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Anth. 420:

Communication and Culture

Spring, 2003
Jack Bilmes

Syllabus

This is an oral-intensive course, dealing with a wide variety of subjects related to the topic of culture and communication.  There will be no exams or papers, and only two or three articles will be assigned as required reading.  The final grade will be based on classwork, which will be of three kinds: 

1. Two presentations, to be prepared and delivered collaboratively by groups of three or four  students.  Each student in the group will be expected to participate to an approximately equal degree in the oral presentation.  The topic of the presentation will be set by an assigned article.  Additional readings and other materials, such as films, will be selected by students as part of their presentations.  In addition, students may use field observation and interviews.  Students are encouraged to use audio-visual aids in their presentations (overhead transparencies or computer presentation software, short video clips, etc.).  (If the presentation is to include edited video, the student can get a form from Kuy. 103 (Instructional Resources) for me to sign.  This will entitle the student to a one-hour training session on iMovie, after which the student can sign up for several hours on the editing equipment.  Presentations should not use more than 20 minutes of video.)  The first five minutes of each presentation should be a description of procedures and research that went into preparing the presentation.  There should also be a written bibliography of materials used in preparing the presentation.  The written bibliography should include a one paragraph "review" of each item.  Each student will be graded individually on his or her part of the presentation. 

2.  Evaluations.  Each student will also be asked, on one or two occasions, to present (orally) brief assessments of other students' presentations, in the class immediately following the presentation.  Evaluation forms will be distributed to aid in the organization of these assessments. 

3.  Questions.  Each student will be required, on about four occasions, to prepare a question to be asked of the presenters.  As with evaluations, questions will take place on the day following the presentations.

In addition, students' general contributions to classroom discussion will be considered in calculating the final grade.

Jan.   14  Introduction

         16  Cultural reinterpretation

         21      "             "

         23      "             "

         28      "             "

         30      "             "

Feb.   4    Basic theory

         6        "        "

         11      "        "

         13  Presentation 1:  Animal communication

         18  Presentation 1

         20  Presentation 2:  Teaching animals (apes, birds) to use symbols

         25  Presentation 2

         27  Presentation 3:  Human nonverbal communication

Mar.  4    Presentation 3

         6    Presentation 4:  Code switching

         11  Presentation 4

         13  Presentation 5:  Women's talk

         18  Presentation 5

         20  Presentation 6:  Courtroom talk

Apr.  1    Presentation 6

         3    Presentation 7:  Greetings and leave-takings

         8    Presentation 7

         10  Presentation 8:  Talk and social class

         15  Presentation 8

         17  Presentation 9:  Framing/metacommunication

         22  Presentation 9

         24  Presentation 10:  Silence

         29  Presentation 10

May   1    TBA

         6    TBA

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