SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY 1B
SCAN08002
2014/2015
Dimitri Tsintjilonis (Course Convenor) - [email protected]
Neil Thin - [email protected]
Casey High - [email protected]
Iris Marchand (Senior Tutor) - [email protected]
Lisa Kilcullen (Course Secretary) – [email protected]
Contents
Course Outline
3
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
3
Assessment Information
3
Essay Topics
3
ELMA: Submission and Return of Coursework
4
Extension Policy
5
Word Count Penalties
5
The Operation of Lateness Penalties
5
Plagiarism Guidance for Students
6
Return of Feedback
6
Procedure for Viewing Exam Scripts
6
Learning Resources for Undergraduates
7
Lecture Programme
10
Guide for Using LEARN for Online Tutorial Sign-Up
27
2
Social Anthropology 1B
Course Outline
What does anthropology have to say about some of the most important issues
facing us today? Anthropologists do not just engage with small-scale exotic
societies but have always contributed to public debates about global issues
that affect us all. Focusing on some of these debates, this course explores the
distinctive nature of social anthropology and its contribution to a critical
understanding of an increasingly ‘shared’ world. We examine how concepts
and ideas that have driven anthropology help us shed new light on debates
that are at the heart of contemporary questions about how people live their
lives and relate to each other.
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Through critical debate and analysis, students will gain a clear understanding
of the relevance of social anthropology and its findings to the resolution of
important social and cultural issues worldwide. They will enrich their
appreciation of social and cultural commonalities and differences both within
and between nations. They will develop the analytical skills necessary to see
the world in an anthropological way – that is, to make the strange familiar and
the familiar strange. Along these lines, they will also develop the ability to
apply moral and practical reasoning in culturally sensitive ways to current
affairs, while also strengthening their own cultural self-awareness.
Assessment Information
Students will be required to complete one assessed essay of 1500-2000
words (40% of the overall mark) and a degree examination consisting of one
2-hour paper (60% of the overall mark). You MUST pass the exam to pass the
course.
Essay
You are required to write one essay (topics below), to be submitted
electronically by 12 noon on Monday 16th February.
Essay Topics
1. ‘Anthropology’s most important benefit is positive cultural appreciation.’
Discuss .
Choose any readings you like from weeks 1-3.
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2. ‘States of consciousness are private affairs, but they do need to be publicly
regulated.’ Discuss.
Choose any relevant readings from week 2.
3. How could ethnographic accounts of relationships help to guide
sociocultural reform?
Choose any relevant readings from week 3.
4. In what sense is the notion of ‘brain death’ deeply embedded in the
Western cultural tradition?

Bloch, M. 1988 ‘Death and the Concept of the Person’. In S. Cederroth,
C. Corlin and J. Lindstrom (eds), On the Meaning of Death. Uppsala:
AUU. Pages 11-26. [e-reserve]

Lawton J. 1998 ‘Contemporary Hospice care: the sequestration of the
bounded body and “dirty dying”’, Sociology of Health and Illness 20(2):
121-143. [e-journal]

Ohnuki-Tierney, E. 1997 ‘The reduction of personhood to brain and
rationality? Japanese contestation of medical technology’. In A.
Cunningham & B. Andrews (eds), Western medicine as contested
knowledge. Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press.
Pages 212-240. [e-reserve]

Vidal, F. 2009 ‘Brainhood, anthropological figure of modernity’. History
of the Human Sciences 22(1): 5-36. [e-journal]
ELMA: Submission and Return of Coursework
Coursework is submitted online using our electronic submission system,
ELMA. You will not be required to submit a paper copy of your work.
Marked coursework, grades and feedback will be returned to you via ELMA.
You will not receive a paper copy of your marked course work or feedback.
For information, help and advice on submitting coursework and accessing
feedback, please see the ELMA wiki at
https://www.wiki.ed.ac.uk/display/SPSITWiki/ELMA. Further detailed guidance
on the essay deadline and a link to the wiki and submission page will be
available on the course Learn page. The wiki is the primary source of
information on how to submit your work correctly and provides advice on
approved file formats, uploading cover sheets and how to name your files
correctly.
When you submit your work electronically, you will be asked to tick a box
confirming that your work complies with university regulations on plagiarism.
This confirms that the work you have submitted is your own.
Occasionally, there can be technical problems with a submission. We request
that you monitor your university student email account in the 24 hours
4
following the deadline for submitting your work. If there are any problems with
your submission the course secretary will email you at this stage.
We undertake to return all coursework within 15 working days of submission.
This time is needed for marking, moderation, second marking and input of
results. If there are any unanticipated delays, it is the course organiser’s
responsibility to inform you of the reasons.
All our coursework is assessed anonymously to ensure fairness: to
facilitate this process put your Examination number (on your student
card), not your name or student number, on your coursework or cover
sheet.
Extension Policy
If you have good reason for not meeting a coursework deadline, you may
request an extension from either your tutor (for extensions of up to five
calendar days) or the course organiser (for extensions of six or more calendar
days), normally before the deadline. Any requests submitted after the
deadline may still be considered by the course organiser if there have been
extenuating circumstances. A good reason is illness, or serious personal
circumstances, but not pressure of work or poor time management. Your
tutor/course organiser must inform the course secretary in writing about the
extension, for which supporting evidence may be requested. Work which is
submitted late without your tutor's or course organiser's permission (or without
a medical certificate or other supportive evidence) will be subject to lateness
penalties.
Word Count Penalties
Your short essay should be between 1500-2000 words (excluding
bibliography). Essays above 2000 words will be penalised using the Ordinary
level criterion of 1 mark for every 20 words over length: anything between
2000 and 2020 words will lose one mark, between 2000 and 2040 two marks,
and so on.
You will not be penalised for submitting work below the word limit. However,
you should note that shorter essays are unlikely to achieve the required depth
and that this will be reflected in your mark.
The Operation of Lateness Penalties
Management of deadlines and timely submission of all assessed items
(coursework, essays, project reports, etc.) is a vitally important responsibility
in your university career. Unexcused lateness will mean your work is subject
to penalties and will therefore have an adverse effect on your final grade.
5
If you miss the submission deadline for any piece of assessed work 5 marks
will be deducted for each calendar day that work is late, up to a maximum of
five calendar days (25 marks). Work that is submitted more than five days
late will not be accepted and will receive a mark of zero. There is no grace
period for lateness and penalties begin to apply immediately following the
deadline. For example, if the deadline is Tuesday at 12 noon, work submitted
on Tuesday at 12.01pm will be marked as one day late, work submitted at
12.01pm on Wednesday will be marked as two days late, and so on.
Plagiarism Guidance for Students: Avoiding Plagiarism
Material you submit for assessment, such as your essays, must be your own
work. You can, and should, draw upon published work, ideas from lectures
and class discussions, and (if appropriate) even upon discussions with other
students, but you must always make clear that you are doing so. Passing off
anyone else’s work (including another student’s work or material from the
Web or a published author) as your own is plagiarism and will be punished
severely. When you upload your work to ELMA you will be asked to check a
box to confirm the work is your own. ELMA automatically runs all
submissions through ‘Turnitin’, our plagiarism detection software, and
compares every essay against a constantly-updated database, which
highlights all plagiarised work. Assessed work that contains plagiarised
material will be awarded a mark of zero, and serious cases of plagiarism will
also be reported to the College Academic Misconduct officer. In either case,
the actions taken will be noted permanently on the student's record. For
further details on plagiarism see the Academic Services’ website:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/academicservices/students/undergraduate/discipline/plagiarism
Data Protection Guidance for Students
In most circumstances, students are responsible for ensuring that their work
with information about living, identifiable individuals complies with the
requirements of the Data Protection Act. The document, Personal Data
Processed by Students, provides an explanation of why this is the case. It
can be found, with advice on data protection compliance and ethical best
practice in the handling of information about living, identifiable individuals, on
the Records Management section of the University website at:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/records-management-section/dataprotection/guidance-policies/dpforstudents
Return of Feedback
Feedback for coursework will be returned online via ELMA on 09/03/2015
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Exam: Procedure for Viewing Marked Exam Scripts
If you would like to see your exam script after the final marks have been
published then you should contact the course secretary by email to arrange a
time to do this. Please note that there will be no feedback comments written
on the scripts, but you may find it useful to look at what you wrote, and see
the marks achieved for each individual question. You will not be permitted to
keep the exam script but you are welcome to take it away to read over or
make photocopies. If you wish to do this please bring a form of ID that can be
left at the office until you return the script. Please note that scripts cannot be
taken away overnight.
Learning Resources for Undergraduates
The Study Development Team at the Institute for Academic Development
(IAD) provides resources and workshops aimed at helping all students to
enhance their learning skills and develop effective study techniques.
Resources and workshops cover a range of topics, such as managing your
own learning, reading, note making, essay and report writing, exam
preparation and exam techniques.
The study development resources are housed on 'LearnBetter'
(undergraduate), part of Learn, the University's virtual learning environment.
Follow the link from the IAD Study Development web page to enrol:
www.ed.ac.uk/iad/undergraduates
Workshops are interactive: they will give you the chance to take part in
activities, have discussions, exchange strategies, share ideas and ask
questions. They are 90 minutes long and held on Wednesday afternoons at
1.30pm or 3.30pm. The schedule is available from the IAD Undergraduate
web page (see above).
Workshops are open to all undergraduates but you need to book in advance,
using the MyEd booking system. Each workshop opens for booking 2 weeks
before the date of the workshop itself. If you book and then cannot attend,
please cancel in advance through MyEd so that another student can have
your place. (To be fair to all students, anyone who persistently books on
workshops and fails to attend may be barred from signing up for future
events).
Study Development Advisors are also available for an individual consultation if
you have specific questions about your own approach to studying, working
more effectively, strategies for improving your learning and your academic
work. Please note, however, that Study Development Advisors are not subject
specialists so they cannot comment on the content of your work. They also do
not check or proof read students' work.
To make an appointment with a Study Development Advisor, email
[email protected]
(For support with English Language, you should contact the English
Language Teaching Centre).
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Some useful web sites and texts on public interest anthropology, for
optional background reading
American Anthropological Association http://www.aaanet.org/resources/
Open Anthropology www.aaaopenanthro.org
Current Anthropology [journal] (2010) vol.51: Special Issue: Engaged
Anthropology
Checker, Melissa (2009) ‘Anthropology in the public sphere, 2008: emerging
trends and significant impacts.’ American Anthropologist 111(2):162–
169
Fassin, Didier (2013) ‘Why ethnography matters: on anthropology and its
publics.’ Cultural Anthropology 28,4:621-646
MacClancy, Jeremy (2013) Anthropology in the Public Arena: Historical and
Contemporary Contexts. Chichester, UK: Wiley
Sillitoe, Paul (2006) ‘The search for relevance: a brief history of applied
anthropology.’ History & Anthropology 17,1:1-19
Bodley, John [ed] (2012) Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems.
6th ed. Altamira Press [E-access library catalogue]
Eriksen, Thomas H. (2001) Small Places, Large Issues. London: Pluto
Delaney, Carol (2004) Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to
Anthropology. Oxford: Blackwell
Eriksen, Thomas H. (2006) Engaging Anthropology. Oxford: Berg
Besteman, Catherine, and Hugh Gusterson (2005) Why America’s Top
Pundits Are Wrong: Anthropologists Talk Back. Berkeley: University of
California Press
Journals with an emphasis on public interest anthropology
Annals of Anthropological Practice
Anthropology in Action
Anthropology Today
Ethnography and Education
Human Organization
Medical Anthropology
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Discussing Sensitive Topics
The discipline of Social Anthropology addresses a number of topics that some
might find sensitive or, in some cases, distressing. You should read this
handbook carefully and if there are any topics that you may feel distressed by
you should seek advice from the course convenor and/or your Personal Tutor.
For more general issues you may consider seeking the advice of the Student
Counselling Service, http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/studentcounselling
9
Lecture Programme
Weeks 1-3: Neil Thin
Week 1 Lectures
Monday, 12 January, 2015: Prosperity
Should social reform be focused mainly on remedial work, or on more positive
promotion of really good lives? ‘Applied’ social science is often assumed to be
about seeking remedies to problems. Arguably, though, more considerate
discussion of the relevance of research starts not with problems, but with
questions about what matters to people - i.e. their ultimate values, their
aspirations and views on prosperity. If you enquire into ‘happiness,’ it is clear
that you are asking people about what matters to them, and that you hope
your research will be relevant to their aspirations. By taking a systematic
interest in happiness, researchers demonstrate appreciative empathy rather
than merely sympathy. Today, humanity faces uniquely abundant
opportunities for creative rethinking of human potential and the many different
pathways to good living. What kinds of insight can ethnographic research
offer, that might inspire the pursuit and facilitation of happiness?
Required Reading
Mathews, Gordon (2012) ‘Happiness, culture, and context.’ International
Journal of Wellbeing, Special Issue: Happiness: Does Culture Matter?
Further Optional Reading
Thin, Neil (2012) Social Happiness. Bristol: Policy Press, ch.1: ‘Introduction:
prosperity debates and the happiness lens.’; or Thin, Neil, (2011)
‘Socially responsible cheermongery: on the sociocultural contexts and
levels of social happiness policies’ In R.Biswas-Diener [ed], Positive
Psychology as Social Change. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.33-52; or Thin,
Neil, Ritu Verma and Yukiko Uchida (2013) ‘Culture, development, and
happiness.’ Thin and Verma: Ch. 9 in the Report on Wellbeing &
Happiness, by the United Nations/Royal Government of Bhutan
International Expert Working Group on Wellbeing and Happiness.
Calestani, Melania (2009) ‘An anthropology of “the good life” in the Bolivian
plateau’. Social Indicators Research 90,1:141-153
Robbins, Joel (2013) ‘Beyond the suffering subject: toward an anthropology of
the good.’ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 19,3:447-462
Selin, Helaine, and Gareth Davey (Eds.) (2012) Happiness Across Cultures:
Views of Happiness and Quality of Life in Non-Western Cultures.
Dordrecht: Springer [e-book available via library catalogue]
Anthropology in Action [Journal] 18,3 (2011) Special Issue: Anthropology of
Welfare
10
Thursday, 15 January, 2015: Schooling
What are schools good for? Do their forms and functions adequately vary
according to different cultural contexts and preferences? For the first time in
human history, most of the world’s children are receiving several years of
formal schooling. This is a remarkable globalization of a fairly recent western
sociocultural experiment. Mass schooling began in the industrial revolution
primarily as a way of providing institutional care for children while parents
worked, and then gradually acquired various new purposes such as character
training, acquisition of knowledge and skills, socialization, nation-building, and
public health promotion. But schools do of course come in lots of different
forms, and parental and national views on the purposes of schooling are
varied. This lecture explores the usefulness of ethnography in understanding
the various and often competing roles of schools as sites for social and
personal transformation.
Required Reading
Froerer, Peggy (2012) ‘Learning, livelihoods, and social mobility: valuing girls'
education in central India.’ Anthropology & Education Quarterly
43,4:344 – 357
Further Optional Readings
Thin, Neil (2012) ‘Schooling for joy?’ ch.12 in Social Happiness. Bristol: Policy
Press [E-access library catalogue]
Kipnis, Andrew B. (2009) ‘Education and the governing of child-centered
relatedness.’ In S.E.Brandtstädter and G.D. Santos (eds), Chinese
Kinship: Contemporary Anthropological Perspectives. London:
Routledge, pp. 204-222 [E-access library catalogue]
Holland, Dana G., and Mohammad H. Yousofi (2014) ‘The only solution:
education, youth, and social change in Afghanistan.’ Anthropology &
Education Quarterly 45,3:241 – 259
Levinson, Bradley A.U. and Mica Pollock [eds] (2011) Companion to the
Anthropology of Education. Oxford: Blackwell
Week 2 Tutorial Discussion
How could anthropological research on schooling make a benign difference to
the quality and outcomes of schooling? [Read Froerer’s paper from last
Thursday’s lecture]
Week 2 Lectures
Monday, 19 January, 2015: Drugs
In our quest for health, happiness, and temporary emotional escapism or
reprieve, how much – if at all – should we rely on the psychotropic assistance
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of chemical compounds and herbs? Everywhere in the world some kinds of
psychoactive drugs are normalized, encouraged or tolerated, while others are
strongly discouraged. To what extent should these biochemical strategies be
left to personal choice? For thousands of years, humans have creatively
experimented with the use of psychoactive drugs, as part of broader sociocultural strategies for modifying moods and dispositions. Today,
anthropologists provide important evidence of the global diversity of moodregulating practices, and of the associated cultural contexts in which mental
experiences are interpreted and evaluated. Will their evidence provide useful
insights for contemporary debates about psychoactive drugs: should they be
legal? Are they good or bad for our health, for our mental health, and for
social quality? What sociocultural and economic factors influence drug
usage? What are the benefits and costs of promoting skeptical questioning of
the cultural approval or disapproval of drug usage? Should we try harder to
promote other brain training and mind management strategies that don’t need
drugs?
Required Reading
Quintero, Gilbert, and Mark Nichter (2011) ‘Generation RX: anthropological
research on pharmaceutical enhancement, lifestyle regulation, selfmedication and recreational drug use.’ In M.Singer and P. I. Erickson
(eds), A Companion to Medical Anthropology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell,
pp.339-355
Further Optional Readings
Society for Medical Anthropology Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs Study Group
www.medanthro.net/adtsg
Oldani, Michael, Stefan Ecks, and Soumita Basu (2014) ‘Anthropological
engagements with modern psychotropy.’ Culture, Medicine and
Psychiatry 38,2:174-181
Chrzan, Janet (2013) Alcohol: Social Drinking in Cultural Context. London:
Routledge [E-access library catalogue; and see companion web
site:http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/anthropologyofstuff/alcohol_ho
me.html]
Page, J. Bryan, and Merrill Singer (2010) Comprehending Drug Use:
Ethnographic Research at the Social Margins. New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers University Press [FT via libcat]
Tucker, Catherine M. (2011) Coffee Culture: Local Experiences, Global
Connections. London: Routledge [chs 6 ‘Coffee, the industrial
revolution, and body discipline’ and 9 ‘Hot and bothered: coffee and
caffeine humor’ and 10 ‘Is coffee good or bad for you? debates over
physical and mental health effects’ [And see companion web site:
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/anthropologyofstuff/coffee_home.ht
ml]
12
Thursday, 22 January, 2015: Sleep
How much should we sleep? When? Where? With whom? Should we devote
more care to appreciating and trying to influence are dreams? Sleep is
increasingly understood worldwide as a matter of personal and collective
lifestyle choice. Our wellbeing and relationships are strongly influenced by
these choices. Yet sleep, the neglected ‘other third of life,’ has only recently
become the focus of systematic attention by social scientists. Increasing
concerns about hyperactive lifestyles and diverse timetables have prompted a
spate of anthropological and sociological publications on questions about how
quality of life is influenced by sleep hygiene. Though sometimes understood
negatively as the absence of consciousness, sleep is also valued and
celebrated worldwide not just for its recuperative functions but also as another
life domain with radically different consciousness forms. Humans have unique
abilities to choose when to sleep, whether to remember dreams, and to
deliberately moderate our experiences of different kinds of consciousness.
Today we address the question of whether cross-cultural ethnographic studies
of sleep and dreaming could contribute to improved sleep hygiene, and quality
of life more generally.
Required Reading
Worthman, Carol M., and Melissa K. Melby (2002/2009) ‘Toward a
comparative developmental ecology of human sleep.’ In M.A.
Carskadon [ed], Adolescent Sleep Patterns: Biological, Social, and
Psychological Influences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.
69-117
Further Optional Readings
Glaskin, Katie, and Richard Chenhall [eds] (2013) Sleep Around the World:
Anthropological Perspectives. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan [Eaccess library catalogue]
Wolf-Meyer, Matthew J. (2012) The Slumbering Masses: Sleep, Medicine,
and Modern American Life. University of Minnesota Press [E-access
library catalogue]
Paideuma [journal] (2005), vol.51, Special Issue: ‘When Darkness Comes...’:
Steps toward an Anthropology of the Night
Musharbash, Yasmine (2013) ‘Night, sight, and feeling safe: An exploration of
aspects of Warlpiri and Western sleep.’ Australian Journal of
Anthropology 24,1:48-63
Hollan, Douglas (2013) ‘Sleeping, dreaming, and health in rural Indonesia and
the urban US: A cultural and experiential approach.’ Social Science &
Medicine 79:23–30
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Tutorial Discussion for Week 3
From last week’s list, read at least ONE academic paper on your drug of
choice (coffee, alcohol, or something stronger), and try also to glance at some
contemporary online resources relating to debates about its social benefits
and risks. Come to the tutorial prepared to share what you’ve learned about
cultural differences in the valuation, use, and regulation of this drug.
Week 3 Lectures
Monday, 26 January, 2015: Love
To what extent can and should the power of love be deliberately regulated?
Dyadic bonds are the basic building-blocks of society, and the main
mechanisms through which individual lives are made happy or miserable. The
quality of those bonds is strongly influenced by the presence or absence of
the various experiences that are loosely grouped together under the general
category of ‘love’. The proper expression of love – its enjoyability, safety,
durability, manipulability, and social responsibility – is hotly debated
worldwide. Though love is often understood as mysterious and beyond our
control, most people in every culture are involved in the deliberate
manipulation and regulation of love at both personal and collective levels.
Everywhere, love is influenced and regulated by cultural processes (storytelling, parenting, schooling, evaluative conversations) and by policies and
institutions (norms, laws, rules, and ritual practices). New tensions are
emerging as the desires, experiences, and expressions of love become
influenced by diverse cultural values. This lecture explores how, after previous
neglect, love has emerged as an important and policy-relevant theme in
cross-cultural research on relationships.
Required Reading
Jankowiak, William, and Thomas Paladino (2008) ‘Desiring sex, longing for
love: a tripartite conundrum’. In W.Jankowiak [ed], Intimacies: Between
Love and Sex Around the World. W. Jankowiak, ed. Columbia
University Press, pp. 1-36
http://66.199.228.237/boundary/Sexual_Addiction/Desiring%20Sex,%2
0Longing%20for%20Love%20A%20Tripartite%20Conundrum.pdf
Further Optional Readings
Thin, Neil (2012) ‘Love: fighting philophobia around the world.’ ch.9 in Social
Happiness: Theory into Policy and Practice. Bristol: Policy Press [FT
via libcat]
Open Anthropology [Journal] 1,1 (2013) Special Issue: Marriage and Other
Arrangements
Montgomery, Heather (2007) ‘Working with child prostitutes in Thailand:
problems of practice and interpretation’. Childhood 14: 415 – 430 [or:
Montgomery, Heather 2010 ‘Focusing on the child, not the prostitute:
shifting the emphasis in accounts of child prostitution.’ Wagadu Special
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Issue: Demystifying Sex Work and Sex Workers, pp. 166-188
http://appweb.cortland.edu/ojs/index.php/Wagadu/article/view/545/779
Mody, Perveez (2002) ‘Love and the law: love-marriage in Delhi.’ Modern
Asian Studies 36(1):223–256
Kim, J. and Elaine Hatfield (2004) ‘Love types and subjective well being.’
Social Behavior and Personality 32: 173-182, at:
www.elainehatfield.com
Thursday, 29 January, 2015: Gender
What kinds of gender reform would make women’s and men’s lives go better?
What are the pros, cons, and justifications of gender-based segregation and
discrimination? If gender differences provide us with so many important
sources of personal identity, motivation, enjoyment, and cultural interest,
should we try harder to develop more appreciative approaches to gender, to
complement the default social scientists’ remedial and reformist approaches?
When gender researchers engage in moral debate about policy and practice,
they often portray gender differentiation (and associated segregation and
ranking) as a source of avoidable suffering and injustice. Since the perception
of injustice is strongly intertwined with cultural values, there is no way for
anthropologists to avoid moral dilemmas when trying to convert gender
research into progressive policy and practice. Today we explore the ways in
which anthropology can help us understand gender-related choices and moral
debates better.
Required Reading
Abu-Lughod, Lila (2002) ‘Do Muslim women really need saving?
Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others.’
American Anthropologist 104,3:783-790
Further Optional Readings
Roy, Ahona, and Abhijit Das (2014) ‘Are masculinities changing?
Ethnographic exploration of a gender intervention with men in rural
Maharashtra, India.’ Institute of Development Studies Bulletin 45,1:29–
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Social Anthropology 17,4 (2009) [journal] Special Issue: ‘Muslim women’ in
Europe
Thin, Neil (2012) ‘New gender agendas: feelgood feminism for fun and
fulfilment.’ Ch.13 in Social Happiness. Bristol: Policy Press [FT via
libcat]
Uhl, Sarah 1991 ‘Forbidden friends: cultural veils of female friendship in
Andalusia.’ American Ethnologist 18,1: 90-105
Auhagen, Anne E., and Maria von Salisch [transl.:Ann Robertson] (1996) The
Diversity of Human Relationships. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
[FT via libcat]
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Tutorial Discussion for Week 4
Is it ethnocentric to assert the right of individuals to choose whom to love and
how to express their love? (Choose any readings from the lecture on love.)
Weeks 4, 5 & 7: Dimitri Tsintjilonis
Week 4 Lectures
Monday, 2 February, 2015: Euthanasia
Should you be able to choose the time of your death? What is death? What is
‘bad death’ and how do we hope to die? Focusing on euthanasia and the
quest for a ‘good death’, this lecture explores some of the implications of the
right-to-die debate in order to illustrate the significance of how we die.
Exploring the distinction between social and biological death as well as some
of the practices and quandaries created by the desire to authorize one’s own
death, it considers a number of assumptions – mostly implicit – which frame
and inform our fear of ‘bad death’. (For a good example of the terms in which
the right-to-die public debate is conducted check the ‘Moral Maze: Assisted
Dying’ BBC4 Radio podcast available on iPlayer at
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0499gp7).
Required Readings
Bloch, M. 1988 ‘Death and the Concept of the Person’. In S. Cederroth, C.
Corlin and J. Lindstrom (eds), On the Meaning of Death. Uppsala:
AUU. Pages 11-26. [e-reserve]
Green, J. 2008 Beyond the Good Death: The Anthropology of Modern Dying.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. (Chapter 1, ‘Getting
Dead’, pages 1-30). [e-reserve]
Further Optional Readings
Cassell, E. 1974 ‘Dying in a Technological Society’. The Hastings Center
Studies 2(2): 31-36. [e-journal]
Counts, D.A. & D. Counts 2004 ‘The good, the bad, and the unresolved death
in Kaliai’, Social Science & Medicine 58: 887-897. [e-journal]
Lawton J. 1998 ‘Contemporary Hospice care: the sequestration of the
bounded body and “dirty dying”’, Sociology of Health and Illness 20(2):
121-143. [e-journal]
Long, S.O. 2004 ‘Cultural Scripts for a good death in Japan and the United
States: similarities and differences’, Social Science & Medicine 58:
913-928. [e-journal]
Thursday, 5 February, 2015: Organ Transplantation
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Who decides when you die? How is death patterned and when exactly does
one die? Moving on from how we die to when we die, this lecture focuses on
the implications of the way in which death is defined by medicine. Focusing on
the ambiguous boundaries between the living and the dead, it uses organ
transplantation to re-examine our fear of (‘bad’) death as it is both transformed
and attenuated through medicine and the euthanasia debate.
Required Readings
Ohnuki-Tierney, E. 1997 ‘The reduction of personhood to brain and
rationality? Japanese contestation of medical technology’. In A.
Cunningham & B. Andrews (eds), Western medicine as contested
knowledge. Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press.
Pages 212-240. [e-reserve]
Vidal, F. 2009 ‘Brainhood, anthropological figure of modernity’. History of the
Human Sciences 22(1): 5-36. [e-journal]
Further Optional Readings
Kaufman, S. 2003 ‘Hidden places, uncommon persons’. Social Science &
Medicine 56(11): 2249-2261. [e-journal]
Lock, M. ‘Dispacing Suffering: the Reconstruction of Death in North America
and Japan’. Daedalus 125(1): 207-244. [e-journal]
Tsintjilonis, D. 2007 ‘The Death-Bearing senses in Tana Toraja’. Ethnos
72(2): 173-194. [e-journal]
Tutorial Discussion for Week 5
What is the main difference between euthanasia in the right-to-die debate and
the Jain quest for a ‘good death’?
Laidlaw, J. 2005 ‘A life worth leaving: fasting to death as telos of a Jain
religious life’. Economy and Society 34(2): 178-199. [e-journal]
Week 5 Lectures
Monday, 9 February, 2015: Circumcision
Should we seek to eradicate female circumcision? Is there a difference
between male and female circumcision? Evoking a variety of related practices
(scarification, tattooing, piercing, etc.), this lecture examines some of the ways
in which the ‘natural’ body is turned into the primary site for the performance
of gender, ‘belonging’, resistance, and so on. Using circumcision as the main
example of such a performance, it foregrounds some of the challenges
(ethical and otherwise) body modification presents and points out some of the
ways in which particular bodies index and express the social world they
inhabit. (For an example of the terms in which the public debate on female
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circumcision debate check www.bebate.org/opinions/should-female-genitalmutilation-be-banned).
Required Readings
Shweder, R.A. 2000 ‘What about “Female Genital Mutilation”? And Why
Understanding Culture Matters in the First Place’. Daedalus 129(4):
209-232. [e-journal]
Talle, A. 1993 ‘Transforming women into “pure” agnates: aspects of female
infibulation in Somalia’. In V. Broch-Due, R. Ingrid and T. Blei (eds),
Carved Flesh/Cast Selves. London: Berg. [e-reserve]
Further Optional Readings
Rosenblatt, D. 1997 ‘The Antisocial Skin: Structure, resistance, and “Modern
Primitive” Adornment in the United States’. Cultural Anthropology
12(3): 287-334. [e-journal]
Poole, F. J. 1982 ‘The Ritual Forging of Identity: Aspects of Person and Self in
Bimin-Kuskusmin Male Initiation’. In G. H. Herdt (ed.), Rituals of
Manhood. Berkeley: University of California Press. [e-reserve]
Schildkrout, E. 2004 ‘Inscribing the body’. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:
319-44. [e-journal]
Silverman, E. 2004 ‘Anthropology and Circumcision’. Annual Review of
Anthropology 33: 419-445. [e-journal]
Thursday, 12 February, 2015: Cosmetic Surgery
Asking whether there is a difference between more and less extreme forms of
‘body work’, this lecture revisits some of the questions from the previous
session in order to examine the significance of the body beautiful – a body,
that is, which could also be seen as an index and expression of social values
and beliefs.
Required Readings
Morgan, K.P. 1991 ‘Women and the Knife: Cosmetic surgery and the
colonization of women’s bodies’. Hypatia 6(3): 25-23. [e-journal]
Reischer, E. & K. Koo ‘The Body Beautiful: Symbolism and Agency in the
social world’. Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 297-317. [e-journal]
Further Optional Readings
Kaw, E. 1993 ‘Medicalization of Racial Features: Asian American Women and
Cosmetic Surgery’. Medical Anthropological Quarterly 7(1): 74-89. [ejournal]
Laqueur, T. 1990 Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. (Chapter 1, ‘Of Language
and the Flesh’, pages 1-24). [e-reserve]
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Popenoe, R. 1999 ‘Islam and the Body: Female Fattening among Arabs in
Niger’. Isim Newsletter 4(1). [e-journal]
Week 6, 16-20 February, 2015: Innovative Learning week – No course
classes
See your School’s web site (and others, as you wish) for information on a
variety of extra-curricular learning events.
Tutorial Discussion for Week 7
Is female circumcision where we should draw the line on relativism and
tolerance?
Sulkin, C.D.L. 2009 ‘Anthropology, liberalism and female genital cutting’.
Anthropology Today 25(6): 17-19. (To understand the context of this
paper better, you might want to look at the interview of Fuambai
Ahmadu by Richard Shweder in the same issue of this Journal; pages
14-17). [e-journal]
Week 7 Lectures
Monday, 23 February, 2015: Ethical Consumerism
To buy or not to buy? Does it matter? By boycotting Starbucks or Amazon,
because they avoided paying their fair share of tax, to choosing fair trade
coffee or sustainably sourced fish, can we make the world a better place?
Can the way we spent the money in our pocket express our moral outrage
and make a difference or are these boycotts empty gestures? This lecture will
discuss some of the issues embedded in this debate. (For a good example of
the terms in which the public debate is conducted check the ‘Moral Maze:
Ethical Consumerism’ podcast available on iPlayer at
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p424r).
Required Readings
Carrier, J.G. 2010 ‘Protecting the Environment the Natural Way: Ethical
Consumption and Commodity Fetishism’. Antipode 42(3): 672-689. [ejournal]
Graeber, D. 2011 ‘Consumption’. Current Anthropology 52(4): 489-511. [ejournal]
Further Optional Readings
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Clark, D. 2004 ‘The Raw and the Rotten: Punk Cuisine’. Ethnology 43(1): 1931. [e-journal]
Conran, M. 2011 ‘They really love me!: Intimacy in Volunteer Tourism’. Annals
of Tourism Research 38(4): 1454-1473. [e-journal]
Heinz, B & R. Lee 1998 ‘Getting down to meat: The symbolic construction of
meat consumption’. Communication Studies 49(1): 86-99. [e-journal]
Thursday, 26 February, 2015: Choice
Starting with the rise of the ethical consumer and his or her ‘freedom to
choose’, this lecture discusses the significance of choice and the fashion in
which it is conflated with autonomy. It is in terms of our autonomous selves
that we understand our passions, shape our life-styles, act out our tastes,
fashion our bodies and, even, seek to determine the moment of our death.
Problematizing this autonomy, the lecture also uses the significance of choice
in order to create a number of links between the debates discussed over the
last three weeks and to suggest one way in which they can all be seen as
reflections of the imperative to ‘be yourself’ – the imperative, that is, to
express and celebrate your individuality through the choices you make; an
individuality which may well be invented through these very choices.
Required Readings
Friedman, L. 1990 The republic of choice: law, authority, and culture.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. (Introduction, pages 1-6).
[e-reserve]
Rose, N. 1998 ‘Inventing our Selves’: Psychology, Power, and Personhood.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Introduction, pages 1-21).
[e-book]
Further Optional Readings
Schulz, J. 2006 ‘Vehicle of the Self: The social and cultural work of the H2
Hummer’. Journal of Consumer Culture 6(1): 57-86. [e-journal]
Trnka, S. & C. Trundle 2014 ‘Competing Responsibilities: Moving beyond
Neoliberal Responsibilisation’. Anthropological Forum 24(2): 136-153.
[e-journal]
Urciuoli, B. 2008 ‘Skills and selves in the new workplace’. American
Ethnologists 35(2): 211-228. [e-journal]
Tutorial Discussion for Week 8
Do we need bottled water?
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Wilk, R. 2006 ‘Bottled Water: The pure commodity in the age of branding’.
Journal of Consumer Culture 6(3): 303-325.
Weeks 8-10: Casey High
Week 8 Lectures: War and Peace
Monday, 2 March, 2015: Violence and War
In recent years the study of violence has become an increasingly important
theme in anthropology, whether in ethnographies of ‘tribal warfare’, domestic
violence or state-sponsored genocide. This week we look at how social
anthropologists have challenged universalist theories of male aggression to
consider the political, economic and other conditions through which violence
occurs and acquires specific cultural meanings. What is violence? To what
extent are violence and peacefulness innate aspects of the human condition?
What causes people to be violent?
Required Readings
Bourgois, P. (1995) “Violating Apartheid in the United States”. In In Search of
Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Pp. 19-48.
Daly, M. and M. Wilson (1999) “An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on
Homicide”. In Homicide Studies: A Sourcebook of Social Research. D.
Smith and M. Zahn (eds). Pp. 58-71.
Further Optional Readings
Farmer, P. (2003) “On Suffering and Structural Violence: a view from below”.
In Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology. Pp. 281-289.
Taylor, C. (1999) “The Hamitic Hypothesis in Rwanda and Burundi”. In
Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Pp. 55-98.
Riches, D. (1986) “Introduction”. In The Anthropology of Violence. Pp. 1-27.
Thursday, 5 March, 2015: Peace and Reconciliation
Why do we find more violence in some societies than in others? Can we really
talk about “cultures of violence” or “peaceful societies”? This week we will look
at ethnographic case studies of societies in which violence and aggressive
behavior are, according to the ethnographers, completely unacceptable and
seldom observed. We will look critically at these representations of society as
well as examine how peace is made in the aftermath of violent conflict. What
are some of the key challenges to reconciliation?
Required Reading
Allen, T. (2007) The International Criminal Court and the Invention of
Traditional Justice in northern Uganda. Politique Africaine 107: 147166.
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Further Optional Readings
Sponsel, L. (1996) “A Natural History of Peace: A Positive View of Human
Nature”. In The Natural History of Peace. T. Gregor (ed.). Pp. 95-125.
Nordstrom, C. (2004) Shadows of War: violence, power, and international
profiteering in the twenty-first century. (Part 4: ‘Peace?’ Pgs. 141-202).
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Briggs, J. (2000) Conflict Management in a Modern Inuit Community. In P.
Schweitzer, M. Biesele, and R. Hitchcock (eds.) Hunters and Gatherers
in the Modern World: conflict, resistance, and self-determination. New
York: Berghahn.
Evans Pim, J. (2010) Nonkilling Societies. Honolulu, HI: Center for Global
Nonkilling.
Tutorial Discussion for Week 9
Are human beings naturally violent or peaceful?
Week 9: Globalization and Applied Anthropology
Monday, 9 March, 2015: Globalization and Development
While traditionally anthropologists set out to study small and seemingly
isolated societies, anthropologists today have much to say about wider
processes of ‘globalization’ – whether in London, the Amazon, or both. This
week we look at examples of how anthropologists approach and interpret
processes that transcend the ‘local and the ‘global’. We will also discuss how
anthropologists have been critical of concepts such as ‘globalization’,
‘modernity’ and ‘tradition’. Is ‘globalization’ leading to the eradication of
cultural differences? What does ‘modernity’ mean? How do foreign cultural
forms come to have local significance?
Required Readings
Yan, Y. (1997) “McDonald’s in Beijing: The Localization of Americana”. In
Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia. J.L. Watson (ed.). Pp.
39-76.
Gewertz, D. and F. Errington (1996) “On PepsiCo and Piety in a Papua New
Guinea ‘Modernity’”. American Ethnologist, Vol. 23, Pp. 476-493.
Further Optional Readings
Cooper, F. (2005) “Globalization” In Colonialism in Question: Theory,
Knowledge, History. Pp. 91-112.
Appadurai, A. (1991) “Global Ethnoscapes: Notes and Queries for a
Transnational Anthropology”. In Recapturing Anthropology: Working in
the Present. R. Fox (ed.). Pp. 191-210.
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Stoller, P. (2002) “Crossroads: Tracing African Paths on New York City
Streets”. Ethnography, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 35-62.
Kahn, J. (2001) “Anthropology and Modernity”. Current Anthropology, Vol. 42,
No. 5, pp. 651-664.
Thursday, 12 March, 2015: Development and Applied Anthropology
This lecture explores some of the ways in which anthropology is applied to
solve various contemporary problems. We will consider some of the great
variety of areas in which anthropologists have made an impact in recent
years. We will discuss some of the ethical concerns about anthropologists
employed by the US military to work in war zones, as well as the increasing
importance of anthropologists in areas ranging from medicine to banking.
What is it that anthropologists actually do? Can anthropologists be said to
have reasonable informed consent in a war zone?
Required Readings
Escobar, A. (1997) “Anthropology and Development”. International Social
Science Journal, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 497-516.
“A Gun in One Hand, a Pen in the Other” Newsweek (12 April 2008):
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/04/12/a-gun-in-one-hand-a-pen-inthe-other.html
“US Army Enlists Anthropologists”. BBC News (17 October 2007):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/americas/7042090.stm
American Anthropological Association Executive Board Statement on the
Human Terrain System Project (31 October 2007)
http://aaanet.org/issues/policy-advocacy/advocacy/Statement-onHTS.cfm
Barton, L. (2008) “On the Money”. The Guardian (31 October 2008), p. 12.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/31/creditcrunch-gilliantett-financial-times
Further Optional Readings
Marsden, D. (2010) “W(h)ither Anthropology? Opening Up or Closing Down”.
Anthropology Today, Vol. 26, No.5, pp. 1-3.
Helman, C. (2006) “Why Medical Anthropology Matters”. Anthropology Today,
Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 3-4.
Hart, K. (2004) “What Anthropologists Really Do”. Anthropology Today, Vol.
20, No. 1, pp. 3-5.
Escobar, A. (1991) “Anthropology and the Development Encounter: The
Making and Marketing of Development Anthropology”. American
Ethnologist, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 658-682.
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Tutorial Discussion for Week 10
In preparation for the week 11’s course review lectures, we would like you to
use this tutorial to discuss any issues you may want to raise in either the
‘Question Time’ lecture on Monday or the ‘Course review and revision
preparation’ lecture on Thursday. Ideally, we are hoping that by Friday of
week 10, all students will have posted online (to the LEARN course site) at
least one brief comment or question that they would like to see addressed in
the week 11 lectures. The lecturers will then consolidate these and do their
best to make sure that they respond to all comments and queries.
Week 10: Racism and Human Rights
Monday, 16 March, 2015: Race and Ethnicity
One of the major contributions of 20th century anthropology has been to
challenge theories that posit biology as the determinant factor in explaining
human behaviour. Since the time of Franz Boas, Anthropologists have
developed theories of ‘culture’ that reject essentialist concepts ‘race’. This
week we will explore the problems with the concept of race and discuss
whether ‘ethnicity’ is a useful alternative. We will also consider how and why
anthropologists today study social categories like race ethnographically. How
have anthropological approaches to race changed since the early 20 th
century? Are categories like ‘race’, ‘tribe’ and ‘ethnic group’ natural entities?
Required Readings
Boas, F. (1931) “Race and Progress”. Science, Vol. 74, pp.1-8.
Montagu, A. (1962) “The Concept of Race”. American Anthropologist, Vol.
64, No. 5, pp. 919-928. [available on VLE]
American Anthropological Association Statement on “Race” (1998).
http://.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm
American Association of Physical Anthropologists Statement on Biological
Aspects of Race (1998). American Anthropologist, Vol. 100, No. 3, pp.
714-715.
Cavalli-Sforza, L., P. Menozzi and A. Piazza (1994) Section 1.5: “Classical
Attempts at Distinguishing ‘Races’” and Section 1.6: “Scientific Failure
of the Concept of Human Races”. In The History and Geography of
Human Genes. Pp. 16-20.
Further Optional Readings
Hacking, I. (2005) “Why Race Still Matters”. Daedalus, Vol. 134, No. 1, pp.
102-116.
Rahier, J. (1998) “Blackness, the Racial/Spatial Order, Migrations, and Miss
Ecuador”. American Anthropologist, Vol. 100, No. 2, pp. 421-430.
24
Jackson, J. (1994) “Becoming Indians: The Politics of Tukanoan Ethnicity”. In
Amazonian Indians: From Prehistory to Present. A. Roosevelt (ed.).
Pp. 383-406.
Thursday, 19 March, 2015: Human Rights
The idea of human rights has become such a prevalent way of thinking about
contemporary social issues that we often take it for granted. This lecture will
consider the role of anthropology in debates about culture and rights that have
emerged since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by
the UN in 1948. While cultural relativism has remained one of the key tenets
of anthropology, ethical debates have in some cases construed cultural
differences as obstacles to achieving universal rights. Rather than viewing
relativism and universalism as irreconcilable positions, we will explore what
anthropology can contribute to understanding how both of these conceptual
frameworks coexist in the contemporary world.
Required Readings
Merry, S. (2003) Human Rights Law and the Demonization of Culture (and
Anthropology along the Way). Political and Legal Anthropology Review
26(1): Pgs. 55-76.
Dembour, M. (2001) Following the Movement of a Pendulum: Between
Universalism and Relativism. In Culture and Rights: Anthropological
Perspectives. J. Cowan et al, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. Pgs. 56-79.
Further Optional Readings
Scheper-Hughes. N. (1995) The Primacy of the Ethical: Propositions for a
Militant Anthropology. Current Anthropology 36:3. Pgs. 409-440.
An-Na’im, A. (2002) Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Defining
International Standards of Human Rights: the meaning of cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. In Human Rights in
Cross Cultural Perspective: A Quest for Consensus. University of
Pennsylvania Press. Pgs. 19-43.
Statements on Human Rights from the American Anthropological
Association
American Anthropological Association (1947) Statement on Human Rights.
American Anthropologist 49(4):539-543. [Available on J-STOR]
Steward, J. and H.G. Barnett (1948) Comments on the “Statement on Human
Rights.” American Anthropologist 50(2): 351-355. [Available on JSTOR]
American Anthropological Association (1999). Declaration on Anthropology
and Human Rights. http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/humanrts.htm
25
Tutorial Discussion for Week 11
Is globalization making people of different cultures the same?
(You may also want to use part of the week 11 to raise any questions you
have about course themes in general, or about how to prepare for the exam)
Week 11: Course Overview and Revision Preparation
Monday, 23 March, 2015 - Question Time: All three lecturers with answer
questions and debate issues relating to any part of the course.
Thursday, 26 March, 2015: We will use the final class to discuss the most
effective ways to prepare for the exam, and to look ahead to next year’s
Social Anthropology courses (Social Anthropology 2 and Ethnography)
26
Guide to Using LEARN for Online Tutorial Sign-Up:
The following is a guide to using LEARN to sign up for your tutorial. If you
have any problems using the LEARN sign up, please contact the course
secretary Lisa Kilcullen by email ([email protected]).
Tutorial sign up will open on Monday, 12 January, 2015, after the first lecture
has taken place, and will close at 12 noon on the Friday of Week 1, 16
January, 2015.
Step 1 – Accessing LEARN course pages
Access to LEARN is through the MyEd Portal. You will be given a log-in and
password during Freshers’ Week. Once you are logged into MyEd, you
should see a tab called ‘Courses’ which will list the active LEARN pages for
your courses under ‘myLEARN’.
Step 2 – Welcome to LEARN
Once you have clicked on the relevant course from the list, you will see the
Course Content page. There will be icons for the different resources
available, including one called ‘Tutorial Sign Up’. Please take note of any
instructions there.
Step 3 – Signing up for your tutorial
Clicking on Tutorial Sign Up will take you to the sign up page where all the
available tutorial groups are listed along with the running time and location.
Once you have selected the group you would like to attend, click on the ‘Sign
up’ button. A confirmation screen will display.
IMPORTANT: If you change your mind after having chosen a tutorial you
cannot go back and change it and you will need to email the course
secretary. Reassignments once tutorials are full or after the sign-up
period has closed will only be made in exceptional circumstances.
Tutorials have restricted numbers and it is important to sign up as soon
as possible. The tutorial sign up will only be available until 12 noon on
the Friday of Week 1 (16 January, 2015) so that everyone is registered to
a group ahead of tutorials commencing in Week 2. If you have not yet
signed up for a tutorial by this time you will be automatically assigned to
a group which you will be expected to attend.
27