10
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; SOCI 103
Fall, 2007 / Instructor: Dr. David AyersRoom: HAL 308 / Phone: 458-2010
3 Credit Hours / Office: HAL 300H
Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays / Time: 10:0511:20 a.m.
Prerequisite: None / E-Mail:
Dr. Ayers’ Office Hours: (Please note that as Dr. Ayers is an Assistant Dean, he often has meetings scheduled that interfere with his regular office times, sometimes on short notice. Thus, if it is critical for you to meet with him, schedule an appointment with him by e-mail, phone, or in person.)
Monday: 10:00-12 noon
Tuesday: 2:00-3:30 PM
Wednesday: 3:00-5:00 PM
Thursday: NONE
Friday: 10:00 AM-12:00 noon
Required Reading Materials To Be Purchased:
(1) Peoples, James and Garrick Bailey. Humanity, 7th Edition. 2006.
(2) Angeloni, Elvio (Editor). Anthropology 07/08, 30th Edition. 2007.
Description:
In this course we will look at “culture”¾its content, meaning, and function¾ across a wide range of human groups. We will study the diverse ways in which many different “nations, tribes and tongues” meet or accommodate basic human needs and pursue not only cultural-specific goals but universal (and near-universal) human aspirations, mores, and needs. In the process, we will learn a lot of specific facts about different people-groups that will help us broaden our understanding of the world, and deal more effectively with those from other cultures. We will also be introduced to basic terms, concepts, theories, and methods used by cultural anthropologists, and helpful to understanding their work.
Hopefully, the knowledge that students who do well in this course gain about the methods, theories, and questions used by anthropologists, and applied to a dizzying array of human cultures, will prove useful in helping them to cope with many everyday issues and problems in human affairs he or she will deal with here in the United States. Moreover, as America itself absorbs people from across the world, and as our religious, business, military, and political work puts more Americans into direct contact with often dramatically different cultures, in endeavors requiring great interpersonal sensitivity and tact, the value of this course should be evident.
Please note that your Instructor does not accept as “gospel” the “cultural determinist” and “cultural relativist” perspectives held (too often, uncritically) by most modern American cultural anthropologists¾though we will interact freely with literature written by those of this persuasion, and the student will be free to make up his or her own mind on the issues involved. Your Instructor does not discount the role of biology in shaping human thought and action, and in creating parameters and tendencies human societies tend to conform to in their social structures and cultures. Further, while recognizing the value of “suspending moral judgment” as a practical tool for doing research on even very deviant groups, and while recognizing that there are certainly many important, interesting, and valid cultural variations in moral ideas and practices¾your Instructor does not assume that all morality and truth are subjective or culturally variable. This means that he will point out from time-to-time that some societies seem to work better in meeting innate human needs, and in accommodating certain innate tendencies, than others. And this means that he will point out from time-to-time that some societies—generally and/or within particular areas—conform better than others to God’s true and absolute moral demands.
This need not hamper anthropological understanding, and this should not promote harmful cultural pride or ethnocentrism. Why? Because the only valid measuring stick for all human cultures is the Bible. An assumption of this Instructor is that its teachings are absolutely true and trustworthy. Its moral teachings subject all humans and societies to enough judgment that all human beings, no matter how “advanced” their civilizations, ought to be teachable and humble regarding their own culture’s practices and precepts.
Biology/Education Department Environmental Education Certification for Secondary Teacher Certification Candidates
This course is required for the Environmental Education Certification Standard II portion of the Biology Certification for secondary teacher certification candidates. As such, it “requires study of .... sociology .... institutions and processes, and technology as they relate to environmental management.” As the below course outline makes clear, we will examine the relationship of many human societies to their environments and consider many ways, environmentally sound and unsound, in which cultures relate to their physical environment.
Course Rationale:
First, to prepare students for an increasingly interacting, mutually-dependent world, a global economy, and a multi-ethnic society, by exposing them to an array of human cultures. Second, to teach students techniques and perspectives which will help them deal effectively with a range of novel social situations, especially those encountered when dealing with new cultures. Third, help students see how humans interact with their physical environment in effective and ineffective, harmful and helpful, ways. Fourth, to help students discover the pleasure of learning about, and encountering, people different than themselves. Fifth, to give students background content that will be useful in other social science courses.
Course Learning Outcomes and Corresponding Assessments:
Course Learning Outcomes: / Achievement Assessed By:(1) Learn what culture is, and the role it plays in shaping human personalities, beliefs and social practices. / (1) Many objective and essay items covering reading and in-class materials, key aspects of the class report.
(2) Learn about the nature and consequences of the interaction between different cultures and their immediate physical environments. / (2) Many objective and essay items covering reading and in-class materials, particularly in the early “Theory” section (Exam #1) and last third of the course (Final Exam).
(3) Prepare for encounters with those of other cultures and ethnic/national groups by learning many specifics about other cultures and peoples. / (3) Class content and discussion throughout the course with mastery demonstrated on objective and essay items on exams; the class report also demonstrates this skill.
(4) Increase empathetic understanding of those outside one’s own cultural group. / (4) Also particularly reflected and graded in work on exam essays and class report.
(5) Learn about the various types of social and cultural arrangements and beliefs that different societies have about a wide variety of human institutions and basic relationships. / (5) Many objective and essay items covering reading and in-class materials; and addressed in the paper assignment as well.
(6) To improve library and Internet focused research skills, especially in the areas of professional Sociology and Anthropology. / (6) Assessing content and source quality in the research report.
(7) To learn about key theoretical, conceptual, and methodological stances and debates in professional anthropological and also popular circles. / (7) Objective and essay exam items.
Methods of Instruction:
Classroom lectures and discussions, required reading, overheads, computer demos, and video-tapes. All: (a) Angeloni readings, and (b) each of the long (but not short) films, will accompanied by “study questions.” These questions will encompass the materials from which all exam questions dealing with these readings or films will be drawn. The questions for the Angeloni readings are in a document available on the college network. The study questions for films will be distributed in class.
Note that information presented in films, computer demos and overheads will all be required material, subject to testing in the same way as “regular” lecture content.
Getting the Reading Questions on the College Network:
As noted above, a single document containing all of the study questions for the Angeloni readings is on the college network. You may access it by simply clicking on this hyperlink: \\Ed\Courses\Soci\103\Reading Questions\Reading Questions.doc
Accessing PowerPoint Presentations on the College Network:
Lectures in this class are often, though not always, structured around PowerPoint multimedia presentations. When these are used, after the lectures, a (usually “stripped-down”!) version of the PowerPoint presentation will be made available on the college network for students to review. Here is the address: ED\Courses\Soci\SOCI 103\PowerPoint.
Evaluation:
Examinations: You will take two Regular Exams, and a comprehensive Final.
Regular Examinations:
Both regular examinations will cover all assigned reading and in-class (lecture, film, guest speakers, etc.) for the period covered. Each exam will begin sharply at the beginning of class and the entire class period will be given to complete it.
The first regular examination will cover the first 9 class periods (8/28 through 9/26), and will be held on Thursday, September 27. The second regular examination will cover the 8 class periods from the first examination through Tuesday, October 30 (no class on Thursday, 10/18 due to Fall Break), and will be held on Thursday, November 1.
Both will consist of two essay questions worth 15 points each (for a total of 30 points), and 35 multiple choice questions worth 2 points each (for a total of 70 points).
Each essay question will be set up so that you answer one of two options. One of the essay questions will deal with an Angeloni reading. It will be derived from the study questions that your Instructor has posted on the college network—though it may be a combination of two or more of these questions. The other essay question will deal only with the lecture content (again, including films, etc.).
There will be 14 multiple choice items from the Peoples and Bailey text, and 21 multiple choice questions from the lecture (including film, overheads, computer demos, etc.). Thus, each regular examination will come 43% from assigned reading, and 57% from in-class materials (though obviously, there is overlap).
Each regular examination is worth 25% of your final course grade.
Final Examination:
The final examination for this class will be at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 18. You will be given 2 hours to complete it. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO TAKING THE FINAL AT THE ASSIGNED DAY AND TIME.
30% of the final exam will cover the material that was dealt with on the two regular exams. This will include all in-class content from this period up through Tuesday, October 30, but NO reading from the Peoples and Bailey text, or Angeloni will be covered in this portion of the exam.
The other 70% of the final examination will deal with the material covered in the last 9 class periods of the course (11/6 through 12/11, with no class Tuesday, 11/20 and Thursday, 11/22 due to Thanksgiving Break). This will include all of the assigned reading — Peoples & Bailey text, Angeloni reader, and reserve — as well as all in-class content, from these last 9 class periods of the course.
The final will consist of two essay questions (together worth 30 points), and 70 multiple choice questions (together worth 70 points). One of the essay questions will be worth 15 points and will be from the lecture content of the final 9 class periods of the class. The second essay question will be worth 15 points and will be from an Angeloni or reserve reading covered in the final 9 class periods of the class, with the same reliance on study questions as in the regular exams. 15 multiple choice items will be drawn from the Peoples and Bailey text readings for the final 9 class periods of the class. 55 multiple-choice items will be from in-class materials¾30 from the first two-thirds of the class up to examination #2, and 25 from the final 9 class periods of the class. The final exam overall, then, will be 30% from assigned readings, and 70% from in-class materials. However, the portion (70 of 100 points) dealing with the final 9 class periods of the class will be 43% from assigned reading and 57% from in-class materials.
The final examination is worth 35% of your final course grade.
Report:
The report is to be a minimum of 6 (complete) pages, and a maximum of 8 pages, long. Length does not include cover page, or bibliography -- only basic text. The report should be double-spaced, with a separate cover page. Margins are to be 1” wide all around. Use a 12 point font. The report should have page numbers in the bottom or top center set at .5.” Use and cite at least 6 sources other than reading materials that are required for this course. Most of these sources should be “professional” rather than popular sources, and should be print rather than Internet sources.
The report is due Thursday, November 29. It is worth 15% of the final grade.
In the report, deal with a specific religious tradition, ritual, practice etc. from any culture that is NOT a major, Western culture, and which can be described as adhering to animism/animatism, ancestor worship, totemism, or polytheism. NO “monotheisms.” Describe this ritual, and briefly summarize its history and development over time. Then, analyze one of two things about this ritual: either (1) its subjective meaning for the people who engage in it; or (2) what (all or some) anthropologists believe its “true” social or cultural functions are. (This will be explained further in class later in the semester.)
The culture you pick should NOT be a mainstream Western culture! However, a subculture within a larger Western nation (such as Gypsies, Cajun, Zapotec, Basque, etc.) is fine. This can include native South or North American “Indian” cultures. This can also include ancient or otherwise “dead” cultures (such as Egyptian, Aztec, ancient Greek, etc.).
When in doubt whether the ritual/tradition/practice or people-group you are interested in fits the criteria of this paper assignment, ASK. Don’t hand in your paper on a culture or ritual that might or might not fit the above criteria, and then assume it will be acceptable. This could cost you! If there is any doubt, check with your instructor before beginning.
The papers that get the best grades will: (a) remain within the length limits while maintaining the font and margin sizes required; (b) address the subject matter required; (c) be well (especially narrowly) focused; (d) be well written (overall organization, paragraph and sentence structure, grammar, spelling); (e) use the right number of high-quality sources; (f) be succinct—packing good, precise information into the short length allowed without being wandering, loose or redundant; and (g) be original and interesting.
Late Paper Policy:
Papers must be handed in on the due date. 10% will be subtracted from the report’s grade for each day after this that the paper is late, up to a maximum of a 30% penalty. Papers will not be accepted at all after the last day of classes. In other words, to be accepted it must be submitted, in hard copy, before (not on!) Study Day. NO exceptions.