Class website: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~cbeekman/teaching/anth4810.html

INTRODUCTION AND COURSE OBJECTIVES

General – This course pulls together the major theoretical concerns and goals that distinguish us as anthropologists, and is designed to fulfill the needs of two groups of students. 1) It is a capstone course for our undergraduate majors, that integrates information they have gained in previous classes in anthropology. 2) It simultaneously serves as an introduction to the department and to current anthropological theory for our incoming graduate students. To accomplish these goals we will conduct the course as a seminar, include a series of guest speakers discussing their current research, and students will produce a series of synthesizing papers. Each of these is discussed in detail below.

Seminar format - A seminar is a gathering of individuals knowledgeable on a subject for the purpose of discussing and exchanging ideas about that subject. As such, the class is only as good as the level and nature of preparation and participation of each of the individuals involved. For many of you, this may be the first class that is not a lecture format and it may require some adjustment in your perceptions of the manner in which education occurs. However, the free and open exchange of ideas regarding theoretical concepts is one of the most powerful and interesting ways to explore and understand them. The purpose of the instructor in a seminar is to help structure the conversation and occasionally push it into a new direction, not to dominate the conversation. That is, for a good seminar, most of the discussion must be carried out by and among the participants. You cannot do this unless you have prepared for the class and done the readings.

To ensure a profitable seminar session everyone must be prepared and participate. Differing view points are not right or wrong, just different. You will find that different individuals, based on their differing frames of reference, will focus on different aspects of the same argument, and may bring forward viewpoints not previously considered. However, to ensure a profitable exchange of ideas, it is imperative that you read and think about all of the readings assigned for a class prior to the class. To help guide you in your reading, examples of reading guides and a blank form for taking notes on the readings are attached to this syllabus.

Upper division/graduate level classes, especially seminars, require a different level of attention than do lower division classes. We as faculty expect active engagement with the material and regular participation in class discussions. This means that you have read and thought about the material before class and that you attend class regularly. Unlike most other classes, attendance is mandatory and attendance will be taken each class period.

Embedded Guest Speakers - Approximately half of the classes will include a guest speaker. These speakers are individuals currently conducting anthropological research in our own department and applying the concepts that will be discussed in the seminar. The guest speakers will ask you to read a series of articles relating to their work and/or theoretical constructs before the class. In class, they will give a presentation on these ideas followed by a discussion period.

EVALUATION OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE

General policies and expectations – As with any course at UCD, there are certain basic policies with which students must comply. Do not bring pets, children, noisy laptops, or active cellphones/beepers to class. Students are responsible for making sure that they are actually enrolled in the course, and for completing coursework on time. This course involves considerable reading and writing, and you can expect to spend 4+ hours outside of class for every hour in class. In order to earn the credit that this course (or any other) is worth, you must be willing and able to invest the time that is required – everyone has outside commitments, jobs, and family life, so do not expect that academic standards will be relaxed just because you are overcommitted. Assignments turned in late will be docked one letter grade for each day they are late, i.e. a paper due Monday that is turned in Wednesday cannot get better than a “C”. Students with special needs should contact the AHEC Disability Service Office immediately to make arrangements, and I should also be informed as soon as possible.

CLAS policy re: incompletes is as follows. Incomplete grades (IW or IF) are not granted for low academic performance. To be eligible for an Incomplete grade, students must 1) successfully complete 75 percent of the course, 2) have special circumstances (verification may be required) that preclude the student from attending class and completing graded assignments, and 3) make arrangements to complete missing assignments with the original instructor. Having "too much to do" or bad planning are not reasons for an incomplete. If you feel circumstances prevent you from completing the class, contact me as early as possible in the semester when we have available the widest range of options.

Academic dishonesty is never tolerated, and students should familiarize themselves with the regulations on pages 30-31 of the current catalog. Plagiarism involves any attempt to pass off someone else’s ideas or data as one’s own, and this includes incorrect citation of sources in written work.

Grading - Grades will be assigned on a standard 10 pt. scale, meaning 90-100 = A, 80-89.99 = B, etc. Your grade will be based on the following:

Paper 1 20%

Paper 2 20%

Paper 3 20%

Paper 4 20%

Class participation/attendance 20%

Each of these is detailed below.

Papers - The first three papers ask you to discuss an issue of theoretical importance and the way in which this issue is examined across several different sub-disciplines. The information needed to answer these questions is contained in the course readings; no additional research is required, though, of course, you may conduct additional research. The fourth paper is an opportunity for you to “think like an anthropologist” by developing a research idea and a mock research proposal. You will be graded on content as well as the manner in which you present the information (i.e., your ability to present a well organized, coherent and well supported argument in Standard American English). These, in effect, will be mini-term papers regarding the application of theoretical issues. They must be synthetic in nature and discuss the theoretical concepts and their applications, and you must provide appropriate citations and a list of references cited. Due to the lack of scholarly oversight or peer review, with few exceptions, citations from the Internet are not allowed.

All papers must be written in a professional manner following the format of one of the major anthropological journals: American Antiquity, American Anthropologist, or American Journal of Physical Anthropology - formats can be found in the journals and on their respective web sites: www.saa.org , www.aaanet.org , www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0002-9483 . NOTE: Failure to follow an appropriate format will result in the deduction of one half letter grade (5%). Similarly, grammar counts: for each three punctuation, spelling or grammatical errors there will be a 1% loss (out of 100%) in overall grade for that paper. A truly outstanding source for information on all things to do with writing is Purdue University’s Online Writing Laboratory (OWL), located at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/. This site covers nearly everything pertaining to writing and includes hypertext “mini-workshops” on a variety of writing topics and also includes tidy handouts and examples you can download on nearly all aspects of writing. Another useful site is the CSU writing center online: http://writing.colostate.edu/index.cfm UCD also has a writing center that can provide support and help on general or specific writing issues you would like to tackle: 303-556-4845.

Undergraduate papers should be 4 to 7 pages in length, typed, double spaced, and of normal font and margins; graduate students are expected to go into greater detail and should write papers 6 to 10 pages in length. Papers must be handed in on time; i.e., by the end of class on the day they are due. Late papers will receive a 10% reduction (1 letter grade) for each day that they are late. In an effort to reduce the phenomenal consumption of paper, we will do the bulk of our transactions electronically. All assignments must be emailed to me as attachments using Microsoft Word or Word Perfect (do not use MS Works); I will grade/comment upon them and return them via email.

You may, and are encouraged, to discuss the topics of these papers with your fellow students. However, your write-up must be done on your own (i.e., no collaborative papers). Additionally, you must cite people for their ideas and data as well as their exact words in these papers. This is an extremely serious issue and failure to correctly credit others’ ideas constitutes plagiarism. It will minimally result in a F for the course and potentially disciplinary action by the university (see pages 30-31 in the current University catalog for policy on academic dishonesty).

The questions for the papers are as follows:

Paper 1) Evolution by means of natural selection has long been accepted as the means of biological evolution in anthropology. Application of concepts of natural selection to behavior in general and culture in particular is much more controversial. Compare and contrast Sociobiological and Evolutionary Culture Theory concepts of the mechanisms of change, ideas about where behavior is rooted, the rise of new behaviors, and how cultures change. Do you think these models are appropriate for understanding behavioral diversity and culture change? Why or why not?

Paper 2) Individuals live within and, to some degree, are constrained by the structure of the society in which they live their daily lives. Despite this, they undertake individual action (“agency”) which is often highly fluid and situation dependent. Discuss the relationship between individual agency and societal structure as it is played out in different kinds of action. Pay particular attention to individual and group motivation and the impact that action may have on access to different forms of capital. Do you find that particular approaches to agency receive more or less support from your examples?

Paper 3) Many anthropologists claim that “culture” is the integrating concept that unites anthropology’s subfields. Despite this, the definition of culture varies considerably. Discuss culture as defined by three different perspectives (ecological, interpretive, and political economy). What assumptions are the bases for these definitions and what types of research questions flow from them? Which perspective (or what combinations of features of different perspectives) do you think is most appropriate under which to conduct anthropological research and why? If you combine perspectives make sure you deal with contradictions in the underlying assumptions. You may illustrate your perspectives with examples from one or several subdisciplines if it helps to clarify your argument.

Paper 4) Choose an anthropologically relevant issue and design a research project to study this problem. Explicitly discuss the issue and why it is important, your assumptions, and the methods you will use to study it.

Class Participation/Attendance – As stated above, attendance is mandatory and will be taken each class. An absence results in a 0 for the day, while attendance starts you off with a “D”. Regular, meaningful class participation that demonstrates attention to the readings and the discussion will then earn you a “C”, “B”, or an “A” for the day. This course demands your attention or there is no reason to take it.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS AND READINGS

There is no textbook for this course. All readings are available online as Adobe Acrobat *.pdf files through the library. Go to http://docuserv.auraria.edu/, select my name under the “Select an Instructor” pull-down menu, click “go,” click on the course title, type in the password “banjo,” click accept, then choose the article you wish to see which will then be opened or downloaded to your computer. Note: Articles are in alphabetical order by their title, not by the author. Should there be any problem with the Auraria system at any time, that is no excuse for not reading. Some of the journal articles are available through JSTOR, Expanded Index, Kluwer Online, or one of the other electronic databases available through our library. Others may be physically available in our library.

COURSE ORGANIZATION AND READINGS

Week	Date	Topic	Coursepack Readings
1	Aug. 22 (M)	Introduction to the course	Borofsky 1994, Borofsky 1994, Flannery 1982
	Aug. 24 (W)	A brief history of anthropological theory	Ortner 1984, Service 1985
2	Aug. 29 (M)	Philosophy of Science	Feigl 1988, Ziman 1988, Cartmill 1990, Kuznar 1997
	Sep. 31 (W)	Ecological perspectives	Orlove 1980, Biersack 1999, Binford 1980
3	Sep. 5 (M)	LABOR DAY HOLIDAY – NO CLASS
	Sep. 7 (W)	TALK – Charles Musiba	TBA
4	Sep. 12 (M)	Modern synthesis of evolution by means of natural selection	Mayr 1975, Futuyma 1979, Mayr 1991
	Sep. 14 (W)	TALK – Lorna Moore	TBA
5	Sep. 19 (M)	NO CLASS Beekman in Mexico
	Sep. 21 (W)	TALK – David Tracer Beekman in Mexico	TBA
6	Sep. 26 (M)	Evolutionary Theory and Behavior	Durham 1990, Barkow 1996, Boone and Smith 1998
	Sep. 28 (W)	Marxism and Critical Theory	Therborn 1996, Habermas 2002
7	Oct. 3 (M)	TALK - John Brett Paper 1 due	TBA
	Oct. 5 (W)	Political economy	Roseberry 1988, Gal 1989, Patterson 1999
8	Oct. 10 (M)	World Systems, Post-Colonialism and Globalization	Wolf 1982, Hall 1996, Shannon 1989, Kapoor 2002
	Oct. 12 (W)	TALK – Steve Koester	TBA
9	Oct. 17 (M)	Agency and Structure	Hodder 1982 (read first for context), Giddens 2002, Bourdieu 2001, Bourdieu 2002
	Oct. 19 (W)	TALK – Christopher Beekman	TBA
10	Oct. 24 (M)	Ethnicity and Identity	Berreman 1972, Koven 1998
	Oct. 26 (W)	TALK – Tammy Stone	TBA
11	Oct. 31 (M)	Symbolic Anthropology Paper 2 due	Turner 1988[1972], Crick 1982
	Nov. 2 (W)	Interpretive Anthropology	Geertz 1988[1973], Geertz 1983, Abu-Lughod 1991, Hodder 1991
12	Nov. 7 (M)	Cognitive and Structural Anthropology	Lakoff 1987, Levi-Strauss 1988
	Nov. 9 (W)	Post-Structuralism and Post-Modernism Paper 3 due	Tilley 1990, Guba 1993, Lemert 1997
13	Nov. 14 (M)	TALK - Robert Carlsen	TBA
	Nov. 16 (W)	Research design, ethics, and careers TALK – Barbara Wilson	Goldenberg 1992, Johnson 1998, Silverman 1991, American Anthropology Association Statement on Ethics 1998
14	Nov. 21 (M)	FALL BREAK – NO CLASS
	Nov. 23 (W)	FALL BREAK – NO CLASS
15	Nov. 28 (M)	TALK - Dorothy Yates: Human Subjects Review Board
	Nov. 30 (W)	AAA CONFERENCE – NO CLASS
16	Dec. 5 (M)	DEAD WEEK - NO CLASS UNLESS WE NEED TO CATCH UP
	Dec. 7 (W)	DEAD WEEK - NO CLASS UNLESS WE NEED TO CATCH UP Paper 4 due

READINGS LIST

Week 1

Borofsky, Robert. 1994a. A Personal Note to Undergraduates. In Assessing Cultural Anthropology, edited by R. Borofsky, pp. xiii-xix. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Borofsky, Robert. 1994b. Diversity and Divergence within the Anthropological Community. In Assessing Cultural Anthropology, edited by R. Borofsky, pp. 23-28. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Flannery, K. 1982. The Golden Marshalltown: a Parable for the Archaeology of the 1980s. American Anthropologist 84: 265-278.

Ortner, Sherry. 1984. Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties. Comparative Studies in Society and History 26(1): 126-166.

Service, Elman. 1985. A Broader Controversy. In A Century of Controversy: Ethnological Issues from 1860 to 1960, pp. 285-319. Academic Press, Orlando.

Week 2

Feigl, Herbert. 1988. The Scientific Outlook: Naturalism and Humanism. In Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, edited by E.D. Klemke, R. Hollinger, A.D. Kline, pp. 427-437. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY.

Ziman, John. 1988. What is Science? In Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, edited by E.D. Klemke, R. Hollinger, and A.D. Kline, pp. 28-33. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY.

Cartmill, Matt. 1990. Human Uniqueness and Theoretical Content in Paleoanthropology. International Journal of Primatology 11:173-192.

Kuznar, Lawrence. 1997. Chapter 2. In Reclaiming a Scientific Anthropology, pp. 51-65. Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek.

Orlove, Benjamin. 1980. Ecological Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology 9:235-273.

Biersack, Aletta. 1999. Introduction: From the “New Ecology” to the New Ecologies. American Anthropologist 101(1):5-18.

Binford, Lewis R. 1980. Willow Smoke and Dog's Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation. American Antiquity 45: 4-20.

Week 3

LABOR DAY HOLIDAY – NO CLASS

TBA for Musiba lecture

Week 4

Mayr, Ernst. 1975. Typological versus Population Thinking. In Evolution and the Diversity of Life, pp. 26-29. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

Futuyma, Douglas. 1979. Chapter 2. A Synopsis of Evolutionary Theory. In Evolutionary Biology, pp. 19-32. Sunderland, Sinauer Assoc.

Mayr, Ernst. 1991. Chapter 6. Darwin’s Path to the Theory of Natural Selection. In One Long Argument, pp. 68-89. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

TBA for Moore lecture

Week 5

NO CLASS

TBA for Tracer lecture

Week 6

Durham, William H. 1990. Advances in Evolutionary Culture Theory. Annual Review of Anthropology 19:187-210.

Barkow, Jerome H. 1996. The Elastic between Genes and Culture. In Anthropological Theory, an Introductory History, edited by R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms, pp. 374-390. Mayfield, Mountain View, CA.

Boone, James L. and Eric Alden Smith. 1998. Is it Evolution Yet? Current Anthropology 39:141-173.

Therborn, Göran. 1996. Critical Theory and the Legacy of Twentieth-Century Marxism. In The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory, edited by Bryan S. Turner, pp. 53-82. Blackwell, Oxford.

Habermas, Jürgen. 2002. The Tasks of a Critical Theory of Society. In Contemporary Sociological Theory, edited by Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, and Indermohan Virk, pp. 377-400. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

Week 7

TBA Brett Lecture

Roseberry, William. 1988. Political Economy. Annual Review of Anthropology 17:161-185.

Gal, S. 1989. Language and Political Economy. Annual Review of Anthropology 18:345-367.

Patterson, Thomas C. 1999. The Political Economy of Archaeology in the United States. Annual Review of Anthropology 28:155-174.

Week 8

Wolf, Eric R. 1982. Chapter 1. In Europe and the People Without History, pp. 3-23. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Hall, Thomas D. 1996. The World-Systems Perspective: A Small Sample from a Large Universe. Sociological Inquiry 66:440-454.

Shannon, Thomas Richard. 1989. Chapter 2. World System Structure. In An Introduction to the World-System Perspective, pp. 20-37. Westview Press, Boulder.

Kapoor, Ilan. 2002. Capitalism, Culture, Agency: Dependency versus Postcolonial Theory. Third World Quarterly 23(4):647-664.

TBA Koester lecture

Week 9

Hodder, Ian. 1982. Theoretical Archaeology: a Reactionary View. In Symbolic and Structural Archaeology, edited by Ian Hodder, pp. 1-16. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Giddens, Anthony. 2002. Agency, Structure. In Contemporary Sociological Theory, edited by Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, and Indermohan Virk, pp. 232-243. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 2001. Structures, Habitus, Practices. In Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory, edited by Paul A. Erickson and Liam D. Murphy, pp. 533-542. Broadview Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 2002. Social Space and Symbolic Space. In Contemporary Sociological Theory, edited by Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, and Indermohan Virk, pp. 267-275. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

TBA Beekman lecture

Week 10

Berreman, Gerald. 1972. Bazar Behavior: Social Identity and Social Interaction in Urban India. In Ethnic Identity, Cultural Continuities and Change, edited by G. DeVos and L. Romanucci-Ross, pp. 71-105. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Koven, Michele E. J. 1998. Two Languages in the Self/ the Self in Two Languages: French-Portuguese Bilinguals’ Verbal Enactments and Experiences of Self in Narrative Discourse. Ethos 26(4):410-455.

TBA Stone lecture

Week 11

Turner, Victor. 1988[1972]. Passages, Margins, and Poverty: Religious Symbols of Communitas. Reprinted in High Points in Anthropology, 2^nd edition, edited by Paul Bohannan and Mark Glazer, pp. 503-528. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Crick, Malcolm. 1982. Anthropology of Knowledge. Annual Review of Anthropology 11:287-313.

TBA Carlsen lecture

Week 12

Geertz, Clifford. 1988[1973]. Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture. Reprinted in High Points in Anthropology, 2^nd edition, edited by Paul Bohannan and Mark Glazer, pp. 531-552. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Geertz, Clifford. 1983. Blurred Genres: the Refiguration of Social Thought. In Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology, edited by C. Geertz, pp. 19-35. Basic Books, New York.

Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1991. Writing Against Culture. In Recapturing Anthropology, Working in the Present, edited by R. G. Fox, pp. 137-162. School of American Research, Santa Fe.

Hodder, Ian. 1991. Interpretive Archaeology and its Role. American Antiquity 56:7-18.

Lakoff, George. 1987. Preface and Chapter 1. In Women, Fire and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About the Mind, pp. xi-xvii, 5-11. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Lévi-Strauss. 1988[1953]. The Story of Asdiwal. Reprinted in High Points in Anthropology, 2^nd edition, edited by Paul Bohannan and Mark Glazer, pp. 459-500. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Week 13

Tilley, Christopher. 1990. Michel Foucault: Towards an Archaeology of Archaeology. In Reading Material Culture. Structuralism, Hermeneutics, and Post-Structuralism, edited by Christopher Tilley, pp. 281-347. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

Guba, Egon. 1993. Foreword. In Doing Naturalistic Inquiry: A Guide to Methods, edited by D. Erlandson, E. Harris, B. Skipper, S. Allen, pp. ix-xv. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.

Lemert, Charles. 1997. Chapters 2 and 3. In Postmodernism is not what you think, pp. 19-68. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.

Goldenberg, Sheldon. 1992. Chapter 7. In Thinking Methodologically, pp. 129-151. Harper Collins Publishers, New York.

Johnson, Jeffrey C. 1998. Research Design and Research Strategies. In Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology, edited by H.R. Bernard, pp. 131-171. Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek.

Silverman, Sydel. 1991. Writing Grant Proposals for Anthropological Research. Current Anthropologist 32:485-489.

American Anthropological Association. 1998. Code of Ethics of the American Anthropological Association. http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm Accessed 7/27/05.

Week 14

FALL BREAK – NO CLASS

Week 15

No readings

Please note the following detailed schedule for registration-related activities. Please be aware that because of the financial climate in which the University now exists, these are non-negotiable deadlines and rules.