Instructor: Dr. J. Whitehead
Office: TH 218
Telephone: 329-2011
E-Mail: whitja01@uleth.ca
Anthropology 2010
Social Organization
Winter 2007
University of Lethbridge
Time: MWF: 11:00-11:55 a.m.
Place: L1060
Office Hours: MW: 12:00-2:00 p.m.
Anthropology Office: TH 210
Course Description: From its inception, anthropology has been concerned with understanding both similarities and differences between cultures. Social organization focuses on fairly general patterns through which human beings construct their social lives and are, in turn, ‘organized’ by these constructions. This course includes an introduction into classical theories of how societies are patterned. The course will use case studies to introduce the following approaches to understanding social organization: evolutionism, functionalism, structuralism, Marxism, social constructionism, and gender anthropology. The course ends with a look at globalization and the new patterns of work, class, and gender that are shaped by this process.
Course Prerequisites: Anthropology 1000 is the only pre-requisite for this course. This course is intended as part of the majors’ stream for anthropology, although others who are interested are also encouraged to take it. The course involves mastery of a fair amount of reading.
Course Material: There are two textbooks for this course. They are:
R. Parkin and L. Stone, 2004: Kinship and Family: An Anthropological Reader. London: Blackwell.
Aiwa Ong, 1987: Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia.
Albany: State University of New York.
There is a booklet of assigned readings available in the University Bookstore. Readings from this booklet are marked with an asterix. There will also be a few web readings assigned from on-line journal holdings of the library. This keeps down costs and also familiarizes you with on-line research. Films are used where appropriate.
Course Assignments: There will be three exams for this course. These will be essay exams on major themes presented throughout the course that will have choices. Prior to each exam, we will break up into groups with questions for discussion that relate to the in-class exam. The final assignment will be an in-class quiz show on issues presented throughout the course. You will be organized into teams to present questions to each team and will be marked for the quality of your questions and degree of organization of your team. Participation in the course, in terms of attendance and input into small and large group discussions, will also be marked.
Mark Breakdown:
3 In-Class Tests: 25% for the first two; 20% for the last exam, for a total of 70%
Quiz Show: 15%
Participation: 15%
Total: 100%
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Grading: The following grade scale will be followed:
A+ 95-100 A 86-94
B+ 77-79 B 73-76
A- 80-85
B- 70-72
C+ 67-69 C 60-62 C- 60-62
D+ 57-59 D 53-56 D-50-52
F Below 50
NB: Plagiarism is a serious offence and will be treated accordingly. Plagiarism consists of using someone else’s ideas or writing and presenting them as your own without citation. This can take the form of directly using someone’s material or of paraphrasing it. It would also involve purchasing essays from an internet provider or handing in the same paper to two courses without prior permission of each instructor. University policy on plagiarism is covered in the calendar, p.
63-68 and a useful guide can be found at uleth.ca/lib/guides/plagiarism.asp.
Lecture, Reading and Film Timetable
Subject to Change if Necessary
Jan. 5 th Introduction
No Reading
Jan. 8 th : Evolutionism: Unilinear and Multilinear
Readings: L.H. Morgan, ‘The Ancient Family’*
Jan. 10 th : Morgan’s Contributions to Kinship Studies
Reading: W.H.R. Rivers, ‘Kinship and Social Organization’, from Kinship and Family, (hereafter referred to as K&F.
Jan. 12 th : Colonialism: The Historical Context for Evolutionism
Reading: B. Trigger, 1998, ‘Racist Evolution’*
Jan. 15 th : The Functionalist (R)evolution
Reading: E. Durkheim, ‘What is a Social Fact’?*
R. Hertz: The Pre-Eminence of the Right Hand’*
Jan. 17 th : Functionalism and ‘Fieldwork’
Ch. 1, Malinowski from A. Kuper, Anthropologists and Anthropology*
G. Gmelch, ‘Baseball Magic’*
Jan. 19 th : Film: ‘Off the Verandah’
Jan. 22: Non-capitalist economic organization
JSTOR article: B. Malinowski: ‘Kula; the Circulating Exchange of Valuables in the Archipelago of
Eastern New Guinea’ from Man, Vol. 20, (Jul. 1920), 97-105.
URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici
......
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Jan. 24: Descent Groups and Economic Organization
Reading: R. H. Lowie: ‘Unilateral Descent Groups’ from K&F
Jan. 26: Kinship as Central Principle in non-capitalist Social Organization
Reading: R. Keesing: Ch. 2: Kinship and Descent *
Jan. 29 th : Group Work for Exam 1.
Jan. 31 st : First In-Class Exam, worth 25%.
Feb. 2 th : Structural-functionalism of Radcliffe-Brown
Reading: ‘On the Concept of Structure in Social Science’ and ‘On the Concept of Function in Social
Science’ by A.R. Radcliffe-Brown’*
Feb. 5 th : Structural Functionalism and Kinship
Reading: ‘The Mother’s Brother in South Africa’*
Recommended Reading: Maurice Bloch and D. Sperber, ‘Kinship and Evolved Psychological
Dispositions: The Mother’s Brother Controversy Revisited’ from K&F.
Feb. 7 th : Politics, History and Kinship in Structural Functionalism
Reading: E.E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer, ch. 4.*
E.E. Evans-Pritchard, ‘The Nuer of the Southern Sudan’, from K&F.
Feb. 9 th : Film showing: ‘Strange Beliefs’
Feb. 12 th : Kinship as Marriage Alliance; Structuralism
Reading: ‘Alliance Systems’ from R. Keesing, ‘Kin Groups and Social Structure’*
Feb. 14 th : Film: Behind the Masks
Feb. 16 th : An Example of Harmonious Exchange: the Purum
Reading: R. Needham, ‘An Analysis of Purum Affinal Exchange’, from K&F.
Feb. 19 th – Feb. 23rd: Reading Week
Feb. 26 th : Group Work for Exam 2
Feb. 28 th : Second In-Class Exam, worth 25%.
Mar. 2 nd : Beyond Cohesion: Leach and Gluckman
Reading; ‘Leach and Gluckman’ from A. Kuper, Anthropologists and Anthropology
Mar. 5 th : Rethinking Kinship, ‘Tribe’ and Identity in the Burmese Highlands
Reading:
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Mar. 7 th : Marxism and Structuralism
Reading: H. Han, ‘Kinship, Gender and Mode of Production in Two Northern Villages’, from K&F.
Mar. 9 th : Mode of Production, Marriage and Dowry
Reading: J. Goody, ‘Inheritance, Property and Marriage in Africa and Eurasia’, from K&F.
Mar. 12 th : Weiner and the Gender Revolution
Reading: JSTOR article: A. Weiner, ‘Trobriand Kinship from another View: The Reproductive
Power of Women and Men’, Man, New Series, Vol. 14, No. 2, Jan. 1979, pp. 328-348. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici
......
Mar. 14 th : Gender and Kinship as Social Constructions
Reading: D. Schneider, ‘What is Kinship All About’, pp. 264-274, from K&F.
Mar.16
th : Beyond Kinship: translating social organization into biological metaphors
Readings: K. Weston, ‘Forever is a Long Time’*
C.P. Hayden, ‘Gender, Genetics and Generation: Reformulating Biology in Lesbian Kinship’ from
K&F.
Mar.19
th : Blood and Belonging: Kinship and Citizenship
Readings: L. Stone, ‘Has the World Turned? Kinship and Family in the Contemporary American
Soap Opera.’ From K &F.
H. Ragone, ‘Surrogate Motherhood and American Kinship’, from K&F.
Recommded: S.M. Kahn, ‘Eggs and Wombs’ from K&F.
Mar. 21 nd : Globalization in History
JSTOR article, E. Wallerstein: ‘The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System:
Concepts for a Comparative Analysis’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 390-415. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici
......
Mar. 23 rd : Concepts for Understanding Contemporary Globalization: Regulation Theory
Reading: A.L. Freidman, 2000, ‘Micro-regulation and Post-fordism: Critique and Development of
Regulation Theory’, New Political Economy, Vol. 5, #1, pp: 59-76, Available on-line through U of L
Journal Holdings.
Mar. 26 th : Instructor at Conference: Begin Reading A. Ong, Part 1, Spirits of Resistance
Mar. 28 th : Class, State and History in Coastal Selangor
Reading: A. Ong, Part 1 &2 from Spirits of Resistance.
Mar. 30 th : Global Factories and Gender Relations
Reading: A. Ong, Part 3 from Spirits of Resistance
April 2 nd : Group Work for Third In-Class Exam
April 4 th : Third In-Class Exam, worth 20% of total
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April 11 th : Quiz show
April 13 th : Quiz show
April 16 th : Quiz show
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