Syllabus 2023
Introduction to Anthropology
ANTH 1100
Fall 2023
T/TH 8:30-10:20
AC Room 312 (Scarpa Building)
Professor Laurie Greene
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| Anthropology the Age of Globalization: Why Study Culture? |
AC Campus Office: 224g
Email: laurie.greene@stockton.edu
Cell Phone: 609.214.6596 (text or call)
Office Hours: T/Th 2:30-3:30 or by appointment
Required Texts/Resources:
(1) Guest, Kenneth J. , ed. ((2018) Cultural Anthropology: A reader for a global age. Norton
(2) Blog Posts with lecture outlines
(1) Guest, Kenneth J. , ed. ((2018) Cultural Anthropology: A reader for a global age. Norton
(2) Blog Posts with lecture outlines
(3) Videos and other media
(4) PackBack AI writing and discussion assistant
Anthropology is the study of the full scope of human diversity, past and present, and the application of that knowledge to help people of different backgrounds better understand one another. Anthropology provides a unique set of tools, including strategies and perspectives, for understanding our rapidly changing, globalizing world. Whether your field is business or education, economics or psychology, we all need a skill set for analyzing and engaging a multicultural and increasingly interconnected world and workplace. That is what this class is about! Applying anthropological knowledge, skills and perspectives to understanding the complex world around us.
Course Objectives:
Anthropology is the study of the full scope of human diversity, past and present, and the application of that knowledge to help people of different backgrounds better understand one another. Anthropology provides a unique set of tools, including strategies and perspectives, for understanding our rapidly changing, globalizing world. Whether your field is business or education, economics or psychology, we all need a skill set for analyzing and engaging a multicultural and increasingly interconnected world and workplace. That is what this class is about! Applying anthropological knowledge, skills and perspectives to understanding the complex world around us.
Course Objectives:
- To understand the value of studying anthropology in our modern world (applied practice)
- To understand the unique perspective and methodology of anthropology (fieldwork/ethnography)
- To understand the nature and functions of culture
- To understand the impact of the forces of globalization on our modern world (inequality, migration, diversity)
- To understand our own beliefs and behaviors as a function of culture (ethnocentrism/cultural relativity)
- To understand the key concepts in the discipline of anthropology
Class Requirements and Grading:
Midterm: 45 total points
Final: 45 total points
Class Discussion Openers 60 points *
Total Possible Points: 150
146-150 A+
140-145 A
135-139 A-
130-134 B+
124-129 B
118-123 B-
114-117 C+
109-113 C
102-108 C-
97-101 D+
93-96 D
90-92 D-
below 90 F
Midterm: 45 total points
Final: 45 total points
Class Discussion Openers 60 points *
Total Possible Points: 150
146-150 A+
140-145 A
135-139 A-
130-134 B+
124-129 B
118-123 B-
114-117 C+
109-113 C
102-108 C-
97-101 D+
93-96 D
90-92 D-
below 90 F
*You may miss one of the thirteen assignments and still get full credit. Each assignment is worth 5 points. Possible points is 65 (with extra credit).
Required Readings and Topical Coverage
I. Week#1: September 5-7 Introduction, Anthropology in the Global Age
Readings: PODCAST listen HERE (Waiting in line: cross-cultural experiences)
Article HERE
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---What is anthropology?
---Through what lenses do anthropologists gains comprehensive view of human cultures?
---What is globalization and why is it important for anthropology?
---How is globalization transforming anthropology?
September 6 Introduce yourself (submitted on PackBack):
September 6 Introduce yourself (submitted on PackBack):
What would you like to get out of this course this semester? What relevance do you think anthropology will have for you in your future?
II. Week #2: September 12-14, The Nature and Meaning of Culture and Culture Change
Readings: CA reader, Chapters Section 1-2
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---What is culture?
---How has the concept of culture developed in anthropology?
---How are culture and power related?
---How much of who you are is shaped by biology and how much by culture?
---How is culture created?
---How is globalization transforming culture?
---What is culture?
---How has the concept of culture developed in anthropology?
---How are culture and power related?
---How much of who you are is shaped by biology and how much by culture?
---How is culture created?
---How is globalization transforming culture?
---How do cultures change?
---What are the properties of change?
---Can the direction of culture change be predicted?
---What are the determinants of the process of diffusion?
September 13 Class Discussion Opener 2 (submitted on PackBack):
September 13 Class Discussion Opener 2 (submitted on PackBack):
After Reading the article on the Nacirema Culture (Chapter Section 2), discuss the "ethnocentric gaze" and how understanding ourselves, is a window to understanding others (Spradley).
- Who are the Nacirema? If you know, does this change your reading of the essay?
- How does the outsider's view of American Culture allowed you to see yourself and your culture in a new light?
- What we consider rational, scientific and logical may appear irrational, unscientific and illogical in another. How does Miner's article challenge us to confront our ethnocentrism?
- How might you update the story of the Nacirema today? Can you write a similar piece about a ethnocentric view of a practice we take for granted (cell phone usage, eye contact on public transport, seating habits in class).
III. Week#3: September 19-21, Fieldwork and Ethnography
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 3
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---What is unique about ethnographic fieldwork and why do anthropologists conduct this type of research?
---How did the concept of fieldwork develop?
---How do anthropologists get started conducting fieldwork?
---How do anthropologists write ethnography?
---What moral and ethical concerns guide anthropologists in their research and writing?
---How is fieldwork changing in response to globalization?
September 20 Class Discussion Opener 3 (submitted on PackBack): After reading the articles in Chapters section 3 on fieldwork and the anthropological method, Identify what you feel is unique to the anthropological method, and how it may produce data which is different than other social science methodologies. You may ALSO consider points from the articles in Chapters Section 2. Make sure that you support your perspective with examples from the article(s).
---What is unique about ethnographic fieldwork and why do anthropologists conduct this type of research?
---How did the concept of fieldwork develop?
---How do anthropologists get started conducting fieldwork?
---How do anthropologists write ethnography?
---What moral and ethical concerns guide anthropologists in their research and writing?
---How is fieldwork changing in response to globalization?
September 20 Class Discussion Opener 3 (submitted on PackBack): After reading the articles in Chapters section 3 on fieldwork and the anthropological method, Identify what you feel is unique to the anthropological method, and how it may produce data which is different than other social science methodologies. You may ALSO consider points from the articles in Chapters Section 2. Make sure that you support your perspective with examples from the article(s).
*September 22 Special Reading 4 (submitted on PackBack): Please read blog post (short article) on anthropology and human rights.
IV. Week#4: September 26-28, Language & Culture, Art & Symbolism
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 15
CA reader, Chapter 4
PODCASTS HERE and HERE
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---What is language and where does it come from?
---How does language shape our ways of thinking?
---How do systems of power intersect with language and communication?
---What are the effects of globalization on language?
September 27 Class Discussion Opener 5 (submitted on PackBack): After Reading Shakespeare in the Bush, discuss the ways in which language and culture appear to be connected.
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---What is language and where does it come from?
---How does language shape our ways of thinking?
---How do systems of power intersect with language and communication?
---What are the effects of globalization on language?
---What is art?
---What is unique about how anthropologists study art?
---What is the relationship between art and power?
---How do art and media intersect?
---What is unique about how anthropologists study art?
---What is the relationship between art and power?
---How do art and media intersect?
- In what ways does the Tiv culture shape their interpretation of Hamlet?
- Is "human nature" the same all over the world? Use Bohannan's fieldwork experience to support your position
- Does language shape the way we think? Support your position on the interpretations of the TIv.
- Can our culture shape the way that we use and understand language? Consider words like "terrorist" or "Communist" or "liberal" or "Feminist".
V. Week#5: October 3-5, Race and Racism
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 5
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---Do biologically separate races exist?
---How is race constructed around the world?
---How is race constructed in the United States?
---What is racism?
October 4 Class Discussion Opener 6 (submitted on PackBack): Race and Racism may be one of the most contentious and least understood concepts in American Culture. Considering your Readings in Chapter 5 (Part 2),
---Do biologically separate races exist?
---How is race constructed around the world?
---How is race constructed in the United States?
---What is racism?
October 4 Class Discussion Opener 6 (submitted on PackBack): Race and Racism may be one of the most contentious and least understood concepts in American Culture. Considering your Readings in Chapter 5 (Part 2),
- Racism is more than individual prejudice, it is a power structure supported by the institutions in society and the tacit beliefs in culture. Describe the key institutions that helped reshape the US racial landscape after WWII (article on Jews-hint)
- How were African Americans shut out of the post-war suburban building boom (and other impacts of racism)/ Do we see these same impacts still today?
- How did Jews become "white folks"?
- How is race understood differently in the US and Brazil?
- What role can social media play in activism and anti-racism today? How does this work and why? Consider #blacklivesmatter
- What are the challenges to eliminating racism from a cultural perspective?
VI. Week#6: October 10-12, Ethnicity and Nationalism
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 6
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---What does ethnicity mean to anthropology?
---How and why is ethnicity created, mobilized, and contested?
---What is the relationship of ethnicity to nation?
October 11 Class Discussion Opener 7 (submitted on PackBack): After reading the article by Paul Farmer, consider the notion of ethnicity, violence, and "stupid deaths"
---What does ethnicity mean to anthropology?
---How and why is ethnicity created, mobilized, and contested?
---What is the relationship of ethnicity to nation?
October 11 Class Discussion Opener 7 (submitted on PackBack): After reading the article by Paul Farmer, consider the notion of ethnicity, violence, and "stupid deaths"
- How does the article on Rwanda reveal how ethnicity is constructed?
- What role does the socialite of landmines play in the modern history of Rwanda?
- How does Farmer connect the construction of ethnicity and genocide in Rwanda to global causes and dynamics?
- What is farmer's challenge to anthropologists about their role in addressing violence, genocide and "stupid deaths"?
- What are "stupid deaths" and who suffers most from them?
VII. Week#7: October 17-19, Gender, Culture, Sex & Sexuality
October 18 Class Discussion Opener 8 (submitted on PackBack): In the current cultural moment, concepts of "gender identity" as fixed and definitive are being challenged. After reading Emily Martin's the Egg and the Sperm, discuss how culture shapes our understanding of gendered realities. (5 points)
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 7 & 8
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---Are men and women born or made?
---Are there more than two sexes?
---How do anthropologists explore the relationship between gender and power?
---How is globalization transforming gender roles and stratification?
---Are men and women born or made?
---Are there more than two sexes?
---How do anthropologists explore the relationship between gender and power?
---How is globalization transforming gender roles and stratification?
---What is sexuality and where does it come from?
---How can we understand sexuality from a global perspective?
---How has sexuality been constructed in the United States?
---How is sexuality an arena for working out relations of power?
---How does globalization influence local expressions of sexuality?
---How can we understand sexuality from a global perspective?
---How has sexuality been constructed in the United States?
---How is sexuality an arena for working out relations of power?
---How does globalization influence local expressions of sexuality?
October 18 Class Discussion Opener 8 (submitted on PackBack): In the current cultural moment, concepts of "gender identity" as fixed and definitive are being challenged. After reading Emily Martin's the Egg and the Sperm, discuss how culture shapes our understanding of gendered realities. (5 points)
- How is the story of reproduction in the US gendered? How does the American notion of the reality of gender impact the scientific description and understanding of reproduction?
- What terms and descriptions did Martin find in medical texts that she felt were gender biased (for females? for males?)?
- How do these misrepresentations of the biological activities of the egg and the sperm provide an ideological basis and rationale for gender stereotypes and inequality? Why do you think these myths persist?
- Do these stereotypes contribute to women's reproductive choices?
- What does Martin mean by "sleeping metaphors"?How can the anthropological perspective "wake them up"?
No Class October 24: Preceptorial Advising
MIDTERM EXAM October 26 (covering Weeks 1-7).
VIII. Week#8: October 31-November 2, Kinship family and Marriage
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 9
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---How are we related to one another?
---Are biology and marriage the only basis for kinship?
---How are ideas of kinship linked to the nation-state?
---How is kinship changing in the modern world?
---How are we related to one another?
---Are biology and marriage the only basis for kinship?
---How are ideas of kinship linked to the nation-state?
---How is kinship changing in the modern world?
November 1 Class Discussion Opener 9 (submitted on PackBack): Mapping your kinship relationships.
- after drawing out your "family tree" (kinship chart) discuss the terms (language) used to describe your relatives. What kinds of things does our kinship terminology reveal to be significant?
- What "stories" does your family tree reveal?
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 10
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---Is inequality a "natural" part of human culture?
---How do anthropologists analyze class and inequality?
---How are class and inequality constructed?
---Why are class and inequality largely "invisible"?
---What are the effects of global inequality?
---Is inequality a "natural" part of human culture?
---How do anthropologists analyze class and inequality?
---How are class and inequality constructed?
---Why are class and inequality largely "invisible"?
---What are the effects of global inequality?
---What is an economy, and what is its purpose?
---What are the roots of today's global economy?
---What are the dominant organizing principles of the global economy today?
---How does today's global economy link worker's with consumers worldwide?
---How is today's global economy reshaping migration?
---Is today's global economic system sustainable?
November 8 Class Discussion Opener 10 (submitted on PackBack): Economic activity is less about supply and demand, and more about the social VALUE of exchange.After reading the two articles in chapter 10 of your reader, discuss the surprising social meaning of exchange revealed through the anthropological perspective.
---What are the roots of today's global economy?
---What are the dominant organizing principles of the global economy today?
---How does today's global economy link worker's with consumers worldwide?
---How is today's global economy reshaping migration?
---Is today's global economic system sustainable?
November 8 Class Discussion Opener 10 (submitted on PackBack): Economic activity is less about supply and demand, and more about the social VALUE of exchange.After reading the two articles in chapter 10 of your reader, discuss the surprising social meaning of exchange revealed through the anthropological perspective.
- what economic forces and cultural definitions contribute to the "underground economy" (Bourgeois)
- What is the social impact of the second hand clothing trade?
- How is inequality created and perpetuated?
X. Week#10: November 14-16, Politics and Power
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 12
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---How do anthropologists view the origins of political history?
---What is the state?
---How is globalization affecting the state?
---What is the relationship among politics, the state, violence, and war?
---How do people mobilize power outside of the state's control?
---How do anthropologists view the origins of political history?
---What is the state?
---How is globalization affecting the state?
---What is the relationship among politics, the state, violence, and war?
---How do people mobilize power outside of the state's control?
FILM VIEWING: The Anthropologists 11/16 (I will not be here).
November 15 Class Discussion Opener11 (submitted on PackBack): Are warfare and violence an inevitable part of human existence?
November 15 Class Discussion Opener11 (submitted on PackBack): Are warfare and violence an inevitable part of human existence?
- Is warfare universal according to Mead?
- What determines the levels of violence in a culture?
- What is Nordstrom's definition of shadow networks and how do they relate to modern warfare?
- what truths about warfare are revealed through the anthropological perspective?
XI. Week#11: November 21, Subsistence
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 12
Key Concepts
---How does a culture get its basic needs for survival?
--What are the four subsistence strategies
--What is the difference between food foragers and producers/
No Class November 23: Thanksgiving
XII. Week#12: November 28-30, Religion and Systems of Meaning
Readings: CA reader, Chapter 13
Key Concepts/learning objectives:
---What is religion?
---What tools do anthropologists use to understand how religion works?
---In what ways is religion both a system of meaning and a system of power?
---How is globalization changing religion?
---What is religion?
---What tools do anthropologists use to understand how religion works?
---In what ways is religion both a system of meaning and a system of power?
---How is globalization changing religion?
November 29 Class Discussion Opener12 (submitted on PackBack): Religion and magic
XIII. Week#13: December 6-13 Study Week: See study guide and review on "Blog"
December 6 Class Discussion Opener 13 (submitted on PackBack): What is the most significant thing that you have gotten out of this class and how is it useful to you going forward?
XV. Week#14: Final Exam December 14th (due at midnight) -exam will be emailed on Friday, December 10.
Texts and readings are REQUIRED for this course. Please let me know if you have problems acquiring the texts. The principle text may be purchased in ANY of the last three editions. The reader MUST BE PURCHASED in the EDITION DESIGNATED above.
Assignments are NOT OPTIONAL unless indicated.
Using PACKBACK is REQUIRED for this course:
PackBack Questions platform will be used for online discussion about class topics and readings. I hope that on PackBack you will be curious, adventurous, and be able to discuss the real-world applications of anthropological knowledge and the anthropological perspective.
- PackBack discussions will count for about 30% of your grade this term.
- Each Week, you will be required to answer prompted open-ended questions on the week's reading on PackBack in preparation for a more lively and informed discussion in class. SUBMISSIONS WILL BE DUE ON WEDNESDAY AT 12 MIDNIGHT
- Beginning with assignment 5 (week 4), (1) you will also be able to ask your own questions (instead of answer mine) and required to engage with at least 2 other students; commenting on their posts or answering questions that they pose.
- PacbBack will "score" answers as you write them (curiosity, credibility, depth) offering you a chance to improve your score. Take advantage of this.
- You will need a minimum "curiosity score" of 55 to receive credit for the week's assignment. You will receive half credit for assignments less than 55, and 0 credit for non-submissions.
- You will have one week to re-edit your responses on packback to receive full credit. You may not submit a response after the due date, so please get something posted by the deadline.
How To Register for PackBack:
- A registration email will be sent to you from invite@Packback.co prompting you to finish registration. If you do not receive an email, you can register by doing the following:
- Create an account at https://app.packback.co an click "create an account" or if you have an account, you can sign in.
- Look up class community with our lookup key: 295aa938-8c6c-4a89-9447-c7b89c862511
- Follow the instructions on your screen to finish registration
- Registration requires that you pay for a subscription www.packback.co/product/pricing
For a brief description of why we are are using PackBack in class please watch this video https://www.utube.com/watch?v=OV7QmikrD68
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