Anthropology 220S (E proposed) : Culture and Society
Professor G.G. Weix
Office: Social Sciences 223
Tel. 243-6319
office hours: MWF 3:00-4:00 P.M.
Autumn 2012
Room: Stone Hall 304
MWF 2:10-3:00 P.M.
GG.Weix@mso.umt.edu
Course Description:
This course introduces students to the comparative study of culture and society as an
introduction to sociocultural anthropology, with attention to the ethical dimensions of
anthropological professions, knowledge and practice. Anthropologists study society as an
outcome of biological and cultural evolution, by analyzing social structure (kinship,
gender, rank), social processes (division of labor, alliance, and exchange), and social
institutions (politics, economy, religion), as well as culture (language, myth, ritual,
science and art). Combined with other forms of analysis (evolutionary, archaeological
and linguistic), ethnographers describe different ways of life, and theorize, or draw
general conclusions based on ethnology, or comparative study of small scale and
complex societies. This yields anthropological knowledge, a synthetic, holistic
understanding of human diversity, past and present.
Required Readings:
Kottak, Conrad. 2011. Mirror for Humanity. Eighth Edition. McGraw Hill
Bastien, Betty. 2004. Blackfoot Ways of Knowing: the worldview of the Siksikaitsitapi.
University of Calgary Press.
Goals: Students will learn anthropological concepts, forms of social analysis, and
become acquainted with general knowledge of nonwestern world regions. They will
become acquainted with key issues, debates and case studies in socio-cultural
anthropology, the professional code of ethics for anthropology, the forms of reasoning
and topics engaged in the ethics of doing fieldwork, producing anthropological
knowledge, education, policy and advocacy.
Objectives:
1. Students will recognize variation in social structure, institutions and processes in
societies and theories explaining this variation.
2. They will analyze the cultural contact of small scale and complex societies, and
social change in historical perspective.
3. Students will compare and contrast small scale and complex societies in global
regions other than Europe and the Americas, and gain a comparative
understanding of the terms ‘indigenous’ and ‘global.’
4. Students will identify the professional code of ethics for anthropology, as well as
the perspective of indigenous studies as an ethical response to ethnology, as it
describes an engagement with two traditions in the study of ethics: that of moral
excellence and virtues, and of rights and liberties, and in particular the sphere of
responsibilities and restitutive powers in the Blackfoot worldview.
Academic Policy: This course fulfills core and elective requirements for the following
majors: Anthropology, Communication Studies and Native American Studies. It is also
fulfills the General Education Social Sciences and Indigenous and Global perspectives
(groups VI and X) and is proposed to meet the Ethics and Human Values (group VIII).
As a lower division course, ANTY 220S should be taken by students who have earned 70
credits or less.
Two midterm exams and one final exam will assess comprehension of anthropological
vocabulary and concepts. The final exam is not cumulative. There will also be a portfolio
of writing assignments: in class exercises, documentary films and optional readings and
ethnographic fieldnote exercises.
Grades are based on participation in class through attendance, examination of concepts
and vocabulary, and written assignments. The grading scale is: 92% and above A, 8391% B, 74-82% C, 68-73% D, and below 67% F. +/- is at the discretion of the instructor.
Grade policy:
Midterm 1 (September 28)
Midterm 2 (October 31th)
Writing assignments (November 19th)
Final exam (December 10-14th)
100 points
100 points
100 points
100 points
400 points
Absences Policy: Lecture and exams are in Stone Hall 304, and attendance is necessary
to pass the course. However, if you are sick, please stay home. Exams may be excused
for serious illness or emergency, but an alternate essay exam must be taken within 10
days. If traveling to participate in UM athletic events conflicts with exams, student
athletes must take the exam BEFORE departure. Students who miss the final exam due
to illness or emergency must request an incomplete [I] for the course, and take an
alternate essay final exam before January 23, 2013.
Student Conduct Code: applies to this course and all exams. Plagiarism will not be
tolerated, and will result in a failing grade on the specific assignment and/or the course.
Disability accommodation: UM is committed to equal opportunity in education for all
students, including those with documented physical, or learning disabilities. University
policy states the responsibility of students with documented disabilities is to contact
instructors during the first week to discuss appropriate accommodations that ensure
equity in evaluation of classroom assignments and examination. Please contact DSS 2432372 at the Lommasson Center, room 154, for appropriate documentation.
Syllabus
Week One: Anthropological Knowledge:
August 27
Introduction
29
Central concepts: Culture and Society
31
AAA Code of Ethics
Reading: Chapters 1 and 2: What is Anthropology? What is Culture?
In this week, the field of sociocultural anthropology is introduced, and the code of ethics
for professional anthropologist is discussed. An exercise in class demonstrates the three
aspects of the AAA code of ethics as it pertains to education, research, and advocacy for
indigenous peoples.
Week Two: Person, Time and Conduct: Doing Anthropology
Sept. 3
Holiday Labor Day
5
Methods: Fieldwork
7
Enculturation, Socialization and Taboo
Reading: Chapter 3 Doing Anthropology
Bastien, Part II, Tribal Protocol and Affirmative Inquiry pp.35-76
In this week, the methods of sociocultural anthropology (participant observation and
other forms of fieldwork) are introduced, and contrasted with the articulation of
traditional knowledge, protocols, and inquiry. The ethical codes of the AAA, and the
Blackfoot (as an example of indigenous studies) are compared for their principles and
modes of reasoning to determine conduct in research settings.
Week Three: Language
10
Language vs. Communication
12
Learning a culture
14
Language and Culture
Reading: Chapter 4 Language
Bastien, Blackfoot Pronunciation Key, Glossary (reference)
In this week, the anthropological linguistics and sociolinguistics concepts and research
are introduced, as they are foundational to ethnography and ethnology, and the specific
examples of Blackfoot language are discussed as the foundation of ‘a way of knowing.’
Week Four: Livelihood
17
Bands and Foraging
19
Tribes and Shifting Cultivation
21
Chiefdoms and Surplus
Reading: Chapter 5 Making a Living
Bastien, Part I, Context pp. 1-34 “The Era of the Dog, or the Time of the Ancestors”
“The Era of the Horse”
In this week, the general theory of cultural evolution in sociocultural anthropology is
introduced, with the primary example of the Blackfoot as a historical case study from the
northern Plains cultures. The ethics of small scale societies are introduced as specific to
the economy, forms of exchange, and values of nomadic peoples’ cultures and societies.
Week Five: Economy
24
Economy and Exchange
26
Division of Labor and Social Structure
28
Midterm in class
Most of the first midterm is objective questions to test concepts, vocabulary, and
examples from class lectures, although there will be one short essay assignment on the
AAA code of ethics, and the Blackfoot protocols for inquiry, to discuss the ethics of
research and sociocultural knowledge about the anthropological subjects.
Week Six: Polity: Big Men, Great Men, and the State
October 1
Acephalous leadership and the ethic of generosity
3
Chiefs and the ethic of redistribution
5
The State
Readings: Chapter 7 Political Systems
Bastien, Part I, Context review final sections
In this week, the institutions of politics and power are introduced, and the historical
example of colonization of the Blackfoot by the U.S. government will be discussed as a
historical case study of state intervention in small scale societies and sovereign nations on
the Plains.
Week Seven: Kinship, Marriage and Family
8
Kinship
10
Family and Household
12
Marriage
Reading: Chapter 8 Kinship, Family and Marriage
Bastien, Parr III, Affirmation of Indigneous Knowledge, section on kinship
In this week, the foundational social structure of kinship in anthropological theory and
ethnology is introduced, and the description of its grounding for all indigenous
knowledge and ethical actions.
Week Eight: Gender
15
Marriage, continued
17
Gender
19
Gender continued
Reading: Chapter 9 : Gender
Week Nine: Religion
22
Myth and Ritual
24
Ritual Specialists
26
Religion
Reading: Chapter 10 Religion
Bastien, Part III. Affirmations of Indigenous Knowledge, continued
In this week, the foundational institution of religion is introduced, as it provides a
primary locus for the discussion of human values and ethics in small scale societies.
Week Ten: Colonialism
29
Proselytization, Conversion and World Religions
31
Midterm in class
Nov.
2
Colonialism
Reading: Chapter 11 World Systems and Colonialism
Bastien, Part IV, Conclusion, Renewal of Ancestral Responsibilities as an Antidote to
Genocide
In this week, the historical context of colonialism is introduced, and its effects on
anthropological knowledge and practice. The contrast with the sources on Blackfeet
ways of knowing will focus on the autonomy and agency of social actors to respond to
colonialism and its legacy through cultural innovations, linguistic revitalization of
languages, and new forms of research protocols and anthropological knowledge that
engage native subjects.
Week Eleven: Race
5
Race and Ethnicity
7
Indigenous Studies
9
Holiday, Veteran’s Day
Reading: Chapter 12: Race and Ethnicity
In this week, cultural and social theories of race are contrasted with the new field of
indigenous studies, as exemplified in Blackfoot ways of knowing. In particular, the
social and cultural constructivist theories are introduced as the central theoretical
paradigms for sociocultural anthropology in the last 50 years.
Week Twelve: Globalization
12
What is globalization?
14
What are global issues for anthropology?
16
What new ethical issues arise?
Reading: Chapter 13: Anthropology in a Globalized World
In this week, globalization is introduced as a new context for the study of indigenous
peoples and small scale societies. In particular, specific ethical topics and debates are
discussed that rely on fundamental concepts in anthropology, i.e. ethnocentrisim,
tolerance, cultural pluralism, relativism (cultural vs. moral), and the impliciations for
both knowledge and advocacy or policy.
Week Thirteen: Globalization, continued
19
exercise on the ethics of globalization
21
Student Travel Day
23
Holiday Thanksgiving
In this week, students engage in an exercise (discussion and writing in class) on specific
questions regarding the ethical challenges of globalization. The aim is to encourage
identifying the ethical reasoning at work in positions, e.g. ritual scarification in gender
initiation, arranged marriage, polygamy, bilingual education, as examples to make
anthropology relevant to the 21st century.
Week Fourteen: Review
26
Sociocultural anthropology: as a social science
28
Rethinking ‘indigenous’ and ‘global’
30
Articulating the ethical reasoning in Blackfoot ways of knowing
Reading: Review readings
In this week, students are encouraged to review the readings for the course, and to return
to the general issues and questions of what makes anthropology a social science, linking
empirical case studies to theory, the comparative aspects of studying global and
indigenous peoples, and a review of the ethical dimensions of Blackfoot ways of knowing
as a response to the experience of colonialism.
Week Fifteen: EthicsTopics: Review
Dec. 3
Ethnocentrism vs. tolerance and cultural pluralism
5
Cultural vs. moral relativism
7
Conclusion and course evaluation
In this final week, the central challenges of anthropological concepts are reframed as
questions beyond the discipline, and the stress is on the ways both anthropological
analysis and ethical reasoning can be combined to understand everyday life in a pluralist
and multicultural world.
Final Exam: during the week of December 10-14 (2 hours, including inclass essay)