Introduction to Anthropology

Readings

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
Week 1: Introduction
Lec 1	What is culture?	[No readings for this lecture.]
Lec 2	What do anthropologists do?	Ahearn, Laura M. Chapters 1–2 in Invitations to Love: Literacy, Love Letters, and Social Change in Nepal. University of Michigan Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780472067848. [Preview with Google Books]
Week 2: Love and Kindship
Lec 3	What is a family?	Ahearn, Laura M. Chapters 3–4 in Invitations to Love: Literacy, Love Letters, and Social Change in Nepal. University of Michigan Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780472067848. [Preview with Google Books]
Lec 4	Is “love” a universal?	Ahearn, Laura M. Chapter 6 in Invitations to Love: Literacy, Love Letters, and Social Change in Nepal. University of Michigan Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780472067848. [Preview with Google Books]
Week 3: Birth and Death
Lec 5	How does society manage human crises?	Conklin, Beth A. “Thus are our Bodies, Thus was our Custom’: Mortuary Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society.” American Ethnologist 22, no. 1 (1995): 75–101.
Week 4: Sex and Gender
Lec 6	Is gender biologically determined?	Kulick, Don. “The Gender of Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes.” American Anthropologist 99, no. 3 (1997): 574–85.
Lec 7	Film: “World without Fathers or Husbands”	A World Without Fathers or Husbands. Directed by Blavier, Eric and Thomas Lavachery. Produced by RTBF. Filmakers Library, 51 min. 2001. [16mm/DVD]
Week 5: Tradition and Modernity
Lec 8	What is modernity?	[No readings for this lecture.]
Lec 9	How does culture change?	Kulick, Don. “Anger, Gender, Language Shift and the Politics of Revelation in a Papua New Guinean village.” In Language ideologies: Practice and theory (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics). Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 87–102. ISBN: 9780195105629.
Week 6: Development and Change
Lec 10	Should culture be preserved?	Marchand, Trevor H. J. “Negotiating License and Limits: Expertise and Innovation in Djenne’s Building Trade.” Africa 79, no. 1 (2009): 71–91.
Lec 11	Film: “The Future of Mud”	Future of Mud: A Tale of Houses and Lives in Djenné. Directed by Vogel, Susan. Produced by Marchand, Trevor HJ, and Samuel Sidibe. Prince Street Pictures, Distributed by First Run Icarus Films. Color, 58 min. 2007. [16mm/DVD]
Week 7: Review
Lec 12	Review	[No readings for this lecture.]
Ses 13	Midterm Exam	[No readings for this session.]
Week 8: Expressive Culture and Identity
Lec 14	What are art and performance universal?	Downey, Greg. Chapters 1–3 in Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780195176971.
Lec 15	Is race real?	Downey, Greg. Chapters 4–6 in Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780195176971.
Week 9: Ritual
Lec 16	What is a ritual?	Durkheim, Emile. “Origin of the Notion of Totemic Priciple, or Mana.” In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Free Press, 1995, ISBN: 9780029079379.
Lec 17	Film: “Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji”	Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji. Big HART, (2010): DVD, 56 min. Gusterson, Hugh. “Nuclear Weapons Testing: Scientific Experiment as Political Ritual.” In Naked Science: Anthropological Inquiry into Boundaries, Power and Knowledge. Edited by Laura Nader. Routledge, 1996, pp. 131–47. ISBN: 9780415914659.
Week 10: Art
Lec 18	What is art?	Myers, Fred R. “Truth, Beauty, and Pintupi Painting.” Visual Anthropology 2, no. 2 (1989): 163–95.
Week 11: Play and Learning
Lec 19	How is culture learned?	Ochs, Elinor, and Bambi Schieffelin. “Language Acquisition and Socialization: Three Developmental Stories.” In Culture theory: Essays on mind, self and emotion. Edited by Richard A. Shweder and Robert A. LeVine. Cambridge University Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780521318310.
Lec 20	What is the purpose of play?	[No readings for this lecture.]
Week 12: Magic, Science, and Religion
Lec 21	Is magic irrational?	Luhrmann, Tanya M. “The Magic of Secrecy.” Ethos 17, no. 2 (1989): 131–65.
Lec 22	Is rationality magical?	Jones, Graham M. “Magic with a Message: The Poetics of Christian Conjuring.” Cultural Anthropology 27, no. 2 (2012): 193–214.
Week 13: Embodies Knowledge
Lec 23	How does culture shape the body?	Downey, Greg. Chapters 10–12 in Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780195176971.
Lec 24	Film: “Ilé Aiyé: The House of Life”	Îlé Aiyé (The House of Life). Directed by Byrne, David. Produced by Miyake, Kiki, and Mel Lawrence. Little Magic Films. Color, 51 min. 1989. [16mm/DVD]
Week 14: Intercultural Communication
Lec 25	What are the limits of intercultural communication?	Bailey, Benjamin. “Communication of Respect in Interethnic Service Encounters.” Language in Society 26, no. 3 (1997): 327–56.
Lec 26	Review	[No readings for this lecture.]
Ses 27	Final Exam	[No readings for this session.]