Introduction to Social Anthropology

ANTH S-1600 Summer Term 2014

Harvard University Theodore Macdonald Department of Anthropology Social Studies/Quad Library 59 Shepard St Time: Tues., Thurs. 3:15-6:15 e-mail: [email protected] Room: Boylston Hall room 103 Office Hours: by appointment

Course Description:

The course explores anthropological approaches to society, culture, history, and current events. Lectures, readings and films explore social and cultural diversity through a range of themes: social organization, ideology, religion, exchange, subsistence, gender, land use, ethnicity, ethnic conflict, and local/global inter-relations. During the first half of the course, traditional anthropological themes are introduced through short articles and by a close reading of one classic text, Political Systems of Highland Burma. After the mid-term exam, the course shifts to an anthropological analysis of current events. Such themes are illustrated through detailed studies of ethnicity and ethnic conflict in Bosnia, Rwanda, and France. The instructor also reviews his applied research on contemporary indigenous responses to political, economic and ecological changes in Latin America. Students are regularly asked to grapple with anthropologists' past and present intellectual and ethical challenges. Class participation is required. To encourage and assist our conversations, the class will include group discussions and individual presentations.

Course Requirements:

 Mid-term exam Tuesday July 15  Final exam Thursday Aug 7  Research paper (5-7 pages) Due by 6 PM on Thurs. July 31)  One short (1-2 page) “response” papers Due July 3  Class participation

The course may also include 1-2 feature-length films. They will be shown during the evening (dates to be determined, usually as relief on hot and humid nights!) and will be followed by class discussion. Inability to attend these films will NOT affect grades.

Grading: Grades will be determined by following percentages.

1 1. Mid-term exam 20% 2. Final Exam 30% 3. Short Paper 20% 4. Class participation 20% 5. Map Quiz/Response Papers 10%

Required Readings

Students are expected to complete all readings listed in the syllabus. Readings listed for each class should be completed before class. This will allow students to understand the lectures more easily and to participate more effectively in class discussions.

The following texts are required. They are available for purchase “on-line” or at the Harvard COOP Bookstore. Copies are also available on Reserve at Lamont Library and Tozzer Library (11 Divinity Ave).

Bowen, John R. Why the French Don’t Like Headscarves

Hinton, Alexander Laban Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide

Leach, E.R Political Systems of Highland Burma: A Study of Kachin Social Structure

Mauss, Marcel The Gift

Macdonald, Theodore Ethnicity and Culture among New “Neighbors:” The Runa of Ecuador’s Amazon Region

All other reading, indicated by [W], are on the course webpage.

Schedule

2  Week 1 Tues: June 24 Early “Anthropologists:” From Utopians, Romantics, and/or Racists to Ethnographers

Readings (read before 2nd class) Malinowski "Introduction" Argonauts… [W] and On Reserve: Tozzer Library) Abu-Lughod Chapter 1 [W] and On Reserve: Tozzer)

Thurs. June 26 Subsistence and Exchange (film: "First Contact")

Readings: Carneiro “Slash-and Burn Cultivation among the Kuikuru” [W] Macdonald Chapters 1-2 Mauss The Gift (read Forward and pp.1-46) Leach pp. 18-28

 Week 2 Tues. July 1 (Map Quiz) Kinship and Social Organization

Readings: Leach Chapters 1-IV (pp. 1-100)

Thurs. July 3 Evolution of Political Systems (film: “A Poor Man Shames us All”)

Readings: Leach Chapter V-VII (pp. 101-226) (Response paper due –July3)

 Week 3 Tues. July 8 Culture: Myth, Ritual, and Symbolism

Readings: Levi-Strauss The Myth of Asdiwal [W] Geertz "Religion as a Cultural System” [W] Macdonald Chapter 3

Thurs. July 10 Creating and Interpreting Culture

Readings: Geertz "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" [W]

"Thick Description" [W]

3  Week 4

Tues. July 15 Mid-term exam (1.5 hours, to be followed by a class exercise)

Thurs. July 17 Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict (Film: "We Are All Neighbors”)

Readings :  Barth "Introduction" [W]  Kaplan “The Coming Anarchy” [W]  Ignatieff “Barbarians at the Gates” [W]

Interpreting Ethnic Conflict—Violence: The Balkans

Readings:

 Bringa “Averted Gaze” in Hinton Annihilating Difference  New York Review “Why are the Balkans so Violent?” NYR [W]  BBC maps [W]

Week 5

Tue. July 22 Part 1: Violence: Rwanda (Film: Gacaca –popular tribunals in Rwanda)

Readings:  New York Review of Books “The Tragedy of Rwanda” NYR [W]  Taylor, Christopher C. “The Cultural Face of Terror” in Hinton Annihilating Difference[W]

Part 2: Nonviolence: Indigenous Movements in Latin America

Readings;  Macdonald “Approaching International Norms in the Early 21st Century “[W]  Turner and Fajans-Turner “Political Innovation and Interethnic Alliance”  The Economist [W]

Thurs July 24 National Development and Local Rights (film: Kayapo out of the Forest)

Readings:  Macdonald Chapters 4-10  Macdonald and Anaya “Awas Tingni” [W}  Macdonald “Awas Tingni and the Inter-American Court [W]  Macdonald and Mylavaparu Cultural Survival Quarterly [W]

4  Macdonald “Uncontacted”  Week 6

Tues July 29 New Ethnography

Part 1 Humor in Japan Guest lecturer: Esra Gokce Sahin, Department of Anthropology, Harvard.

Readings: TBD

Part 2 Current China: Women and the One-Child policy

Reading: o Zhang, Jenny Maternal Evaluations: The moral experience of child-bearing in a rural Chinese community. (pages TBD)

Thursday July 31 Anthropology and the News: France

Readings: o Bowen, John, Why the French Don’t Like Headscarves Parts 1 &3 pp. 1-62 & 153- 249

Research Paper Due July 31 in class (or by 6 P.M.) Please submit a copy electronically as well

 Week 7

Tuesday August 5 Anthropology and the News: Various

Readings TBD –We will review one or more recent news article and analyze them in anthropological perspective. Specific readings will be determined by appropriate current events---students are also invited to seek out news pieces.

Thursday August 7 FINAL EXAM in class