COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course offers a graduate-level introduction to key areas of contemporary theory in socio-cultural anthropology. The class will cover issues of identity, political economy, practice theory, agency, hegemony, power, state violence, resistance, structuralism, and deconstructionism. Emphasis will be placed on techniques of critical thought, such as how to identify paradigmatic statements, read “against the grain,” and uncover underlying assumptions. Students will interact with texts through discussions, presentations, and essays, and will have the opportunity to explore theoretical perspectives by writing critical book reviews on works of their own choice.

READINGS

Most class readings are available on D2L (see below).

Required texts (available at the book store):

Dirks, Nicholas, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner, eds.

1994 Culture / Power / History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ortner, Sherry B.

2006 Anthropology and Social Theory: Culture, Power, and the Acting Subject. Durham: Duke University Press.

Recommended texts (available at the book store):

Strunk, William and E.B. White

2000 The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Hacker, Diana

2011 A Pocket Style Manual, Fifth Edition. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s.

CLASS REQUIREMENTS

Policy on illness, emergencies, extensions, and plagiarism

During the winter, viruses spread through many colleges and universities across the country. If you feel ill (fever, sore throat, runny nose, headache, cough, aches), please stay home until you have been without fever for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication. Let the instructor know about your illness. You will not be penalized for illness-related absences, and you will have the opportunity to make up missed assignments.

Unexcused absences count against you, and students who have more than three (3) unexcused absences will receive grade deductions for class participation. Legitimate reasons to miss class are few and dire.

Requests for extensions on deadlines and notification of unavoidable absences should be made in written or electronic media, and should if at all possible be reported to the instructor ahead of the due date and before the start of the class period.

Students with a documented disability needing accommodations in this course should immediately inform the instructor.

All written work must be completed to receive a passing grade in this class. Email submissions will be accepted only for “time stamps”; the instructor marks only on hardcopies. Please retain for your own records a copy of all the work you submit. Late work will lose one letter grade for each day past due. In the event of severe illness or other emergency, please contact the instructor as soon as possible to arrange an alternative deadline.

Plagiarism (intellectual theft) is a very serious academic offense. Any assignment containing plagiarized material will receive a failing grade. You are responsible for reading and understanding the department handout on plagiarism, which is posted on the class D2L site. Please ask the instructor if you have any questions.

D2L

Class readings, the course syllabus, the plagiarism document, assignment sheets, and discussion questions will be available on D2L. You may read the materials online or print copies for use during class discussions.

All students can access D2L with an Odin account. If you do not have an Odin account, you can sign up to get one at https://www.account.pdx.edu. Use your Odin username and password to login to D2L at http://psuonline.pdx.edu/. Use of D2L will be demonstrated on the first day of class. Please contact the instructor if you encounter difficulties in accessing this resource.

Assignments

Your final grade will be evaluated based on 2 book reviews (15% each); 3 section essays (20% each); and classroom participation, discussion leadership, presentations, and attendance (10%).

Three essays (20% each); due dates listed below

You are asked to write three essays, each 5-6 double-spaced pages long. Essay topics will be assigned for sections 2-8 of the class and will focus on readings in that particular section; instructions will be posted on D2L. Choose three sections and write an essay for each. To minimize ensure early participation and feedback, each student is requested to write at least one of the first two essays (on Sections 2 and 3). Essays will be due roughly a week after we finish covering the section material. Section 2: due Mon 6 Feb.; Section 3: due Mon 13 Feb.; Section 4: Mon 20 Feb.; Section 5: due Mon 5 Mar.; Section 6: due Weds 7 Mar.; Section 7: due Weds 14 Mar.; Section 8: Due Weds 21 Mar.

Two book reviews (15% each), due Monday 5 March and Wednesday 21 March Presentations: Wed 29 Feb. and Mon 19 March

You are asked to write two 750-word book reviews. Further instructions will be posted on D2L. Suggested texts for review are listed at the end of each section’s readings. You may choose to review alternative readings, but please consult with the instructor before starting your review. On Wed 29 February and Mon 19 March, students will briefly present their critical book reviews to the class.

Discussion leadership, presentations, and attendance (10%)

Regular attendance and active participation in class is expected and required (see policy statement above). Students will sign up in advance to lead discussion on particular articles, and will present their critical book reviews to the class (see above).

COURSE OUTLINE:

Section 1: Introduction

Lowie, Robert H.

1935 Chapter 12: Rites and Festivals. In The Crow Indians. Pp. 256-263. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Ortner, Sherry B.

1994 [1984] Theory in Anthropology Since the Sixties. In Culture/ Power/ History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory. Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner, eds. Pp. 372-411. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Dirks, Nicholas, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner

1994 Introduction. In Culture, Power, History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory. Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner, eds. Pp. 3-46. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ortner, Sherry B.

2006 Introduction: Updating Practice Theory. In Anthropology and Social Theory. Pp. 1-18. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Section 2: After Culture: Power, Inequality, and Identity

Williams, Raymond

1985 Culture. In Keywords. Pp. 87-93. New York: Oxford University Press.

Hall, Stuart

1992 The Question of Cultural Identity. In Modernity and Its Futures. Stuart Hall, D. Held, and T. McGrew, eds. Pp. 274-325. Cambridge: The Open University.

Di Leonardo, Micaela and Roger N. Lancaster

1997 Introduction: Embodied Meanings, Carnal Practices. In The Gender/Sexuality Reader, Roger N. Lancaster and Micaela di Leonardo, eds. Pp. 1-10. New York: Routledge.

Read 1 of the following authors (Said, Anderson, Crowfoot, Lynch, Biolsi, Ortner):

Said, Edward

1979 Latent and Manifest Orientalism. In Orientalism. Pp. 201-225. New York: Vintage.

Anderson, Benedict (If you choose Anderson, please read both of these pieces)

1991 Introduction. In Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Pp. 1-7. London: Verso.

1991 Census, Map, Museum. In Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Pp. 163-185. London: Verso.

Crowfoot, Silas

4716 )

Lynch, Caitrin

2002 The Politics of White Women’s Underwear in Sri Lanka’s Open Economy. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State, and Society 9(1):87-125

Biolsi, Thomas

2007 Race Technologies. In A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics. David Nugent and Joan Vincent, eds. Pp. 400-417. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Ortner, Sherry B. (read one of these three)

2006 Reading America: Preliminary Notes on Class and Culture. In Anthropology and Social Theory. Pp. 19-41. Durham: Duke University Press.

2006 Identities: The Hidden Life of Class. In Anthropology and Social Theory. Pp. 63-79. Durham: Duke University Press.

2006 Generation X: Anthropology in a Media-Saturated World. In Anthropology and Social Theory. Pp. 80-106. Durham: Duke University Press.

Brubaker, Rogers and Frederick Cooper

2000 Beyond “Identity.” Theory and Society 29:1-47.

Kuper, Adam

2003 The Return of the Native. Current Anthropology 44(3): 389-402.

Suggested review options:

Edward Said: Orientalism (rest of the book) or another book by Said

Liisa Malkki: Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory, and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania.

Silas Crowfoot: rest of the dissertation

Section 3: Political Economy

Giddens, Anthony

1971 Introduction and Selections on Marx. In Capitalism and Modern Social Theory. pp. xi-xvi, 1-64. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Marx, Karl

1967 Commodity Fetishism. In Das Kapital: A Critique of Political Economy. Abridged version. Friedrich Engels, ed. Pp. 50-63. Chicago: Gateway.

Carrier, James G. and Josiah McC. Heyman

1997 Consumption and Political Economy. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3(2):355-373.

Read 1 of the following 4 articles:

Farmer, Paul

2004 Anthropology of Structural Violence. Current Anthropology 45(3): 305-325.

Hoffman, Susanna M. and Anthony Oliver-Smith

1999 Anthropology and the Angry Earth: An Overview. In The Angry Earth: Disaster in Anthropological Perspective, Susanna M. Hoffman and Anthony Oliver-Smith, eds. Pp. 1-16. New York: Routledge.

Julier, Alice

2008 The Political Economy of Obesity: The Fat Pay All. In Food and Culture. Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik, eds. Pp. 482-499. New York: Routledge.

Singer, Merrill

1986 Toward a Political-Economy of Alcoholism: The Missing Link in the Anthropology of Drinking. Social Science and Medicine 23(2):113-130.

Recommended:

Miller, Daniel

1995 Consumption and Commodities. Annual Review of Anthropology (24): 141-61.

Suggested review options:

Sidney Mintz: Sweetness and Power

Section 4: Practice Theory, Agency

Ortner, Sherry

1989 Introduction and Conclusion. In High Religion: A Cultural and Political History of Sherpa Buddhism. Pp. 3-18, 193-202. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre

1994 Chapter 4: Structures, Habitus, Power: Basis for a Theory of Syumbolic Power. In Culture/ Power/ History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory. Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner, eds. Pp. 155-199. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ortner, Sherry

1996 Making Gender: Toward a Feminist, Minority, Postcolonial, Subaltern, etc., Theory of Practice. In Making Gender: The Politics and Erotics of Culture. Pp. 1-20. Boston: Beacon Press.

2006 Power and Projects: Reflections on Agency. In Anthropology and Social Theory, pp. 129-153. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Ahearn, Laura M.

1999 Agency. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 9(1-2):12-15.

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky

1993 Epidemics of the Will. In Tendencies. Pp. 130-142. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Brodie, Janet Farrell and Marc Redfield

2002 Introduction. In High Anxieties: Cultural Studies in Addiction. Janet Farrell Brodie and Marc Redfield, eds. Pp. 1-15. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Recommended:

Ahearn, Laura M.

2001 Language and Agency. Annual Review of Anthropology 30:109-37.

Suggested review options:

Ortner: Making Gender (the rest of the book)

Ahearn: Invitations to Love: Literacy, Love Letters and Social Change in Nepal

Section 5: Hegemony & Disciplinary Power

Williams, Raymond

1977 Chapter II.6: Hegemony. In Marxism and Literature. Pp. 108-114. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Foucault, Michel

1979 Panopticism. In Discipline and Punish. Pp. 195-228. New York: Vintage.

1994 Chapter 5: Two Lectures. In Culture/ Power/ History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory. Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner, eds. Pp. 200-221. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Rose, Nikolas

1999 Governing. In Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought. Pp. 15-60 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1999.

Read 2 of the following 5 articles:

Howell, Philip

2004 Race, Space and the Regulation of Prostitution in Colonial Hong Kong. Urban History 31(2):229-248.

Ngalamulume, Kalala

2004 Keeping the City Totally Clean: Yellow Fever and the Politics of Prevention in Colonial Saint-Louis-du-Sénégal, 1850-1914. Journal of African History 45:183-202.

Ong, Aihwa

1988 The Production of Possession: Spirits and the Multinational Corporation in Malaysia. American Ethnologist 15(1):29-42.

Sen, Satadru

2004 A Separate Punishment: Juvenile Offenders in Colonial India. Journal of Asian Studies 63(1):81-104.

Triantafillou, Peter

2004 From Blood to Public Office: Constituting Bureaucratic Rulers in Colonial Malaya. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 35(1):21-40.

Suggested review options:

Foucault: Discipline and Punish (the rest of the book); The History of Sexuality, Volume I; another book by Foucault (check with instructor)

Section 6: Resistance

Scott, James C.

1992 Domination, Acting, and Fantasy. In The Paths to Domination, Resistance, and Terror. Carolyn Nordstrom and JoAnn Martin, eds. Pp. 55-84. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Gal, Susan

1995 Language and the “Arts of Resistance.” Review of Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, by James Scott. Cultural Anthropology 10(3):407-424.

Mitchell, Timothy

1990 Everyday Metaphors of Power. Theory and Society 19(5):545-577.

Foucault, Michel

1978 Method. In The History of Sexuality: An Introduction. Volume 1. Pp. 92-102. New York: Vintage Books.

Abu-Lughod, Lila

1990 The Romance of Resistance: Tracing Transformations of Power Through Bedouin women. American Ethnologist 17(1):41-55.

Ortner, Sherry B.

2006 Resistance and the Problem of Ethnographic Refusal. In Anthropology and Social Theory. Pp. 42-62. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Recommended

Bakhtin, Mikhail M.

1981 [1935]) Discourse and the Novel. In The Dialogic Imagination. Michael Holquist, ed. Pp. 259-422. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Guha, Ranajit

1994 Chapter 11: The Prose of Counter-Insurgency. In Culture/ Power/ History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory. Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner, eds. Pp. 336-371. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty

1985 Can the Subaltern Speak? Speculations on Widow Sacrifice. Wedge 7/8: 120-130.

O’Hanlon, Rosalind

1988 Recovering the Subject: Subaltern Studies and Histories of Resistance in Colonial South Asia. Modern Asian Studies 22(1):189-224.

Suggested review options:

Abu-Lughod: Veiled Sentiments

Jean Comaroff: Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance

Bakhtin (referenced above)

Section 7: Neoliberalism, State Violence, and Governmentality

Feldman, Allen

1995 Ethnographic States of Emergency. In Fieldwork Under Fire: Contemporary Studies of Violence and Survival. Carolyn Nordstrom and Antonius Robben, eds. Pp. 224-252. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Gledhill, John

1999 Official Masks and Shadow Powers: Towards an Anthropology of the Dark Side of the State. Urban Anthropology 28(3-4):199-251.

Blumenthal, Sidney

2007 Bush’s Old-World Disorder. The Progressive Populist 13(21):12.

Amnesty International

2007 Sri Lanka: Amnesty International Condemns Mass Arrests. Press Release, December 4. Electronic document, http://www.amnesty.org.

Agamben, Giorgio

2005 The State of Exception as a Paradigm of Government. In State of Exception. Kevin Attell, trans. Pp. 1-31. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ong, Aihwa

2006 Introduction: Neoliberalism as Exception, Exception to Neoliberalism. In Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty. Pp. 1-27. Durham: Duke University Press.

Suggested review options:

Allen Feldman: Formations of Violence

Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil

Section 8: Structuralism, Deconstructionism, Critique of Anthropology

Douglas, Mary

1966 Secular Defilement. In Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. Pp. 29-40. London: Ark Paperbacks.

1966 The Abominations of Leviticus. In Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. Pp. 41-57. London: Ark Paperbacks.

Read either Claus or Gusfield:

Claus, Peter

1982 A Structuralist Appreciation of ‘Star Trek.’ In Anthropology for the 1980s: Introductory Readings. Johnneta Cole, ed. Pp. 417-429. New York: McMillan Publishing Co.

Gusfield, Joseph

1987 Passage to Play: Rituals of Drinking Time in American Society. In Constructive Drinking: Perspectives on Drink from Anthropology. Mary Douglas, ed. Pp. 73-90. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rothstein, Edward

2001 Attacks on U.S. Challenge the Perspectives of Postmodern True Believers. The New York Times, 22 September 2001.

Fish, Stanley

2001 Condemnation Without Absolutes. The New York Times, 13 October. 2001.

Miéville, China

2007 Despotic Logorrhoea and Insurgent Verbiage. In Un Lun Dun. Pp. 290-301. London: Macmillan.

Derrida, Jacques

1977 Signature, Event, Context. Glyph 1: 172-97.

Clifford, James

1986 Introduction. In Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. James Clifford and George Marcus, eds. Pp. 1-26. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Mohanty, Chandra T.

2003 Chapter 8: Race, Multiculturalism, and Pedagogies of Dissent. In Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Pp. 190-217. Durham: Duke University Press.

Suggested review options:

Ruth Behar: Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza’s Story

James Clifford and George Marcus, eds: Writing Culture (finish the book) AND:

Gordon, Deborah

1988 Writing Culture, Writing Feminism: The Poetics and Politics of Experimental Ethnography. Inscriptions 3-4:7-24.

COURSE SCHEDULE:

Week	Day	Date	Month	Readings and assignments
1	M	9	January	Introductions
	W	11		Read: Lowie, Ortner
2	M	16		MLK Holiday; PSU Closed
	W	18		Read: Dirks et al., Ortner
3	M	23		Read: Williams, Hall
	W	25		Read: di Leonardo & Lancaster, 1 of 6 options
4	M	30		Read: Brubaker & Cooper, Kuper
	W	1	February	Read: Giddens, Marx
5	M	6		Read: Carrier & Heyman, 1 of 4 options Due: Section 2 Essay option
	W	8		Read: Ortner ’89, Bourdieu, Ortner ’96, ‘06
6	M	13		Read: Ahearn, Sedgwick, Brodie & Redfield Due: Section 3 Essay option
	W	15		Read: Williams, Foucault ’79, ‘94
7	M	20		Read: Rose, 2 of 5 options Due: Section 4 Essay option
	W	22		Read: Scott, Gal, Mitchell
8	M	27		Read: Foucault, Abu-Lughod, Ortner
	W	29		Student presentations: Book reviews
9	M	5	March	Read: Feldman, Gledhill Due: Book review #1 Due: Section 5 Essay option
	W	7		Read: Blumenthal, Amnesty, Agamben, Ong Due: Section 6 Essay option
10	M	12		Read: Douglas, 1 of 2, Rothstein, Fish, Miéville, Derrida
	W	14		Read: Clifford, Mohanty Due: Section 7 Essay option
11	M	19		Student presentations: Book reviews
	W	21		Due: Section 8 Essay option; Book review #2

Back to home page