Cultural anthropology is the study of living human beings in our own and other societies.  It attempts to understand what it means to be human by exploring the uniformity and diversity of cultures.  This course will be organized around the concept of stratification--institutionalized inequality.  We will examine how stratification by sex, race, and class affects human life and potential.  We will give particular attention to how institutionalized inequality influences gender relations, self-concept, life chances, and material well-being.  Our examination of stratification will take place through the study and comparison of four cultural groups.  We will begin with the life-history of Nisa, a member of the relatively egalitarian hunting-gathering Bushmen of Southern Africa.  We will then look at the classless but "mythically male dominant" Mundurucu Indians of the Brazilian Amazon Basin.  Next we will examine how poverty affects the life chances and hopes of the underclass of Naples, Italy.  Finally, we will look at race, class, and gender in the great Arizona mine strike of 1983 in Chicano communities of southeastern Arizona.  Throughout the course we will examine what forms inequality takes  and what effects it has in different cultural settings.  We will also examine how anthropologists work, learn, and think about people in diverse cultures.  We will explore anthropological fieldwork and conduct a class project so that students have a hands-on experience in doing anthropology.

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Course Goals

1. to introduce students to the field of anthropology--its subject matter, methods, theories and contributions--through reading and discussing ethnographies, showing slides and films, and conducting a fieldwork project;
2. to expose students to other societies and foster international awareness and a multicultural perspective;
3. to expose students to different kinds of excellent anthropological writing;
4. to develop students' potential to ask questions about their own society;
5. to teach students about the role of cultural beliefs in shaping their attitudes towards others and towards themselves.

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Readings (on sale at the bookstore):
Belmonte, Tom. 1989. The Broken Fountain.  2nd ed.  New York: Columbia University Press.

Kingsolver, Barbara. 1996.  Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983.  Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Murphy, Yolanda and Robert Murphy. 1985.  Women of the Forest.  New York: Columbia University Press.  2nd edition.

Shostak, Marjorie. 1981. Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman.  New York: Vintage.

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Requirements

1. Attend class.  The course readings consist of four ethnographic monographs; there is no textbook.  The overall framework of the course and many essential definitions are presented only in class.  You will have difficulty passing the course if you are habitually absent.
2. Do the assigned readings by the beginning of the week for which they are assigned so that classes can build on material from the readings.  NB: There are 1200 pages of reading in this course and you are expected to read every page thoughtfully.
3. Conduct a fieldwork project (40%).  We will work together as a class to construct an overall fieldwork project composed of your individual or small-group projects.  Details will be distributed in class.  Several due dates for stages of the project are indicated on the syllabus.
4. Write two take-home essay exams (25% each).  They must be 2-3 pages, typed double spaced, with at least one-inch margins all around.  The essay question will be handed out at least a week ahead of time.  Essays are due: Thursday, October 15 and Wednesday, December 16.

5. Attend two extra-classroom events or lectures suggested or approved by me during the semester and write a one-page typed summary of each (5% each).  Summaries must describe (a) the content of the event and (b) its relevance to our cultural anthropology course.  They must be handed in within one week of the date of the event.

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Syllabus

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