Social Anthropology:
Birth and Sex and Death
Mondays 11-1
Room 5N 4.7
Andrew Canessa, Room No. 6.326 Tel: 2656
Office hours
Andrew Canessa’s office hours are on Mondays between 9.30 and 10.30 and on Thursdays
between 11 and 12. You will find an appointment sheet on my door.
General Introduction to Course
This course looks at a number of anthropological themes through the framework of the human life
cycle: birth, sex, death. It should not be considered a general introduction to anthropology although
reference will be made to a number of central debates. This course will use material from a wide
variety of societies and the emphasis will be on a general discussion of human society rather than
examining any particular culture in great detail. This course uses material from all the continents
inhabited by humans.
Teaching
The course group meets weekly for two hours at a time. The sessions will be characterised by a
mixed format of lecturing, group activity and open discussion. A typical session will consist of a halfhour lecture after which students will read a short piece of text relevant to the lecture. After reading,
students will form themselves into groups (this is flexible - groups may be as small as three and as
large as six) in which they will discuss a number of questions relating to the reading and the preceding
lecture. After a period of small group work the discussion is opened to include everyone. The
process is repeated with more lecturing for short periods followed by group work and discussion. The
final twenty minutes to half hour of the session will normally be devoted to discussion of the key texts
set for reading.
The aims of this teaching method are as follows:

To allow students to understand, absorb, and critically examine lecture material before they leave the
lecture theatre. The alternative is an hour-long lecture in which students passively take notes without
really engaging with the material until they subsequently review their notes.

To give students the opportunity to discuss material in a small (and therefore less intimidating
environment) before opening the discussion to all. It is envisaged that students will feel more able to
express their ideas in public if they have already had the opportunity to do so in a smaller group and
perhaps write down what they wish to say. In this way an important skill is developed.
Course Structure and Work Requirements
The course runs for twenty sessions and students are expected to read at least two articles or
chapters per week. This should be considered the absolute minimum. A reading pack will be made
available to students at a reasonable cost which will include all the essential reading.
You are expected to attend all sessions and contribute to discussion and debate.
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Course Assessment
There are five kinds of assessment for this course

Structure of the assessment
Coursework
Reading Assessment
Group Assessment
Tests
Essays
70% of total
Ten assignments
Two assignments
Two assignments
Two assignments
Total coursework
10%
30%
20%
40%
100%
Exam
30% of total
Total Exam
100%
A pass constitutes 40% or above in the overall assessment.

Reading Assessment – Ten exercises.
Students will be given questions relating to that week’s reading which will be posted on the web. They
must answer the questions based on their reading and hand them in the following week. The answers
will be discussed in class. The maximum number of points awarded is five.
An adequate answer is one that represents a considered response to the question based on the
reading. In some cases there may be several possible ‘adequate’ answers to the question.
A good answer is one that shows particularly close reading of the article; a very complete answer; and
an answer which shows very good understanding.
Note that a maximum of 100% can be obtained in this assessment.
Reading assignments must be handed in in class and will usually be marked and left for collection the
same day. Because the answers are discussed in class it is not possible to hand the reading
assignments in late. If you find you are unable to make the class I will permit you to hand in the
reading assignment before the class; but under no circumstances will I accept them after the class
has taken place.
Pedagogical Justification:
Directed reading is a very useful way for students to learn. The question will direct students to
important points in the texts and teach them to read in a more focused and critical manner. This
mode of assessment will also encourage a more sustained engagement with the course.
Note: The reading assignments will be downloadable from the website and students can type in their
answers. The reading assignment will also be available in the reading pack.
Group Assessment - Two exercises.
These exercises are for groups and the final mark is shared among all the members. The minimum
size of the group is three, the maximum is five. In order that a copy of the essay goes in your file
multiple copies of the essay must be handed in; one copy per person plus one extra copy for me to
mark. A special cover sheet which must be attached to each copy can be downloaded from the
course website.
It is expected that groups will form ‘naturally’ but I reserve the right to impose an individual on any
group which has fewer than five members. They may divide the work up any way they wish but may
wish to consider allocating different reading items and different parts of the writing of the final
document. You must ensure, however, that the final document is coherent and avoids repetition and
contradiction.
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The format is the same as an essay and should include a bibliography. The titles (based on the class
debates) are:
Group Essay 1 To what extent is female genital cutting a basic breach of human rights in all circumstances?
Group Essay 2 ‘How useful is the term ‘homosexuality’ in cross-cultural analysis?’
There are (at least) two sides to these questions and students will have a chance to familiarise
themselves with differing perspectives in the debates on which these group essay titles are based. It
is a basic expectation of the essay that it show good knowledge of the opposing view(s).
Pedagogical justification.
These exercises assesses students’ ability to work together, co-operate in researching an issue and to
co-operate in writing up a report. Students also learn to consider the opposite side of a debate. One
of the key aspects of this assessment is the very important skill in dividing work and dealing with
different talents within the group. It is expected, however, that all students participate fully in this
assessment. Nevertheless one of the issues you may have to deal with in the group is that some
people pull more of their weight than others. This is a ‘real life’ situation that you will be learning to
deal with.
Note: Students will have already had considerable opportunity to work together in groups before this first
group assessment is due. It is therefore expected that students will easily be able to choose their
groups and build on pre-existing co-operative relationships.

Tests – Two tests
Each of these two 45-minute tests will require short answers to questions. This will be asking for
definitions of key concepts; asking to demonstrate understanding of ethnographic material; asking for
outlines of key theories.
Pedagogical justification
These tests will assess students’ grasp of key concepts and ideas and test their understanding of the
material discussed in class. They will also aid the teacher in assessing his own effectiveness in
communicating key concepts etc. with time to take remedial action if necessary.
Note: These tests are covered under the University’s provision for exams. If you find that you are unable to
attend a test for a good reason you must fill in an extenuating circumstances form available from the
undergraduate office.

Essays - Two essays
Standard assessment -- deadlines set by the department.
Pedagogical justification
Essays allow students to examine two areas of the course in greater depth and develop ideas and
arguments in writing.

Exam – One 2-hour exam, 30% of the final assessment.
Standard assessment. There will be a choice of questions covering the entire course. Students are
required to answer one question. A previous year’s exam is available in the course pack.
Pedagogical justification
The exam will test students’ knowledge of the course as a whole as opposed to a particular aspect of
it.
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A note on essays
Each essay should be at least two thousand words. There is no upper limit to the length of essays for
this course but students should be careful to avoid repetition and redundancy. Essays should be
typed, proof-read and contain a bibliography in a standard style. If you are unclear how a bibliography
should be laid out have a look at any academic article or see the notes in my web page.
Essay titles
Students are encouraged to develop their own essay titles but these must be approved by the course
tutor.
Summary
Autumn Term
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
No assessment
No assessment
Reading 1: Thomas Lacquer
No assessment
Reading 2: Paloma Gay y Blasco
Reading 3: Delaney
No assessment
Reading 4: Llewellyn Davis
Reading 5: Bloch & Guggenheim
First Essay due Friday, Dec 7. .
Test Debate. Group Assessment Due Week 17
Spring Term
Week 16
Week 17
Week 18
Week 19
Week 20
Week 21
Week 22
Week 23
Week 24
Week 25
No assessment
Reading 6: Ortner Group Assignment 1 Due Jan 25
No assessment
Reading 7: Wikan
Reading 8: Harries
Reading Week No assessment
Second Essay Due, Friday, Feb 22
No assessment
Debate. Group Assessment Due Week 31
Reading 9: Scheper Hughes
Test
Summer Term
Week 30
Week 31
Week 32
Reading 10: Bloch
No assessment – Mock exam
Group Assignment 2 Due May 2
No assessment – Mock exam
Please note:
The reading assessments must be submitted in class. All other assessments must be handed
in to the Sociology Department office.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Departmental Guidelines stipulate the minimum amount of work you must do each term - ideally you
will do more.
Late essays are not acceptable unless there are clear extenuating circumstances
If you fall behind in Departmental Deadlines there is a marks penalty outlined in the 'Assessment
Rules'.
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Reader
A reader of all the key readings and some others will be available for purchase. All of these readings
are available in the library but the reader is excellent value for money. Since there is no key textbook
for the course it is expected that every student buy the reader. Since the reader is made easily and
cheaply available there can be no question about students being able to find the week’s reading.
Anthropology Journals
The Journals below are available in the Essex University Library:
Annual Review of Anthropology
Anthropological Quarterly
Australian Journal of Anthropology
Critique of Anthropology
Ethnology
Journal of Ethnic Studies
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, incorporating Man
Handouts
Handouts will be.distributed week by week. They will normally be available on the website at least a day in
advance
Website
I have a personal website where you will find information on my teaching, including tips on how to write
essays, exams, etc... http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~canessa/
There is a page for this course which will include specific, up-to-date , information:
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~canessa/anthropo.htm
Other online resources are available from the website
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Outline
Section One: Anthropology and Anthropologists _______________________________ 7
Week 2:
Introduction. ___________________________________________________________ 7
Week 3:
Anthropology and Anthropologists_______________________________________ 8
Section Two: Thinking the Body ______________________________________________ 8
Week 4:
Sex and Biology in European History_____________________________________ 8
Week 5:
Naturalising Concepts: The Body in the West _____________________________ 9
Week 6:
The Virgin Birth_________________________________________________________ 9
Week 7:
The Seed and the Soil: Procreation and Cosmology ______________________ 10
Week 8: Reading Week ____________________________________________________________ 11
Section Three: Marking the Body/Making the Body ____________________________ 11
Week 9:
Maasai Women.________________________________________________________ 11
Week 10:
Baptism, Circumcision and the Second Birth ____________________________ 12
Week 11:
Female Genital Cutting – A Debate ____________________________________ 13
Week 16:
Masculinity in Crisis? __________________________________________________ 14
Section Four: Trying to make some sense ____________________________________ 14
Week 17:
Naturalising Differences________________________________________________ 14
Week 18:
Is female to male as nature is to culture? ________________________________ 16
Week 19:
The nature/culture debate revisited _____________________________________ 17
Section Five: Sexualities and Genders ________________________________________ 17
Week 20:
Sexual Options ________________________________________________________ 17
Week 21:
Reading Week _________________________________________________________ 19
Week 22:
Transformations of Gender in a Single-Sex Community __________________ 19
Week 23:
Homosexuality ________________________________________________________ 19
Section Six: Death __________________________________________________________ 20
Week 24:
The experience of death ________________________________________________ 20
Week 25:
Death in the Andes_____________________________________________________ 20
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Course Reading Session by Session
Section One: Anthropology and Anthropologists
Week 2:
Introduction.
Introduction to the course: sessions, essays, etc. The anthropological approach - how does it differ
from sociology? The history of a tradition.
Reading
Talal Asad (ed) 1985 Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter HM 107. A7
James Clifford and George Marcus 1986 Writing Culture: the Politics of Ethnography U of Calif. Press
HM107. W7
James Clifford 1988 The Predicament of Culture; Twentieth-century ethnography, literature and art.
Harvard UP HM 101. C6
James Clifford 1992 ‘Travelling Cultures’ in Grossberg et.al. (eds) Cultural Studies
Nigel Barley 1983 The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut Penguin HN 814.C17
Stocking, George Jr, (ed.) (1983) ‘The Ethnographer’s Magic: Fieldwork in British Anthropology from
Taylor to Malinowski’, in Stocking, George Jr. (ed.) (1983), Observers Observed: Essays on
Ethnographic Fieldwork, University of Wisconsin Press, GN 320
Clifford, James ‘On Ethnographic Self-Fashioning: Conrad and Malinowski’, in The Predicament of Culture,
Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, HM 101. C6
Asad, Talal (ed.) (1985) Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter, London: Ithaca Press HM 107. A7
Geertz, Clifford (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures, especially part I and 5, New York: BasicBooks HM
107. G4
Kuper, Adam (1996), Anthropology and Anthropologists, London, Routledge, notably chapters 1, 4 and 8,
GN 45.G7
Turner, Terence (1991) ‘Representing, resisting, rethinking: Historical Transformations of Kayapo and
anthropological consciousness’, in Stocking, George, Jr. (ed.) Colonial Situations: Essays on the
Contexualization of Ethnographic Knowledge, Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press
Moore, Henrietta L. (1999) Anthropological Theory Today, Cambridge: Polity Press GN 27
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Week 3:
Anthropology and Anthropologists
Fieldwork is the anthropologist’s most important methodological tool. In this session we look at why it
is so important to anthropologists and examine some of the advantages and disadvantages.
In
recent years anthropologists have become more and more aware of the importance of the
anthropologist in anthropological writing. How should one deal with the fact that what an
anthropologist writes is so much affected by the kind of person s/he is and the particular situations
s/he finds herself in?
Reading
Read two articles from:
Don Kulick and Margaret Willson (eds.) 1995 Taboo: sex, identity, and erotic subjectivity in anthropological
fieldwork. London: Routledge
Diane Bell, Pat Caplan and Wazir Jahan Karim (eds) 1993 Gendered Fields: Women, Men and Ethnography
Routledge.
Further reading
(also see previous session)
Clifford, James (1997) Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century, Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press
Marcus, George, E. (1998) Ethnography through Thick and Thin, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, GN 320
Moore, Henrietta L. (1994) A Passion for Difference: Essays in Anthropology and Gender, chapter 6
‘Master narratives: anthropology and writing’
Newton, Esther (2000) ‘My best informant’s dress: the erotic equation in fieldwork’, in Newton, E. Margaret
Mead Made Me Gay, Durham and London: Duke University Press
Section Two: Thinking the Body
Week 4:
Sex and Biology in European History
The difference between sex and gender has been generally taken to be the difference between natural
differences between people and the social elaboration of those natural differences. But science does
not exist in a social vacuum and in this session we look at the way European cultures have looked at
the “natural facts” of sex and procreation.
Reading
Thomas Laquer 1990 Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud. Harvard UP. HQ21. L2 Chr
2&7*
L.J. Jordanova 1980 ‘Natural facts: and historical perspective on science and sexuality’ in MacCormack and
Strathern (eds) Nature, Culture and Gender
Further Reading
Jacobus, M. Keller, E.F., & Shuttleworth, S (eds.) (1990) Body/Politics: women and the discourses of
science, London: Routledge
Bordo, Susan (1991) Unbearable Weight: feminism, western culture, and the body, Berkeley: University of
California Press
Haraway, Donna (1989) Primate Visions: Gender, Race and Nature in the World of Modern Science,
London: Verso
Martin, Emily (1992), ‘The End of the Body’, American Ethnologist Vol.16. 1 pp. 121-140
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Week 5:
Naturalising Concepts: The Body in the West
We continue looking at gender and the body and interrogate further the extent to which the body is
‘given’ in contemporary society. How far does culture influence or even determine how we understand
simple features of the body. Why will some cultures place enormous sexual and social importance
on the hymen, for example, and others not even know of its existence?
Reading
Paloma Gay-y-Blasco (1997) ‘A different body? Desire and virginity among Gitanos’ J. Roy. anthrop. Inst
Vol 3 (3), pp 517-536
Emily Martin 1991 ‘The Egg and the Sperm and how Science has created a Romance based on
Stereotypical Male-Female Roles’ Signs Vol 16 3 pp.485-501.
Further reading
Emily Martin (1992) [1987] The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction Boston: Beacon
Part 2. HQ1206.M2
Emily Martin (1992) ‘The End of the Body’ American Ethnologist Vol.16. 1 pp. 121-140
Judith Butler (1993) Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex.’. London: Routledge
Jacobus, M. Keller, E.F., & Shuttleworth, S (eds) (1990) Body/Politics: women and the discourses of science.
London: Routledge
Bordo, S. (1991) Unbearable Weight: feminism, western culture, and the body. Berkeley: University of
California Press
Donna Harraway 1989 Primate Visions: Gender, Race and Nature in the World of Modern Science Verso
Strathern, Andrew J. (1996) Body Thoughts, Ann Harbor: University of Michigan Press, chapters 4, 5 and 7:
‘The Becoming Body’, ‘The Threatened Body’ and ‘Embodiment’.
Week 6:
The Virgin Birth
Anthropologists have long noted that some peoples seem ignorant of the paternal role in human
reproduction. How might we account for this? What are the ‘facts of life’ and how far are they ‘natural’
facts? What are the differences between European ‘scientific’ understandings of procreation and
those of other peoples?
Reading
Ott, Sandra, 1979 ‘Aristotle among the Basques: the ‘cheese analogy’ of conception’, Man Vol 14. No. 4.
Monica Konrad 1998, ‘Ova donation and symbols of substance: some variations on the theme of sex, gender
and the partible person’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol 4 (4): 643:668
Further reading
Spiro, M., 1968. ‘Virgin Birth, parthenogenesis and physiological paternity: an essay in cultural
representation’ Man
Sarah Franklin 1997 Embodied Progress: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception Chapter 1 ‘Conception
among the anthropologists’, pp 17-73.
D. Kelly Weisberg (2005) The Birth of Surrogacy in Israel. University Press of Florida.
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Bob Simpson 2001 ‘Making ‘bad’ deaths ‘good’: The kinships consequences of posthumous conception.’
Journal of the Roayal Anthropological Institute 7. pp 1-18
David McKnight 1975 ‘Men, Women, and other Animals’ in Willis, R. (ed) The Interpretation of Symbolism
Malaby Press. HM197. W5
Julia Stonehouse 1994 Idols to Incubators: Reproduction Theory thorough the Ages Scarlett Press HQ1206.
S7
Week 7:
The Seed and the Soil: Procreation and Cosmology
In this session we look at procreation beliefs in a much wider context. What do procreation beliefs tell us
about religion, cosmology, about how people think about themselves? In particular, we look at
procreation as making persons as opposed to simply reproducing the species.
Reading
Delaney, C. 1986 ‘The meaning of paternity and the virgin birth debate’, in Man vol. 21. GN1.M2
Maurice Bloch 1992 ‘Birth and the Beginning of Social Life among the Zafinminary of Madagascar’ in Aijmer
(ed) Coming Into Existence: Birth and Metaphors of Birth
Further reading
Diemberger, Hildegard 1993. ‘Gender relations, kinship and cosmovision among the Khumbo (N.E. Nepal)’
in Teresa del Valle (ed.) Gendered Anthropology. London: Routledge.
Rita Astuti 1993 ‘Food for Pregnancy: Procreation, Marriage and Images of gender among the Vezo of
Western Madagascar’ Social Anthropology 1, 3, 277-290
Janet Carsten 1992 ‘The Process of Childbirth and becoming Related among Malays in Pulau Langkawi’ in
Aijmer (ed) Coming Into Existence: Birth and Metaphors of Birth
Judy DeLoache & Alma Gottlieb 2000 Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies.
University Press
Cambridge
Lorrain, Claire (2000), ‘Cosmic reproduction, economics and politics among the Kulina of Southwest
Amazonia’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 6:293-310
Delaney, Carol (1991) The Seed and the Soil: Gender and Cosmology in Turkish Village Society, Berkeley:
University of California Press
DeLoache, Judy and Gottlieb, Alma (2000) Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
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Diemberger, Hildegard (1993), ‘Gender relations, kinship and cosmovision among the Khumbo (N.E.
Nepal), in Del Valle, Teresa (ed.) Gendered Anthropology, London: Routledge
Wilson, Richard (1995) Maya Resurgence in Guatemala: Q’eqchi’ experiences, University of Oklahoma
Press, Chapters 4 and 5
Anthropologists have long noted that some peoples seem ignorant of the paternal role in human
reproduction. How might we account for this? What are the ‘facts of life’ and how far are they ‘natural’
facts? What are the differences between European ‘scientific’ understandings of procreation and
those of other peoples?
Reading
Ott, Sandra, 1979 ‘Aristotle among the Basques: the ‘cheese analogy’ of conception’, Man Vol 14. No. 4.
Monica Konrad 1998, ‘Ova donation and symbols of substance: some variations on the theme of sex, gender
and the partible person’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol 4 (4): 643:668
Further reading
Spiro, M., 1968. ‘Virgin Birth, parthenogenesis and physiological paternity: an essay in cultural
representation’ Man
Sarah Franklin 1997 Embodied Progress: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception Chapter 1 ‘Conception
among the anthropologists’, pp 17-73.
D. Kelly Weisberg (2005) The Birth of Surrogacy in Israel. University Press of Florida.
Bob Simpson 2001 ‘Making ‘bad’ deaths ‘good’: The kinships consequences of posthumous conception.’
Journal of the Roayal Anthropological Institute 7. pp 1-18
David McKnight 1975 ‘Men, Women, and other Animals’ in Willis, R. (ed) The Interpretation of Symbolism
Malaby Press. HM197. W5
Julia Stonehouse 1994 Idols to Incubators: Reproduction Theory thorough the Ages Scarlett Press HQ1206.
S7
Week 8: Reading Week
Section Three: Marking the Body/Making the Body
Week 9:
Maasai Women.
This week we watch and discuss a film about Maasai women which looks at lives and aspirations,
initiation and marriage.
Film Maasai Women by Melissa Llewellyn-Davies
Reading
Melissa Llewellyn-Davies 1981 ‘Women, Warriors and Patriarchs’ 'in Ortner and Whitehead (eds) Sexual
Meanings
Further reading
Jean La Fontaine 1985 Initiation Harmondsworth GN483 Selected Chapters *
Richards, Audrey 1982 Chisungu - a girl’s initiation ceremony among the Bemba of Zambia London:
Tavistock HN 800. Z2
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Victor Turner The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual Cornell University Press. HN 800. Z2 Ch 4
Van Gennep 1977 The Rites of Passage London: Routledge GN483
Melissa Llewellyn-Davies 1978 ‘Two Contexts of Solidarity amongst Pastoral Maasai Women’. in P. Caplan
and J. Bujra (eds.) Women United, Women Divided. London: Tavistock HQ 1154. W6
Week 10:
Baptism, Circumcision and the Second Birth
Baptism is a ritual which takes place soon after birth in Christian cultures. Many other culture, too,
however have similar rituals. Why should such a cultural phenomenon be so widespread. Why is the
ritual language of these rituals so similar to that of birth? What are the wider implications of second
birth rituals?
Reading
Jean Jackson 1996 ‘Coping with the Dilemmas of Affinity and Female Sexuality: Male Rebirth in the Central
Northwest Amazon.’ In Shapiro and Linke (eds) Denying Biology GN235
Bloch and Guggenheim 1982 ‘Compadrazgo, Baptism and the Second Birth.’ Man 16(3): 376:386.
Further reading
Abigail Adams, 1993. ‘Dyke to dyke: Ritual reproduction at a US Men’s military college.’ Anthropology
Today Vol 9 (5): 3-6.
Andrew Canessa 1999 ‘Making Persons, Marking Difference: Procreation in Highland Bolivia’ in Conceiving
Persons: Ethnographies of Procreation, Substance and Personhood. Peter Loizos and Patrick Heady
(eds.) London: Athlone Press pp.69-87
Warren Shapiro and Uli Line, 1996 Denying Biology: Essays on Gender and Pseudo-Creation. University
Press of America. GN235
Brock Due, Ingrid Rudie & Tone Bleie (eds) 1993 Carved Flesh, Cast Selves: Gendered Symbols and Social
Practices Berg
Maurice Bloch 1986 From Blessing to Violence: History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina
of Madagascar CUP HN 810. M15
Maurice Bloch 1992 ‘Birth and the beginning of social life among the Zafiminary of Madagascar’ in Goran
Aijmer (ed.) Coming into Existence: Births and Metaphors of Birth*
Goran Aijmer (ed.) 1992 Coming into Existence: Births and Metaphors of Birth
Walter van Beek 1992 ‘Becoming Human in Dogon’ in Goran Aijmer (ed.) Coming into Existence: Births and
Metaphors of Birth*
Judy S. DeLoache & Alma Gottlieb (eds.) 2000 A World of Babies: Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven
Societies. Cambridge: CUP
Susan Faludi 1999 Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man. New York Perennial. Pp114-121.
Sudan Faludi 1994 ‘The Naked Citadel’ New Yorker, September 5.
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Week 11:
Female Genital Cutting – A Debate
In many parts of the world bodies are ritually cut in initiation. Many of you will be familiar with male
circumcision. Also widespread in northern and Sahelian Africa is the practice of female genital cutting.
This is a highly controversial and topical issue and we will look at the practice in its local, culturallyembedded context. Is this a matter of individual human rights or whould be respect others’ cultures.
What role has anthropology in this discussing this issue?
After some discussion we will have a debate: Female genital cutting is a basic infringement of
universal human rights and must therefore be eradicated in all its forms.
Reading
Fuambai Ahmadu 2000 ‘Rites and Wrongs: An Insider/Outsider Reflects on Power and Excision’ In Bettina
Shell-Duncan and Yla Hernlund Female "Circumcision" in Africa: Culture, Controversy & change
Dorkenoo, Efua (1994), Cutting the rose: female genital mutilation, the practice and its prevention, London:
Minority Rights Group, GN484
Further reading
Locoh, T. (1998) ‘Female circumcision in Africa: some recent data’, Population, 53(6):1227-1239, HB
1.P54
.
Bettina Shell-Duncan and Yla Hernlund (eds.) (2000), Female "Circumcision" in Africa: Culture, Controversy
& Change, London: Lynne Rienne Publishers, GN484
Ellen Gruenbaum 2001 The female circumcision controversy : an anthropological perspective Philadelphia :
University of Pennsylvania Press GN 484.G7
Talle, Aud (1993) ‘Transforming Women into ‘Pure’ Agnates: Aspects of Female Infibulation in Somalia’ in
Due, Rudie & Bleie (eds.) Carved Flesh, Cast Selves: Gendered Symbols and Social Practices,
Oxford and Providence: Berg HQ 21.C2
McLean, Scilla (ed.) (1980) Female circumcision, excision and infibulation: the facts and proposals for
change, London: Minority Rights Group, GN484
James, Stanlie M. and Robertson, Claire C. (eds.) (2002), Genital Cutting and Transnational Sisterhood:
disputing U.S. polemics, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press GN 484.G4
Walker, Alice (1992) Possessing the Secret of Joy, London: Cape, PS3573.A54
Sheehan, Elisabeth A. (1997) ‘Victorian Clitoridectomy: Isaac Baker Brown and His Harmless Operative
Procedure’, in di Leonardo, Micaela and Lancaster, R. N. (eds.) The Gender/Sexuality Reader,
London: Routledge, HQ 21.G4
Rahman, A. And Toubia, N. (2000) Female genital Mutilation: A Guide to Laws and Policies Worldwide.
London and New York: Zed Books.
C. J. Walley. 1997. Searching for Voices: Feminism, Anthropology, and the Global Debate over Female
Genital Operations. Cultural Anthropology 12, vol. 3, pp. 405-438.
Janice Boddy 1982 ‘Womb as Oasis: The symbolic context of Pharaonic circumscision in rural Northern
Sudan.’ American Ethnologist 9:4 pp 682-98
Skain, R (2005) Female Genital Mutilation: Legal, cultural and medical issues GN 484.S5
On male circumcision:
David Gollaher (2000) Circumcision. Basic Books
Carole Delaney (2002) The Trials of Abraham
Suzettte Heald (1999) Manhood and Morality: Sex, violence and ritual in Gisu Society. Routledge
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Week 16:
Masculinity in Crisis?
Much has been writeen in recent years of the crisis of masculinity in the post-industrial west. How
recent and how western is this phenomenon really? Have men always been anxious about their
position and, if so, why would they be given their generally dominant status in every culture known to
anthropologists?
Reading
Stanley Brandes ‘Like Wounded Stags: Male sexual ideology in an Andalusian town’ in Ortner and
Whitehead (eds) Sexual Meanings, op cit.
Peter Wade (1994) ‘Man the Hunter’ in Harvey and Gow (eds) Sex and Violence HQ23
Further reading
Donald Tuzin 1997 The Cassowary's revenge : the life and death of masculinity in a New Guinea society
Chicago: Chicago University Press HN 936.N431
Andrea Cornwal and Nancy Lindisfarne (eds) Dislocating Masculinity: Comparative Ethnographies HQ1067
Robert Bly 1990 Iron John: A Book about Men HQ 1067
Gil Herdt 1981 Guardians of the Flutes:Idioms of Masculinity New York: McGraw Hill. HN 936. N431
Gil Herdt 1987 The Sambia: Ritual and Gender in New Guinea New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston HN 936.
N431
Matthew Gutmann 1996. The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Maurice Bloch 1992 Prey into Hunter Cambridge University Press BL 570
Herzfeld, Michael 1985 The Poetics of Manhood: Contest and Identity in a Cretan Mountain Village
Eduardo Archetti 1997 ‘Multiple masculinities: the world of tango and foodball in Argentina.’ IN Balderston,
Daniel and Donna J. Guy (eds) Sex and Sexuality in Latin America New York: New York University
Press
Susan Faludi 1999 Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man. New York: Harper Collins.
Abigail Adams, 1993. ‘Dyke to dyke: Ritual reproduction at a US Men’s military college.’ Anthropology
Today Vol 9 (5): 3-6.
Suzettte Heald (1999) Manhood and Morality: Sex, violence and ritual in Gisu Society. Routledge
Section Four: Trying to make some sense
Week 17:
Naturalising Differences
What are the differences between men and women and what difference to these differences make?
In this session we look at some anthropologicalaccounts of how genders differ and also examine
some of the scientific accounts of gender difference.
Reading
Ladislav Holy (1985) 'Fire, Meat and Children: the Berti Myth, Male Dominance and Female Power' in
Joanna Overing (ed) Reason and Morality ASA Monographs No. 24 Tavistock *
Anonymous The Bible Genesis I-III
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Further reading
Nancy Scheper-Hughes 1992 Death Without Weeping University of California Press HN 290. N6Chapter 8
“(M)other Love ”
Gillison, Gillian 1980 ‘Images of nature in Gimi thought’ in MacCormack, C. and Strathern, M. (eds.)
Nature, Culture and Gender HM108
Leslee Nadelson (1981) Pigs, women and the men's houses in Amazonia: an analysis of six Mundurucú
myths 'in
Ortner and Whitehead (eds) Sexual Meanings HQ21 S4
Joan Bamberger 1974 'The Myth of Matriarchy: Why Men rule in Primitive Society' in Rosaldo and Lamphere
(eds) Women, Culture and Society
MacCormack, Carol and Strathern Marilyn (eds) (1980) Nature, Culture and Gender Cambridge: CUP
HM108
Peggy Reeves Sanday and Ruth Goodenough (eds) (1990) Beyond the Second Sex: New Directions in the
Anthropology of Gender Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press HQ1206 B4
Judith Butler (1993) Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex.’. London: Routledge HQ1206 B8
Jacobus, M. Keller, E.F., & Shuttleworth, S (eds) (1990) Body/Politics: women and the discourses of science.
London: Routledge Q175 B6
Andrew Latas (1989) ‘Trickery and sacrifice: tambarans and the appropriation of femal reproductive powers
in male initiation ceremonies in West New Britain. Man 24(3): 451-469
Teresa del Valle (1993) Gendered Anthropology London: Routledge HQ 21.G4
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Week 18:
Is female to male as nature is to culture?
Why do people around the world distinguish themselves in terms of male and female? How rooted
are these distinctions in the natural difference of sex? In this introductory session we look at a
number of themes that run through the course and provide a background to current debates. In
particular we will look at Sherry Ortner’s thesis that the roots of women’ subordination lie in the crosscultural fact that woman are seen as being closer to nature than men.
Reading
Sherry Ortner 1974 ‘Is female to male as nature is to culture?’ in Rosaldo and Lamphere (eds) Women,
Culture and
Society 67-88. Stanford: Stanford University Press *
There is just one reading for this Session but it is a very important article and it is worth taking one’s time
over.
Further reading.
Philippe Descola 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge: CUP F 3430.1.A25
Henrietta Moore (1994) A Passion for Difference Cambridge: Polity HQ 1206.M6
Henrietta Moore (1988) Feminism and Anthropology Cambridge: Polity HQ 1121
Harvey and Gow (eds) (1994)
Routledge HQ23
Sex and Violence: Issues in Representation and Experience London:
Teresa del Valle (1993) Gendered Anthropology London: Routledge HQ 21.G4
MacCormack, Carol and Strathern Marilyn (eds) (1980) Nature, Culture and Gender Cambridge: CUP
HM108
Peggy Reeves Sanday 1981 Female Power and Male Dominance: On the Origins of Sexual Inequality
Cambridge: CUP HQ 1206. S2
Nancy Scheper-Hughes 1992 Death Without Weeping University of California Press HN 290. N6 Chapter 8
“(M)other Love ”*
Simone de Beauvoir The Second Sex PQ 2603. E35
Pat Caplan (ed) The Cultural Construction of Sexuality HQ 21.C8
Margaret Mead 1963 Sex and Temperament in Three primitive Societies HN 936. N431 SL
Alma Gottlieb 1990 ‘Rethinking female pollution’, in Peggy Reeves Sanday and Ruth Goodenough (eds)
Beyond the Second Sex
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Week 19:
The nature/culture debate revisited
Here we revisit Ortner’s thesis and look at a number of writers who disagree. How powerful and
persuasive are these critiques? Can a modified version of Ortner’s hypothesis still be useful?
Reading
Olivia Harris 1980 ‘The Power of Signs: Gender, Culture and the Wild in the Bolivian Andes’ in MacCormack,
C.
and Strathern, M. (eds.) Nature, Culture and Gender *
Gillison, Gillian 1980 ‘Images of nature in Gimi thought’ in MacCormack, C. and Strathern, M. (eds.)
Nature, Culture and Gender *
Further reading
Sherry Ortner (1996) ‘So, is female to male as nature is to culture’ in Sherry Ortner Making Gender: The
Politics and Erotics of Culture Boston: Beacon Press.
Jane Atkinson 1990 ‘ How gender makes a difference in Wana society’, in Jane Atkinson and Shelly
Errington (eds) Power and Difference: Gender in Island South East Asia. Stanford: Stanford
University Press.
Anna Tsing 1990 ‘ Gender and performance in Meratus dispute settlement’ in Atkinson and Errington, op. cit.
Philippe Descola and Gísli Pálson 1996.
Routledge.
Nature and Society: Anthropological Perspectives.
London:
Section Five: Sexualities and Genders
Week 20:
Sexual Options
Gender difference is often assumed to be a function of sexual identity but how stable is sexual
identity? If sexual identity is processual and mutable, what does this say about gender identity? Is it
possible to talk of more than two genders?Compare Wikan’s article with Whitehead’s. What are the
similarities between the berdache and the xanith? What are the differences? To what extent could
they be described as comparable examples of transgenderism?
Reading
Wikan, Uni ‘Man becomes woman: transsexualism in Oman as a key to gender roles’ Man 12 (2) pp. 304319
Whitehead, Harriet 1981 ‘The bow and the burden-strap: a new look at institutionalised homosexuality in
native
North America’ in Ortner and Whitehead (eds.) Sexual Meanings
Further Reading
Pat Califia 1994 Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex Pittsburgh: Cleis Press HQ 23
Gilmore, D.G. 1990 Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity HQ 1067
Gilbert Herdt 1981 Guardians of the Flute: Idioms of Masculinity HN 936.N431
Peter Beattie 1997 ‘Conflicting Penile Codes: Modern Masculinity and Sodomy in the Brazilian Military, 18601916’ in Sex and Sexuality in Latin America edited by Balderston, Daniel and Donna J. Guy. HQ18. L2
Michel Foucault 1976 The History of Sexuality vol 1. Penguin.
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Richard Parker, 1985. ‘Masculinity, femininity and homosexuality: on the anthropological interpretation of
sexual meanings in Brazil.’ Journal of Homosexuality 11 pp.115-63
Edward Schieffelin (1982) ‘The bau a ceremonial hunting lodge: An alternative to initiation.’ in
Herdt (ed) Rituals of Manhood University of California Press HN936.N431
Paul Veyne (1987) ‘Homosexuality in Ancient Rome’ in Western Sexuality Philippe Ariès and André Bejin
(eds) Oxford: Basil Blackwell. HQ 12
Kenneth Dover (1978) Greek Homosexuality Harvard University Press. HQ 76.D6
Siobhan Somerville (1997) ‘Scientific racism and the invention of the homosexual body’ in di Leonardo,
Micaela and Roger Lancaaster (eds) The Gender/Sexuality Reader. London: Routledge HQ21.G4
Sue-Ellen Jacobs and Jason Cromwell 1992 ‘ Visions and revisions of reality: reflections on sex, sexuality,
gender and gender variance’, Journal of Homosexuality 23(4): 43-69.
Roscoe, W. (1998) Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America, New York: St.
Martin's Press, especially PART 1
Goulet, Jean-Guy A. (1996) ‘The “berdache/”two-spirit”; a comparison of anthropological and native
constructions of gendered identities among the northern Athapaskans, Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute, 2:683-701
Herdt, G. (1994) (ed.) Third Sex Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History, New
York: Zone Books
Halperin, David (1990) One hundred years of homosexuality, New York: Routledge, notably chapter 1 and
chapter 2, ‘”Homosexuality”: a cultural construct’
Epple, Carolyn (1998) ‘Coming to terms with Navajo nádleehí: a critique of berdache, “gay”, “alternate
gender”, and “two-spirit”’, American Ethnologist, 25(2):267-290
Kulick, Don (1998) Travesti: Sex, Gender and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes,
especially chapters 1 and 5, ‘Introduction’ and ‘Travesti Gendered Subjectivity’
Del LaGrace Vulcano and Judith ‘Jack’ Halberstam, 1999, The Drag King Book, London: Serpent
TailBooks
Brummelhuis, Han Ten (1999) ‘Transformations of Transgender: the case of the Thai Kathoey’, in Jackson,
Peter A. and Sullivan, G. (eds.) (1999), Lady Boys, Tom Boys, Rent Boys: Male and Female
Homosexualities in Contemporary Thailand, op. cit.
Prieur, Annick (1998) Mema’s House, Mexico City: On Transvestitism, Queens and Machos, University of
Chicago Press
Evelyn Blackwood and Saskia, E. Wieringa (eds.) 1999 Female Desires: same-sex relations and
transgender practices across cultures, New York: Columbia University Press, especially PART III,
‘Doing Masculinity: Butches, Female Bodies, and Transgender Identities’
Halberstam, Judith 1998, Female Masculinity, Duke University Press, Chapter 5, “Transgender Butch:
Butch/FTM Border Wars and the Masculine Continuum”
Lancaster, Roger N. (1997) ‘Guto’s performance: notes on the transvestitism of everyday life’, in di
Leonardo, Micaela and Lancaster, R. N. (eds.) The Gender/Sexuality Reader, London: Routledge,
HQ 21.G4
Califia-Rice, Patrick (2000) ‘Family values: Two dads with a difference’, Village Voice, June 2000, Available
online: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0025/califia-rice.php
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Week 21:
Reading Week
Week 22:
Transformations of Gender in a Single-Sex Community
‘Homosexuality’ has been widely reported in single-sex communities. Here we look at a couple of
examples and ask why these forms of homosexuality are so heavily gendered in themselves. What
does this tell us about homosexuality and heterosexuality and the nature of desire itself?
Reading:
Patrick Harries ‘Symbols and Sexuality: Culture and Identity on the Early Witwatersrand Gold Mines’ Gender
and History vol. 2. No. 3 Autumn 1990
Giallombardo, R. 1966 Society of Women HV 8738
Further Reading: See previous sessions’ readings
Week 23:
Homosexuality
What does homosexuality tell us about gender roles and identity? Is there such a thing as
homosexuality cross-culturally or are we confusing different social phenomena by placing them under
the same rubric? If there is a homosexual gene, what would it do?
Debate: Be prepared to debate the question ‘There is no such thing as ‘homosexuality’ which can be
identified across cultures.’ Think of the arguments for and against this position.
Reading
Herdt, Gilbert 1984 Ritualised Homosexuality in Melanesia Berkeley: University of California Press HN
936.N431
Shepherd, Gillian 1987 ‘Rank, gender and homosexuality: Mombassa as a key to understanding sexual
options’ in Pat Caplan (ed.) The Cultural Construction of Sexuality London: Tavistock HQ 21.C8
Further reading see also previous weeks’ readings
Evelyn Blackwood and Saskia, E. Wieringa (eds.) (1999) Female Desires: same-sex relations and
transgender practices across cultures, New York: Columbia University Press
Zavella, Patricia (1997) ‘Playing with fire: the gendered construction of Chicana/Mexicana sexuality’, in di
Leonardo, Micaela and Lancaster, R. N. (eds.) The Gender/Sexuality Reader, London: Routledge,
HQ 21.G4
Sullivan, G and hPeter A. Jackson (eds.) (2001) Gay and Lesbian Asia: Culture, Identity, Community,
Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press, notably chapter 1, Jackson, Peter A. ‘Pre-gay, post-queer:
Thai perspectives on proliferating gender/sex diversity in Asia’
Blackwood, Evelyn (1999), ‘Tombois in West Sumatra: Constructing Masculinity and Erotic Desire’, in Evelyn
Blackwood and Saskia, E. Wieringa (eds.) (1999) Female Desires: same-sex relations and
transgender practices across cultures, New York: Columbia University Press
Film Shinjuku Boys by Kim Longinottto
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Section Six: Death
Week 24:
The experience of death
How do we experience death and how does death affect the living?
Reading
Nancy Scheper Hughes Death without Weeping: the Violence of everyday Life in Brazil. U. of California
Press Chapters 7 and 8. HN290.N6
Renato Rosaldo 1989 ‘Introduction: Grief and a Headhunter’s rage’ in Culture and Truth: The Remaking of
Social Analysis. London : Routledge. HM101.R6
Further reading
Deema Kaneff (2002) ‘Why people don’t die ‘naturally’ anymore: Changing relations between ‘the individual’
and ‘the state’ in post-socialist Bulgaria. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 8, 89-105.
Bob Simpson 2001 ‘Making ‘bad’ deaths ‘good’: The kinships consequences of posthumous conception.’
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 7. pp 1-18
Nigel Barley 1995 Dancing on the Grave: Encounters with Death London: John Murray HM293
Danforth 1982 Death Rituals in Rural Greece Princeton University Press GT3251
Rui Feijo, Herminio Martins & João de Piña Cabral 1983 Death in Portugal Oxford: JASO HM 293
Maurice Bloch 1971 Placing the Dead London: Seminar Press GN661.M2
James Crissman 1994 Death and Dying in Central Appalachia University of Illinois Press GT 3206
Philippe Descola 1996 The spears of twilight : life and death in the Amazon jungle F 3430.1.A25
Jessica Mitford 1998 The American Wasy of Death New York: Simon and Schuster HD 9999. F8
Week 25:
Death in the Andes
What relationship do the living have with the dead in the Andes? How do people depend on the spirits
and vice versa? How is this attitude towards the dead different or similar to what you are used to?
Reading
Olivia Harris 1982 ‘The dead and the devils among the Bolivian Laymi’ in Bloch and Parry (eds) Death and
the Regeneration of Life. CUP HM293 (3-day)
Peter Gose 1994 Deathly Waters and Hungry Mountains. University of Toronto Press
Further Reading (see also above)
Billie-Jean Isbell 1978 To Defend Ourselves: Ecology and Ritual in an Andean Village F2230.2.K4
Michael Sallnow 1987 Pilgrims of the Andes Smithsonian University Press BL 2590.P4
Catherine Allen 1988 The Hold Life Has F2230.2.K4
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Week 30:
Death and the Regeneration of Life
What is the social meaning of death, that is, what does it mean for society as a whole? What does
death have to do with human life and social life?
Reading
Maurice Bloch 1982 ‘Death, women, and power’ in Bloch and Parry (eds) Death and the Regeneration of
Life. CUP HM293 (3-day)
Maurice Bloch and Jonathan Parry 1982 ‘Introduction’ in Bloch and Parry (eds) Death and the Regeneration
of Life. CUP HM293 (3-day)
Further reading See previous sessions.
Peter Metcalf 1991 Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual CUP GT 3150
E. Venbrux 1995 A Death in the Tiwi Islands: Conflict, Ritual and Social Life in an Australian Aborigine
Community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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