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Anthropology 519 Authority, Power and Political Form

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Anthropology 519 Authority, Power and Political Form 16.070.519 Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi !1 Anthropology 519 Authority, Power and Political Form ! (The Anthropology of Politics) Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University Instructor: Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi Class time: Mondays 2:55 - 5:55 o’clock Email: [email protected] Office: RAB 309, Hours: Mo. 12:30-1:30, Thurs. 12:30-1:30 Phone: (732) 932 98 86 Location of course: RAB 302 !Credits: 3 Semester: Spring 2016 Pre-requisites: 101 This seminar situates politics around other tensions than the friend-foe binary, which Carl Schmitt argued, at the beginning of the 20th century, was the elementary foundation of the political. We will engage comparatively a selection of ethnographic accounts and theories that focus on alternative political forms. “Political form” here means broadly the various social and cultural configurations that organize collective and individual life vis-a-vis the exercise of power and the construction of authority. We will try to account for the diversity of various conceptions of what constitutes the political and the effects of these conceptions on the organization of society. Such an approach implies both a sensitivity to the changes that accompanied the emergence of modern states with their administrative technologies (populations, nations, elections) and to the social forms (authoritarian, monarchical, democratic, totalitarian) that grew out of the use of the modern state form of organizing territory and people. The course will consider the gains and losses accrued through colonialism, independence movements, and the embrace of social transformation. Theoretical debates will include a reflection on patriarchic authority, political theology, the nationalization of religious belonging, genocide and collective violence as it relates to group solidarity or dissolution, regulated anarchy in stateless societies (segmentary organization), big man and chief systems, as well as the anonymous mass. The seminar will pay particular attention to how political form becomes imminent in everyday !practice, bodies, sensory experiences, memories, and identifications. General Reference Works in English: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, David L. Sills, editor. (as far s I know this classic reference work has not been digitalized) Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, edited by Alan Barnard and Jonathan Spencer, Routledge. (Call number: GN307.E53 1996) Below is an list of edited volumes and introductory monographs incompletely covering the Anthropology of Politics, the Ethnography of the State, of the Political, and of Law. The syllabus does not make specific reference to these materials in the weekly reading assignments or in the recommended sections. It is useful to view, browse, skim, and generally remain aware, of such broader works. These readings are supplementary, not central for particular weekly themes in this course. As they might be useful for general reference you can consult them in various !libraries. !1 16.070.519 Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi !2 !Selection of Edited Volumes for Political Anthropology, include: 1. Michael Banton. ed. 1965. Political Systems and the Distribution of Power. In A.S.A. Monographs. London: Tavistock Publications. 2. Joan Vincent. ed. 2002. Anthropology and Politics: A Reader in Ethnography, Theory, and Critique, Blackwell. 3. Joan Vincent and David Nugent. eds. 2004. A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics, Blackwell. 4. Sally Falk Moore. ed. 2005. Law and Anthropology: A Reader, Blackwell. 5. Aradhana Sharma and Akhil Gupta. ed. 2006. The Anthropology of the State: a reader, Blackwell. 6. Daniel Goldstein and Enrique Desmond Arias. 2010. Violent Democracies in Latin America (The Cultures and Practice of Violence). Durham: Duke University Press. 7. James Carrier. 2005. Handbook of Economic Anthropology. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 8. Massimiliano Mollona, Geert de Neve and Jonathan Parry. 2009. Industrial ! Work and Life: An Anthropological Reader. Oxford: Berg. !Monographs for Political Anthropology, include: 1. Robert Lowie. 1927. The Origin of the State. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company. 2. Isaac Shapera. 1956. Government and Politics in Tribal Society. NY: Schocken Books. 3. Lucy Mair. 1962. Primitive Government. Penguin Books. 4. Victor Turner, Marc J. Swartz and Arthur Tuden. 1966. Political Anthropology. New Brunswick: Aldine Transactions. 5. George Balandier. 1970. Political Anthropology. New York: Vintage Books. 6. Joan Vincent. 1990. Anthropology and Politics: Visions, Traditions, and Trends. University of Arizona Press 7. Donald Kurtz. 2001. Political Anthropology: Paradigms and Power. Westview Press. !8. Ted C. Lewellen. 2003. Political Anthropology: An Introduction. Westport: Praeger. !Books for Purchase for this Course Books are available at the main store on Reserve at Mable Smith Douglass Library and can be !bought at the Rutgers University Bookstore: 1. Abdellah Hammoudi. 1997. Master and Disciple: The Cultural Foundations of Moroccan Authoritarianism. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-31528-2 2. Maurice Godelier. 1986. The Making of Great Men: Male domination and power among the New Guinea Baruya. Translated by Rupert Swyer. Cambridge University Press (Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme). ISBN 0-521-31212-4 3. François Bizot. 2003[2000]. The Gate. Translated by Euan Cameron. Foreword by ! John Le Carré. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0375727238 ! !2 16.070.519 Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi !3 MOVING IMAGES: Barbet Schroeder. 1974. Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait, 1hr 30 min Filip de Boeck. 2010. Cemetery State, 1hr 12 min Jean Rouch. 1955. Les Maitres Fous, 28 min Dino Risi. 1971. Noi donne siamo fatte cosi, 1hr 52 min Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson. 1989. Joe Leahy’s Neigbhors, 1hr 30 min Tobias Wendl and Daniela Weise. 1988, Mami Wata: Der Geist der Weißen Frau, 45 min. Carmen Losmann. 2011. Work Hard, Play Hard, min. 1hr 30 min. ! John Carpenter. 1988. They Live, 1hr 34 min. READING LOAD: Varies, but maximally 200 pages/week. All required books are on Course Reserves (The Anthropology of Politics, 519) at Mable Smith Douglass Library (8 Chapel Drive, New Brunswick, DC) and selected readings are posted on Sakai. It is advisable to buy most if not all of the classic texts (e.g. at the Rutgers University Bookstore), as they might be of use in the future and frequently become unavailable (unlike edited volumes mentioned above, which apparently remain available till the end of times and hence need not be bought). Please inform me !immediately if the books are either not available for purchase or not on Library Reserve. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING CRITERIA: The seminar will be discussion driven. Hence it is vitally important that you come to class having read and screened all class materials (this includes movies). Final paper (40%), max. 15-20 pages, due by May 11th. Class Participation (40%) and Précis (10%) and Powerpoint Presentation (10%). There will also be due an Obligatory Homework the weekend after Spring break March 21st. as part of the preparation for the presentation and completion of final paper (see below the week after spring recess). Attendance in each class is required (no more than two class absences are acceptable in one semester). If you miss a class please consult student !colleagues. Précis: Students have to hand in the short précis (1-2 pages) every week during the semester at least one day before the class, i.e. on Sunday (24 hours before class begin). For the first and last week of class this imperative is canceled. The précis offers the instructor material documentation of the student’s independent work outside of class. While précis might not be regularly discussed in class, they can be revised and discussed in office hours (in which case you need to bring it to the !office). Powerpoint Presentation: In the last week of class, and as preliminary preparation for the final paper, every participant of the seminar will offer a short presentation (5-10 minutes) that begins an analysis of a populist leader in the contemporary world whether deceased or dead. The presentation is to be short, and sufficiently humble, but focused on aligning some of the elements learned to an emerging analytic narrative. This exercise practices concise articulation, application of theoretical concepts, and the balanced use of various visual material (video, images, photographs, webpages). The presentation should be geared towards the class community to foster discussion. During the semester, all participants of the seminar will be expected to spontaneously !3 16.070.519 Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi !4 introduce and lead discussion in which they should minimally delineate directions for argumentation and critique of the text relevant for the week. Content questions of the texts should be addressed in discussion or in précis. The readings given in the recommended sections of the syllabus are not selected as aids for clarification of the weeks’ themes. They are merely offered as future references for those students who want to enter more deeply into the matters at hand. For intellectual help, please refer to the general reference work presented above. This seminar strives to build intellectual community through mutual challenge with as little antagonism as possible. Participants of the seminar are expected to be respectful to one another !and generous with their insights especially when they fundamentally disagree with one another. COURSE OBJECTIVES: To provide graduate-level competency in comparative
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