Anthropology 208
Dr. Judkins
Spring 2013
CLASSICS OF ETHNOGRAPHY
Course Description
This course provides intensive reading experience with the most significant ethnographic writing describing non-Western ways of life. The readings are a wide-ranging, select set of recognized "classic" ethnographic accounts, representing cultures world-wide and dating mostly from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. This reading familiarizes students with a samples from a broad range of the most influential anthropological writing, its intellectual significance, and its specific ethnographic content.
For the student anthropologist, these readings provide a sound basis for future study of the disciplines of social and cultural anthropology.
Purpose and Objectives
This course is designed to fulfill a need for students to have an opportunity for experiencing and dealing with the major data resource and presentation technique used by cultural and social anthropologists, namely the written ethnography. It also fills a need for undergraduate students to have an opportunity for becoming substantially familiar with key ethnographies which have influenced the growth and development of anthropology in the past century. Teaching objectives include consideration of the following: what "ethnography" means; how to read an ethnography; the functions of ethnographies both within and beyond the domain of anthropology; the recognition and evaluation of general ethnographic techniques; the recognition and evaluation of intellectual content; and the intellectual implications of ethnographic writing. The course enhances the student's ability to appreciate some of the most significant writing in the modern social sciences.
Enrollment is for Anthropology majors and other seriously interested students during the sophomore or junior years, after having had introductory level courses in Cultural Anthropology. Freshmen are not to enroll in this course, nor are those who have not successfully completed introductory anthropology course work. Non-majors should consult with the instructor before taking this course, particularly if their anthropology experience is limited.
Office: Sturges 15 Phone: 245-5433
judkins@geneseo.edu
Office Hours: Tues/Thurs: 11:30-1:00 Wed: 11:30-1:00 (by appointment only)
Texts
Benedict. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword : Patterns of Japanese Culture. Mariner
Evans-Pritchard. Kinship and Marriage Among the Nuer. Oxford University Press
Judkins. Morgan’s League of the Iroquois. Persimmon Press
LaFarge. Laughing Boy.
Malinowski. Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Dutton
Rappaport. Pigs for the Ancestors. Yale University Press
Turner. Forest of Symbols. Cornell University Press
Handouts
Additional readings & handouts: TBA
***Unusually substantial reading is required by the nature and contents of this course.
Each student is responsible for all of the reading and for adhering to the reading schedule as contained in the course outline and as announced and/or modified in class. Regular and consistent attendance, along with positive contributions to class on a daily basis, are expected of every student – and will be reflected in the final grade. ***
Bibliographies, additional ethnographic reading materials and further reading suggestions are available from the instructor for the interested student.
Grading
Midterm Exam (essay format): 50 % of Final Grade
Comprehensive Final Exam (essay format): 50% of Final Grade
Regular class contribution is expected; its absence will lower final grade substantially.
Final Exam Date: Wednesday, May 15, 3:30 - 6:30 PM
COURSE SCHEDULE
Date Topics/Texts
Week 1 Introduction (Jan 22 & 24)
Setting the Stage; Introduction to readings; course
overview; fundamental methods and objectives in
ethnography; pre-modern ethnographic writing: Greek &
Roman; Arabic & Persian; Chinese; Western exploration
literatures
Week 2 Formative Era of Ethnography I (Jan 25 & 31)
Text: Judkins, Morgan’s League of the Iroquois, Books I & II
Videos: “Longhouse People” (1951) National Film Board of Canada
Essentials of ethnography; how to read an ethnography;
intellectual and social functions of ethnography (manifest/latent;
micro/macro); Ethnography: contemporary questions vs. enduring truths;
The view from the inside: native writing & its contribution to
modern ethnography; native informants & colleagues, exegesis
Week 3 Formative Era of Ethnography II (Feb 5 & 7)
Texts: Judkins, Morgan’s League of the Iroquois, Book III
Video: “Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper,” (PBS: Oren Lyons/Bill Moyers interview)
Morgan & Parker, NYS Iroquois and Modern Ethnography
Week 4 Ethnography: Culture, Society and the Individual (Feb 12 & 14)
Texts: Ruth Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
VW Turner, “Muchona the Hornet,” Chapt. 6, in Forest of Symbols
Video: “Trance and Dance in Bali” (1952) Margaret Mead & Gregory Bateson
Video: “Nanook of the North” (1922) Robert Flaherty
Ethnography and the individual: subject and/or colleague
Class, status, and role: the individual in society and culture
Ethnography; finding pattern significance in “the exotic” and “the alien”
Ritual patterns; rituals of reversal; ritual vs. psychological explanation
Date Topics/Texts
Week 5 Ethnography: Culture Area Concept: American Southwest
Life Histories, Cultural Values & Themes (Feb 19 & 21)
Text: O. LaFarge. Laughing Boy [Pulitzer Prize 1930], Chapters 1 - 11
Video: “Seasons of the Navajo” (1984)
Ritual and passage events: personal and community
- art and religion in the Navajo universe
- Navajo medicine & sand (dry) paintings
Week 6 Ethnography: Literature as Ethnography
Rites of Passage and Prestation Theory (Feb 26 & 28)
Text: O. LaFarge. Laughing Boy, Chapters 12 - conclusion
Video: “Hopi: Songs of the Fourth World”
- Hopi personal rituals of salt pilgrimage & Guardian Spirit vision
Literature and ethnography: fiction, fantasy, novels and essays
- G. Orwell, F. Herbert, A. Bandelier, E. Smith-Bowen, etc.
Ethnography as reflection of Western issues and intellectual fashions
Varieties of “explanation” in ethnography and related theory
Contributions of various late 19th and early 20th century ethnographers
Week 7 British Social Anthropology & Ethnography I (Mar 5 & 7)
Text: B. Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Preface-Chapter X
Video: “Dead Birds” (1963) Dani (New Guinea) - Robert Gardner
Introduction to readings; invention of the fieldwork tradition in anthropology
Week 8 British Social Anthropology & Ethnography II (Mar 12 & 14)
Text: Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Chapters XI-XXII
Video: “Ongka's Big Moka: The Kawelka of Papua New Guinea” (1976)
Radcliffe-Brown: "Functionalism:" Comte, Durkheim, French sociological school
Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City
SPRING BREAK: March 19 & 21
Week Topics/Texts
Week 9 British Social Anthropology & Ethnography III (Mar 26 & 28)
Text: E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Kinship and Marriage Amonghe Nuer, pp 1-99
Video: “Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life” (1925) Bakhtiari (Iran)
Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack
Pastoralism and patrilineal kinship/descent systems
Week 10 British Social Anthropology & Ethnography IV (Apr 2 & 4)
Text: E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer, pp. 99 - 180
Video: “The Nuer” (1951) Hilary Harris, George Breidenbach, & Robert Gardner
Week 11 Social Anthropology-Symbolic Anthropology (Apr 9 & 11)
Text: V. W. Turner, The Forest of Symbols (chapters 1, 3, 4, 10)
Ndembu ritual, initiation, and color symbolism; van Gennep and rite de passage
Week 12 Rethinking Ethnography: Key Essays (Apr 16x & 18)
E. Leach, “Introduction” to Political Systems of Highland Burma
R. Needham, “Intro.” to Durkheim & Mauss, Primitive Classification
M. Gluckman, “The Peace in the Feud”
C. Geertz, “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”
Week 13 Culture, Environment and Ethnography:
Symbols, Systems Theory and Functionalism I (Apr 23 & 25)
Text: Rappaport, Pigs for the Ancestors
Ecology, environment and landscape as part of ethnography
Orchestration of ethnographic detail in analysis
Week 14 Culture, Environment and Ethnography:
Symbols, Systems Theory and Functionalism II (Apr 30 & May 2)
Text: Rappaport, Pigs for the Ancestors
Meta-processes: warfare, migration, long-term cycles and ethnography
Week Topics/Texts
Week 15 Culture, Environment and Ethnography:
Symbols, Systems Theory and Functionalism III (May 7)
Text: Rappaport, Pigs for the Ancestors
FINAL EXAM: Wednesday, May 15, 3:30-6:30 PM