ANTH 5000: Seminar - Sociocultural Anthropology: Assigned Readings

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Course and Concepts in Anthropology

1.        Mead, Margaret. 1961. “Anthropology Among the Sciences”. American Anthropologist, 63: 475-482.

2.        Pierpont, Claudia Roth. 2004. “The Measure of America: How a Rebel Anthropologist Waged War on Racism”. The New Yorker 8 March: 48-63.

3.          Haller, John S. 1971. “Race and the Concept of Progress in Nineteenth Century American Ethnology”. American Anthropologist, 73(3): 710-724.

4.          Stocking, George. 1960. “Franz Boas and the Founding of the American Anthropological Association”. American Anthropologist, 62: 1-17.

Lesson 2: Key Issues in Anthropology: Culture, Race and Ethnicity

1.        Understanding Race: https://www.understandingrace.org/ (see discussion board prompt before completing assignment) 

2.        Borofsky, Robert, et al. 2001. “WHEN: A Conversation about Culture”.

American Anthropologist, 103(2): 432-446.

3.        Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1996. “Writing Against Culture” in Fox, Richard G. 1991. Recapturing anthropology: working in the present. Santa Fe, N.M.: School of American Research Press.

4.        Harrison, Faye. 1998. “Introduction: Expanding the Discourse on Race”.

American Anthropologist, 100(3): 609-631.

5.        Optional (recommended) Reading: Omi, Michael and Howard Winant, eds. 1996. “Racial Formations” in Racial Formation in the United States, Second Ed. New York: Routledge. Pp. 3-13.

6.         Optional Reading: Geertz, Clifford. 1973. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture” in The Interpretive Theory of Cultures. New York: Basic Books. Pp. 3-30. (see recommended pages in Canvas)

Lesson 3: Theoretical Approaches and the Anthropological Lens

1.  Shankman, Paul. 1996. The History of Samoan Sexual Conduct and the Mead-Freeman Controversy. American Anthropologist 98(3): 555-567.

2.  Farmer, Paul. 2004. An Anthropology of Structural Violence, Cultural Anthropology 45(3): 305-325.

3.  Douglas, Mary. 1966. “External Boundaries”. In Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

4.  Rosaldo, Renato. 1989. “Grief and a Headhunters Rage”. In Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis. Boston: Beacon Press.

Lesson 4: Ethnographic Research Methods

1)    Bernard, H. Russell. 2006. “Participant Observation”. In Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Walnut Creek: Alta Mira Press.

2)    Choose one of the following:

a.  Crain and Tashima. 2005. "Anthropology and Evaluation: Lessons from the Field." Napa Bulletin: 24, Pp. 41-48.

OR

b.    Bohren, Lenora. 2005. "Evaluation of Environmental Issues." Napa Bulletin: 24, Pp. 49-56.

OR

c.    Goodman, Trainor and Divorski. 2005. "Using Ethnographic Methods to Evaluate the Department of Veterans Affairs Patient Safety Program" NAPA Bulletin: 24, Pp. 57-70.

3) Cassell, Joan. 2002. “Perturbing the System: ‘Hard Science,’ ‘Soft Science’ and Social Science: The Anxiety and Madness of Method.” Human Organization: 61(2), Pp. 177-185.

4) Evans, et al. 2009. “Common Insights, Differing Methodologies: Toward a Fusion of Indigenous Methodologies, Participatory Action Research, and White Studies in an Urban Aboriginal Research Agenda.” Qualitative Inquiry: 15(5), Pp. 893-910

Lesson 5: Ethics and Applied Anthropology

1) Case Studies from Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology, AAA website (see link in Lesson)

2) Singer, et al. "Am I My Brother’s Keeper? A Case Study of the Responsibilities of Research"

3) Baba, "The Theoretical Foundation for a Fifth Sub-Discipline in Anthropology"

4) Recommended Optional Reading:

Fine, Gary Alan. 1993. “Ten Lies of Ethnography: Moral Dilemmas of Field Research”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 22:3. Pp. 267-294.

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