University of British Columbia, Department of Anthropology Winter Semester 2011

Anthropology 300: Contemporary Anthropological Theory

Tuesday and Thursday 2:00-3:30 ProfessorShaylihMuehlmann Email:shaylih@interchange.ubc.ca Office:Anso2303 Officehours:Thursdays11:0012:30 and by appointment Teaching Assistant: Hiba Morcos Email: hibamorcos@gmail.com

This course will explore contemporary approaches to anthropology through an examination of four key theoretical debates that have shaped the discipline. These debates will be organized into four units: I Culture and Inequality, II: Structure and Agency, III: Nature and Society, and IV: Discourse and Materiality. We will explore to what extent people act through their own agency and are constrained by structural relations of power. We will examine the notion of culture and the debates that have surfaced around this concept. We will also analyze the dichotomy that anthropologists have sought to problematize between nature and culture and debates about the role of discourse and materiality in defining human worlds. Prerequisites Anth100istheprerequisiteforthiscourse. RequiredTexts PDFversionsofcoursereadingsareavailableonwww.vista.ubc.ca.Youwillneed yourCampusWideLogin(CWL)IDtologin(formoreinfo,visitwww.cwl.ubc.ca). Evaluation Attendanceandclassparticipation:20%. WeeklyPrcis(1pageeach):30% AnnotatedBibliography(5pages):10%. ResearchPaper(10pages):40%.

 1) Participation: Participationmarkswillbecalculatedbasedonattendance,inclass participationandinclasspeerwritingworkshops. 2)WeeklyPrcis: Weeklysummariesshouldbenolongerthanonepage,doublespaced,with# 12fontandoneinchmarginsandshouldsummarizethemainpointsofthe weeksreading. TheyshouldbehandedinatthebeginningofTuesdaysclasseveryweek exceptontheweeksofFeb.22ndandApril5th.Youmustsubmit9overthe courseofthetermforfullmarks.Emailsubmissionsandlatesubmissions willnotbeaccepted. 2) AnnotatedBibliography(DueFebruary22ndatthebeginningofclass): Anannotatedbibliographyisanalphabeticallistofresearchsourcesnot includedinthesyllabus.Inadditiontobibliographicdata,anannotated bibliographyprovidesaconcisesummaryofeachsourceandsome assessmentofitsvalueorrelevance. Itshouldcontainatleast10sourcesandbenolongerthan5pagesdouble spaced,with#12fontandoneinchmargins. ReferencesshouldfollowtheAAAcitationguideline: http://www.aaanet.org/publications/style_guide.pdf. 4)FinalResearchPaper(DueApril5thatthebeginningofclass): Theresearchpapershouldfocusonatopicofyourchoicethatisrelevantto theclassmaterials(itshouldbethesametopicthatyouwroteyour AnnotatedBibliographyon). Itmustbeaminimumof10pageslong(maximumof15pages)typedand doublespaced,with#12fontandoneinchmargins.Emailsubmissionswill notbeaccepted. Youmustexamineoneormorethemesanalyzedinclass,focusingonatleast 4classreadingsdiscussedinclass(i.e.readingscoveredbythedeadlinedate; pleasenotethatvideosdonotcountasreadings).Youshouldidentifythe topicyouintendtoanalyze(agency,practice,cultureetc.)andmake connections,drawcomparisons,and/orpointoutdifferencesintheway differentreadingsapproachthesetopics.Pleaseavoidlengthydirect quotations(i.e.ofmorethan3lines). Pleaseincludethefullreferencesintheend(onpage#5)followingtheAAA citationguideline:http://www.aaanet.org/publications/style_guide.pdf. Whencitingasourceinthemaintext,pleasealsousetheAAAstyle.

Plagiarism:Allworkyousubmitmustbeyourownoriginalwork.Plagiarism (submittingworkthatisnotyourown,includingparaphrasingofsourcesthatare notacknowledgedorproperlycited)willresultinautomaticfailure,andmay resultinadditionaldisciplinaryactionbytheuniversity. LateSubmissions:Gradeswillbedropped3%perdayifeithertheannotated bibliographyorthefinalresearchpaperislate.Requestsforextensionsmustbe properlyjustified.Note:thatprcismustbehandedinontimeforcredit. Course Schedule UNIT I: CULTURE AND INEQUALITY Week 1. Jan. 4 and Jan. 6 Introduction to course themes and content. Ortner, Sherry B. 1984. Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties. Comparative Studies in Society and History 26:126-66. Week 2. Jan. 11 Jan. 13 Geertz, Clifford. 1973. Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture. In The Interpretations of Cultures. New York: Basic Books. Pp. 3-30. Geertz, Clifford. 1973. Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight. In The Interpretations of Cultures. New York: Basic Books. Pp. 412-454. Writing Workshop: Crafting the Precs Week 3. Jan. 18 and Jan. 20 Roseberry, William. 1982. Balinese Cockfights and the Seduction of Anthropology. Social Research 49 1013-28. Keesing, Roger. 1987. Anthropology as Interpretive Quest. Current Anthropology 28(2): 161-176. Film: An Anthropology of Youtube (2008: Directed by Michael Wesch) Week 4. Jan. 25 and Jan. 27 Clifford, James. 1986. Introduction: Partial Truths. In Writing Culture:the Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Edited by James Clifford and George Marcus. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 1-26.

Behar, Ruth. 1995. Introduction: Out of Exile. In Women Writing Culture. Edited by Ruth Behar and Deborah Gordon. Berkeley: University of California Press. PP. 130. Writing Workshop UNIT II: STRUCTURE AND AGENCY Week 5. Feb. 1 and Feb. 3 Willis, Paul. 1981. Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. New York: Teacher's College Press. Selections. Writing Workshop Week 6. Feb. 8 and Feb. 10 Willis, Paul. 1981. Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. New York: Teacher's College Press. Selections. Librarydatabaseworkshop:ThursdaysclasswillbeheldatKoernercomputer lab(floor2,downonefloorfromthemainentrance). Mid-Term Break: Feb. 14-18 Week 7. Feb. 22 and Feb. 24 (Annotated Bibliography Due Feb. 22) Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1 Section I: 1-29 & 2 Section I: 72-95). Writing Workshop: Crafting the Essay UNIT III: NATURE AND SOCIETY Week 8. March 1 and March 3 Braun, Bruce. 2002. The Intemperate Rainforest: Nature, Culture, and Power on Canada's West Coast. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Chapters 1 & 2: 1-65). Film: Crude (2009: Directed by Joe Berlinger) Week 9. March 8 and March 10 Braun, Bruce. 2002. The Intemperate Rainforest: Nature, Culture, and Power on Canada's West Coast. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Chapter 3: 66-108.

Escobar, Arturo. 1999. After Nature: Steps to an Antiessentialist Political Ecology. Current Anthropology 40(1):1-30. Writing Workshop Week 10. March 15 and March 17 Ortner, Sherry. 1974. Is Female To Male As Nature Is To Culture? In Woman, Culture, and Society. Edited by Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pp. 68-87. Haraway. Donna. 1991. A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and SocialistFeminism in the Late Twentieth Century," in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York; Routledge. Pp.149-181. Film: Manufactured Landscapes (2006: Directed by Edward Burtynsky) UNIT IV: DISCOURSE AND MATERIALITY Week 11. March 22 and March 24 Foucault, Michel. 1980. The History of Sexuality. Volume I: An Introduction. R. Hurley, transl. New York: Vintage Books. (Part I & II: Pp. 1-50). Film: Edward Said - On Orientalism (1998: Directed by Sut Jhally) Week 12. March 29 (No class March 31st) Culler, Jonathan. 2000. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Chapter 1: Pp 1-22). Morris, R. C. 2007. Legacies of Derrida: Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology 36:355-389. Week 13. April 5 and April 7 (Research Paper Due April 5th) Latour, Bruno. 2004. Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern. Critique of Anthropology. 30(2): 225-248. FinalNote:Althoughthesyllabuswillbefollowedasmuchaspossible,itis intendedasaguidelineandcircumstancesmayrequireachangetotheschedule. Studentsareresponsibleforanychangesannouncedinclass.