harold Conklin |
MW |
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11/2 |
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Victor Turner |
MW and Moore Supplementary RR: Turner “28. Passages, Margins, and
Poverty: Religious Symbols of Communitas” |
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11/4 |
Exam 2 |
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Section V: More Recent Trends |
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Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology |
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Mon 11/7 |
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Mary Douglas |
MW and Moore |
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11/9 |
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Clifford Geertz |
MW
and Moore Supplementary RR: Geertz “29. Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture” |
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Sociobiology (Biosocial
Studies) |
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11/11 |
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Edward O.
Wilson and Jerome H. Barkow |
MW |
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Mon 11/14 |
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Biology and Culture cont. |
RR:
Lee Blonder, “Human Neuropsychology and the Concept of Culture” |
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Political Economy and
Historical Approaches |
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11/16 |
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June Nash ·
Immanuel Wallerstein |
Moore
(Wolf) RR:
E. Wolf, Introduction to “Europe and the People without History” RR:
June Nash, “Ethnographic Aspects of the World Capitalist System” RR:
Immanuel Wallerstein, “The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist
System” |
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11/18 |
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RR:
The Political Ecology of Amazonia MW
and Moore |
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Identity |
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Mon 11/21 |
· Frederick Barth |
RR: Ethnic Groups and Boundaries |
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Postmodernism and Beyond |
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11/23 |
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RR: About the Concept of the “Dangerous
Individual” in Nineteenth-Century Legal Psychiatry. |
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11/25 |
No Class – Thanksgiving Break |
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Mon 11/28 |
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MW |
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11/30 |
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Pierre Bourdieu and
"Praxis” |
RR:
Social Space and Symbolic Power and |
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12/2 |
Exam 3 |
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Mon 12/5 |
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MW
(Rosaldo) and Moore (Fernandez) |
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12/7 |
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MW
MW |
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12/9 |
Wrap
Up |
Moore Postscript |
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12/13 |
Final
Paper Due |
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