Lahore University of Management Sciences

ANTH 100 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Fall 2017-18

Instructor Anjum Alvi/Lukas Werth

Room No. 216, New HSS Wing
Office Hours TBA
Email Anjum.alvi@lums.edu.pk/lukas.werth@lums.edu.pk
Telephone
Secretary/TA
TA Office TBA
Hours
Course URL (if
any)

Course Basics
Credit Hours 4
Lecture(s) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Duration
Week
Recitation/Lab (per Nbr of Lec(s) Per Duration
week) Week
Tutorial (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Duration
Week

Course Distribution
Core No
Elective Yes
Open for Student Open to All
Category
Close for Student None
Category

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides an introduction into the discipline of Cultural Anthropology: the study of human culture. Culture,
it will turn out, is an essential aspect of our humanity, but we generally hold little idea about how various human culture
really is, and the comparison with other cultural concepts may well expose the apparent or real? arbitrariness of many
our own ideas, norms, and values. We will learn about a number of cultural concepts in different parts of the world, and
approach some basic ways in which anthropologists try to understand them.

In order to gain a general orientation in Anthropology, we will look at some main analytical fields on which the
anthropological discussion centers: religion and ritual, kinship, economic, and political orders. It will be demonstrated
how these fields are actually inseparable from each other as well as how further studies like those of gender, feminism,
person, self, death, legal and medical anthropology, food, emotions, body, sexuality, and many others are based on this
primary understanding.

Through ethnographic literature we will look at different regions of the world, like, New Guinea, Australia, Philippines,
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Japan, Nepal, Africa (Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Madagascar, Nigeria, Kalahari Desert), South America (the Amazon
Region of Columbia), USA, the Russian Federation (the Chukchi Peninsula), and thereby explore different perspectives
in anthropology.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

to introduce the main analytical fields in Anthropology, their interrelatedness and mutual
inspirations,
to introduce other significant fields based on and related to these main analytical fields
to introduce all this through different important theoretical perspectives and through different
regions of the world,
to provide a basic introduction into the whereabouts of Cultural Anthropology as an academic
discipline,
to introduce the significance of the concept of human culture,
to work out the significance of an anthropological perspective,
to reflect back on cultural values of the own background.

Course Organization
There will be no midterm or final exam as such. Instead there will be three main exams distributed
evenly through the course. They will consist of questions demanding short and long answers. Each
exam will check what you learned since the previous exam. In other words, what is covered in one
exam will not be asked in the next one.
You are expected to search in the library and on the Internet the different topics discussed in
lectures and seminars.
It is very important that you do not miss your exams because there will be no retakes.
It is expected that you will come to our office hours to talk about your weaknesses
in exams so that you will be able to perform better in the next ones.
However, the points concerning your performance in an exam which are sent as an email or
explained in an extra session will not be discussed in the office hours.

Grading Breakup and Policy

Exam-1 30%
Exam-2 40%
Exam-3 30%

Absolute Grading

Outstanding Work
A+ 100 96
A 95 91
A- 90 86

Good work, distinctly above average

B+ 85 81
B 80 76
B- 75 71
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Average Work
C+ 70 66
C 65 61
C- 60 56

Work distinctively below average

D 55 50

Inadequate
F 49 and below

Course Ethics

Please arrive on time in order not to disturb the concentration of the other students.

Please switch off your mobile phones before entering the class.

Please note that sometimes, due to the given amount of time for each session, I will short
questions or to limit them to the topic under discussion. Such an act under no circumstances
reflects on the discussant.

Please have respect for different opinions. Anthropology is a study of differences as well as of
similarities between various people, and not an imposition of one's own world view on others.

Please respect your class fellows' opinions also when they differ from your own, even when they
trigger strong feelings in you. This should not lead to the interruption of a student or the
instructor, or to a dismissal of anyone's opinion out of hand. In brief, it is expected to deal with
differences in a well-behaved manner worthy of your own self-respect.

Please keep silence during the class-work or exam. It is expected that students will neither talk,
nor help, nor cheat. Transgressions will affect everybody involved irrespective of who did what.

In accord with institutional policy, there will be no discrimination in this course on the basis of
race, ethnicity, sex/gender, ability/disability, religion/spiritual beliefs or class. Your political
beliefs and moral values will not be considered relevant for your grading and evaluation.

Cheating and Plagiarism: If you take an idea from any text, book, newspaper, or any other source,
you have to give the author credit. Furthermore, changing one or two words in a sentence is not
acceptable as a substitution for quotation marks. All assignments must represent original work not
previously or simultaneously handed in for credit in another course. Cheating, plagiarism, or any
other violations of the honor code will be dealt with according to LUMS policy.

Other serious ethical violations include re-use of essays, improper use of the Internet and
electronic services, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded essays, forgery, lying, and
unfair competition. For further instructions, please check with the latest Student Handbook.
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Student Responsibilities

Attendance is obligatory. Each lecture is dense so no absences are wished. One absence is
allowed, for the second one 2% will be cut, and for any further absence 3% per absence will be
cut.

There is no excused leave. If you are not able to attend the class because you are sick, or
attending a marriage or any family occasion, you will be marked absent.

If you are sick on the day of an exam, you have to send a note to us immediately on the very day
or the next day which includes a doctors certification and the receipt of the medical store, as these
are the requirements of the Office of Student Affairs which has to go through your papers. After
this verification you will be given a chance to appear for your exam, but you will not be graded
within the A category, because you will get another set of questions.

For LUMSs extracurricular activities you may take a day or two sessions free, but it will not be
accepted if there is a third absence which will be marked then -3.

It is expected that you come into the class a few minutes earlier. There will be a 2% grade
reduction on entering the class after the lecture has started, no matter whether a few seconds or a
few minutes have passed. Further, it is expected that if you come you will attend the whole
session. Leaving the class earlier will also be marked with a 2% reduction.

Please switch off your mobile-phones. Receiving, sending or reading any message will result in a
2% reduction of your grades.

There will be no discussion on the very last exam which will also not be shown to you. If you
miss the last exam, we will give you one grade below the average.

You can discuss your class-work with me if you want to improve your performance in
the next exams, or if you think we have miscalculated the numbers, but you may not just argue
that you deserve more numbers than what we gave to you.

There is no policy of giving extra work or an assignment to improve your grades. Every student
has an equal chance to achieve his or her grade.

Students who miss classes are responsible for the material they have missed. Teachers
are not obliged to review the contents of lectures and to repeat announcements, or to repeat the
content of a missed lecture in the office hours.

RECOMMENDED LITERATURE

Adam Kuper ed., 1992. Conceptualizing society. London and New York: Routledge.
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Barnard, Alan and Jonathan Spencer (eds.) 1996. The Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology.
Routledge.

Eller, Jack David 2009. Cultural Anthropology: Global Forces, Local Lives, 2009, Routledge.

Eriksen, Thomas H. 2001. Small Places, Large Issues - Second Edition: An Introduction to Social and Cultural
Anthropology. Pluto Press.

Garbarino, Merwyn S. 1983. Sociocultural Theory in Anthropology: A Short History. Prospect Heights, IL:
Waveland Press.

Geertz, Clifford 1983. From the Natives Point of View. Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive
Anthropology. New York: Basic Books.

Geertz, C. 1988. Works and lives: The anthropologist as author. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.

Hendry, Joy 2008. An Introduction to Social Anthropology. Palgrave.

Ingold, Tim 1994. Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology: Humanity, Culture and Social Life London:
Routledge.

Just, Peter and John Monaghan 2000. Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford
University Press. Oxford.

Kottak, Conrad Phillip 1996. The Exploration of Cultural Diversity. Mirror For Humanity: A Concise
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. New York: Overture Books.

Lienhardt, Godfrey (1964) Social Anthropology. Oxford.

Pocock, David 1975. Understanding Social Anthropology. Hodder and Stoughton.

Salzman, Philip C. 2001. Understanding Culture. Waveland Press.

Shostak, Marjorie 1981. Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman. New York: Vintage Books.
Malinowski, Bronislaw 1989. A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Thomas Barfield (ed) 1997. The Dictionary of Anthropology. Blackwells.

Williams, Raymond 1983. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. New York: Oxford University Press.

CLASS SCHEDULE
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Ses Lect Author Text Theme Place and
sio -ure People
n

1st Add and Drop (introduction to

and methodology, evaluation criteria,
2nd organization, the subject matter)

3rd Lect Lecture prepared by Culture and its

-ure Dr. Lukas Werth and Origins; Different
humans, and the
Dr. Anjum Alvi
emergence of
mankind and culture;
Are evolution and
belief system (Adam
and Eve) contrary to
each other?

4th Lect Elias, 1987. Essay On Human Beings and Difference and
Norbert their Emotions: A Process- similarity between
-ure Sociological. Theory Culture
Society 4; 339 361. humans and animals;
Evolution

5th Lect van 1960 (orig. 1909) Chapters: The Ritual: its grammar Different
Gennep, Territorial Passage and Initiation and Initiation regions in
-ure Arnold Rites. In: Rites of Passage: a comparison
Classic Study of Cultural ceremonies
Celebrations. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, pp.
15 25; 65 115.

6th Lect Beidelman, 1991. Containing Time: Rites of Ritual: its role in East Africa,
O. Passage and Moral Space or defining society, Central
-ure Bachelard among the Kaguru. Tanzania;
Anthropos, Bd. 86, 4/6 pp. 443-461. time and gender
Kaguru
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Religion: sacrifice
th
7 Lect Evans- 1953. The Sacrificial Role of Cattle Africa,
Pritchard, among the Nuer. as a ritual; the Sudan,
-ure Edward E. Africa: Journal of the International Ethiopia;
African Institute, Vol. 23, No. 3, centrality of cattle
pp. 181-198. in the life of the Nuer
Nuer

8th E x a m -- 1 30%
Saturday

9th Lect Willerslev, 2009. The optimal sacrifice: A Religion: ideal The Russian
Rane study of voluntary death among the sacrifice: the Federation,
-ure Siberian Chukchi. American the Chukchi
Ethnologist, Volume 36, Issue 4, difference between Peninsula;
pages 693704. suicide and voluntary
Siberian
death; its
Chukchi
significance through
understanding ritual

Lect Peters, 1982. Trance, Initiation, and Religion: Nepal, the

th
10 Larry G. Psychotherapy in Tamang Shamanism, Kathmandu
-ure Shamanism. American Ethnologist, Valley;
Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 21-46. Initiation ritual,
Medical Tamang
Anthropology

11th Lect Levine, 1987. Fathers and Sons: Kinship Kinship: fraternal Northwest
Nancy, E. Value and Validation in Tibetan polyandry, the Nepal;
-ure Polyandry. Man (N. S.) 22: 267-
286. significance of legal
aspects as cultural Tibetans
values; what explains
them? nature or
culture?
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12th Lect Beidelman, 1969. Some Nuer Notions of Kinship: nudity, Africa
O. Nakedness, Nudity, and Sexuality. nakedness, defining Sudan,
-ure Africa: Journal of the International Ethiopia;
African Institute, Vol. 38, No. 2. the conceptual
pp. 113-132. categories of
relations Nuer

13th Lect Collard, C. 2011. Embryo adoption: Kinship: Embryo U.S. A

and Emergent forms of siblingship adoption;
-ure Kashmeri, among Snowflakes families.
S. American Ethnologist Vol. 38, No. understanding
Americans
2, pp. 307322. kinship in the
context of new
reproductive
knowledge; Nature
vs Culture?

14th Lect Bohannan, 1955. Some Principles of Exchange Economic Order: Africa,
Paul and Investment among the Tiv. promoting hierarchy; Benue
-ure American Anthropologist, New Valley of
Series, Vol. 57, pp. 60-70. moral economy: how northern
to strive for a Nigeria
higher status and
become a better
person; the impact Tiv
of capitalism.

15th Lect Marshall, 1976. Sharing, Talking, Giving: Economic Order: Africa,
Lorna Relief of Social Tensions among demolishing Kalahari
-ure the !Kung. In: Richard B. Lee and Desert
Irven DeVore (eds.) Kalahari power/status; how
Hunter-Gatherers. Harvard UP, to maintain egality
pp. 350-372. and to live according !Kung
to your ideals

Cultural Psychology

Hunters and
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gatherers and
Egalitarianism

16th F I L M --- 1 Africa;

Kalahari
N!ai: the Story of a Kung Woman
Desert
anthropologists involved: J.
!Kung
Marshall, A. Linden, P. Draper
(58 min) winner of many prizes

Lect Rosaldo, 1983. The Shame of Headhunters Emotion, Person and Philippines,
17th Michelle Z. and the Autonomy of Self. Ethos, Self: headhunting, the east side
-ure Vol. 11, No. 3 pp. 135-151. of Luzon
cultural psychology, Island,
pursuit of equality;
is emotion cultural
or biological? Ethics Ilongot
and morality

Cultural Psychology

Hunters and
horticulturalists and
Egalitarianism

18th E x a m -- 2 40%
Saturday

19th Lect Myers, 1979. Emotions and the Self: A Political order: Australia
Fred R. Theory of Personhood and Political emotions in a moral
-ure Order among Pintupi Aborigines
Source: Ethos, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. order, forming self
Pintupi
343-370. and person; How are
emotions related to
a political order?
Are emotions
determined by
economic situation?
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Ethnopsychology

Hunters and
gatherers and
Egalitarianism

20th Lect Bulmer, 1960. Political Aspects of the Moka Political order: New Guinea
Ralph Ceremonial Exchange System inseparability of
-ure among the Kyaka People of the
Western Highlands of New Guinea. economic, kinship,
Kyaka
Oceania, Vol. 31, No. 1, and political aspects
pp. 1-13.

21st Lect Lambek, 2001. The Value of Coins in a Political order: Africa,
Michael Sakalava Polity: Money, Death, and inseparability of northwest
-ure Historicity in Mahajanga, Madagascar
Madagascar. Comparative Studies economic, religious
in Society and History, Vol. 43, No. and political aspects
4, pp. 735-762. Sakalava

22nd Lect Ortner, 1972. Is Female to Male as Nature Gender: Universal Theoretical
Sherry B. Is to Culture? Feminist Studies, Vol. truth: women are essay
-ure 1, No. 2, pp. 5-31.
devalued in relation
to men. Is it natural
or cultural?

23rd Lect Abu- 1990. The Romance of Resistance: Gender: gender Egypt's
Lughod, Tracing Transformations of Power power; resistance Western
-ure Lila Through Bedouin Women; Desert
American Ethnologist, Vol 17, pp. against the male
41-55. dominance and
against the economic Bedouins,
globalization Awlad 'Ali

24th Lect Ohnuki- 1990. Monkey as Metaphor? Semantics and Japan

Tierney, Transformations of a Polytropic Semiotics: the
-ure Emiko Symbol in Japanese Culture. Man,
importance of the
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New Series, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 89- linguistics in Japanese
107. understanding a
social-cultural
phenomena; the
concept of the
Japanese self.

25th Lect Richardson, 1975. Anthropologist--The Myth Fieldwork:

Miles Teller. American Ethnologist, Vol. ethnographer and
-ure 2, No. 3, pp. 517-533.
informant, research
in the own and in
other cultures, the
task of the
anthropologist and
of Anthropology;

A brief history of
Anthropology

26th To be continued....... Fundamental

questions in
Anthropology; what
makes a good
anthropologist

27th F I L M --- 2 New Guinea

The Kawelka: Ongka's Big Moka

Kawelka
anthropologist involved: Andrew
Strathern (52 minutes)

28th E x a m -- 3 30%
Saturday
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