Schedule of Readings
Note: All readings are either from required course texts or on reserve in the Bailey-Howe Library or the Anthropology Department office (509 Williams Hall)
Seeking tips on reading for this course? See my 'Reflections on Reading for this Class'
Want to see focus questions and background on selected readings? See the Miscellaneous page
Introduction: The 'Great Divide' and Beyond
Course Introduction
Wed. August 29: Introduction to the course, instructor's expectations, requirements, etc.
No reading
Wed. September 5: Science and 'The Savage Mind?'
Reading: 1. Horton, R. (1970) 'African Traditional Thought and Western Science.' In Wilson, ed. Rationality. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 131-71.
2. Barnes, B. and D. Bloor (1982) 'Relativism, Rationalism and the Sociology of Knowledge.' In Hollis and Lukes, ed. Rationality and Relativism. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 21-47.
Wed. September 12: Moving Beyond 'The Great Divide'
Reading: 1. Geertz, C. (1984) 'Anti-Anti Relativism' American Anthropologist 86(2): 263-78.
2. Harding, S. (1994) 'Is Science Multicultural? Challenges, Resources, Opportunities, Uncertainties.' In Goldberg, Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 344-70.
Science in/as/of Socio-Cultural Context
Wed. September 19: What is a Science? A Scientist?
Guest: TBA
Reading: 1. Fuller, Science, Chs 1-4.
Wed. September 26: Social Epistemologies of Science
Reading: 1. Fuller, Science, Chs 5-7.
Wed. October 3: The Cultural Politics of Biology
Reading: 1. Lewontin, Biology as Ideology, Chs. 1-3 (pp. 1-57).
Wed. October 10: Dangerous Knowledge? The Human Genome Project
In-class debate: Resolved: The Human Genome Project generates dangerous knowledge and should be stopped immediately.
Reading: 1. Lewontin, Biology as Ideology, Chs. 4-6 (pp. 59-123).
Wed. October 17: Perspectives on Science and Gender
Reading: 1. Martin, The Woman in the Body, prefaces and Chs. 1-6.
Wed. October 24: Knowledge and Metaphor
Guest: Dana Walrath
Reading: 1. Martin, The Woman in the Body, Chs. 7-12.
Knowledge, Power and Autonomy in an Interconnected World
Wed. October 31: Australian Aboriginal Arts and Ways of Knowing
Guest: Jim Petersen
Reading: 1. Jackson, At Home in the World, Chs. 1-7.
Wed. November 7: Strategies for Knowing and Representing Home
Film: Babakiueria¹
Reading: 1. Jackson, At Home in the World, Chs. 8-Epilogue.
Wed. November 14: Sagas of Resistance and Liberation
Reading: 1. Esteva and Prakash, Grassroots Postmodernism, Chs. 1-3.
Wed. November 21: Thanksgiving Recess (no class)
Wed. November 28: Regenerating Peoples¹ Space
Guest: Corrine Glesne
Reading: 1. Esteva and Prakash, Grassroots Postmodernism, Chs. 4-6.
Wed. December 5: Knowing Beyond Universalism
Reading: 1. Raine, 'The Shaman and the Ecologist' Interculture No. 140 (April 2001) (all of it)
Your research paper is due December 10 by 12 noon in the Anthropology Department Office (509 Williams Hall).