Fall 2015
Anthropology 5590-02
Seminar: TuTh 2:00-3:15
New Cabell Hall 395
Prof. China Scherz
Email: crs4he@virgnia.edu
Brooks Hall 207
Work Phone: 434-982-3772
Office Hours: TuTh 9-10:30 and by appointment
Anthropology of Ethics
In recent years the word “ethics” has become increasingly prevalent in public discourse.
One need only look at the debates over corporate accountability following the financial
collapse of 2008 or the bioethical debates that have emerged in the wake of new
technologies to see this term in action. The discipline of anthropology is no exception to
this rule. Much time has been spent discussing anthropology’s professional ethics,
examining the problems related to translating bioethics cross-culturally, and exploring
the effects of ethical discourse in contemporary forms of governance. To some extent,
this course brackets these more topical problems in favor of attending to the classic
anthropological project of examining diverse forms of reasoning concerning matters of
the good, justice, and right action. In line with this aim, we will work to define and
utilize a conceptual toolkit adequate to the task of investigating how a diverse range of
social actors understand and negotiate complex ethical quandaries, and how by so
doing such actors may come to participate in processes of social change.
In this course we will use a mix of concept work and ethnographic case studies to move
through a series of themes. We will open the course by exploring anthropology’s
relation to applied ethics and questions of moral relativism. We will then consider
questions of freedom, subjectivity and ethical work, exploring the ways in which people
shape themselves and each other as particular kinds of ethical subjects. Next, we will
look at different ways of theorizing the processes through which people approach
ethical dilemmas and how ethics change over time and space. In the final section of the
course, we will turn to consider a series of books focused on the emerging area of
ordinary or everyday ethics that will be released over the course of the semester.
Required Texts and Other Materials:
The following texts are available for sale in the bookstore and will also be on 3-hour
reserve at Clemons:
Paul Brodwin (2013) Everyday Ethics: Voices from the Front Line of Community
Psychiatry. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Webb Keane (2015) Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories, Princeton University
Press.
James Laidlaw (2014) Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom,
Cambridge University Press.
Michael Lambek (2015) The Ethical Condition: Essays on Action, Person, and Value.
University of Chicago Press.
Saba Mahmood (2005) Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject,
Princeton University Press.
Cheryl Mattingly (2014) Moral Laboratories: Family Peril and the Struggle for a Good Life.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Joel Robbins (2004) Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment in a Papua New
Guinea Society, University of California Press.
Additional required readings and other materials are available on our course Collab site.
Please bring copies of the relevant readings to each seminar.
Grading and Course Requirements: **All writings and assignments should be turned in
via our Collab dropbox folder by 5pm on the date they are due.**
Participation
Thursday Précises
Paper Proposal
First Draft for Writing Workshop
Final Paper
24% of final grade
36% of final grade
5% of final grade
10% of final grade
25% of final grade
Readings and Participation: Seminar participants are expected to come to each seminar
having read and thought about the readings listed for that day. Completing the relevant
readings prior to each seminar is essential, as doing so will allow you to participate
effectively in the conversation. These conversations will focus on coming to a collective
understanding of the assigned readings, evaluating the evidence and claims made by the
authors, and considering other possible approaches to the same topics. Participation
will be an important factor in your final grade. If you need to miss a seminar please
contact me in advance to request an excused absence.
Weekly Précises: A précis is a short (1-page single-spaced) summary and discussion of
readings focusing on (1) the primary argument, (2) the units of analysis, and (3) the
intellectual and disciplinary context. Your précis should address materials from both the
Tuesday and Thursday readings and you may also include reflections on prior class
discussions. You should bring a hard copy of your précis for the week to class each
Thursday. Each Thursday class will open with a student chosen at random to read his or
her précis.
12-15 page Final Paper: Over the course of the semester you should work with me to
develop a final paper topic which takes up the themes of the course in relation to an
empirical topic or issue. Your paper should make use of course readings, but should also
incorporate some independent library research. You may choose a topic or situation
related to your dissertation research if it makes sense to do so.
A paper proposal will be due at the start of class on Tuesday November 3rd. This
proposal should include your name, a title, a 200 word abstract, and an annotated
bibliography of at least 5 sources (including readings from the course).
The final week of class will be a writing workshop. Each student will be asked to share a
working draft and each student will have a chance to present and receive feedback
during the seminar. A working draft of your paper will be due via the Collab dropbox at
9am on Monday November 30th.
A 12-15-page (double-spaced) final paper will be due on December 8. Please bring a
paper copy of your paper to our final class session.
Office Hours and Email: I am always more than happy to talk with you about the course
readings, assignments, exams, or anything else via email or during office hours. Virtual
sign up sheets are available on the course Collab site. Please come to office hours
prepared with questions and ideas. If you are unable to make it to office hours, please
feel free to request an appointment at a different time. I am also available for
consultation via email and will be happy to respond to you within 24 hours on weekdays
or 48 hours over the weekend.
Late Work: Late work will only be accepted under extreme circumstances at my
discretion. Please contact me in advance if you need to request an extension.
Laptops, Cell Phone: To create an atmosphere conducive to dialogue cell phone ringers
should be switched off before the start of class and students should refrain from texting.
You may use a laptop or tablet to refer to course readings or to take notes, provided
that you turn off your Internet connection and avoid using your computer for other
purposes during class. If laptop use becomes a problem I reserve the right to change this
policy.
Accommodations: All students requiring accommodations should present the relevant
paperwork from the Student Disability Access Center (SDAC). It is the student’s
responsibility to present this paperwork to me in a timely fashion and follow up about
the accommodations being offered. The SDAC is located in the Department of Student
Health and can be contacted at 243-5180 /5181.
Course Schedule:
Tuesday August 25 –Introductions
No Reading
Thursday August 27 – Should anthropology be moral?
D’Andrade, Roy. 1995. “Moral Models in Anthropology.” Current Anthropology
36(3):339-408.
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. 1995. “The Primacy of the Ethical: Propositions for a
Militant Anthropology.” Current Anthropology 36(3): 409-440.
Fassin, Didier and Wiktor Stoczkowski. 2008. “Should anthropology be moral? A debate.”
Anthropological Theory 8:331-332.
Fassin, Didier. 2008. “Beyond good and evil? Questioning the anthropological discomfort
with morals.” Anthropological Theory 8:333-344.
Stoczkowski, Wiktor. 2008. “The ‘fourth aim’ of anthropology: Between Knowledge and
Ethics.” Anthropological Theory 8:345-356.
Tuesday September 1 – Should anthropology be moral?
Weber, Max. 1904. “’Objectivity’ in Social Science and Social Policy.” In The
Methodology of the Social Sciences, 49-112. Glencoe: Free Press.
Thursday September 3 – Conforming with Norms, Coping with Freedom
Durkheim, Emile. 1953. “Determination of Moral Facts.” In Sociology and Philosophy, 3562. London: Cohen & West.
Laidlaw, James. 2014. Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1-46)
Tuesday September 8 – Conforming with Norms, Coping with Freedom
Laidlaw, James. 2014. Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (46-178)
Thursday September 10 – Conforming with Norms, Coping with Freedom
Laidlaw, James. 2014. Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (179-225)
Tuesday September 15 – Conforming with Norms, Coping with Freedom
Foucault, Michel. 1997. “The Ethics of the Concern of the Self As a Practice of Freedom.”
In Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth V. 1 Essential Works of Michel Foucault. New Press: New
York.
Foucault, Michel. 1984. “What Is Enlightenment.” In The Foucault Reader. Paul Rabinow,
ed. 32-50. New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, Michel. 2000. “Subject and Power.” Critical Inquirey 8(4):777-795.
Thursday September 17 – Autopoesis
Foucault, Michel. 1984. The Use of Pleasure: The History of Sexuality: Volume 2.
New York: Vintage Books. (3-32)
Faubion, James. 2001. “Toward an Anthropology of Ethics: Foucault and the Pedagogies
of Autopoiesis.” Representations 74:83-104.
Tuesday September 22 – Autopoesis
Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (1-117)
Thursday September 24 – Autopoesis
Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (117-201)
Tuesday September 29 Zaloom, Caitlin. 2006. Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (253-269)
Zigon, Jarrett. 2013. “On Love: Remaking Moral Subjectivity in Postrehabilitation Russia.”
American Ethnologist 40(1): 201-215.
Thursday October 1 –
Luhrmann, Tanya. 2004. "Metakenesis." American Anthropologist 106(3): 518-528.
Hirschkind, Charles. 2001. "The Ethics of Listening: Cassette-Sermon Audition in
Contemporary Cairo." American Ethnologist 28(3):623-649.
Tuesday October 6 – READING DAY
Thursday October 8 – Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Transformation
Foucault, Michel. 1984. “Polemics, Politics, and Problematizations: An Interview with
Michel Foucault.” The Essential Foucault: Selections from Essential Works of Foucault,
1954-1984. New York: New Press. (111-120)
Robbins, Joel. 2007. “Between Reproduction and Freedom: Morality, Value, and Radical
Cultural Change.” Ethos 72(3):292-314
Zigon, Jarrett. 2007. “Moral Breakdown and the Ethical Demand.” Anthropological
Theory. 7(2):131-150.
Tuesday October 13 – Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Transformation
Robbins, Joel. 2004. Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment in a Papua New
Guinea Society. Berkeley: University of California Press. (xvii-45, 182-215)
Thursday October 15 – Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Transformation
Robbins, Joel. 2004. Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment in a Papua New
Guinea Society. Berkeley: University of California Press. (215-253, 289-335)
Tuesday October 20 – Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Transformation
Mattingly, Cheryl. 2014. Moral Laboratories: Family Peril and the Struggle for a Good
Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. (xv – 151)
Thursday October 22 – Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Transformation
Mattingly, Cheryl. 2014. Moral Laboratories: Family Peril and the Struggle for a Good
Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. (151 – 219)
Tuesday October 27 – Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Transformation
Brodwin, Paul. 2013. Everyday Ethics: Voices from the Front Line of Community
Psychiatry. Berkeley: University of California Press. (1-117)
Thursday October 29 – Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Transformation
Brodwin, Paul. 2013. Everyday Ethics: Voices from the Front Line of Community
Psychiatry. Berkeley: University of California Press. (117-205)
Tuesday November 3 – Ordinary Ethics
Das, Veena. 2012. “Ordinary Ethics.” In A Companion to Moral Anthropology. D. Fassin,
ed. Pp.133-149. Malden: John Wiley & Sons.
Das, Veena. 2010. “Engaging the Life of the Other: Love and Everyday Life.” In Ordinary
Ethics: Anthropology, Language and Action. M. Lambek ed. Pp. 376-400. New York:
Fordham University Press.
Thursday November 5 – Ordinary Ethics
Lambek, Michael. 2015. The Ethical Condition: Essays on Action, Person, and Value.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Pages TBD)
Tuesday November 10 – Ordinary Ethics
Lambek, Michael. 2015. The Ethical Condition: Essays on Action, Person, and Value.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Pages TBD)
Thursday November 12 – Ordinary Ethics
Keane, Webb. 2015. Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories. Princeton: Princeton
University Press. (Pages TBD)
Tuesday November 17 – Ordinary Ethics
Keane, Webb. 2015. Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories. Princeton: Princeton
University Press. (Pages TBD)
Thursday November 19 – NO CLASS – Professor Scherz Away at Conference
Tuesday November 24 – Ordinary Ethics
Keane, Webb. 2015. Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories. Princeton: Princeton
University Press. (Pages TBD)
Thursday November 26 – THANKGIVING HOLIDAY
Monday November 30 – WORKING DRAFTS DUE ON COLLAB at 9am
Tuesday December 1 – Writing Workshop
Thursday December 3 – Writing Workshop
Tuesday December 8 – Wrapping Up – FINAL PAPERS DUE