Introduction to Social Anthropology
ANTH S-1600
Summer Term 2014
Harvard University
Department of Anthropology
Time: Tues., Thurs. 3:15-6:15
Room: Boylston Hall room 103
Theodore Macdonald
Social Studies/Quad Library
59 Shepard St
e-mail: tmacdon@fas.harvard.edu
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:
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Mid-term exam
Final exam
Research paper (5-7 pages)
July 31)
One short (1-2 page) “response” papers
Class participation
Tuesday July 15
Thursday Aug 7
Due by 6 PM on Thurs.
Due July 3
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.
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Grading:
Grades will be determined by following percentages.
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.
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Schedule
Week 1
Tues: June 24 Early “Anthropologists:” From Utopians, Romantics, and/or Racists to
Ethnographers
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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)
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Readings:
Leach
Thurs. July 3
Kinship and Social Organization
Chapters 1-IV (pp. 1-100)
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
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Culture: Myth, Ritual, and Symbolism
Readings:
Levi-Strauss
Geertz
Macdonald
Thurs. July 10
Readings:
Geertz
The Myth of Asdiwal [W]
"Religion as a Cultural System” [W]
Chapter 3
Creating and Interpreting Culture
"Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" [W]
"Thick Description" [W]
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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
 Kaplan
 Ignatieff
"Introduction" [W]
“The Coming Anarchy” [W]
“Barbarians at the Gates” [W]
Interpreting Ethnic Conflict—Violence: The Balkans
Readings:
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Bringa
New York Review
BBC
“Averted Gaze” in Hinton Annihilating Difference
“Why are the Balkans so Violent?” NYR [W]
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
Century “[W]
 Turner and Fajans-Turner
 The Economist [W]
Thurs July 24
“Approaching International Norms in the Early 21st
“Political Innovation and Interethnic Alliance”
National Development and Local Rights (film: Kayapo out of the Forest)
Readings:
 Macdonald
 Macdonald and Anaya
 Macdonald
 Macdonald and Mylavaparu
 Macdonald
Chapters 4-10
“Awas Tingni” [W}
“Awas Tingni and the Inter-American Court [W]
Cultural Survival Quarterly [W]
“Uncontacted”
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Week 6
Tues July 29
New Ethnography
Part 1 Humor in Japan Guest lecturer:
Anthropology, Harvard.
Esra Gokce Sahin, Department of
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 & 153249
Research Paper Due July 31 in class (or by 6 P.M.) Please submit a copy electronically as
well
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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
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