After completing this course students are able to:
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understand the subtleties of an ethnographic approach;
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understand the principal ethnographic research methods;
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understand the challenges of ethnographic observation and description through two field excursions, one in the first and one in the second part of the semester;
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describe anthropological insights on social, political, and economic questions;
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demonstrate scholarly skills (in communication, argumentation, teamwork), and a mature attitude to classroom participation and discussions;
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write in an academically informed manner - as demonstrated in in two papers and two written assignments
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How can we explain the great cultural variation among human societies when humankind constitutes a biological unity? Why do these cultural differences continue to persist, despite people’s growing integration in the encompassing world system? This course provides an anthropological perspective on these central questions through a comparison of present day tribal and industrial societies.
The course consists of two parts. Part I introduces the practice of cultural anthropology: the basic concepts, terms, and research methods. It does this by means of a critical reading of Nigel Barley’s Innocent Anthropologist which is used as an instrument to situate core concepts in the discipline’s historical development, and a number of key texts, such as Malinowski’s ‘Scope and Methods...’ (from Argonauts of the Western Pacific). Selected readings from Haviland et al.’s textbook, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, establish the principal areas of anthropological inquiry. Students gain insight into ethnographic methodology through a field visit involving preparation, observation and description.
Part II develops the conceptual and ethnographic insights acquired in Part I through the study of modern Brazilian culture. Donna Goldstein’s ethnography of a Rio de Janeiro shantytown demonstrates the continuing relevance of cultural anthropology for the study of contemporary post-industrial society. Goldstein portrays the lives of the poor in a Brazilian favela, conveying the most intimate and hidden details of their lives: from crime and sexual violence, to responsibilities of kinship and friendship, to childhood dreams of riches and the search for dignity. This focus on problems of the inner city shows the consequences of polarized race, class and gender relations, the relationship between culture and the economy, and between individual responsibilities and structural constraints. Relevant chapters of Haviland et al.’s textbook and a number of key texts by founders of urban anthropology provide a conceptual framework for Goldstein's ethnography. Students gain further insight into ethnographic methodology and questions of representation through a field visit to an ethnographic museum.
Format
There are two lectures per week which are supplemented by documentaries, and class discussion organized on a group basis. There are four forms of written work: one short paper and one written assignment for Part I; one longer paper and one written assignment for Part II. There is a final exam covering all the course material in the final week.
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