Anth 83S
First Year Seminar
Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:15-12:05
107 Carpenter
Instructor:
E. Paul Durrenberger
Office:
318 Carpenter Building
Office hours: TT 1:15-2:15; by chance or appointment—if I’m in my office I’ll be
glad to talk with you, or set up an appointment by e-mail.
Emails:
epd2@psu.edu
Website:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/e/p/epd2/
Seminar topic: The Ethnography of Invisible Workers
Book: The Working Poor: Invisible in America. David Shipler. 2004 Vintage.
Questions this course addresses:
Who are the working poor in America and why is it that people who work hard are
still poor when the American Dream says if you work hard everything will be all
right? How does ethnography help us answer this question? What is
ethnography? How do you do it? How do you write about it?
Objectives of this course:
To learn how to do ethnography. To learn how to analyze cultural, social, and
economic systems.
Means of this course:
Reading and discussing the course book, working with advanced anthropology
students to develop ethnographic, analytical and writing skills.
Course requirements:
Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory. It is not optional. If you are sick or
have a family or other emergency, contact your teaching assistant before the
meeting you will miss to explain your absence. Participation in discussion and
class activities is essential.
Allocation of effort:
The rule of thumb for undergraduate classes is that you should allocate about 2 hours of time
outside of class for each hour of class time. This is a 3 hour class. You should allocate 3
hours a week for being in class and an additional 6 hours outside of class for class related
work. That means that you should plan on spending about 9 hours per week on this course.
Course Evaluation:
Will be derermined by your participation in course activities. Note that to participate in
discussion, you must do the readings before the class for which they are assigned.
Course Activities:
First, we will read and discuss the book to become familiar with the
phenomenon we want to understand.
Then we will locate and profile the working poor in our community-invisible people such as hospital nursing assistants, kitchen workers, waiters and
waitresses, janitors, cooks’ assistants, and retail workers who must struggle to
make it to the end of each month with their paychecks. From getting to know
them and their lives, we will describe the culture and social system they are living
in, how they adapt to it, and how they try to change it.
The group will divide into groups of 3 or 4 freshmen who will work with an
advanced anthropology student with background in the ethnography of the
United States to develop specific topics, locate and interview individuals, and
gather the material necessary to analyze and write their findings.
Schedule
Date
Assignment from Working Poor
Jan15
17
22
24
29
31
Feb 5
7
12
14
19
Orientation. What to do; how to do it
Introduction, Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapters 5,6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11, epilogue
More on Sociocultural Anthropology
Objectives of sociocultural anthropology:
1. to describe how sociocultural systems work
2. and how they got that way
Means of sociocultural anthropology--sociocultural anthropology is:
1. comparative
2. holsitic
3. ethnographic
Sociocultural has two parts:
1. social
2. cultural
Social structure -- the groups people form and the relations among them.
Social organization -- the way people use their social structures and through
using them, change them.
Culture -- patterns of thought that people learn by growing up in a particular time
and place.
System -- a set of elements related in such a way that if one changes the others change.
Persons with disabilities:
The Pennsylvania State University encourages qualified persons with disabilities to
participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of
accommodation in this course or have questions about physical access, please tell
the instructor as soon as possible.
Academic Integrity
All students should act with personal integrity, respect other student’s dignity,
rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all
can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. Dishonesty includes cheating,
plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, facilitating academic dishonesty
by others, submitting work of another person, and tampering with the work of
other students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and anyone found to be
dishonest will receive academic sanctions and be reported to the University’s
Judicial Affairs office for possible further disciplinary sanction.