BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY SPRING 2008
COURSE SYLLABUS
ANTH102: INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
MWF 9:40 - 10:30 MP106
Kendall House, Ph.D
Instructor
Welcome to the new semester. Please treat this syllabus as your first reading assignment, and study it carefully. It is filled with information that you really need to know, including my expectations, requirements, and policies, the schedule of lectures and exams, and what it is we plan to accomplish this semester. I may pose questions regarding it on exams. If you have any questions regarding anything discussed in this syllabus please contact me and ask for clarification.
1 Because I teach part time, primary contact this semester
will be via email. Send your email to khouse@boisestate.edu I will check this email frequently, and answer every email you send
me so long as you clearly identify yourself. Try to be as detailed, and polite,
as possible, and always include your name and class section: I may not
respond to anonymous emails. Because I do not routinely frequent the
department office, you are strongly encouraged to use email rather than
telephone to communicate with me.
2 If you wish to
talk to me in person, we can meet in the adjunct office, downstairs in the
southeast corner of the Hemingway Western Studies Center (see the map in the
Directory of Classes), adjacent to the main anthropology department. I will
normally be available only from 10:45 – 11:15 am on MWF. I am not a full-time faculty member, and I
will be unavailable at other times. Like many of you, I have other
obligations and limited flexibility outside my scheduled campus hours.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY …
Anthropology is the
holistic study of human beings, and cultural anthropology is a subfield of
anthropology that focuses on the study of the similarities and differences
found in human ways of living. It is an effort to describe, understand, and
explain how and why human lifeways both differ from and resemble one another.
Although this is a very big endeavor, there are limits to the vision of
cultural anthropologists. Most of these limits are pragmatic or conventional,
and they are always being stretched.
For example, unlike
archaeologists, cultural anthropologists emphasize contemporary or living human
societies that can be directly observed. Understanding living societies,
however, often requires considerable time perspective, and as a result the
efforts of cultural anthropologists intersect with those of archaeologists and
historians. And unlike most other social sciences, cultural anthropologists
have traditionally studied non-western societies - perhaps better understood as
societies colonized by western societies. Even though today other social
scientists work all around the globe, and cultural anthropologists increasingly
study the west, the tradition of studying small-scale, pre-industrial,
sometimes stateless societies give cultural anthropology a distinctive ethos.
To this must be added the preferred manner of study, which involves fieldwork,
or living alongside the people one is studying over an extended period of
time.
An additional
distinction is worth making at the outset. Traditionally, physical
anthropologists dealt with commonalities and variation in human biology, while
cultural anthropologists studied variation that is not genetically transmitted.
Indeed, culture is usually defined as the sum of the things about us that are
not genetically transmitted - like our languages, religious beliefs,
technologies, and customs. Increasingly, however, many anthropologists are
finding it both interesting and possible to examine the ways culture in
general, as well as specific cultural practices, intersect with our biology.
So that, in a
nutshell, is what we will be studying this semester: variation in contemporary
human life with an emphasis on the cultures of non-western societies, based on
first hand observations made by anthropologists over the last century. However,
this is also a core course, and that too makes a difference.
… AND QUITE A BIT MORE, ABOUT COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Roughly one third of
the credit hours required for your diploma will be earned in courses you select
from the university core. Most students will spend the majority of their first
two years completing the core curriculum, and the majority of students in any
core course will not be majors. If I have 100 students in a section of cultural
anthropology, perhaps five will be anthropology majors.
Among the
characteristics of core courses, then, are these: (1) they are mostly filled
with freshmen and sophomores, (2) who are only taking the course to fulfill a
requirement, and (3) who usually have tremendously varied familiarity with and
interest in the subject under study, ranging from no knowledge or interest
whatsoever to considerable prior knowledge and interest. They are also (4)
usually fairly large in terms of the numbers of students relative to more
specialized upper division courses. This makes them very challenging from the
perspective of both student and teacher. When I think back to my days as a
student taking core courses, all these things made an impression on me, and
generally not a positive one. You may or may not agree. I hope we can make this
semester as productive as possible, and perhaps even enjoyable. Imagine that.
But there are other
characteristics as well, and these derive from the effort to mold core courses
to the learning objectives of the core curriculum. There are four such objectives,
and core courses at Boise State are expected to address one or more of the
following in a manner consistent with the specific discipline under study:
1. Students should develop
a broad intellectual perspective on the discipline being studied, including
not only its findings but also how that knowledge is generated and
evaluated, and the differences among practitioners in the field.
2. Students should develop
their problem solving and critical thinking skills, including the
ability to analyze, compare and evaluate the knowledge under study.
3. Students should develop
their communication skills, including writing, reading, listening,
and speaking, in a manner consistent with the specific discipline under
study.
4. Students should develop
a cultural perspective contributing to their understanding of their
place in the world, and the differences between their situation and that of
other people elsewhere.
Generally, the hope
is that core courses will lead you to develop a broader, more integrated understanding
of the sciences and humanities than would be the case if you specialized in a
single field alone, while building your basic skills as a student and scholar.
Here is how I
envision this course relating to the core objectives indicated above. Hopefully
you will agree that what I actually do in the class - and what we actually
accomplish - bears a striking resemblance to the goals I have defined below.
Our 1st Goal: Building a Broad Intellectual Perspective on Cultural
Anthropology
Gaining a broad
understanding of cultural anthropology requires answering three questions: What
have anthropologists learned about human cultural diversity? How is knowledge
created in cultural anthropology? How do anthropologists differ in their
approaches and explanations?
Let’s begin with what
anthropologists have learned. Part of what you are expected to gain from
your core courses is a familiarity with the factual knowledge or findings
generated by practitioners in various disciplines. In the case of cultural
anthropology, we can break this knowledge into four large blocks. Most cultural
anthropologists would agree, I think, that we feel we have something
substantial to say on each of the following four kinds of knowledge:
Ø
How cultures
differ and what they share
in terms of their technologies and production systems, social and political
systems, and ideas and beliefs;
Ø
How
different aspects of culture interact (especially technology, social organization, and ideas);
Ø
How human
culture and biology have coevolved in interaction with the earth’s ecosystems;
Ø
How cultures
are connected in the contemporary world, and how their characteristics have emerged over time;
However, if we wish
to critically evaluate what anthropologists have learned, we also need to
understand how knowledge is created by anthropologists. This means that
we need to develop an understanding of the basic theoretical assumptions and
methods of inquiry that guide anthropological inquiry. We will pursue this
by exploring the basic theories, concepts, principles, and methods of
contemporary cultural anthropology, including–
Ø
The often
conflicting theoretical assumptions of cultural, social, and
evolutionary theory, and the basic concepts that compose these theories;
Ø
Our contested methods
of fieldwork, ethnography, and ethnology;
Ø
The competing methodologies
of scientific positivism, interpretive humanism, and critical or engaged
anthropology;
Ø
The debated methodological
principles of relativism, comparativism, and holism
As my use of the
terms conflicting, contested, competing, and debated above indicate,
anthropologists find much to disagree about. Indeed, because cultural
anthropology spans the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, it is
impossible to grasp the field without recognizing its plural nature. You thus
will need to develop an understanding of how anthropologists differ in their
approaches and the key debates that inform the field.
This is a rather
large task, because there are many different theoretical approaches in cultural
anthropology. My approach is to focus primary attention on the most significant
divides, firstly among anthropologists taken as a whole and secondly among
cultural anthropologists in particular.
Within anthropology
as a whole, the most fundamental divide that has emerged in the last thirty
years is between evolutionary anthropology and various forms of culturalism. At
the crux of this division are questions concerning human uniqueness, the
explanatory power of evolutionary biology when applied to human behavior, the
relative importance of biology and culture in giving shape to the human
situation, and the degree to which cultural anthropology is convergent with
biological science.
Evolutionary
anthropology favors the
application of evolutionary biology as the basic theoretical framework of
anthropology, and stresses the possibility for a scientific anthropology and a
biological understanding of the human situation. It is closely associated with
sociobiology and behavioral ecology. In contrast, culturalism argues
that evolutionary biology offers limited insight into the human condition,
which ultimately turns on culture and extrabiological processes. Put more
simply, culturalists stress culture. Most cultural anthropologists embrace some
form of culturalism, though this is currently changing.
Culturalism itself
is not one perspective, but several, and can be separated into three broad
perspectives as follows:
Ø
Cultural materialism or cultural ecology views culture as a form of adaptation, or a
way of solving material problems of survival. It argues that humans are unique
because they solve such problems largely through cultural rather than
biological adaptation. However, cultural materialists agree with evolutionary
anthropologists that a scientific or positivist approach should dominate
the study of culture and that cultural anthropologists should emulate the model
of the natural sciences. Anthropologists who follow this strategy have strong
ties with the sciences, and with biological anthropologists and archaeologists.
Ø
Cultural
idealism or cultural particularism views cultural anthropology as a humanity, analogous to disciplines
like art, literature, or drama. It holds that what distinguishes humans is the
capacity for abstract symbolic thought, and to understand humans we must grasp
the meanings that shape our worldviews and animate our lives. To achieve this,
it advocates a humanistic or interpretive approach. In this view, a
science of culture is neither possible nor desirable. Humans are truly unique, and
science cannot fathom our motives and histories. Humans, in short, must be
understood in ways that differ from those applied to the natural world.
Anthropologists who follow an idealist strategy generally have close ties with
philosophers, literary and art critics, and other humanists.
Ø
Anthropological
political economy / historical anthropology / postcolonial anthropology is heavily influenced by specific
developments within the social sciences. From the 1960s forward it was
dominated by a leftist politics influenced by neo- Marxist and feminist
critical theory as well as, earlier on and again more recently, a conservative
politics focused on modernization and development. This approach stresses the
real world applicability of anthropology and the significance of politics in
shaping the contemporary human situation and cultural history. Many argue for
an engaged approach - either critical (leftist) or pragmatic (rightist). The
upshot is that our work must be evaluated for its ideological and political implications
and outcomes, and that “neutral” research and knowledge is largely impossible
and perhaps irresponsible. Those who take this approach generally have close
ties with political scientists, sociologists, economists, and historians.
As we proceed, we
will endeavor to identify the basic tenets and differences between these
approaches, the reasons for divisions, the possibilities for synthesis, and
whether any among them can simply be dismissed. We will return repeatedly to
the importance of theory and methodology, the unifying concept of culture, the
methods of fieldwork, ethnography, and ethnology, the principles of relativism,
holism, and comparativism, and the differences between humanistic, scientific,
and critical ways of knowing the world.
Our 2nd Goal: Building Communication Skills
The second general
objective of core courses is to develop and apply your communication skills in
a variety of specific disciplinary contexts. What we can accomplish on this
front is largely determined by the size of the class - there is a reason why
communication and composition classes are relatively small. In sections with
fewer than 30 students, we will tackle writing and oral communication. In those
with more than 30 students, we will emphasize reading, listening,
and using the Internet, focusing on anthropological topics and concepts
as presented in the lectures and required readings.
Ø
Reading There will be a significant amount of
demanding reading required, and reading comprehension will be assisted by spending
time closely analyzing these readings in class, and tested on our regular
exams;
Ø
Listening Listening, like reading, is an
acquired skill, and lectures require you to pay attention in a specific
fashion. There is a close correlation between how well students can follow a
lecture and their reading and writing skills. If at first you are struggling,
hang in there. I will provide sets of study questions to help you rewrite and
focus your lecture notes. By the end of the course you should be able to anticipate
what these questions will be.
Ø
Using the
internet The internet has
become foundational to contemporary communication and information delivery. In
this course, it will allow me to deliver study aids I otherwise could not. Not
so many years ago, very few students had any experience with the internet.
Today that has changed. If you are not yet accustomed to utilizing the
Internet, here is your incentive and opportunity to change that.
Our 3rd Goal: Developing Thinking Skills
The third general
goal of the university core is building your critical thinking and problem
solving skills. Critical thinking refers to your ability to identify the
theoretical assumptions behind data or interpretations, evaluate their
strengths and weaknesses, and propose an alternative framework. We will tackle
this by learning how anthropologists working in different theoretical
frameworks formulate problems and create knowledge, and evaluating the
strengths and weaknesses of those different frameworks. More specifically,
by the time the course ends, I will expect you to be able to:
Ø
Analyze,
compare, and evaluate the
theoretical assumptions and conceptual structure of evolutionary and
cultural approaches to human behavior;
Ø
Analyze,
compare, and evaluate the merits of humanistic, scientific, and critical
methods in relation to the research practices of fieldwork, ethnography,
and ethnology;
Ø
Consider
ways that these different approaches complement one another and might be integrated, and obstacles to
such complementary syntheses.
Our 4th Goal: Building a Cultural Perspective
The final goal of
the core curriculum, developing a cultural perspective, is particularly suited
to cultural anthropology. The general aim behind this goal is to enhance your
awareness of the material situation, social position, and worldview that
structures your perspective and values, and build your awareness of the
differing situations and viewpoints of people living in other societies.
In this course, we
will be exploring cultural differences by looking closely at different ways
of living in and thinking about the world. By the time we are finished, you
should be able to:
Ø
Make meaningful
comparisons between your cultural perspective and those presented this
semester.
Ø
Understand the
creative accomplishments of people in other material and political
circumstances and with different worldviews than your own;
Ø
Begin to
understand both the cultural particularity of your own material situation and
intellectual perspective on the world, and the connections that bind your life
and livelihood with the lives of people in distant places in the modern world.
At this point you
may be thinking, “Gosh! That’s more than I really want to know about cultural
anthropology.” But what you learn in this course does have general
applicability and will help you understand not simply cultural anthropology,
but something of the relations between the humanities, sciences, and social
sciences in general, as well as the character of the world you are living in.
It may even lead you to sign on as a major in anthropology.
REQUIRED
BOOKS, ATTENDANCE POLICIES, EXPECTATIONS
There are three required books. You will need to read them
all to do well. This is most easily accomplished if you own personal copies. It
is a good idea to purchase them early, because the bookstore returns books to
the publishers early and they will not be available
later in the semester at the campus bookstore. It is your responsibility to
have these books at hand. Not having books will not excuse late work in any
fashion, and I do not have extra copies on hand to lend. I have listed the ISBN of titles you may be able to purchase
from a variety of source via the Internet, all should be available used.
Peoples, James & Garrick Bailey 2006 Humanity: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology 7th edition. ISBN 0534646433. Thomson /Wadsworth NOTE: it is very important to have the this edition. Unfortunately, the earlier editions are significantly different.
Lee, Richard B 2003 The Dobe Ju/’hoansi 3rd edition ISBN 0155063332 Thomson/Wadsworth. OR the 1993 2nd edition ISBN 0030322847 Harcourt. The latter is very inexpensive online. I’ve indicated readings by edition in the syllabus.
Basso, Keith 1996 Wisdom Sits in Places ISBN 0826317243 University of New Mexico Press.
Ability and willingness to maintain excellent, punctual attendance is a necessity. Attendance will be scored this semester, but aside from this, because absences impact your learning, no other single factor will affect your grade as greatly as attending.
What happens if my life gets messed up and I miss a lot of class? Please be aware that prolonged absence, for whatever reason, may make it advisable to withdraw. After a certain point,it is simply unrealistic to expect to catch up. More than nine hours of missed classes makes passing unlikely for most students. Come see me, and / or visit with your academic advisor, to discuss your options. Late withdrawals are sometimes possible. Please note that an Incomplete is not a remedy for excessive absences.
What if I miss an exam? Then you miss it. However, because your lowest score will be thrown out, you can miss an exam without severe consequences. See the section on Grades for more details.
Although attending is fundamental,
how well you do this semester depends on many additional factors, including
your level of preparation (especially your reading, writing, and other academic
skills), competing commitments (how many hours you work outside class, whether
you have kids to take care of, etc.), and your ability (don’t count yourself
out until you’ve genuinely made your best effort over an extended period of
time). This course is taught at a university level, and it requires significant
time and academic skills to complete it successfully. University level courses
are supposed to be challenging.
DON’T JUST ATTEND: FIND TIME TO STUDY OUTSIDE
LECTURE
Most learning in college takes place outside of class in individual self-directed study. This requires taking good lecture and reading notes and going over them on a regular basis: rewriting them, organizing them, and thinking about the material. A student who is well prepared for college should plan on spending two hours studying independently outside class for every hour spent in class, or six hours each week per 3 credit class. Students who excel tend to invest considerably more time, and students who are not well prepared for college often need to invest much more time in order to pass.
If you find the course difficult, or read slowly, or struggle to understand the material, adjust your schedule to allow more time for studying: lighten your course load as much as feasible (if you receive financial aid, you may be required to maintain a minimum enrollment). You will gain more by doing well in a few classes than failing many. Doing well with a light course load will prepare you for taking a heavier load next semester; failing with a heavy load will leave your skills right where you started, and your GPA damaged.
TAKE ALL OF YOUR EXAMS
Although your lowest score will be tossed out, it is better
to take all required exams (see section on Grades for details).
MAKE USE OF THE COURSE STUDY MATERIALS
I will post study guides on an ongoing basis. Make use of them. In addition, supporting websites will be available for certain portions of the course.
Students with dismal attitudes frequently do poorly, as do students who quit trying. The course is not over until the final grades are assigned. If you are struggling, increase your effort and remain confident in your ability to prevail. The odds are very much on your side. Nearly all students who persist succeed.
D. EXPECTATIONS FOR STUDENT CONDUCT
Most college students, being adults who have spent
many years in formal educational settings, need little instruction on how to
behave in a lecture hall. However, my experience suggests it may be worthwhile
to review some basics of etiquette for those who may have skipped kindergarten.
I apologize if any of you find this insulting. Ridiculous as it may seem, every
item that follows has proven to be a problem in past semesters.
The following are examples of behaviors that are
unacceptable:
a) talking to your neighbor or on a cell phone
while a lecture is in progress is never acceptable. It is distracting,
rude, and shows a lack of consideration for myself and your peers. I will ask
you to leave the room.
b) sleeping, note-passing, listening to a Walkman, and similar activities, are always unacceptable and will lead to an invitation to leave. Please turn off your cell phone, and put distractions away. If you don’t plan on paying attention and participating in the class, please stay home (and indeed please consider dropping this course).
c) entering late or leaving early is disruptive and should be minimized. If you must leave early, sit near the door, and let me know you will be leaving in advance. If you arrive late, enter quietly and unobtrusively and take the first available seat. It is a good idea to notify me in advance of early departures, and discuss why you were late with me. If for some health reason you need to depart the room during lecture, please let me know that you are not simply suffering from a surplus of self importance..
In sum, like all your
instructors, I expect you to arrive prior to the start of lecture, remain
seated until its conclusion, and conduct yourself during the interim in a
manner that shows consideration for your fellow students and myself. Manners are important.
METHODS
OF ASSESSMENT AND GRADING
Your grade in this class will be based on two things: (1) your performance on the exams and (2) your attendance. Attendance will be graded and there will be no substitute for attending – what this means is that there is no way to ‘make up’ points for missed classes. Being in class matters. Exams will consist primarily of objective and occasional written questions. No form of academic dishonesty will be tolerated in this class. This includes falsifying your attendance, which will be equivalent to cheating on the exams. As university faculty I have the authority to confirm your identity using your student I.D. card at any time I choose.
I.
MIDTERM
EXAMS 300 points possible Four
midterm exams will be given prior to the final, worth 100 points each. Your single lowest score will be deleted,
so that your pre-final grade will be based on your three best performances. The
exams will cover (a) lecture material, (b) assigned readings, and (c)
cumulative review material as needed (see the Schedule segment of the syllabus
for details).
II. FINAL EXAM 110 points possible The final exam will be partly cumulative, and will consist of objective questions. It will be worth 110 points.
III. ATTENDANCE 40 points + 3 points extra credit possible. We will meet on a total of 43 mornings prior to finals week. Each class you attend will be worth 1 point – after attending 43 mornings you will thus have accumulated 43 points. Because attendance scores are calculated based on 40 of 43 mornings, your absence on three days is thus “excused”, regardless of the reason for your absence. However, ANY additional absences, regardless of the reason, will be scored at zero points. There will be NO exceptions made. Unexplained late arrivals and unexplained early departures will be scored at zero points. If you are arriving late (it’s a good idea to come anyway, in order to acquire notes), please enter as quietly as possible, and take the first available seat. If you need to leave early, please notify me at the beginning of class, sit near the door, and leave as quietly as possible. Students who promptly explain tardies and warn me of their early departures will receive credit twice, after which zero points will be given regardless of cause. Leaving after attendance has been taken, without notifying me in advance (or, if sudden illness makes that impossible, without emailing me prior to our next class) will be treated as academic dishonesty, equivalent to cheating on an exam. Zero points will be given and you may be referred for further disciplinary action by the university.
There will be
no make-ups on the final exam or any of the in-class exams. Because only
3 of the 4 pre-final exams count, one missed exam will in this sense be
‘excused’.
Course
grades will be based on the 450 point scale below. Note that 436 is an A+,
while 435 is an A, 405 is an A-, while 404 is a B+, and so forth. If you want
the higher grade, accumulate points adding up to the higher score. It’s
pretty straight forward and as fair as life as a whole. As we are all aware,
small differences often have significant consequences for our lives, and we
cannot generally talk our way out of reaping what we have sown.
450-436 = A+
435-420 = A
419-405 = A-
____________________________________________________________
404-390 = B+
381-375 = B
374-360 = B-
____________________________________________________________
359-335 = C+
334-315 = C
314-300 = C-
____________________________________________________________
299-285 = D+
284-265 = D
264-250 = D-
____________________________________________________________
249 and below = F
This schedule identifies lecture topics and
reading assignments. Readings and lectures
will be examined according to the schedule listed below. I will post lecture reviews prior to the exam. You are
largely responsible for digesting the readings on your own. Any exam
material that the class as a whole struggles with will be repeated on later
exams until we mostly get it right.
Please
note that it is your responsibility to develop a reading schedule allowing you
to complete the assignments listed by the date indicated. The fact that an
entire book may appear on a given week does not mean you should plan on reading
it that week - it means you should plan on finishing reading it that week.
II. ANTHROPOLOGY AS AN EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE, PART I
Second Exam Date: Friday March 7
9 Lectures covered:
Wednesday February 13 to Wednesday March 5
Readings examined: (a) Humanity,
chapter 4 pages 64-67, 71-72 & 74-77 plus all of chapters 6 & 10; (b) The Dobe Ju/’hoansi chapters 2-4 same for both edition.
Major topics covered:
Scientific methodology and
fieldwork, ethnography, and ethnology in anthropology
History of scientific
anthropology - the enlightenment tradition to cultural materialism
Culture, biology, and race
Darwinian and cultural
evolutionism
Sociobiology and dual inheritance
theory
Cultural transmission in
evolutionary perspective
The materialist concept of
culture - cultural infrastructure
Cultural ecology of the Dobe
Ju/’hoansi - environment, technology, demography, production
The evolution of subsistence
systems: foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, and intensive agriculture
III. ANTHROPOLOGY AS AN EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE, PART II
Third Exam Date: Wednesday April 2
7 Lectures covered:
Monday March 10 to Monday March 31
Readings examined: (a) Humanity,
chapter 4 pages 70-71 plus all of chapters 7,8,9, and 12; (b) The Dobe Ju/’hoansi chapters
5 and 6 (same for both editions), plus chapter 7 in 2nd edition or
chapter 8 in 3rd edition.
Major topics covered:
History of scientific
anthropology - British social anthropology
Variation in systems of kinship
and marriage
Variation in polity, politics,
power, and law
Variation in economic exchange
The materialist concept of
culture - relation of infrastructure to social structures
Kinship, marriage, politics, and
exchange among the Dobe Ju/’hoansi
IV. ANTHROPOLOGY AS AN INTERPRETIVE HUMANITY
FOURTH EXAM DATE: Monday, April 21
8 Lectures covered:
Friday April 4 to Friday April 18
Readings examined:
(a) Humanity, chapter 4, pages 67-70, 77-81, plus all of chapters 3, 14 and 15; (b) Wisdom Sits in Places (all, whole book); (c) Dobe Ju/’hoansi chapter
9 in 3rd edition OR chapter 8 in 2nd edition.
Major topics covered:
The humanistic tradition from romanticism to postmodernism
Language, cognitive structure, and the capacity for
symbolic thought
The semiotic concept of culture
How western Apache wisdom sits in places
Religion: ritual, worldview, the supernatural, and the
moral imagination
Religion of the western Apache and Dobe Ju/’hoansi
Systems of art and expressive culture
V. ANTHROPOLOGY AS AN ENGAGED DISCIPLINE: GLOBALISM &
INEQUALITY
FIFTH EXAM DATE: final exam, Monday May 12th from
10:30 to 12:30 in our regular room.
8 Lectures covered:
Wednesday April 23 to Friday May 9
Readings examined: Humanity, chapters 13, 16, 17 and 18;
Dobe Ju/’hoansi chapters 10-13 if
you are using the 3rd edition OR chapters 9-12 if you are using the
2nd edition.
Major topics covered:
Gender, feminism, and the question of an engaged anthropology
Modern colonialism and the emergence of global society
Industrialism and industrial agriculture
Population growth in the modern world
Inequality, political economy and theories of ‘development’
Environmental impact of industrialism
Culture and the politics of identity: ethnicity and
nationalism
Anthropology in the western political tradition: between
universalism and particularism
Use of
the Internet is a Requirement in this Course
This is an Internet Enhanced Course. This course has a required Internet component, and you will need to make extensive use of the Internet to complete it. As a student, you have a free campus email account, and free Internet access through the campus computer labs. This section of the syllabus answers some common questions.
Blackboard is Boise State’s campus-wide instructional Internet system, located at http://blackboard.boisestate.edu. Students maintain an identity in this system from which they can access the Internet component of their courses. The university provides substantial support, including online support and tutorials. It is your responsibility to use the resources the university provides to acquire Internet competence. Training will not be provided in this class.
To complete this class, you will be required to utilize the Internet for two primary purposes:
1. to access necessary course materials, including this syllabus, handouts, required readings, web sites, check your grades, and many other aspects of this course. There is no way to do well in the course and not use the Internet.
2. to utilize email to communicate with me. Whether you
send me email or not, you will need to be able to receive it. I will be
usingemail to send the class as a whole notifications throughout the semester.
Technical difficulties happen. Given this, it is never a good idea to leave critical. Internet assignments until the last minute. Technical problems will not excuse late work or incomplete assignments. I am neither a technician nor a technical advisor Recent changes to Blackboard mean that I cannot reset passwords. If you are having problems accessing the Blackboard website, send an email to blackboard@boisestate.edu.
Email is very important in this class: My email address for this course is khouse@boisestate.edu You should use email to notify me of illnesses, absences, or problems, to ask procedural questions about the course and exams, or any questions of a personal or private nature you would not want to ask in class. Email has significant advantages over the phone. It eliminates playing phone tag, and it makes it possible to convey precise information quickly and concisely.
Each semester I trade several hundred email messages with students. Because of the volume most of my responses are rather brief. I will do my best to address your questions in the time available.
When sending me email, please always identify yourself and the section of the course you are enrolled in. I may not respond to anonymous emails. However, I do answer ALL properly attributed emails, usually within 48 hours.
There are two things I will not use email for:
a) I will not argue with you. Email is poorly suited for presenting complaints, as the absence of voice and gesture can lead to misinterpretations of intent. It also creates a permanent, indelible record of things you may later regret saying. If you become upset about something, first calm down, and then make an appointment to see me in person.
b) I will not deliver lectures, offer quizzes, distribute materials, or accept any work via email, nor will I open any attachments (due to the risk of viruses, I encourage you to do the same).
POLICIES ON ONLINE CONDUCT: The Blackboard site is part of the BSU campus: although it is online, the Internet portion of this course is part of the BSU campus and subject to the same expectations for student conduct as the campus as a whole. If you are unfamiliar with these standards, you should review your Student Handbook.
In particular, you should expect significant penalties if you masquerade under false identities, harass other students or staff in any manner, or engage in academic dishonesty on the campus Internet. A good rule of thumb is this: anything unacceptable in the real world campus environment is also unacceptable in the Internet campus environment. The difference? When you are online, you leave a record of every move you make. The Internet is not anonymous nor private, and I can generate a history of your activity on our course site (including the date and time of each log in) with the click of a button.
And you ought to take special note of that last point: when you login at the Blackboard site, every move you make is "tracked" and recorded. This means I know how often you visit the Blackboard site, when, and what features of the site you have utilized. BSU has recently formulated an Internet Privacy policy. It is available on the Blackboard home page.