ANTHROPOLOGY 202- 001 [60112] TIER-2
Global Inequality from an Anthropological Perspective
(Individuals and Societies and Gen Ed. diversity Emphasis)
Tuesday and Thursday, 3:30-4:45 pm. Haury. Rm 219
Instructor: Dr. Thomas K. Park
Office: Geronimo Building (800 East University Boulevard), Room 316
Telephone: 621-2632. Email: tpark@email.arizona.edu
Office hours: W 12-3 pm, Th. 1-3 pm
Course objectives and expected learning outcomes
N.B. I do not use D2L in this course
This Tier-Two General Education course introduces students to the institutional arrangements that influence global inequalities, as well as the capacity of human beings to measure and alter those conditions. A combination of lectures, readings, videos, class discussions, and exercises will familiarize students with: Concepts, methods, and data; Social science approaches to global problems related to global inequality; and Related solutions to problems that applied anthropologists and other scholars have noted or endorsed. Enrollment is limited to students who have completed a Tier-One course, and freshman-year English composition.
The course focuses on the kinds of information (qualitative or quantitative) that social scientists use to study practical social problems with a focus on global inequalities. It explores information from a broad range of scientific or humanistic disciplines on which applied anthropology draws. In addition, the course considers how three factors influence the use of scientific concepts and methods to address practical human social problems both due to institutionalized inequality gaps and to misguided assumptions.
By the end of the course, students will:
1) Be able to describe the basic concepts and methods of the social sciences in the context of a globalizing but unequal world.
2) Acquire analytical reading and critical thinking skills: how to read between the lines of a text, and how to understand complex graphics..
3) Learn how to deal with unfamiliar socio-cultural situations - new tools for communication with people around the world, and gain understanding of other cultures and societies.
4) Understand the role of culture in the formation of individual and national identities as well as stereotypes
5) Gain a deeper understanding of critical topics in current development issues such as: inequality, global and corporate policies, food security, micro-credit, climate change, land governance and sustainable development.
The course adopts a comparative perspective (at once, ethnographic, historical, and geographical) in order to understand problems of inequality in light of global conditions. Under the umbrella of two general topics—international development and cultural, social, and political-economic change—we will explore specific issues, such as equity; economic production and exchange; political organization; natural and cultural resource management; education; and health and nutrition. While probing these issues, we will consider an overarching theme: the close relationships among knowledge, technical skills, and critical thinking in applied research. Students will be encouraged to reflect on whether social scientists (or any citizens) should engage in activities simply because they have the technical capacity to do so, when those activities have markedly different effects—some of them harmful—on other human beings.
Hardware Requirements
All students are asked to sign up to join the Tophat software. This software allows all students to participate in class using any computer, tablet or smartphone. Please let me know if this will be an issue. Cost per student is $30 for this semester, $48 for 12 months or $96 for four years. On the website (tophat.com) you sign up as a student and choose in sequence; University of Arizona, Global Inequality Applying Anthropology F2019. The join code is 133624 (password: Inequity). You pay with any standard credit card.
IMPORTANT: Please make sure your username in Tophat is or begins with your LastnameFirstname to facilitate alphabetization when grades are exported. Dr. Park expects students to attend class sessions, participate actively in class discussions, and keep up with the required readings. Again: In-class questions via Tophat can be fixed by repeating them at my office during my office hours. I would be happy to see every student end up with a 100% score on this segment of the class.
Grades
Course Grading Policy: A: >= 90, B: >= 80 & <90, C: >=70 & <80, D: >= 60 & <70, E: <60
- In-class objective questions using the Tophat site will be automatically graded so that students always know their current percentage. For the final grade this percentage will be multiplied by 40 – meaning the in-class component will be 40% of the final grade. These grades can be fixed by redoing them in my office so I hope everyone will end up with full points on this section of the grading.
- Weekly writing assignments—provided on the second class meeting each week—will elicit essay answers to questions about readings, films, lectures, and/or class discussions. These 30 succinct essays (two per week for fifteen weeks) are expected to have two or three paragraphs each and will constitute 60% of the final grade, i.e. each essay is worth 1% of the final grade. Essays will receive one of three grades: 0 (inadequate), 0.8 (adequate) or 1.0 (excellent) within a week of the due date. The essays will allow Dr. Park to assess each student’s comprehension of concepts, methods, and data. The essays due Week 7 will be fully corrected and students will have the opportunity to revise them for an improved grade if so desired. Essays will also establish benchmarks for Dr. Park to monitor each student’s progress toward mastery of the course’s interrelated themes. Equally important, these weekly writing assignments will allow every student to monitor continuously how well or poorly theyare doing in the course.
Requests for an incomplete (I) or a withdrawal (W) must be made in accordance with university policies which are available at http://catalog.arizona.edu/2014-15/policies/grade.htm#I and http://catalog.arizona.edu/2014-15/policies/grade.htm#W respectively.
Scholarships: I will award three $500 scholarships for the Spring semester based on excellence in the course, enrollment in the Spring semester and an explicit request to be considered for a scholarship sent from your UA email to mine prior to 20 December 2018.
Reading Requirements
There are no required purchases for the course but students will need to obtain both the required text and additional materials directly from Dr. Park or via the D2L website. This site will only be used to provide student materials and WILL NOT be used to display grades.
Required course texts: (freely available as a pdfs) We will read extracts from each.
World Development Report 2006
Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals, 2018
The Chartbook of Economic Inequality
Living Planet Report 2016 Risk and Resilience in a new era
Recommended Readings (some extracts provided as pdfs).
Bodley, John H. 2001. Ch. 1: Anthropological Perspectives on Contemporary Human Problems. In Bodley, J. H. Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems, pp. 1-22. Fourth Edition. Mountain View, CA, and London, UK: Mayfield Publishing Company.
Crocker, David A. Ethics of Global Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Selected pages.
Ervin, Alexander M. 2000. Ch. 2: A Brief History of Applied Anthropology. In Ervin, A. M., Applied Anthropology: Tools and Perspectives for Contemporary Practice, pp. 14-26. Boston, MA, and London, UK: Allyn and Bacon.
Ervin, Alexander M. 2000. Ch. 3: Ethics in Applied Research and Practice. In Ervin, A. M., Applied Anthropology: Tools and Perspectives for Contemporary Practice, pp. 27-40. Boston, MA, and London, UK: Allyn and Bacon.
Nussbaum, Martha C. Creating Capabilities. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011. Selected pages.
Sen, Amartya. The Idea of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009. Selected pages
Society for Applied Anthropology. 2014. Statement on Professional and Ethical Responsibilities. (Initially approved in March 1983.) http://www.sfaa.net/about/ethics/ also amercananthro.org, Search ethics
Henderson, Helen K. 1995. The Gender Division of Labor. In Henderson, Helen K. (ed.), Gender and Agricultural Development, pp. 3-11. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
Wolf, Eric R. 2001. American Anthropologists and American Society. In Wolf, E. R., Pathways of Power: Building an Anthropology of the Modern World, pp. 13-22. New York, NY, and London, UK: University of California Press. (Originally published in 1969.)
Schedule of Lectures and Readings:
Note that essays are due Monday before 9 AM each week except the Monday of Week 1 which has no assignment due. Most core readings are from the required text but additional readings from the web and videos will be used and needed for occasional question responses.
Week 1 27, 29 August
Practical Ethics and Anthropological research an introduction: what is wrong with inequality or is it a matter of degree.
Living Planet Report 2016 Risk and Resilience in a new era p.31: Beginning of Chapter 2.
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 1 Introduction
Week 2 3, 5 September
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 1 & 2: Inequity within countries: individuals and groups. First questions due Monday 2 September.
Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals, 2018: pp. 38-39 (beginning Chaper 10)
The Chartbook of Economic Inequality:p.57
2 September is Labor Day no classes at U of A
Week 3, 10, 12 September
The Chartbook of Economic Inequality
Week 4 17, 19 September
Discussion of Colonial period and Independence movements
Discussion of Development
Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals, 2018
Week 5 24, 26 September
Discussion of basic socio-economic concepts
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 3: Equity from a global perspective
Week 6 1, 3 October
Discussion of Neoliberalism
Discussion of Globalization
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 4: Equity and well being
Week 7 8, 10 October
Ethics and Finance
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 5: Inequality and investment
Week 8 15, 17 October
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 6: Equity, institutions, and the development process
Week 9 22, 24 October
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 7: Human capacities
Week 10 29, 31 Oct.
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 8: Justice, land, and infrastructure
Week 11 5, 7 November
Pollution, global climate change and the precautionary principle.
Living Planet Report 2016 Risk and Resilience in a new era
: Chapter 2
(Veterans’ day M 11 November, no classes at U of A)
Week 12 November 12, 14
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 9: Markets and the macro-economy
Week 13: 19, 21, November
Readings: Economic drivers of the economy and Sustainability ideology and reality
Living Planet Report 2016 Risk and Resilience in a new era: Chapter 3
N.B. Break from class this week, I will assign videos available online, I will be in Vancouver, CA at a meeting that begins the 19th.. As they have not published the program for this meeting and I do not know when my panel meets I may be able to be here for the 19th.
Week 14, 26 Nov.
World Development Report 2006: Chapter 10: Achieving greater global equity
Living Planet Report 2016 Risk and Resilience in a new era: Chapter 4
Thanksgiving recess 28 November - 1 Dec. NO classes at U of A
Week 15 3, 5 Dec., The issues not learned from the 2008 financial crisis but co.ered in this class: Institutions, risk, ethics.
Week 16 10, December, our Last Class
N.B. no final in this class but we will have in-class questions this day via Tophat.
Th 12 December is Reading day, no further class attendance at U of A
Ancillary material
Late Work Policy
As a rule, work will not be accepted late except in case of documented emergency or illness. You may petition the professor in writing for an exception if you feel you have a compelling reason for turning work in late.
Attendance Policy
The UA’s policy concerning Class Attendance and Administrative Drops is available at: http://catalog.arizona.edu/2014-15/policies/classatten.htm
The UA policy regarding absences on and accommodation of religious holidays is available at http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/policies-and-codes/accommodation-religious-observance-and-practice.
Absences pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean designee) will be honored. See:
http://uhap.web.arizona.edu/chapter_7#7.04.02
Participating in course and attending lectures and other course events are vital to the learning process. As such, attendance is expected at all class meetings. Students who miss class due to illness or emergency are required to bring documentation from their healthcare provider or other relevant, professional third parties. Failure to submit third-party documentation will result in a zero on in-class questions.
Assignment/Testing Schedule/Due Dates
As noted in the Schedule of lectures, there are two essays due on each of the 15 weeks — these will be graded within a week of reception. In-class weekly objective questions are graded instantly on the Tophat site. By Week 8 you will know your grade for greater than 40% of the class points.
Assignment Format
Please write all essays using only your own words, no citations, no references, no plagiarism.
Classroom Behavior
You may not use headphones or earbuds, play video games, read the newspaper, or interrupt the class in any way that prevents your fellow students from paying attention. You are explicitly forbidden from making sexist of racist remarks in the classroom. Tolerance is often a virtue but hate speech is unacceptable in a classroom. You will be asked to leave the lecture if you engage in hateful or demeaning remarks and may face further disciplinary action at the discretion of U of A administration.
The Arizona Board of Regents’ Student Code of Conduct, ABOR Policy 5-308, prohibits threats of physical harm to any member of the University community, including to one’s self. See: http://policy.arizona.edu/threatening-behavior-students.
Notification of Objectionable Materials
Although course content may be deemed offensive by some students, such materials are deemed important for the learning process. Students are not excused from interacting with such materials, but they are certainly encouraged to express well-formed opinions that express those objections and their reasons for them.
Accessibility and Accommodations
It is the University’s goal that learning experiences be as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability, please let me know immediately so that we can discuss options. You are also welcome to contact Disability Resources (520-621-3268) to establish reasonable accommodations. For additional information on Disability Resources and reasonable accommodations, please visit http://drc.arizona.edu/.
If you have reasonable accommodations, please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.
Please be aware that the accessible table and chairs in this room should remain available for students who find that standard classroom seating is not usable.
Student Code of Academic Integrity
Students are encouraged to share intellectual views and discuss freely the principles and applications of course materials. However, graded work/exercises must be the product of independent effort unless otherwise instructed. Students are expected to adhere to the UA Code of Academic Integrity as described in the UA General Catalog. See: http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/codeofacademicintegrity http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/academic-integrity/students/academic-integrity.
The University Libraries have some excellent tips for avoiding plagiarism available at: http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/plagiarism/index.html.
Additional Resources for Students
UA Non-discrimination and Anti-harassment policy: http://policy.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/Nondiscrimination.pdf
UA Academic policies and procedures are available at:
http://catalog.arizona.edu/2014-15/policies/aaindex.html
Student Assistance and Advocacy information is available at:
http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/student-assistance/students/student-assistance
Confidentiality of Student Records
http://www.registrar.arizona.edu/ferpa/default.htm
Subject to Change Statement
Information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policy, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.