Dr. Chris Boehm
Hancock B10C
Email: cboehm1@msn.com
ANT 263 : SYLLABUS: EXPLORING CULTURE THROUGH FILM, Spring 2009
COURSE GOALS.
The course introduces students to the subject matter of anthropology through a combination of ethnographic
readings on particular species or cultures, and by use of films as a medium that furthers an unbiased
understanding of cultural differences. The purpose is to assist the student in understanding nonliterate cultures
that represent different stages of cultural evolution, and also in understanding the evolutionary precursor of
human beings, the chimpanzee, with whom we share a common ancestor some five million years ago. The general
objective is to understand how chimpanzees and four human cultures manage to exist in nature, and how their
social organization and political behavior make sense in terms of the cultural tradition they share and the adaptive
problems they face.
Specifically, we will begin by studying Pan troglodytes schweinfurtheii, the same East African chimpanzees that
have been studied by Jane Goodall in her well known research. With chimpanzee behavior as a reference point,
we will examine first two human societies of a type that is widely distributed in the nonliterate world, in which
there is a wide separation between women's and men's roles. These are the warlike Yanomamo, who live by slashand-burn horticulture, and the feuding pastoral Serbs of Montenegro, both patrilineal societies in which all males
are considered politically equal to their leaders and in which values placed on male valor drive people to violent
deeds. Next, comes a Pacific Island people whose sex roles are far more egalitarian; they have social classes and
powerful chieftains, but they place a high premium on romantic life as our own culture does: they are distinctive in
that they do not believe in biological paternity, yet they have families in the normal human pattern. The final
culture to be studied is the Eskimo, who lack warfare and concentrate their efforts on gaining a subsistence in an
unusually challenging environment.
EMPHASIS ON FILM.
As a major enhancement to reading detailed ethnographic reports on chimpanzees and these four human cultures,
heavy emphasis will be placed in the course on use of ethnographic films to make for a more complete and vivid
understanding of these disparate cultures. Each Wednesday, a film will be shown that is relevant to the lecture the
previous or following Monday. On arriving at the lecture on Monday, students will hand in questions and
comments on the assigned reading. At the end of Wednesday’s film, students will hand in questions and comments
on the film. The nature of these assignments is detailed in a separate handout. In addition, each student will
attend a discussion section with a Teaching Assistant, in which discussion will be oriented to the relations of the
film to other ethnographic materials covered, and to other topics selected by the Teaching Assistant.
FORMAL REQUIREMENTS.
The course is designed to be effective without use of examinations. Each student will conduct two modest but
challenging field work projects based on methods developed by anthropologists, and also will write a major term
paper in which the social behavior of a fifth human culture is described and discussed. In addition, the abovementioned notes on weekly readings and films will be handed in and evaluated [but not graded individually], and
Teaching Assistants may require other minor assignments as needed.
The first field work assignment will be focused on some aspect of violent behavior in our own culture or in any
other culture the student is able to study, and will involve active interviewing with family, friends, or others. The
second field work assignment will focus on romantic interactions using similar personnel. The term paper will
enable the student to select an additional human culture or primate species, and write a rather thorough report on
that group, or to negotiate a final paper in which some aspect of ethnographic film is investigated.
METHOD OF TEACHING
Tuesday’s lecture will concentrate on the assigned reading, on topics related to it or the accompanying film, or on
other topics of interest. Questions and comments on the assigned reading will be handed in at the beginning of
class, and will be used in the course of lecturing. The instructor will focus on aspects of the assigned culture that
are vital to understanding it from an anthropological perspective. Thursday’s film showing will involve a brief
introduction by one of the Teaching Assistants, the showing of the film, and handing in of questions and comments.
Section meetings will consist of a combination of lecture and informal discussion, with an emphasis on discussing
the films and on what can be learned visually about a culture that is exotic to our own. Additional films may be
shown in section.
For the two field work assignments and the final paper, students will receive detailed handouts explaining the
assignments, and in addition these assignments will be further explained in class and section meetings.
METHOD OF EVALUATION
Because no examinations are used, a very good record of attendance and active participation will figure
importantly in evaluation. Two cuts of class or section meeting are allowed automatically, without need for written
medical excuses, etc. Participation basically involves handing in thoughtful comments and questions that reflect
the student's having carefully read the assigned materials for the week, but active participation in class and section
discussions also will count, as will fulfillment of any additional minor writing assignments.
The breakdown is as follows:
Attendance and Participation: 200 points (includes comments on readings and films)
Two Field Work Assignments: 100 points
Final Term Paper: 100 points
ORIGINALITY AND HONESTY
All work handed in for this course must be the sole product of the student in question. Help received from others
(for example at a writing center or from friends) must be acknowledged in writing, and all sources used in writing
papers must be both acknowledged and properly documented. Any serious violation of these precepts will result in
failure with a grade of F in the course. [A flagrant violation would involve the student's hiring someone else to
write a paper or purchasing a paper from a term-paper service.]
Leaving class early is counted as a cut. Students may not have others sign in for them or hand in papers for them
when they are not present for the entire class: such infractions will involve both parties receiving ten class cuts on
their record. Attendance is emphasized heavily because there are no examinations.
Anthropology 263 Required and Optional Readings
Required readings are listed in the order they will be assigned:
Jane Goodall, Through a Window
Napoleon Chagnon, The Yanomamo
Christopher Boehm, Blood Revenge
Bronislaw Malinowski, The Sexual Life of Savages
Asen Balikci, The Netsilik Eskimo
Optional Readings, available at bookstore:
Briggs, Never in Anger
Shostak, Nisa
Milich, A Stranger’s Supper
Biocca, Ettore, Yanoama [If this book is out of print you can obtain it through from the library]
Note: optional works are to provide a fuller perspective on three of the cultures, and may also be used
as the basis for the final paper.
Dr. Chris Boehm
Hancock Basement B10C, Mondays 12-2, Wed by apptmt.
EXPLORING CULTURE
THROUGH FILM
Jan
ANTHROPOLOGY 263
FALL 2008
MONDAY
WEDNESDAY
Section
12
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
Introduce Chimpanzees
14
SCIENTIFIC FILM ON
WILD CHIMPANZEES
INTRODUCTORY
RECEIVE FIELDWORK HANDOUT
21
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
DISCUSS CHIMPANZEES
FILM ON GOODALL
read Goodall Book, ch 1-10
28
YANOMAMO:
INTERDISCIPLINARY
STUDY
DISCUSS FIRST FIELDWORK
ASSIGNMENT IN SECTION
January 19
Jan
Holiday - No Monday
Class
read Goodall Book, ch 1-10
Reading Comments due in section this
week
Jan
26
RESEARCH FOOTAGE ON CHIMPS
read Goodall ch 11-20
Reading Comments due regularly at beg.
Of Lecture
Feb
2
HUMAN EVOLUTION
read Chagnon ch 1
4
AXE FIGHT; A MAN CALLED BEE
9
11
THE FEAST; TAPIR
DISTRIBUTION
Feb
THE YANOMAMO VERSION OF FEUDING
read Chagnon 2,3
Feb
email cboehm1 at msn.com
February 16 Holiday - No Monday
Class
read Chagnon ch 5,6
Reading Comments due in section this
week
18
DEAD BIRDS
23
BOEHM'S HOME MOVIES
read Boehm ch 1-3
25
THE NUER
Mar
2
THE FEUDING MENTALITY
read Boehm ch 4-7
4
MONTENEGRIN WOMEN
THE PARTING
9
MONTENEGRIN SUPERSTITIONS
AND AESTHETICS
explain second fieldwork
read Boehm ch 8-12
11
ZHIVELI FILM ON SERBS
March 16 Spring Break
March 18 Spring Break
23
MALINOWSKI THE PIONEER
read Malinowski ch 1, 2, 7, 10
25
OFF THE VERANDAH
30
DISCUSS FINAL PAPER
Read Malinowski ch 13
April 2
TROBRIAND CRICKET
Mar
Mar
Mar
Apr
Apr
Apr
May
6
INTRODUCING THE INUIT
read Balikci ch 1, 2, 5, 6
15
ESKIMO FIGHT FOR LIFE
20
INUIT PEOPLE AS MODELS FOR
PREHISTORIC HUMANS
no reading assignment
22
ESKIMO FILM
Last Required Class
DISCUSS PRIMITIVE WARFARE
FIRST FIELDWORK PAPER
DUE IN SECTION
DISCUSS RESULTS
RECEIVE SECOND FIELDWORK
HANDOUT
DISCUSS SECOND FIELDWORK
ASSIGNMENT IN SECTION
FIRST FIELDWORK PAPER
HANDED BACK
No class or sections
SECOND FIELDWORK PROPOSAL
DUE IN SECTION
DISCUSS FINAL PAPER
8
NANOOK OF THE NORTH
13
INUIT POLITICS
read Balikci ch 7-12
May 1st
DISCUSS FIELDWORK
PROPOSALS
IN SECTION
read Chagnon ch 5,6
Feb
Mar
FIELDWORK PROPOSALS DUE
IN SECTION
3
SECOND FIELDWORK PAPER
DUE IN SECTION
OPEN DISCUSSION
SECOND FIELDWORK BACK
OPEN DISCUSSION
SUMMING UP
TERM PAPER DUE IN CLASS
OPTIONAL FILM: TBA
[No sections this week]