Weekly Topics and Resources

Class 1: February 6

Topic: Introductions and Overview

Required Readings (to be done in-class):

·         Francis Slakey, “Cattle, Education, and the Masai Identity” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/5/97

Additional Resources:

·         Wikipedia entry for the Maasai

·         Outline of World Culture’s summary of Maasai culture

·         Maasai organization committed to cultural preservation

Class 2: February 13

Topic: Understanding Culture; Debating Cultural Relativism

Required readings for class:

§         Horace Miner, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, Chapter 1 (also available at here

§         Laura Bohannan, “Shakespeare in the Bush”, Chapter 5 (also available here

§         Corinne Kratz, “Circumcision, Pluralism, and Dilemmas of Cultural Relativism”, Chapter 37

Additional Resources:

Class 3: February 20

Topic: Doing Fieldwork; Writing an Ethnography

Required Readings for class:

·         Claire Sterk, “Tricking and Tripping: Fieldwork on Prostitution in the Era of AIDS”, Chapter 3

·         Gilbert Ryle, “The Thinking of Thoughts: What is ‘Le Penseur’ Doing?”, 1968, (excerpts) also available here

·         Clifford Geertz, “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture”, 1973, (excerpts) also available here

Additional Resources:

·         Wikipedia entry for ethnography

·         Center for the Ethnography of Everyday Life (University of Michigan)

·         SALT Institute for Documentary Studies

·         Center for Urban Ethnography (University of Pennsylvania)

·         "A Synthesis of Ethnographic Research" - online article

Class 4: February 27

Topic: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Acculturation; Rites of Passage

Required Readings for class:

§         Bruce Bower, “Slumber’s Unexplored Landscape”, Chapter 2

§         Meredith Small, “Our Babies, Ourselves”, Chapter 21

§         Arnold Van Gennep, Rites of Passage, 1909, (excerpts)

Additional Resources:

Class 5: March 6

Topic: Race and Ethnicity

Required Readings for class:

§         Jared Diamond, “Race Without Color”, Chapter 14

§         American Anthropological Association, Official Statement on “Race”, Chapter 15, also available here

§         Jefferson Fish, “Mixed Blood” in Psychology Today, December 1995

Additional Resources:

Class 6: March 13

Topic: Race, Racism, and White Privilege

Required Readings:

·         Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, Chapter 16, also available here

·         Racial Implicit Association Test, available here

·         Interview with Beverly Daniel Tatum, available here

Additional Resources:

Class 7: March 20

Topic: Gender

Required Readings:

§         Daniel Maltz and Ruth Borker, “A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication”, Chapter 7

§         Jacqueline Urla and Alan Swedlund, “Measuring Up To Barbie: Ideals of the Feminine Body in Popular Culture”, Chapter 22

Additional Resources:

Class 8: March 27

Topic: Gendered Culture and Sexuality

Required Readings:

§         Dorte Marie Sondergaard, “Poststructuralist approaches to empirical analysis.” In Qualitative Studies in Education, 15(2), pp. 187 – 204. 2002. (Excerpts)

§         Will Roscoe, How to Become a Berdache, (Excerpts) available here

Additional Resources:

Class 9: April 3

Topic: Gender, Family, and Marriage

Required Readings:

§         Sidney Ruth Schuler and Syed Hashemi, “Family Planning Outreach and Credit Programs in Rural Bangladesh”, Chapter 19

§         Melvyn Goldstein, “When Brothers Share a Wife”, Chapter 23

§         Meredith Small, “How Many Fathers Are best for a Child?”, Chapter 25

Additional Resources:

Class 10: April 10

Topic: Education

Required Readings:

·          Lisa Delpit, “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children” In Other People’ Children, pp. 21 – 47. 1995.

·          John Ogbu, “Voluntary and Involuntary Minorities”

·          Hugh Mehan,’ “What Time is It, Denise?”: Asking Known Information Questions in Classroom Discourse’, in Theory into Practice, 18(4), pp. 285-294. 1979. available at here

Additional Resources:

Class 11: April 17

Topic: No Class—Spring Break

Required Readings: None

Additional Resources:

Class 12: April 24

Topic: Ethnography Presentations

Required Readings: None

Additional Resources:

Class 13: May 1

Topic: Religion and Mythology

Required Readings:

§         Lila Abu-Lughod, Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others’”, Chapter 29

§         Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and Profane, 1959, excerpts

§         Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger, 1966, excerpts

Additional Resources:

Class 14: May 8

Topic: The Culture of Religion

Required Readings:

§         Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken, & Stanley Schachter, When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the End of the World, 1956, excerpts

Additional Resources:

Class 15: May 15

Topic: The Culture of Culture

Required Readings:

·          Ray McDermott & Hervé Varenne,”Culture as Disability” In Anthropology & Education Quarterly 26(3), pp. 324-348. 1995. available here

Additional Resources:

Class 16: May 22

Topic: Conclusion

Required Readings: None

Additional Resources:

• American Anthropological Association - the primary professional society of anthropologists in the United States