IB Social and Cultural Anthropology

IB Social and Cultural Anthropology Mrs. Gauna

IB Social and Cultural Anthropology (HL)

Social and cultural anthropology is the study of culture and human societies. The objectives of the course are to introduce students to the basic vocabulary, methods principles, and theories involved in understanding cultures around the world. Students will learn how anthropologists gather data on culture and societies and will conduct participant observation studies of their own. In addition to studying the underlying principles, students will focus on the themes of social structure, economy, power, meaning, symbolism, and globalization. Contemporary issues in anthropology will also be addressed.

Social and Cultural Anthropology is a two year class. Students will read at least four ethnographies and other readings in anthropology and will design and carry out a field observation and a student written ethnography for their required Internal Assessment Projects.

Textbooks: Cultural Anthropology: Appreciating Cultural Diversity by Conrad Phillip Kottak Cultural Anthropology: A Problem Based Approach by Richard H. Robbins Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology by Holly Peters-Golden

Ethnographies: Guests of the Sheik by Elizabeth Ferna Life and Death on Mt. Everest by Sherry Ortner The Gebusi: Lives Transformed in a Rainforest World by Bruce Knauft Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society by Leo R. Chavez

Classroom Expectations

You are expected to come to class prepared, motivated to learn and desiring to take ownership over your own learning. You should have all necessary texts, writing utensils, notebooks and other required materials at the start of class each day. Homework must be completed before class unless otherwise mentioned. You are required and expected to participate as an active team member and as a curious and inquisitive self-motivated learner. Adhering to a spoken and written register appropriate for a classroom environment – especially when covering potentially sensitive or controversial material – is fully expected at all times.

In addition to the above, as an anthropology student conducting fieldwork or observations, you are expected to maintain all ethical and professional considerations throughout the duration of the course. When actively conducting fieldwork/observations, you are expected and required to respect the well- being of humans and the environment, to be honest and to always report research findings accurately and completely. You are also expected to develop and maintain a working relationship with the people that you study so that other researchers can continue to work with them. Group 3 Aims The aims of all Group 3 (Individuals and Societies) are to:  Encourage the systematic and critical study of: human experience and behaviour; physical, economic and social environments; and the history and development of social and cultural institutions  Develop in the student the capacity to identify, to analyse critically and to evaluate theories, concepts and arguments about the nature and activities of the individual and society  Enable the student to collect, describe and analyse data used in studies of society, to test hypotheses, and to interpret complex data and source material  Promote the appreciation of the way in which learning is relevant to both the culture in which the student lives, and the culture of other societies  Develop an awareness in the student that human attitudes and opinions are widely diverse and that a study of society requires an appreciation of such diversity  Enable the student to recognise that the content and methodologies of the subjects in Group 3 are contestable and that their study requires the toleration of uncertainty SCA Aims In addition to the Group 3 aims, the aims of the Social and Cultural Anthropology course at SL and HL are to enable students to:  Explore principles of social and cultural life and characteristics of societies and cultures  Develop an awareness of historical, scientific and social contexts within which social and cultural anthropology has developed  Develop in the students a capacity to recognise preconceptions and assumptions of their own social and cultural environments  Develop an awareness of relationships between local, regional and global processes and issue

Videos The following videos will be watched in class, either in their entirety or in segment clips:

People Like Us: Social Classes in America American Tongues Japanese Version Children of Heaven - all at www.cnam.com Release Date: 9/3/2002 UPC: 786936190908 God Grew Tired of Us Original Release: 1997 Release Date: 8/14/2007 UPC: 043396198999 The Gods Must Be Crazy Original Release: 2005 Release Date: 6/1/2004 UPC: 043396061088 Global Banquet: Politics of Food Original Release: 1981 http://www.olddogdocumentaries.org/vid_gb.h tml My Big Fat Greek Wedding Release Date: 2/11/2003 The Globalization Trilogy - UPC: 026359199325 http://teddybearfilms.com/films/ = won 18 Original Release: 2002 international awards Store Wars: When Walmart Comes to Town Bend it Like Beckham China Blue Release Date: 9/30/2003 Bitter Seeds UPC: 024543084266 Original Release: 2002 Covered Girls T-Shirt Travels Mean Girls A Day Will Come Release Date: 9/21/2004 Amazon Journal UPC: 097363416043 Coco Mama: The War on Drugs Original Release: 2004 - all at www.filmakers.com Crash Release Date: 9/6/2005 UPC: 031398179382 ------Original Release: 2005

I give permission for ------

______Parent/Guardian Signature to watch the above videos in class to better ______understand concepts and theories in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Date ______