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SYLLABUS
ANT 3930 Social Relations
Tuesday, Period 9 (4:05-4:55pm)
Thursdays, Periods 9-10 (4:05-6:00pm)
MAT 0018
Danny Pinedo, PhD Candidate
Email: dpinedo@ufl.edu
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Course Description and Objectives
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Interpersonal relations constitute the cement of society. What does it mean to be a sibling, a
friend, a spouse or a lover? Why do we make kin out of strangers? Every time two persons have
a face-to-face interaction and adjust their behavior to one another, the result is a relationship. But
how are Facebook, Twitter and other social networks changing the way we relate to each other?
This course examines social relations from an cross-cultural perspective. We will explore social
relations in the American and other cultures, how these relations contribute to the reproduction of
society, and how they are being affected by contemporary social, cultural and technological
changes.
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By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• understand the basic characteristics of social relations and their significance for society and
culture
• understand cultural variations in social relations
• have the ability to rethink some of their cultural assumptions about social relations
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Class Format
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This class is a combination of lectures, class discussion, and documentary screening.
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Course Requirements and Grading
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1. Exams (30%)
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There will be two exams, one in the middle of the semester and the other at end of the semester.
Both exams will test your knowledge about material covered in lectures (including guest
speakers) and assigned readings. The exams will include 30 multiple-choice questions and will
be noncumulative.
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2. Ethnographic research project (50%)
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Students are required to design and conduct an ethnographic research project. The research
project will be carried out in three stages: two research reports of 2-3 pages and one final paper
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of 8-10 pages. The first research report focuses on the research problem and background
research. Students will choose one of the weekly topics that will be covered in class as the topic
for their ethnographic research project. The second research report should include a reflection on
the research process and preliminary results. The final paper present the research results. Data for
this project should be collected through in-depth ethnographic interviews, which are open-ended
conversations designed to gather information on daily activities and world views. No Internet,
telephone or messenger service interview will be allowed.
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3. Reading, participation in class and attendance (20%)
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Students must finish the readings assigned for each week before the first class of the week meets.
Students are also required to attend and participate with questions and comments in all lectures.
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Assignment
Exams
Exam 1
Exam 2
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Ethnographic research report
Research report 1
Research report 2
Final paper
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Due Dates
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Points
Percent
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Week 7
Week 15
15
15
Week 5
Week 9
Week 13
10
10
30
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30
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50
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Reading, attendance and
participation
20
Total
100
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20
100
Letter grades will be assigned based on the total percent of points according to the following
scale:
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A = 90 or above
A- = 87-89
B+ = 84-86
B = 80-83
B- = 77-79
C+ = 74-76
C = 70-73
C- = 67-69
D+ = 64-66
D = 60-63
D- = 57-59
E = 56 or below
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Course Schedule, Readings and Assignments
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Week 1 (Jan. 7, 9): Course Introduction
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Week 2 (Jan. 14, 16): Gift Exchange: The Morality of Social Ties
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Required readings:
• Marcel Mauss: The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. London:
Routledge. 2002 [Ch. 1: The Exchange of Gifts and the Obligation to Reciprocate (Polynesia)]
• Aafke Komter: Social Solidarity and the Gift. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2005
(Ch. 1: The Social Meanings of Things)
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Week 3 (Jan. 21, 23): Kinship: The Basic Social Ties
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Required readings:
• Robin Fox: Kinship and Marriage: An Anthropological Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. 1967. (Ch. 2: Kinship, Family and Filiation)
• Maurice Bloch: The Long Term and the Short Term: The Economic and Political Significance
of the Morality of Kinship. In Jack Goody (ed.), The Character of Kinship. London:
Cambridge University Press. 1973
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Week 4 (Jan. 28, 30): Marriage
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Required readings:
• Stephanie Koontz: Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered
Marriage. New York: Viking Penguin. 2005 (Ch. 2: The Many Meanings of Marriage)
• Naomi Quinn: “Commitment” in American Marriage: A Cultural Analysis. American
Ethnologist 9(4):755-798
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Research report 1 is due: Jan. 30 by the end of class (6:00pm)
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Week 5 (Feb. 4, 6): Other Forms of Relatedness
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Required readings:
• Barbara Bodenhorn: “He Used to Be my Relative”: Exploring the Basis of Relatedness among
Iñupiat of Northern Alaska. In Janet Carsten (ed.), Cultures of Relatedness: New Approaches to
the Study of Kinship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000
• Jenny B. White: Kinship, Reciprocity and the World Market. In Peter P. Schweitzer (ed.),
Dividends of Kinship: Meanings and Uses of Social Relatedness. London: Routledge. 2000
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Week 6 (Feb. 11, 13): Fictive Kinship
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Required readings:
• Stephen Gudeman: The Compadrazgo as a Reflection of the Natural and Spiritual Person.
Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 1971: 45-71.
1972
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• Kath Weston: Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship. New York: Columbia University
Press. 1997 (Ch. 5: Families We Choose)
• Aparecida Vilaça: Making Kin Out of Others in Amazonia. Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute 8: 347-365. 2002
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Week 7 (Feb. 18, 20): Friends and Acquaintances
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Required readings:
• Evan Killick: Ayompari, Compadre, Amigo: Forms of Fellowship in Peruvian Amazonia. In
Amit Desai and Evan Killick (eds.): The Ways of Friendship: Anthropological Perspectives.
New York: Berghahn Books. 2010
• James G. Carrier: People Who Can Be Friends: Selves and Social Relationships. In Sandra Bell
and Simon Coleman (eds): The Anthropology of Friendship. Oxford: Berg. 1999
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First exam: Feb. 18
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Week 8 (Feb. 25, 27): Love, Intimacy and Sex
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Required readings:
• Anthony Giddens: The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern
Societies. Cambridge: Polity Press. 1992 (Ch. 5: Love, Sex and Other Addictions)
• Robert Brain: Friends and Lovers. London: Paladin. 1977 (Introduction: Love and Friendship)
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Research report 2 is due: Feb 27, by the end of class (6:00pm)
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Mar. 4, 6 (Spring Break): No classes
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Week 9 (Mar. 11, 13): Sociality: Conviviality and Predation
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Required readings:
• Catherine Ales: Anger as a Marker of Love: The Ethic of Conviviality among the Yanomami.
In Joanna Overing and Alan Passes (eds.): The Anthropology of Love and Anger: The
Aesthetics of Conviviality in Native Amazonia. London: Routledge. 2000
• Fernando Santos-Granero: Of Fear and Friendship: Amazonian Sociality beyond Kinship and
Affinity. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13(1):1-18. 2007
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Week 10 (Mar. 18, 20): Patrons and Clients
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Required readings:
• S.N. Eisenstad and L. Roniger: Patrons, Clients and Friends: Interpersonal Relations and the
Structure of Trust in Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994 (Ch. 7: Variations
in Patron-Client Relations)
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• James C. Scott and Benedict J. Kerkvliet: How Traditional Rural Patrons Lose Legitimacy: A
Theory with Special Reference to Southeast Asia. In Stephen W. Schmidt (ed.): Friends,
Followers and Factions: A Reader in Political Clientelism. Berkeley: University of California
Press. 1977
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Week 11 (Mar. 25, 27): Gender and Social Relations
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Required readings:
• Marilyn Strathern: The Gender of the Gift: Problems with Women and Problems with Society
in Melanesia. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1988 (Ch. 3: Domains: Male and
Female Models)
• Daniel J. Canary and Tara M. Emmer-Sommers. Sex and Gender Differences in Personal
Relationships. New York: The Guilford Press. 1997 (Ch. 1: Moving Beyond Stereotypes)
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Week 12 (Apr. 1, 3): Social Relations as Social Capital
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Required readings:
• Robert D. Putnam: Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New
York: Simon and Schuster. 2000 (Ch. 3: Civic Participation)
• Mayfair Mei-hui Yang: Gifts, Favors and Banquets: The Art of Social Relationships in China.
New York: Cornell University Press. 1994 (Ch. 3: The “Art” in Guanxixue: Ethics, Tactics, and
Etiquette)
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Week 13 (Apr. 8, 10): Social Relations, Social Media and Technology
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Required readings:
• Andrew Keenan and Ali Shiri: Sociability and Social Interaction on Social Networking
Websites. Library Review 58(6):438-450. 2009
• Rachel A. Elphiston and Patricia Noller: Time to Face It! Facebook Intrusion and the
Implications for Romantic Jealously and Relationship Satisfaction. Cyberpsychology,
Behavior, and Social Networking 14(11):631-635. 2011
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Final paper is due: Apr. 10, by the end of class (6:00pm)
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Week 14 (Apr. 15, 17): Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods: Fraternities, Sororities and Secret
Societies
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Required readings
• Nicholas L. Syrett: The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities. Chapel
Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 2009 (Ch. 1: Camaraderie and Resistance: The
Founding and Function of College Fraternities)
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• D. Ownby: Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid-Qing China: The Formation of
a Tradition. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1996 (Introduction: Chinese Brotherhoods
and Secret Societies through the Opium War)
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Week 15 (Apr. 22, 24): Course Wrap-Up
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Second exam: Apr. 24
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Policy on Late Assignments and Make-Up Work
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You should complete all required assignments by the stated due dates. Research reports will lose
five percent of their grade for each day they are late. No late final papers will be accepted. There
will be no extensions for papers or make-up exams unless documentation for universityapproved excuses is provided at least 24 hours in advance to the deadline. University-approved
excuses include cases of incapacitated illness, death of a family member, and religious holiday.
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Classroom Behavior
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Any kind of disruption, including but not limited to talking, listening to an audio device, reading
newspapers, updating Facebook or twitting, will not be tolerated and the student will be asked to
leave the class. You must turn cell phones off or set them to silent mode before class begins. The
use of personal computers, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices can be used in class
only as learning tools. Students are expected to behave in a responsible and mature manner in
class, helping to create an environment of respect and tolerance.
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Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
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All written assignments must be original and the result of individual work, unless it has been
specified as a collective work by the instructor. If there is evidence of collusion (receiving help
from someone not connected to the class or assignment), plagiarism (use someone else’s work
without properly citing the source) or multiple submission of the same paper, the student will
receive a 0 for the assignment and be reported to the Dean of Students Office for academic
dishonesty. For more information about student responsibilities, please see the following web
page: https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/advising/info/student-honor-code.aspx#honesty
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Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
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Students in need of classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students
Office and provide the resulting documentation to the instructor at least by the second week of
class. For more information about services available to University of Florida students, please
contact the Disability Resource Center, Dean of Students Office, 0001 Building 0020 (Reid
Hall), Ph.: (352)392-8565, (http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/).
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Counseling and Mental Health Services
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The university provides many resources to students having personal or academic problems:
• University Counseling and Wellness Center, 3190 Radio Road, Ph.: (352)392-1575. Open Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm (http://www.counseling.ufl.edu/cwc/).
• Student Health Care Center, Ph.: (352)392-1171 (http://shcc.ufl.edu/).
• Career Resource Center, first floor J. Wayne Reitz Union, Ph.: (352)392-1601. Open Monday through Friday, 8 am-5 pm (http://www.crc.ufl.edu/).
• Emergency services (http://www.counseling.ufl.edu/cwc/Emergency-Services).
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