Anth/Wmgs 324
Literature review:
Is My Topic Anthropological?
1. Is the topic of my literature review/paper and the
approach I take to this topic anthropological?
a. Holistic
i. Does my literature review/paper deal with
the relationship between gender, difference
and culture?
ii. How do I understand the relationship
between gender, culture and other parts of
society such as kinship, political structures,
economic frameworks, religion, social
structures etc?
iii. Your paper should both describe cultural
differences and cultural change as it relates
to gender and difference and explain how
and why cultural understandings of gender
and difference change.
b. Comparative
i. How do anthropologists describe people’s
experiences of gender and difference in
different cultural contexts?
ii. How do anthropologists explain people’s
experiences of gender and difference in
different cultural contexts?
iii. You may compare cultural contexts that are
geographically different. For example, you
may compare Canada (or parts of Canada) to
another example from other parts of the
world. You may compare cultural contexts
that are socially, economically or politically
different, for instance, you may compare
working class Canadian men and middle
class Canadian men. You may decide to
compare changes in culture over time as it
relates to gender and difference.
2. Ethnographic
a. You need ethnographic work on your topic.
Remember that good ethnography is both
descriptive and explanatory.
b. Are the papers and books I am using based on
qualitative research done through participant
observation?
c. Some qualitative sociologists, feminist scholars
working in women’s and gender studies, cultural
geographers and researchers studying education
use ethnography as a primary research method. I
will accept these kinds of references since many
of these scholars are working within an academic
tradition that began with anthropology.
3. Theoretical Framework
a. Mascia-Lees gives examples of many theoretical
positions. Your text is a good place to begin
when looking for work related to your topic.
b. Think about the basic conceptual frameworks of
anthropology:
i. Structure versus Agency
ii. Materialist anthropology versus Interpretive
Anthropology
iii. Biological determinism versus cultural
constructivism
4. Find work written by anthropologists.
a. Use anthropological journals:
i. Anything in Anthrosource
ii. Anthropologica
iii. Ember and Ember’s Encyclopedia of Sex
and Gender
iv. Annual Review of Anthropology
v. Sage Journals
1. Critique of Anthropology
2. Ethnography
3. Journal of Social Archaeology
4. Anthropological Theory
5. Race and Class: A Journal on Racism,
Empire and Globalisation
b. Ethnographies written by anthropologists. The
“GN” section of the library stacks has some of
these. Look at book reviews in anthropological
journals to find others which you can order
thorough Document Delivery. Search engines
like Proquest and JSTOR will also help you find
book reviews which can lead you to
ethnographies in your topic.
c. Look in Mascia-Lees for papers in your topic
d. Find out which anthropologists are dong work on
gender then “google” their names and visit their
websites to see what they have published