KEY ISSUES IN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Prem Kumar Rajaram

2 credits MA course

Course description: The course examines key theoretical concepts and approaches in the history of anthropology, following two parallel paths. The first path focuses on the history of the discipline itself exploring the development of historical particularism, structural functionalism and structuralism. This path follows the early writings of Boas, Malinowski and Lévi-Strauss up to contemporary poststructuralist theories, including recent debates about culture, fieldwork and modernity. The second, parallel path is thematic and examines key themes and debates in anthropology, namely, nature and culture, myth and ritual, structure and function, culture and history, meaning and power. The course is designed to provide students with knowledge of the inventive traditions as well as a critical perspective on the creative process of theory building in socio- cultural anthropology.

Course Requirements and Learning Outcomes:

As this is an introductory course there are no previous requirements. Students are expected to critically engage the intellectual history of the discipline, address the strength and weakness of different theories and employ the conceptual paradigms in their own research projects.

[1] Careful preparation of assigned readings by the date on which they are to be discussed in class. Class discussion will require informed participation on the part of all.

[2] Submission via e-learning on the day before class of a substantive discussion question on the then-current reading material for potential use in class discussion on Monday.

NOTE: A discussion question, to stimulate discussion, not to close it off, is concise; it is not just a declaration of a [= your] position, though in its formulation you probably reveal a positioned perspective on issues. A discussion question properly emerges, in reading, from your perceiving that there is an issue needing exploration or clarification, perhaps to resolve or at least confront problematic concepts or analyses in one or another of the current week’s readings. It can involve as well the concurrent or contrastive positions on an issue you may see in two of the readings, the nature of that concurrence or contrast being perhaps in question in some way. A (very!) short quotation or citation (with page reference) is generally useful to orient discussion of the point, since it gives a textual location to the issue. The text of the question as formulated should make clear what is being sought in the way of responses; avoid such formats as: “ ‘[Quote].’ Discussion”.

Class Format: The course consists of lectures and seminar discussions. We will begin each class with an introductory lecture that treats the themes and readings for that week. The second part should function to promote class discussion and student-led conversation about the various reading assignments and other materials.

Assessment and Grade: Each student will have to prepare at least 3 discussion questions throughout the term, in response to texts discussed in class.

MID-TERM TAKE HOME EXAM: You will have a choice of three questions which you should answer via a short essay (1000 words) which is meant to help you practice your ability to apply theory to empirical case

studies. T You will normally have 48 hours to do this, if you require longer because of any issues to do with using or accessing computer, please let me know.

FINAL TAKE HOME EXAM: You will have a choice of three questions which will encourage you to critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the theories you have studied. The paper should be 1500- 2000 words. You will normally have 48 hours to do this, if you require longer because of any issues to do with using or accessing computer, please let me know.

Reading and Participation: 15% Discussion questions 15% Midterm Exam: 35% Final Take Home Exam: 35%

Working encyclopedias and histories of anthropology (available on the e-learning site or in the CEU Library):

MgGee, John and Richard Warms. 2004. Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. NY: McGraw- Hill.

Barnard, A. J. 2000. History and theory in anthropology. Cambridge, U.K. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Barnard, Alan, and Jonathan Spencer. 2000. Encyclopedia of social and cultural anthropology. London; NY: Routledge.

Week 1: Different Visions of Anthropology

Moore, Henrietta L & Todd Sanders (2014). “Anthropology and Epistemology”. In Moore and Sanders (eds.) Anthropology in Theory: Issues in Epistemology 2nd edition. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

Aleksandar Bošković and Thomas Hylland Eriksen. 2008. Other People's Anthropologies. In Other People's Anthropologies: Ethnographic Practice on the Margins. edited by Aleksandar Boskovic. pp. New York: Berghahn Books.

Week 2: From armchair to the field: social evolutionism and the concept of primitive society

Tylor, Edward. 1871. The Science of Culture. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. Pp.41- 55. NY: McGraw-Hill.

Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien. 1985 [1910] Introduction. In How Natives Think. pp. 13-32. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Stocking, G. W. (1995). 'A.C. Haddon and the Cambridge University Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits' and 'The Cambridge School and the Redefinition of ‘Intensive Study’. In After Tylor: British social anthropology, 1888-1951. pp. 87-124. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press.

Additional Readings:

Kuper, Adam. 1988. The Idea of Primitive Society In The Invention of Primitive Society.

Pp. 1-15. NY: Routledge.

Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 1991. Anthropology and the Savage Slot In Recapturing Anthropology. Pp. 17-44. School of American Research Press.

Week 3: Historical particularism/ cultural relativism

Boas, Franz. 2004 (1920). The Methods of Ethnology. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. ed by MgGee, John and Warms, Richard, pp. 132-140. NY: McGraw-Hill.

Whorf, Benjamin. 1956. An American Indian Model of the Universe. In Language, Thought and Reality. Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. edited by Carroll, John. pp. 57-64. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Benedict, Ruth. 2004 (1930). Psychological Types in the Cultures of the Southwest. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. pp. 205-215.

Mead, Margaret 2004 (1935). Introduction to Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History pp. 230-236. Additional readings Stocking, George (ed). 1974. The Basic Assumptions of Boas’ Anthropology. In: A Franz Boas Reader. The Shaping of American Anthropology, 1883-1911. pp. 1-20. Chicago/London: Chicago University Press.

Week 4. Structural Functionalism: Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1922. Introduction. The Subject, Method and Scope of this Inquiry. In Argonauts of the Western Pacific. pp. 1-25. New York: Dutton.

Malinowski, Bronislaw. 2004 (1922). The Essentials of the Kula. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. pp. 157-172.

A. R. Radcliffe-Brown. 1940. On Joking Relationships. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute Vol. 13 (3): 195-210

Additional readings

Boelstroff, T. 2008. The Subject and Scope of This Inquiry. In Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton University Press pp. 1-33.

Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (2004). The Mother's Brother in South Africa. In Anthropological theory: an introduction history. pp. 173-184.

Week 5. Structuralism

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1963. Structural Analysis in Linguistics and Anthropology. In Structural Anthropology. pp. 31-54. London: Penguin Books.

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 2004 (1960). Four Winnebago Myths: A Structural Sketch. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. Pp. 362-371. NY: McGraw-Hill.

Additional Readings Hénaff, Marcel. 1998. Unconscious Categories and Universality of the Mind. In Claude Lévi-Strauss and the Making of Structural Anthropology. Pp. 94-119. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

Week 6: The Many Facets of Structural Anthropology

Douglas, Mary. 1992 (1966). Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge. Read Introductions, Chapters 1-3.

Leach, E. (1972). Structuralism in social anthropology. In Structuralism: An introduction 37-56 Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Sahlins, M. 2004 (c1981). Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities: Structure in the Early History of the Sandwich Islands Kingdom. Pp. 3-9 and Pp. 67-72. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Read Introduction (History and Structural Theory) and Conclusion (Structure in History).

Week 7: History and Theory

Gananath Obeyesekere "British Cannibals": Contemplation of an Event in the Death and Resurrection of JamesCook, Explorer. Critical Inquiry, Vol. 18, No. 4, Identities (Summer, 1992), pp. 630-654

CA Forum on Theory in Anthropology: Cook, Lono, Obeyesekere, and Sahlins. Current Anthropology Vol. 38 (2): 255-282. (Apr. 1997) Commented [1]: check!

Week 8. Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology

Geertz, C. 2000 [1973]. Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In The interpretation of cultures: selected essays. pp. 3-30. New York, Basic Books.

Turner, Victor. [1967]. Symbols in Ndembu Ritual. In The Forest of Symbols: aspects of Ndembu ritual. pp. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

MARY DOUGLAS, External Boundaries ( 1 9 6 6 ) 4 8 4

Ortner, Sherry. 1973. On Key Symbols. American Anthropologist (NS) 75 (5).

Additional Reading

Ortner, S. (1984). “Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 26 (1): 126-166.

Ortner, S. B. (1989). Author meets critics: reactions to "Theory in anthropology since the sixties". Ann Arbor, University of Michigan. Stable URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/51166

Week 9. The Reflexive Turn: Writing Culture and Against Culture

Clifford, James. 1986. Introduction: Partial Truths. In: Writing Culture. The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. edited by Clifford, James and George E. Marcus, pp. 1-26. Berkeley: University of California Press.

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RENATO ROSALDO, 1989. Grief and a Headhunter's Rage In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History.( 1 9 8 9 ) 5 3 7 LILA ABU-LUGHOD, 1995. A Tale of Two Pregnancies. Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. ROY D'ANDRADE, Moral Models in Anthropology. Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History.

Additional Readings

Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 2002. Adieu, Culture: A New Duty Arises. In Anthropology beyond Culture edited by Fox, Richard and Barbara King (eds). Pp. 37-60. Oxford/N.Y: Berg.

Narayan, Kirin. 1993. How Native is a “Native” Anthropologist? American Anthropologist 95: 671-686.

Week 10. Power and Interpretation

Marshall Sahlins….

Week 10. The Locus of Culture: Body and Practice

Csordas, Thomas. 1990. Embodiment as a Paradigm for Anthropology. Ethos 18 (1): 5-47.

SALLY SLOCUM, Woman the Gatherer: Male Bias in Anthropology ( 1 9 7 5 ) 4 3 5

Additional Readings

Foster, Stephen. 1986. Reading Pierre Bourdieu. Cultural Anthropology 1(1): 103-110.

Knauft, Bruce, 1996. Practices. Beyond Bourdieusian Legacies. In: Genealogies for the Present in Cultural Anthropology. Pp. 103-139. London: Routledge.

Week 11. Naturalizing Culture: cognitive approaches

Sperber, Dan ([1982] (1991) Apparently Irrational Beliefs. In On Anthropological Knowledge pp. 35-63, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bloch, Maurice. 2006. Where did anthropology go? or the need for 'human nature'. In Essays on Cultural Transmission. LSE monographs on social anthropology. Berg Publishers, Oxford, UK, pp. 1-20

Week 12 Globalization, Power, Agency: Contemporary Anthropology and the Future of the Discipline

Comaroff, John. 2010. The End of Anthropology, Again: On the Future of an In/Discipline. American Anthropologist 112 (4) 524–538

PHILIPPE BOURGOIS, F 1995. From JIbaro to Crack Dealer: Confronting the Restructuring of

Capitalism in El Barrio In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History.

AIHWA ONG. 1999. The Family Romance of Mandarin Capital. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History.