CRN: 70174

Class website is on the WebCT server

Class email list: anth200-l@hawaii.edu

Objectives

This course is an introduction to cultural anthropology, designed for students intending to major in the field, but open to others with interest in cultural study. Enrollment in the course presumes a willingness to engage actively with concepts and practices that define the discipline of cultural anthropology. Class attendance is required.

At the heart of anthropology is the concept of culture, conceived as the webs of meaning that people use to make sense of their everyday lives, communicate with others, and organize everything from feelings to ethical judgments. Bound up with the concept of culture is the sensitivity to cultural difference and alternative ways of perceiving and experiencing the world. This course offers students an opportunity to take such differences seriously and develop an understanding of basic tools useful for the study and interpretation of cultural worlds, both familiar and unfamiliar.

We will do this through a combination of readings, films, and exercises conducted inside and outside of class. Regular participation is mandatory. While there is no traditional textbook, we will use a sourcebook of anthropological writings that illustrate the range of problems and approaches that characterize the work of cultural anthropologists today. The remainder of course reading consists of three books that exemplify the nature of ethnographic writing—books that represent distinct cultural worlds (Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea; Hawai‘i, and the transnational African communities of New York City). We will use these books to explore various styles of anthropological research and analysis. Discussion of “ethnography” and “fieldwork”—practices that define the field—will be augmented with student projects that provide the opportunity to learn about anthropology firsthand by doing ethnography.

Requirements

Assignments include a midterm exam (30%) and final exam (30%), book and film essays (20%), and two hands-on projects—one on genealogy, one on life history (20%). Throughout the course students will be asked to engage in written and oral discussion to actively evaluate anthropological theory and method as applied in the readings, films, lectures, and their own projects.

Readings: Required Books (available in UH bookstore)

Talking about people. Fourth Edition 2006. by William Haviland and Luis Vivanco

The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea by Annette B. Weiner

Lady Friends: Hawaiian Ways and the Ties That Define by Karen L. Ito

Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City by Paul Stoller

Week by week outline:

I. INTRODUCTION: CULTURE

1. Aug 23: Introduction

no reading assigned

2. Aug 25: The Culture Concept: Language, Culture, Identity, Power

film: Representation & the Media

reading: Nader, “Anthropology!” Distinguished lecture (4-16)

Hall, “Representation, Meaning, and Language” [handout] (15-24)

II. FIELDWORK

3. Aug 30: Culture and the practice of anthropology

reading: Merry, “Human-Rights Law and the Demonization of Culture” (42-44)

Garland, “An Anthropologist Learns the Value of Fear” (197-200)

Houston, “Are We There Yet?: Getting to the Field” (141-142)

Cornish, “Participant Observation on a Motorcycle,” (221-222)

Maschio, “The Refrigerator and American Ideas of ‘Home’,” (166-167)

4. Sept 1: Practicing anthropology II.

reading: Weiner, “Introduction” (1-15)

Ito (ix – xi, 1-16)

Stoller (vii-xi)

III. CULTURE & SOCIAL FABRIC: TROBRIAND ISLANDS

5. Sept 6: Birth and becoming a person.

reading: Weiner Ch 1 (17-31)

Morgan, “When does life begin?” (30-41)

film: The Trobriand Islanders

6. Sept 8: Death and loss.

reading: Weiner Ch 2 “Death and the Work of Mourning” (33-50)

Tiger and Beeman, “Understanding 9/11” (242-244)

7. Sept 13: Ancestry and webs of kinship.

reading: Weiner Ch 3 “Fathers and Matrilineality” (51-64)

Williams, “Why Migrant Women Feed Their Husbands Tamales” (150-157)

Ojeda, “Growing up American” (74-76)

8. Sept 15: Gender and sexuality.

reading: Weiner Ch 4 “Youth and sexuality” (65-79)

Lancaster, “The Place of Anthropology in a Public Culture...” (127-129)

Bennett, “Hanky-Panky and Spanky-Wanky: Sex and the Single Boy” (130-133)

9. Sept 20: Marriage. GENEALOGY PROJECT DUE

reading: Weiner Ch 5 “Marriage and the Politics of Yams” (81-96)

Nanda, “Arranging Marriage in India” (145-149)

Yuan, “Land of the Walking Marriage” (158-160)

IV. CULTURAL BASES OF POWER AND AUTHORITY

10. Sept 22: Politics and Power

reading: Weiner Ch 6, “Chiefs and Hierarchy” (97-110)

White, “Village Videos and Custom Chiefs” 56-60 [handout]

11. Sept 27: Kinship and gender

reading: Weiner Ch 7 “Men Working for Women” (111-123)

Rodgers, “Feminine Power at Sea,” (231-233)

film: Trobriand Cricket

12. Sept 29: Ancestors, land, kin

reading: Weiner Ch 8, “The Regeneration of Matrilineality” (125-138)

13. Oct 4: Exchange

reading: Weiner Ch 9, “Kula and the Search for Fame” (139-157)

film: Kula: Ring of Fire

14. Oct 6: REVIEW SESSION

reading: Weiner Ch 10, “Conclusion” (159-167)

15. Oct 11: MIDTERM EXAM

V. INDIGENOUS CULTURES, “DEVELOPMENT” AND GLOBALIZATION

16. Oct 13: Indigenous cultures and modernity

reading: Stiles, “Nomads on Notice” (89-91)

Colchester, “Conservation Policy and Indigenous Peoples” (103-108)

17. Oct 18: Politics of “development”

reading: de Waal, “In the Disaster Zone: Anthropologists and the Ambiguity of Aid” (263-266

Ferguson, “The Anti-Politics Machine: “Development and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho” (251-257)

18. Oct 20: Culture, ethnicity, and nationalism

reading: -- de Waal, “The Genocidal State: Hutu Extremism and the Origins of the ‘Final Solution’ in Rwanda” (191-196)

-- van den Berghe, “The Modern Nation State: Nation-Builder or Nation-Killer?” (209-217)

19. Oct 25: Nations, States, and “Ethnic Violence”

reading: Whitehead and Ferguson, “Deceptive Stereotypes about ‘Tribal Warfare’” (218-220)

film: Guns and Money

VI. (RE)PRODUCING CULTURAL IDENTITIES

20. Oct 27:

reading: Ito Ch 1, “Lady Friends and Their Island Home” (17-49)

film: Ho’oponopono

21. Nov 1: NO CLASS (ELECTION DAY)

reading: Ito Ch 2, “Comeback and the Ties that Bind” (50-75)

22. Nov 3:

reading: Ito Ch 3, “My Heart is in my Friend: The Ties that Define” (76-115)

23. Nov 8: LIFE STORY PROJECT DUE

reading: Ito, Ch 4, “Ho’oponopono and Conflict Resolution” (116-144)

Ito, “Conclusion” (145-149)

VII. URBAN AND TRANSNATIONAL CULTURE FLOWS

24. Nov 10:

reading: Stoller Ch 1, “A Slow Afternoon in Harlem Market” (1-10)

Stoller Ch 2, “Urban Intersections / Existential Crossroads” (11-27)

25. Nov 15:

reading: Stoller Ch 3, “The Way of the Jaguar” (28-44)

Bourgois, “Crack in Spanish Harlem” (114-120)

26. Nov 17:

reading: Stoller Ch 4, “African/Asian/Uptown/Downtown” (45-63)

Sennett, “Cities without Care or Connection” (121-124)

27. Nov 22:

reading: Stoller Ch 5, “Afrocentric Marketing” (64-87)

28. Nov 24: NO CLASS (THANKSGIVING)

29. Nov 29:

reading: Stoller Ch 6, “Regulating Urban Life” (88-120)

McNamara, “ Learning How to Bribe a Policeman” (111-113)

30. Dec 1:

reading: Stoller Ch 7, “The Spatial Politics of African Trading in Harlem” (121-143)

Rubenstein, “Shuar Migrants and Shrunken Heads Face to Face...” (269-274)

film: In and Out of Africa

31. Dec 6: BOOK ESSAY DUE

reading: Stoller, Ch 8, “City Life” (144-175)

Stoller, “Epilogue” (176-182)

32. Dec 8: [REVIEW SESSION]

no reading assigned

33. Dec 15: 12 noon – 2 pm FINAL EXAM