Anthropology 101

Introduction to Anthropology
Instructor: Andrew Shryock
Class Times: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 11:00-12:00 PM
Location: Auditorium 3, Modern Language Building
Course Description
This course will introduce you to anthropology, the
comparative study of the human species. We will explore how
humans evolved, the physical variations that mark our populations
today, and the complex array of societies and cultures we have
created.
The course is designed to help you think about human
diversity in new ways. We will tackle very basic, yet very profound
questions. Why are human communities different, and what do the
differences mean? How can we explain human similarities? Why do
people have religious beliefs, kinship and marriage, genders, political
and economic systems, artistic traditions? How have these things
developed over time, and why are they so important to us? Are they
inevitable or accidental? Can we do without them?
To answer these questions, we will look closely at a quality that
humans, as a biological species, share: a highly developed capacity
for symbolic communication, for language and culture. We will trace
the evolution of this unique endowment, and we will examine how
the on-going diversification of cultural forms has enabled humans to
create and adapt to changing environments, and to each other.
Course Materials
Three books are required for this course. You can purchase
them online, or at participating local bookstores. Information is
available on Wolverine Access.
Anthropology: Appreciating Human Diversity, 16th Edition, by Conrad
Kottak.
In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, by Philippe Bourgois.

Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village, by

Elizabeth Fernea.
The first book, Anthropology, is a textbook. It is interesting, easy to
read, and it covers a wide range of topics. We will use it as a guide
for lectures and discussion. In Search of Respect and Guests of the
Sheik are ethnographies. They explore the lives of ordinary people in

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two very different settings: New York City in the late 1980s, where a
group of low-rung Puerto Rican drug dealers try to live by their own
law in one of the worlds richest cities; and a tribal village in Iraq in
the late 1950s, where local women try to accommodate and make
sense of the unusual American woman who writes about them. The
differences between Fernea and Bourgois as authors (and between
the social worlds they portray) will show you how anthropology has
changed over the last fifty years and how some of its basic methods
and motivations have remained the same. As we interweave the
data in the ethnographies with the analytical concepts discussed in
the textbook, you will learn how to interpret human variation from a
cross-cultural perspective.
You will also see several interesting films in class; you will
read, watch, and discuss materials unique to your own discussion
section; and you will learn how to turn your own life, and the social
diversity you see around you in our lecture hall, into subject matter
for anthropological analysis.
Course Structure
The course is organized as a series of lectures and discussions.
I lecture on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, elaborating on issues
raised in the readings and, whenever possible, complementing this
material with observations drawn from my own fieldwork in Yemen,
Jordan, and the Arab immigrant and ethnic communities of Detroit.
You will also attend recitation sections, where your graduate student
instructor (GSI) will lead group discussions of the material presented
in lectures and readings, supplementing it with ideas and exercises
based on their own anthropological interests.
Grading
Your course grade will be determined by your performance on
two tests, one at mid-term and one on the last day of class, by two
quizzes administered in section, and by a short writing project. Due
to the large size of this class, the tests and quizzes will be mostly
objective in format: true/false, multiple choice, and so on. The
writing project will be designed by your GSI and will not exceed ten
pages in length.
Consultation
If you would like to meet with me or your GSI personally, we
encourage you to do so. I keep office hours on Tuesdays, 11:00AM2:00 PM. My office is located at 205 C, West Hall, in the Department

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of Anthropology. Your first contact, however, should always be your
GSI; their office hours will be announced during the first meeting of
section, in the week after classes begin.
Syllabus
Section 1 (September 9October 2) Representing
Difference: Human Diversity and Our Endless Attempts to
Classify It.
*

Week 1
Kottak: Chapter 1, What is Anthropology? Focus on pages 2-

13.
*

*
*

Begin reading Fernea and Bourgois. For exact coverage (and

an idea of how best to pace your readings), see Week 4.
Week 2
Kottak: Chapter 13, Method and Theory in Cultural
Anthropology. Focus on pages 230-240.
Chapter 2, Culture
Week 3
Kottak: Chapter 14, Language and Communication
Chapter 15, Ethnicity and Race
Week 4
Kottak: Chapter 5, Evolution and Genetics
Chapter 6, Human Variation and Adaptation
A discussion of In Search of Respect and Guests of the Sheik.
By this time, you will have read the following passages:
Fernea pgs. 3-102.
Bourgois pgs. 1-77.

Section 2 (October 5October 23) The Evolution of Modern

Humans: Natural Selection and the Chosen Primate
*

Week 5
Kottak: Chapter 7, The Primates
Chapter 8, Early Hominins
Section quizzes covering material from the first four weeks

Week 6
Kottak: Chapter 9, Archaic Homo.
*
Week 7
Kottak: Chapter 10, The Origin and Spread of Modern
Humans
Midterm Review

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First Exam: Monday, October 26
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Section 3 (October 28November 13) The Elementary
Structures of Human Society: Production, Reproduction, and
Kinship
*

*
*

Week 8
Kottak: Chapter 11, The First Farmers
Chapter 12, The First Cities and States
Chapter 16, Making a Living
Continue reading Fernea and Bourgois. For exact coverage
(and an idea of how best to pace your readings), see Week 10.
Week 9
Kottak Chapter 19, Families, Kinship, and Descent
Chapter 20, Marriage
Week 10
Kottak: Chapter 18, Gender
A discussion of In Search of Respect and Guests of the Sheik.
By this time, you will have read the following passages:
Fernea pgs. 105-170.
Bourgois pgs. 77-173; 213-317.

Section 4 (November 16December 11) From Elementary

Forms to Global Systems: Imagination, Innovation, and
Domination
*

Week 11
Kottak: Chapter 17, Political Systems
Chapter 21, Religion
Continue reading Fernea and Bourgois. For exact coverage
(and an idea of how best to pace your readings), see Week 14.
Section quizzes on material covered in weeks 8 through 10.

Week 12
Kottak: Chapter 21, Religion, continued
Chapter 23, The World System and Colonialism
*
Week 13
Kottak: Chapter 23, The World System and Colonialism,
continued
__ Thanksgiving Holiday. No lecture on Wednesday, November 25
__
*

Week 14

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Kottak: Chapter 24, Anthropologys Role in a Globalizing
World
Discussion of In Search of Respect and Guests of the Sheik. By
this time, you will have read the following passages:
Fernea pgs. 173-333.
Bourgois pgs. 174-212; 318-337.
Conclusion and Review
Section writing projects due.
Second Exam: Monday, December 14
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