anth 42
local cultures, global forces
spring 2006
mwf 12:00 – 12:50 | venable 268
instructor:
marc david | mdavid@email.unc.edu | alumni 306b | thur 10:30-12 noon or by app’t
teaching assistants:
maria isabel casas cortes | macasas@email.unc.edu | alumni 303b |
gretchen fox | foxg@email.unc.edu | alumni 410c | thurs 11-12 noon
joseph wiltberger | jwilt@email.unc.edu | alumni 410b | wed 4-5pm
syllabus
description
These days we are constantly reminded that the world is culturally heterogeneous, that we live in
a “global culture.” Commercials, international music, food, clothing, and faces daily remind us of
this diversity. This course will be about world-wide cultural variety and its inter-connectedness.
Human beings have never lived in totally homogenous, isolated groups, interacting only with
those who share their own culture and language. But in the last 500 years the pace and scope
of interaction has changed qualitatively as a result of European-initiated exploration and the
incorporation of all peoples into large-scale economic and political networks dominated by the
United States and other industrialized nations. Now (so we are told) we live in a global society,
made possible by modern technologies of communication and transportation. But what does
this mean? The purpose of this class is to explore how we got here, how tribal and ethnic
cultures have been influenced by their incorporation into the world economic system, how
people in the “first world” have been influenced by this contact, and how local cultures challenge
or reinforce global forces.
This course will explore three major premises:
First, the way we "see" people whom we regard as "other" than ourselves determines and
rationalizes how we behave toward them: as equals whom we would like to have as friends,
enemies who must be killed, heathen in need of religious conversion, inferiors whose labor and
bodies we have a right to exploit, backward people whom we must bring into the modern world
and economy, fascinating natives we'd like to visit as tourists, intelligent political actors in search
of just ends. We shall thus interrogate our own terminology – what do we mean by the first world
and the third world? Developed and underdeveloped? Western and non-western? Authentic,
traditional, modern, postmodern? Other and self? Do we want to inhabit the identities these
terms assign to us?
Second, the current world situation - the radically unequal distribution of wealth, resources, and
power - is neither natural nor inevitable. Rather, it is the product of historical global forcescolonialism, capitalism, science, imperialism and nationalism, development and
underdevelopment, de-colonization and the militarization of post-colonial states, transportation
and travel, and the commoditization of culture. Common assumptions about “others” as
fundamentally different from ourselves have obscured the ways that all cultures, including our
own, are the result of historical processes and have elided the relations of power that have tied
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people all over the world together. With attention to specific examples we can understand how
incorporation into the world system has changed modes of production, religious beliefs, gender
roles, food and clothing preferences, traditions, and sense of self, both in small-scale societies
and in dominant nation-states.
Third, Anthropology, which began as the study of societies and cultures regarded as different
from our own, has been profoundly implicated in establishing and providing the ideological
charter for "first world" dominance. Anthropology initially provided "scientific" justification for the
differentiation of peoples by "race" and classified peoples into dichotomous categories such as
"primitive" and "civilized" or "traditional" and "modern," promulgating the notion that societies of
the first type must eventually be transformed into the second type. This course reflects
anthropologists’ current attempts to uncover historical processes rather than reinforce static and
essentialist notions of human difference.
goals
Broadly speaking, the student who participates fully in the course can expect to achieve five
general goals:
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understand specific ways in which our own life experiences have been shaped by broader
global and historical forces.
acquire basic familiarity with analytical and historical perspectives that link the formation of
culture and operations of power.
evaluate critically information about modernization, progress, globalization, homogenization,
and cultural authenticity as it circulates in everyday conversations and popular media.
grasp the significance and limitations of anthropological and ethnographic perspectives on
social life.
sharpen his/her basic academic skills, including listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
More specifically, there are four learning objectives:
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to learn key anthropological concepts such as culture, cultural construction, history, agency,
power, race, social difference and hierarchy.
to translate this knowledge into one’s own words through reading, writing, and discussion
exercises.
to apply concepts to course material and situations in writing exercises.
to evaluate and critique anthropological texts through reading, writing, and discussion
exercises.
requirements and evaluation
We want this course to produce effects beyond the sixteen weeks in which it will take
place. Therefore, although you will need to learn details of specific historical and contemporary
cases in order to understand the processes at work, we will not focus on mastering this
“information” as data. Instead, we will be practicing how to think about issues of culture and
power historically. This course will consequently be interpretive and will call upon you to look
beneath the surface of texts, ferret out presuppositions, look into the motives of the scholars and
those they write about, and draw your own well-reasoned conclusions on complex but pressing
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contemporary issues. Because this is something that you learn through active engagement, we
urge you to take all the requirements very seriously.
reading This course requires a significant commitment to reading, and many of the readings
themselves are challenging. The lectures in this course will be aimed at complementing each
day's readings, expanding upon them and making them accessible, and we will strive as much
as possible to ground our discussions in the concrete examples and case studies covered in
them. Reading the assignments carefully and critically will therefore be essential to your
success in the class, and should be done before the appropriate class periods. You will not get
the full benefit of the discussion or lectures if you have not read the assigned articles or chapters
beforehand. So it is crucial that you come prepared.
Attendance and participation are likewise essential. We like a very interactive class
environment and appreciate every question and comment. We encourage those of you who are
not shy to ask questions in class, and those who are reluctant to speak in a large group to visit
us during office hours and/or communicate through e-mail.
Discussion sections are extremely important. The point of this course is not just to absorb
facts, but to gain practice in analyzing and evaluating the arguments and representations in texts
and films. Discussion sections offer you the opportunity to think through complex issues with an
ongoing community of fellow learners. Attendance and participation are required, and leaders
may independently require brief written preparation.
evaluation
The following assessments are ungraded, in that you will achieve a credit (+) for completing
work that fulfils the stated requirements, (or a debit (-) if it is not completed or very poorly done).
discussion questions By the end of the fourth week of the semester, you will be
assigned to a group with other two or three other students in your discussion section.
Once during the semester each student in the group will take responsibility for devising
two or thee questions to promote discussion during section. (These can be questions to
which you just want to know the answer, or questions you think it would be interesting to
talk about regarding the assigned readings and videos). You will post your questions on
the course’s Blackboard website to members of your recitation by 8 p.m. the evening
before you meet.
peer review of writing assignments Both the critical analysis of reading and the essay
(see below) will be drafted through peer review during recitations. This process will
proceed as follows: each member of the small groups will be responsible for producing a
draft of their paper, bringing it to class, and exchanging it with his/her partners. During
the class period, each student will evaluate and offer constructive criticism of the
partner’s draft. Details about how this works will follow, but it is important to note here
that in order for this exercise to be effective and useful, each student must commit to a)
attending these sessions, b) preparing adequately beforehand (e.g., showing up with a
full draft), and c) taking seriously the task of critiquing his/her partner’s work.
in-class writing / quizzes There will be a number of preparation-oriented assignments
given during the course of the semester. Generally, they will be short in-class
interpretations or critiques, 1-page writing assignments or worksheets due for the next
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class period, or quizzes on broad topics from the day's assigned reading. Sometimes all
we will do is pass an attendance sheet around. These assignments cannot be made up.
The grading for these next two writing assignment is "outcome based," which means that it can
be revised or expanded as necessary to meet the established criteria for full credit, assuming the
first is handed in on time. No revisions will be accepted after the last official day (April 26) of
class.
reading response paper Once during the semester, each member of your group will
be responsible for writing a 2 page response paper (typed and double-spaced). The idea
of the assignment is to show how you interact with the material you are reading or
seeing. You must relate your ideas and opinions to the assigned reading or topic. A
response paper will take as its starting point the readings or films during a specified class
period. Also, no later than 5 pm. on the day before your assignment is due (see
schedule on web site), you should post your response paper to the rest of the class on
the course’s Blackboard website. The criteria for grading the reading response paper
are:
• Level of effort (appropriate length and degree you interact with the material)
• Appropriate and relevant examples
• Coherent argument and clear presentation of points
critical analysis of reading Each student is required to complete a critical analysis of
reading (CAR) for one of the assigned readings. The purpose of this assignment is to
improve the student's ability to understand the style and rhetoric of the text. The criteria
for grading the CAR are:
• Shows relative mastery of the author's main points
• Shows relative mastery of author's style of writing
• Demonstrates ability to recognize relevant examples
Students in the LAC discussion section will write this paper in Spanish.
The following assessments are graded, in that they will be evaluated and you will achieve credit
according to a scale of 100 points from A to F (see below).
essay Once during the semester you will write a short (3 pages, typed, double-spaced)
essay answer on a choice of assigned questions (questions will be posted on the website
a week in advance). We do this separately from the exams to enable you to consult
sources and argue from details and to give you ample time to think and develop a
persuasive argument. You will hand these in to your discussion leader at the beginning of
lecture on the designated day. (It is important that you not miss lecture in order to finish
you paper. Plan ahead, including the time necessary to print. Papers turned in late will be
penalized (see below). Students in the LAC discussion section will write this paper in
Spanish.
exams There will be a midterm exam (Monday, February 27, in class) and a final
(Monday, May 8, at noon). These will consist of fill-in-the-blank, matching, multiple choice
or short answer questions (two or three sentences). All material covered in the class
(whether from lectures, videos, or discussion sessions) as well as all the assigned
readings will be included in the exams. This means that you will need to study from: a)
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your lecture and discussion notes, b) the book and articles, and c) your notes on videos.
The final exam will emphasize the second part of the course, but will include some
questions that ask you to think comparatively about material from the entire semester.
Note on late submission of work: for assignments turned in late, 10% of your grade will
be taken off for each day after the due date. Grades will drop by one third (e.g., an A- will
become a B+) when the assignment is handed in past the first 15 minutes of class and
before 5 p.m. on the due date. All late materials should be handed into my mailbox in 301
Alumni (above the box marked with my last name: David).
summary of course points:
ungraded assignments
20%
 Attendance and participation
 Discussion questions
 Peer review participation
 In-class writing / quizzes
outcome based assignments
 Reading response paper
 Critical analysis of reading
25%
10%
15%
graded assignments
 Essay
 Mid-term exam
 Final exam
55%
15%
20%
20%
The grading scale for this course is the following: A+ 100, A 96, A- 93, B+ 88, B 85, B- 82, C+
78, C 75, C- 72, D 65, F or not turned in 0. Grades will not be curved.
notes on course requirements
attendance policy Section attendance, participation in discussion and peer review, generating
discussion questions, and writing response papers are simply part of the work you are expected
to do to be a member of this community of learners. Each student is allowed two “free” absences
from section. Each further absence will result in a loss of 1% from final course grade (We will of
course make exceptions in case of prolonged illness or family emergency or a weather problem
that keeps most people from getting to the university). Failure to supply discussion questions or
reflection papers will likewise result in a loss of 1% for each missing assignment.
As always, you are expected to make up any work you miss during your absence with a peer
first. If you would like to discuss your peer’s notes with us after you have read them, please feel
free to come to our office hours. We do not distribute copies of our notes. In addition, if you
have an assignment deadline for the date you are planning to be absent, address it with us
beforehand, and we can attempt to make alternative arrangements. Otherwise, the above
lateness policy will apply.
honor code You are expected to act in compliance with the University Honor Code on all
assignments, including your pledge on all written work to be handed in for grades (for more info,
see http://www.unc.edu/depts/honor/index.html). Implied in the Honor Code is proper citation of
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your sources. Visit the Writing Center if you are unfamiliar with how to fulfill this requirement: tel.
962-7710, lower level of the Phillips Annex, http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb.
special needs If you have any special needs (i.e., illnesses, specific learning style
requirements), please let us know as soon as possible, so that we can discuss ways in which
they can be accommodated.
readings, films, website, and communication
texts The following book is a required text, and is available through UNC Student Bookstore:
Inda, Jonathan, and Renato Rosaldo, eds., 2002, The Anthropology of Globalization: A
Reader, Oxford: Blackwell.
All other required readings for the course are available online through the UNC Library
Reserves, or will be posted on this course’s Blackboard web site (see below). Texts that are
available through Reserves may be either in the Electronic Reserves (accessible from the
Library’s home page at www.lib.unc.edu) or the Paper Reserves (accessed at the reserve desk
on the first floor of the Undergraduate Library). The class schedule clearly indicates the location
of each of these readings. Additional readings may be assigned periodically.
films Most of the films we’ll see are available for (re)viewing at the Media Resource Center in
the Undergraduate Library, including:
Bontoc Eulogy (MRC 65-V6180)
Battle of Algiers (MRC 65-DVD1922)
Cannibal Tours (MRC 65-V6199)
First Contact (MRC 65-V3309)
The Global Assembly Line (MRC 65-V3744)
Oaxacalifornia (MRC 65-V6904)
This Magnificent African Cake (MRC 65-V3086)
One other film we use will be borrowed from Duke’s Lilly Library, and can be (re)viewed there:
The Kayapo: Out of the Forest (VC 1838)
website This course also has a Blackboard web site. Announcements and information about
course assignments will be posted there, and you will be required to submit assignments there
as well. Students in the course are responsible for checking the web site regularly, which you
can access by logging in with your Onyen and password at blackboard.unc.edu.
e-mail Students are also responsible for regularly checking the e-mail account that is
registered with the University. All e-mails to the instructor or the teaching assistant should either
be done through Blackboard, or include “Anth 42” in the subject line; otherwise, they might
inadvertently be missed.
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