50:070:213:01
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00-12:20
Armitage Hall, Room 121
405-407 Cooper Street, Room 214
Office hours: Tuesdays, 3-5pm or by appointment
phone: (856) 225-6455
email: ccoe@camden.rutgers.edu
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to one of the four major fields of anthropology---cultural anthropology---and to give you an appreciation of ways outside your own experience. After a brief introduction to key concepts in the field of cultural anthropology and a discussion of methods of research, we will begin to immerse ourselves in the lives of: the !Kung bands in the Kalahari Desert, a Shi'ite village in southern Iraq, an Apache community in the Southwest US, a Puerto Rican sugar cane plantation, and a Tongan migrant community. We will examine the cultures as well as the lives of particular individuals in these communities. Attention will be given to issues of cultural continuity and change, the relationships between individuals and their society, and what is universal in the human experience.
Five books are available at the campus bookstore and on reserve at the circulation desk at Robeson library.
Nisa |
Guests of the Sheik |
Wisdom Sits in Places by Keith Basso |
Worker in the Cane by Sidney Mintz |
Voyages |
Please note: This is a reading intensive course. The readings are central to the lectures. Do not let yourself fall behind!
To do by Friday, September 4th at the latest:
Date |
Topics | Exams | Readings due |
September 1-17 |
Some Concepts, A Bit of History, and a Guide to Reading the Texts and Viewing the Films |
||
September 1 |
Orientation and Requirements |
||
| September 3 | "The Body Ritual of the Nacirema" by Harold Miner American Anthropologist (1965) (on reserve) due |
||
| September 10 | Continue reading Nisa | ||
September 15 |
Lec: The Concept of Culture and the Nature of Cultural Systems continued |
Continue reading Nisa | |
| September 17 | Continue reading Nisa |
||
September 22-October 1 |
!Kung Bands of the Kalahari Desert | ||
September 22 |
Lec: Intro to the !Kung |
Quiz #1 |
Nisa completed |
September 24 |
Lec: Hunting and Gathering Societies | Continue reading Guests
|
|
September 29 |
Continue reading Guests | ||
October 1 |
Film: "N!ai: The Story of a !Kung Woman" (1980) and Conclusions
|
Continue reading Guests |
|
| October 6-20 | A Shi'ite Village in Southern Irag | ||
| October 6 | Lec: Intro to the Study of Shi'ites in Southern Iraq | Quiz #2
|
Guests of the Sheik completed |
| October 8 | Lec: History of Islam and Shi'ism |
Continue reading Wisdom |
|
October 13 |
Continue reading Wisdom |
||
October 15 |
Film: "Dadi's Family" (1988) |
Continue reading Wisdom |
|
October 20 |
Film: "A Veiled Revolution" (1982) |
Continue reading Wisdom |
|
October 22 |
Midterm Exam |
Midterm |
|
October 27-November 10 |
An Apache Community in the Southwest |
||
October 27 |
Quiz #3 |
Wisdom Sits in Places completed |
|
October 29 |
Continue reading Worker |
||
November 3 |
Lec: Morality | Continue reading Worker |
|
| November 5 | Film: "Geronimo and the Apache Resistance" (1988) |
Continue reading Worker | |
November 10 |
Conclusions |
Continue reading Worker |
|
November 12-24 |
A Capitalist Economy in Puerto Rico |
||
| November 12 | Quiz #4 | Worker in the Cane completed |
|
November 17 |
Continue reading Voyages |
||
| November 19 | Film: "Mi Puerto Rico" (1995) | Continue reading Voyages | |
November 24 |
Lec: Politics & Gender, Medicine, Religion & Race, and Conclusions |
Continue reading Voyages |
|
December 1-10 |
A Pacific Island Community and its Diaspora |
||
December 1 |
Quiz #5 |
Voyages completed |
|
December 3 |
|||
December 8 |
|||
December 10 |
Conclusions and Lec: Summary of the Themes of the Course |
||
Dec. 16, 2pm |
Final Exam |
Final |