Syllabus Alex Fattal

ANT 128: Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology

Photograph from Robert Frank’s series “The Americans” (1958)

Schedule
Tues and Thurs: 10-11:30

Office Hours
Thurs 2-5 or by appointment

Course Description
This course will introduce you to the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology.
Anthropology has its roots in the effort to understand peoples far from centers of western
power. Today, however, you can find anthropologists studying central bankers who
determine monetary policy, software engineers working for tech giants in Silicon Valley, and
health care workers on the front lines of global epidemics. Anthropology strives to
understand human beings in all of their social and cultural complexity; an undertaking that
has created varied theoretical frameworks, different methodological approaches, and a trove
of empirically rich case studies. This course will provide a rich sampling of these literatures
and an opportunity to grapple with the ideas and debates put forth by the authors.

The course will be divided into two parts. The first part will provide a condensed historical
overview of the discipline from its inception at the turn of the 20th century until a moment
of soul searching that began in mid-1980s. In an effort to make some of the older readings
more relevant to you I have juxtaposed them with more recent writings that take on similar
issues. Part two turns to some of the larger categories in the discipline, such as race, class,
and gender. We will approach these topics through recent ethnographic writings.

Whether you go on to be an anthropology major or not, this class will provide you with
insights into why anthropology matters and introduce you to its methods, central texts,
historical arc, and current debates. Today people trained as anthropologists can be found
outside of academia: in the employ of human rights organizations, Fortune 500 corporations,
NGOs, militaries, and marketing firms that play an influential role in producing “culture”
(the ready to be consumed variety). An introduction to anthropology and its methods will
not only help you think critically about the social and cultural construction of your everyday
lives, but also the deep structures of the contemporary world.

Course Organization
I will lecture on Tuesdays and discussion sections will take place on Thursdays. In my
lectures I will place the readings in their historical and disciplinary context. You will then
wrestle with and debate the readings in your discussion sections.

Keep in mind that this course is not only about the material but also developing your
analytical skills and your ability to write persuasively when engaging with complex concepts.
I encourage you to come to my office hours with pieces of writing, reading response notes
or drafts of assignments. A note of warning, my lecturing style is interactive, which means I
will ask the class questions and, at times, call on people at random. Your active participation
in lectures and discussion sections will ensure you get the most out of the course and will
also play a significant part in determining your grade.

There will be two ethnographic assignments, a mid-term, and a final paper.

Grading
Class participation — 25%
Ethnographic assignments — 10% each
Mid-term — 25%
Final paper — 30%

Texts
All of the readings will be uploaded to the course website with the exception of these books:
The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz
The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies by Marcel Mauss
Ethnographic Fieldwork: An Anthropological Reader by Antonius Robben and Jeffrey Sluka (Eds)

Policies
Incompletes are not permitted for this course and will only be given in case of medical need
or personal duress. Unless prior arrangements are made, late work and absences will be
penalized.

Lectures and seminars will be unwired spaces. Resist the temptation to check your phone,
open your computer, or turn on your tablet. I recognize that this may be difficult for some
of you but I suspect those opposed to this rule will be the ones who find it the most
rewarding. Checking your wired devices will affect your class participation grade. If you want
more information about the reasons behind this policy, please go to this link:
http://tinyurl.com/mtpcppg
Please note: Syllabus is subject to change. You will be informed of any changes by e-mail.

Week 1 – Welcome, introductory lecture, “Anthropology Then and Now”

Readings: The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (1890) by James Frazer (selections)
“The science of culture.” In, Primitive Culture (1871) by Edward Tylor
Economy of Words: Communicative Imperatives in Central Banks (2013) by Douglas
Holmes, Introduction
Explore the American Anthropological Association Website:
http://www.thisisanthropology.org/about-anthropology
http://www.thisisanthropology.org/anthropological-skills

Week 2 – Ethnography as Method

Readings: “Methods of Ethnology” in Ethnographic Fieldwork: An Anthropological Reader
[2012(1920)] by Franz Boas
“Method and Scope of Anthropological Fieldwork” in Ethnographic Fieldwork: An
Anthropological Reader [2012(1922)] by Bronislaw Malinowski
In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (2003) by Philippe Bourgois, Chapters
2&3
Optional: A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term (1967) by Bronislaw Malinowski
“From the ethnographer’s tent.” In, Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of
Ethnography (1986) by Renato Rosaldo

Week 3 – Patterns of Culture

Readings: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (1946) by Ruth Benedict,
Chapters 1, 2, 10
“Does Culture Matter? The Military Utility of Cultural Knowledge,” Joint Forces
Quarterly (2005) by Montgomery McFate
The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual (Or, Notes on Demilitarizing American
Society), (2009) Chapter 1 by Catherine Lutz, and Chapter 2 by Hugh
Gusterson
Optional: Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) by Margaret Mead

Week 4 – Functionalism
Readings: “The Notion of Witchcraft explains Unfortunate Events.” In, Witchcraft, Oracles,
and Magic among the Azande (1937) by E.E. Pritchard
The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies (1925) by Marcel
Mauss, excerpts
Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (1996) by Arjun Appadurai,
Chapters 2 & 3
Optional: Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) by Emile Durkheim

First ethnographic assignment due

Week 5 - Structuralism
Readings: Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949) by Claude Lévi-Strauss Chapters 3-5
“Same Sex, Different Politics: “Gay Marriage” Debates in France and the United
States,” Public Culture, (2001) by Eric Fassin
Optional: “The Mother’s Brother in South Africa.” In, Structure and Function in Primitive Society
(1924) by Radcliffe Brown
Week 6 – Clifford Geertz and Interpretive Anthropology
Readings: “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture” and “Deep Play:
Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.” In, The Interpretation of Cultures (1973)
by Clifford Geertz
Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria (1999) by
Lisa Weeden, Chapters 2 & 3
Optional: “Writing Against Culture.” In, Recapturing Anthropology: Working in the Present,
(1991) Lila Abu-Lughod
“Beyond Culture: Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference,” Cultural
Anthropology (1992) by Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson

Week 7 – Post-Modernism
Readings: “Partial Truths” In, Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography (1986) by
James Clifford
The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1984) by Jean-François Lyotard,
Forward, Introduction, Chapter 1
The Intestines of the State: Youth, Violence, and Belated Histories in the Cameroon Grassfields
(2007) by Nicholas Argenti, Introduction

Week 8 – Globalization and its History

Readings: Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (1985) by Sidney Mintz,
Introduction, Chapters 4-5
“The Global Situation,” Cultural Anthropology (2000) by Anne Tsing
Optional: “A View from Other Boats: Empire through Diasporic Eyes,” Comparative Study of
Society and History (2004)
The Perspective of the World: Civilization and Capitalism 15th – 18th Century Vol I-III by
Fernand Braudel

Mid-Term Exam

Week 9 – Race
Readings: “Teddy Bear Patriarchy: Taxidermy in the Garden of Eden, New York City, 1908-
1936,” Social Text (1984-5)
Browse the following website, a special initiative of the American Anthropological
Association: http://www.understandingrace.org/history/index.html
Harlemworld: Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America (2001) by John
Jackson Jr., Introduction, Chapters 1, 2, 3
Optional: Odd Tribes: Toward a Cultural Analysis of White People (2005) John Hartigan

Week 10 – Class
Readings: Janitors, Street Vendors and Activists: The Lives of Mexican Immigrants in Silicon Valley (2006) by
Christian Zlolniski, pgs 1-45
“On the Division of Labor in Production.” In, The Marx and Engels Reader (1978)
by Friedrich Engels
Optional: The Making of the English Working Class by E.P. Thompson

Second ethnographic assignment due

Week 11 - Gender
Readings: “Is female to male as nature is to culture?” In, Woman, Culture, and Society
(1974) by Sherry Ortner
Challenging Gender Norms: Five Genders among the Bugis in Indonesia (2006) by Sharyn
Graham Davies, Chapters 1-3
Optional: Gender Trouble (2006) by Judith Butler

Week 12 – Visual Anthropology

Screenings: Chronicle of a Summer (1961) by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin
Them and Me (2001) by Stéphane Breton
Foreign Parts (2010) by Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki
Optional: Dead Birds (1963) by Robert Gardener
The Ax Fight (1975) by Tim Asch and Napoleon Chagnon

Week 13 – Media Anthropology

Lecture on the anthropology of media and my own research in Colombia — no readings
Preparation for final papers

Final Papers Due Ten Days after Last Class