Course Format and Requirements
This course is organized primarily around lectures and films, although it will be as interactive as possible though class discussion and small group activities. Active learning and discussion are crucial elements in helping you gain a functional understanding of how anthropologists study and analyze culture. Because much of this will happen in class, attendance is mandatory. The only excused absences are for family or health emergencies (with proof), and you must report your absence to the T.A. for Attendance, or it will be considered an unexcused absence.
You will be graded on the following:
I will not always refer to the readings in our discussions, but it is essential that you keep up on the reading assignments because they provide crucial background on the issues we will cover in class. We will have seven brief (15 minute) open-note (but not open-book) quizzes on the readings. Each quiz will cover readings assigned since the last quiz. If you miss class and have not cleared it ahead of time with the T.A. for Attendance, you cannot make up the quiz. If it is an excused absence, you can retake the quiz during one of the times we hold office hours. We will also have a final exam that will test how well you have learned the basic concepts and history of socio-cultural anthropology. This exam, scheduled for 2/12 at 4pm, will combine key word definitions, short answers, and essay questions.
During the semester, you will undertake a brief ethnographic exercise, to allow you to experience the advantages and complexities of ethnographic fieldwork methods. During class on Tues. 9/30, we will discuss your experience and the insights you may have come up with on how people in our culture think about and behave around food, as well as the opportunities and dilemmas of ethnographic fieldwork. You will then write a minimum three typed page (but not more than five pages) analysis of that experience (for example, what did you learn about how our culture regards food, what did you learn about how to study people, etc.), in which you must refer to at least one of our readings that relates to the dilemmas, complexities, or advantages of ethnographic fieldwork methods. It will be due in class on Fri. 10/7, and I do not accept late papers. This assignment will all be explained in much more detail in a handout I will provide early during the semester.
We will be viewing a number of ethnographic films, and in order for you to get the most out of watching these films, you should take notes while we watch the film. You will then write a minimum of one typed page (but no more than two pages) reaction to the film - these responses must be type-written (double-spaced). These writings should not be mere summaries of the video, but your reactions about what you saw and heard in it, including questions, commentary, assessments, analysis, protests, opinions, or any combination of these. I will collect them twice during the semester once on 10/21 (first four films) and at the final exam (last three films). You will not be graded in terms of their quality, only that you turn them in. The penalty of not turning one in on time is that you will lose a whole grade of your film response grade (i.e., miss one, drop from A to B for overall film response grade; if you miss four, you get an F for the film response grade, no matter how many other ones you submitted). In other words, turn them in on time and you have nothing to worry about. When possible, I will comment on them. You do not have to write a reaction paper for the film we see on the first day of class.