Anthropology 100 Syllabus

Varieties of World Culture (#3719)

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Spring 2009

Instructor:  Dr. Lynn Walter	Lecture 9:30-10:25 MW in MAC 210
Phone: 465-2474	Dis 1: W 11:40 - 12:35 MAC 229
Office: MAC B308	Dis 2: R 11:00 - 11:55 ES 310
Office Hours: MWR 1-3	Dis 3: F 9:30-10:25 ES 302
mail:  walterl@uwgb.edu	Dis 4: F 11:40-12:35 MAC 229
Teaching Assistant: Sharon Day, mailto:mdaysl21@uwgb.edu

Texts:

Robbins, Richard H. Cultural Anthropology. 5^th edition.

Loftin, John D., Religion and Hopi Life in the Twentieth Century.

Benjamin, Gail R., Japanese Lessons.

Requirements	Possible Points
1st Exam	50
2nd Exam	50
Final Exam (includes a Map)	50
Discussion Participation	20
Total Points	170

Course Description: This course will explore the concepts of culture, cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. We will focus on the concept of culture in relationship to religion and environment, various forms of hierarchy, education, progress, and sustainability in order to understand how to apply the concept of culture to analyzing social problems.  We will study a few cultures in more depth, including Hopi, India, Japanese, and U.S. applying the concepts we are studying to understanding them and to analyzing their cultures in comparative perspective.

Anthropology 100 fulfills the Social Science 1 or World Culture General Education Requirement. The goals are to achieve:

A fundamental understanding of the Social Sciences, including major concepts of social, political, geographic and economic structures. (SS1)

A fundamental understanding of contemporary global issues and problems, through the study of beliefs, values and ways of life in a country other than the USA. (WC)

SCHEDULE

Week 1            Introduction to the Course of Study: The Concepts of Culture, Cultural

Jan. 26-30       Relativism and Ethnocentrism

                        Reading: Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 1.

Week 2            Hunters & Gatherers: The Baka

Feb. 2-6

                        Reading: Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 2.

                        Film:  "The Baka"

Week 3            Family and Kinship          

Feb. 9-13

                        Reading: Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 5.

Week 4             Subsistence Agriculturalists: Hopi

Feb. 16-20   

                        Reading:  Religion and Hopi Life, Introduction, Chapters 1-3 (omit pp. 38-56)

                        Film: "Slash & Burn Agriculture"

Week 5             The Hopi

Feb. 23-27

                        Reading: Religion and Hopi Life, Chapters 4-6.

                        Film:  "Hopi:  Songs of the Fourth World"

Week 6             ****FIRST EXAM, Monday, March 2.

Mar. 2-6

                        Intensive to Industrial Agriculture

                        Reading: Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 4.

Week 7             Class Hierarchy and States: India

Mar. 9-13

                        Reading: Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 7.

Spring Break Mar. 14-22

Week 8             Gender Hierarchy and States: India & Iraq

Mar. 23-27   

                        Film: "Dadi's Family"

                        Reading:  Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 6.

Week 9             Continued.

Mar. 30-Apr. 3

                        Reading:   

Week 10           Ethnic/Racial Hierarchy and States: the Otavalo

Apr. 6-10         http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_00-home.htm

Week 11           ****SECOND EXAM, Monday, April 13.     

Apr. 13-17              

                        Culture, Nation and Pluralism          

                        Reading: Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 3

                                      Japanese Lessons, Chapters 1-4.

Week 12           Education and Culture: Japan & the U.S.

Apr. 20-24

                        Reading: Japanese Lessons, Chapters 5-9.

                        Film:     "The Heart of the Nation"

Week 13           American Culture or American Cultures?

Apr. 27-May 1

                        Reading: Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 3.

Japanese Lessons, Chapters 10-12. 

                        Concepts of Welfare: Denmark and the U.S.

Week 14          Continued. 

May 4-8 The Concept of Progress Revisited

                        Reading: Cultural Anthropology, Chapter 8.

****FINAL EXAM:  Wednesday, May 13, 8:00-10:00.