History of Anthropological Theory
Syllabus for Anthropology 608A, Fall 2015
Class Meets: T 3:30-6 pm in my Office
Official room: M Pacheco Rm. 129
Tad Park: tpark@u.arizona.edu, 621-2632
Office hrs.: Geronimo Rm. 316 MW 1-2:30 pm, Th 11 am-1 pm
Course Description: This class provides an overview of some of the key theoretical concepts in anthropology. It is intended to complement Anthropology 608B and focuses on giving students a basis for critical thinking and an exposure to a significant amount of good writing.
In particular, the course will introduce students to the philosophical roots of theoretical approaches in anthropology, the significance of ethics, anthropological debates over science vs. interpretation, relativism vs trans-cultural truths and the temptations of political correctness.
In practice we will approach these issues by reading works in philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, social science and history.
The format of the course will be a seminar in which students learn through reading, writing and guided discussion. I will fill in background not adequately addressed in the assigned readings and suggest additional readings for those interested in becoming scholars. Since the class will be a seminar, students are expected to develop analytical and scholarly skills: including being concise (not long winded), polite (even if enthusiastic) and open minded.
One suggestion: read only as much as you can assimilate - leave time for thought and reflection and come to class each time with something to contribute. There is no prize for the person who reads the most pages but there is one for anyone who remembers clearly and reflects intelligently on what they have read. Significance is very much in the mind of the reader, so if you do not see the value of an assigned reading you should consider the very real possibility that you lack the intellectual background to appreciate its finer points: and be motivated to improve your intellect.
Course Requirements: Read, think, discuss, write.
A) [10 %] Each week prepare to discuss the week’s readings in class. You should be prepared to evaluate the following elements where appropriate: key ideas, methodological or theoretical concerns, scope of claims (dogma), degree of righteousness expressed, type of data relied upon, clarity and explicitness of philosophical perspectives. You will be asked in each class to write a practicum : a 15 minute essay on an issue to which you might apply some of the key points in the reading. I will provide one of three grades to your essays (0, 80%, 100%).
B) [60%] three page evaluations of five of the seven required books (by Appiah, Bourdieu, Lukes, Ringer, Sahlins, Stoler or Wikan); these papers must be submitted before we discuss them in class. Please submit the papers by email by 9 am Monday of the week they are scheduled for discussion.
C)take home midterm given 28 October (30%), due 11 November. Write two of the three comparative essays. Material assigned through 3 November should be read.
I will give students an opportunity to make-up anything I find unsatisfactory and will give students an A, an I or, if they elect not to improve material, some other grade.
Note on Readings: Students are expected to read all required books and listed articles and be well prepared to discuss them by the date they appear on the syllabus. The midterm will focus on the required books but will not exclude other material.
Required Books
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. The Ethics of Identity. Princeton U. Press 2005.
Bourdieu, Pierre. In Other Words. Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Stanford: 1990.
Lukes, Steven. Power A Radical View. Second Edition. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Ringer, Fritz. Max Weber’s Methodology. The unification of the cultural and social sciences. Harvard: 1997.
Sahlins, Marshall D. Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities: Structure in the Early History of the Sandwich Islands Kingdom. University of Michigan Press, 1981.
Stoler, Ann. Along the Archival Grain. Epistemic anxieties and colonial common sense. Princeton: 2009.
Unni Wikan. In Honor of Fadime. Murder and Shame. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Recommended
Brown, Callum G. Postmodernism for Historians. Pearson Education, 2005.
Gould, Stephen J. . The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Honderich, Ted, editor. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. New Edition (2nd). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Marshall, Barbara. Configuring Gender: Explorations in Theory and Practice. Broadview Press, 2000.
Marx, Karl. Capital. Vol. 1. Ben Fowkes, translator. Penguin Classics. 1990.
Prado, C. G. Starting with Foucault: An Introduction to Genealogy. Westview Press, 2000.
Wan, Poe Yu-Ze. Reframing the Social. Emergentist systemism and social theory. Farnham, Ashgate, 2011.
Suggested Weekly Reading Assignments
The article authors can be found in the related sections of the PDF article collection.
Note that while everyone is expected to look at multiple articles, oral discussions usually involve less than comprehensive readings per student. Select the articles that most interest you and be prepared to discuss them. All students must read and be ready to discuss each of the seven required books as well as the readings on Marx before the designated discussion dates.
Outline of Weekly Topics
1. 25 August Intellectual Foundations
We will discuss a number of issues to set the ground for why the readings may be intellectually beneficial: free speech, hate speech, bullying, racism, genderism, rhetoric, truth, relativism, positivism, peer review, history, politics, cutting edge research, theory, development, biopower & culture, academia, human subjects research.
2. 1 September
Philosophical roots of social sciences
PDF Articles: Plato, Johnston, Aquinas, Nanji.
Optional: Arne Naess. Scepticism. Oslo, Universitets Forlaget, 1968.
Enlightenment roots of Modernism
PDF Articles: Kant and Hegel, Rousseau and J. S. Mill.
From Oxford Compendium: Kant, Rousseau, Hegel or similar articles on line.
[7 September Labor Day no classes at U of A]
Methodology of Early Modern Science
3. 8 September
PDF Articles: Bacon, Comte, Darwin, Gould, Gould- Eldridge, Vrba-Gould, Sober-Lewontin
Positivism, Rationalism, Conjectures & Refutations
4. 15 September
PDF Articles: Popper, Feyerabend, Bourdieu.
From Oxford Compendium or similar articles on line: epistemology, ontology, enlightenment
Structural Functionalism
5. 22 September
PDF Articles: Barth, Evans-Pritchard, GluckmanPeace, LeachMagical, MalinowskiSex, ParkDivination, Radcliffe-Brown.
Interpretive Anthropology
6. 29 September
Ringer, Fritz. Max Weber’s Methodology. The unification of the cultural and social sciences. Harvard: 1997.
Handout/translations/pdf - Peirce, Wittgenstein, Geertz
PDF Articles: Atran, Caton, GeertzAnti, Hodder, Stoller.
Durkheim
7. 6 October
PDF Articles: DurkheimAnomie, DurkheimRules, Hertz.
Exchange Theory
Handout exchange theory
PDF Articles: Carrier, ExchangeTheory, Mauss, Parkin, Valeri
Theory & Method in History
8. 13 October
PDF Articles: Bloch, Geertz, Vansina, Wolf
Sahlins Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities
Ethnicity & Hierarchy
9. 20 October
Handout - ethnicity
PDF Articles: BarthIntro, Southall, Wolf
PDF Articles: Appadurai, BeteilleRace, LukacsClass, SouthallSegmentary
Structuralism
PDF Articles: Assiter, Levi-Strauss:Bear&Barber, Luhrman, Vansina
Political Economy
10. 27 October
Stoler, Ann. Along the Archival Grain. Epistemic anxieties and colonial common sense. Princeton: 2009.
Karl Mark Selections (various by Tad)
PDF Articles: Arendt, Sabia, Testart
Midterm distributed 28 October, due 11 November
Critical Theory
11. 3 November
Bourdieu, Pierre. In Other Words. Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Stanford: 1990.
Handout on critical theory,
PDF Articles: Jay, Katz, Phelan, Smith, Wagner
PDF Articles: Bourdieu3tributes, DumontBourdieu, Sobel.
12. 10 November
Midterm due by end of day
(11 November Veterens Day no classes at U of A)
Power and Postmodernism
13. 17 November
Handout/translations/ - Foucault, handout Pomo
Lukes Power A Radical View, 2nd edition.
Optional
Prado, Starting with Foucault: An Introduction to Genealogy
Brown, Callum G. Postmodernism for Historians. Pearson Education, 2005.
Identity and Culture
14. 24 November
Taylor “The Politics of Recognition”
Wikan In Honor of Fadime
PDF Articles: BourdieuModernity, DumontAreCultures,
[Thanksgiving holiday 27-30 November]
Ethics and Anthropology
15. 1 December
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. The Ethics of Identity. Princeton U. Press 2005.
Appiah “Identity, Authenticity, Survival”
handout Queer theory
General discussion: causality and interpretation
16. 8 December
Optional: Poe Yu-Ze Wan, Reframing the social.
[ official exam date 12-14, e.g when I need to finish up grading]
Note: Most of Cambridge University’s Dspace (http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/23) biographical videos in the social anthropology collection are 300-600 MB and take some time to upload. They are mp4 files and can be played with a QuickTime Player (Apple) or a MPEG4IP WMP4Player (Windows) or other video software. I have the following available on DVD in my office: Akbar, Barth, Boissevain, Descola, Epstein, Fortes, Firth, Gellner, Geertz, Lienhardt, Goody, Hill, Leach, Strathern, Marx, Tambiah, Turner, Worsley. If you do not have a DVD compatible computer talk with me and I can probably get them onto your computer. [for tech info go to: http://all-streaming-media.com/streaming-media-faq/faq-mp4-streaming.htm]
Standard Class and University Rules
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is of course forbidden and will certainly net you a zero for an assignment. Repeat offenders will be referred to university disciplinary committees who will decide what action is appropriate.
Classroom behavior
Students attend class to hear the lectures (or the majority do) and since they pay good money to go to the U of A they have the right to peace and quiet in the lecture hall. I, in addition, do not think anyone should be in attendance merely to get credit so people will be asked to leave the lecture or discussion section for infringing class rules which prohibit:
reading of newspapers or popular magazines
use of headphones or earbuds
playing of video games, irrelevant internet browsing, talking on phones, texting, etc.
interruptions of the lecture: including through conversations with other students or any form of disruptive behavior.
Note: I am not timid and have no inhibitions about asking students to leave the lecture but this does not mean you will receive any further punishment – once you have quietly left - your slate is clean though you will not get credit for Tophat questions that day. If someone is disturbing your concentration you are encouraged to bring this to my attention.
Implicit and Explicit Treatment of other students
The University of Arizona does not tolerate racist or sexist remarks and you are, more generally, expected to avoid disparaging personal remarks about other people. You are explicitly forbidden from making sexist or racist remarks. Tolerance is often a virtue but hate speech is unacceptable in a classroom. You will be asked to leave the lecture or discussion section if you engage in hateful remarks and may well face further disciplinary action at the discretion of the U of A administration.
If you wish you may consult the key U of A policies we follow in this course at the links below:
Policies against plagiarism, etc., within Student Code of Academic Integrity:
http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/policies-and-codes/code-academic-integrity;
Policies against threatening behavior by students:
http://policy.web.arizona.edu/threatening-behavior-students;
Policies against discrimination and harassment, along with offices for reporting concerns
related to discrimination or harassment, http://policy.arizona.edu/human-
resources/nondiscrimination-and-anti-harassment-policy;
We follow U of A guidelines on accommodation to students with disabilities in this class:
Statement about accommodations for students with disabilities:
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 or pregnancy, 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.
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.
see http://drc.arizona.edu/faculty-staff/syllabus-statement.