Summer 2006

ANTH 304: Traditional Cultures of the World

MH-285    MTWR, 1 pm to 3:10 pm

Instructor:  Dr. Barbra Erickson                                 

Office:  McCarthy Hall (MH) 426-D  

Office Phone:  (714) 278-5697

Office Hours:  Mon & Wed 11am to 1pm, Tues & Wed 4 to 6pm, or by appointment

Email:  beerickson@fullerton.edu        

Course Description:

This course uses ethnographic writings and films to make a comparative, worldwide survey of selected traditional, well-studied ways of life.  We will examine representative bands, tribes, chiefdoms, primitive states and folk societies in different geographic regions and explore various cultural responses to the challenges of diverse environments.  This course also includes a map assignment.

Required Texts:

The White Man Will Eat You (W.E. Wormsley, 1993)

New Pioneers in the Heartland (J. Koltyk, 1998)

PREREQUISITE:

Any lower division Anthropology course; or a course in GE categories III B-2 or B-3, or III C-1 or C-2; or permission of the instructor. [Please ask me if you have any concerns.]

ANTH 304 AS A GENERAL EDUCATION (GE) COURSE:

This course satisfies the requirements for GE Category III.B.3 [Implications, Exploration, and Participatory Experience in the Arts and Humanities] and Category V [Cultural Diversity].

(See http://anthro.fullerton.edu/AnthroCourses.htm  for a detailed description of how this course meets the learning goals for these categories).

REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS COURSE:

 (1)  Map Quiz (50 points):

You will be given a list of regions, countries, and geographic features and a copy of a blank world map to use as a working copy.  During the next 2 weeks you will be expected to learn where on a world map these are located.  You will not need to turn this in, but expect an identical map and list of 25 terms as part of your last exam. Map Quiz will be on Thursday, 7/20/06.

(2)  Discussion Groups (30 points):

For each of the assigned ethnographies, a “discussion group” day has been designated. Read the assigned book by that day, using the discussion questions (see handout) as a guide. You do NOT have to turn in written answers for these, but test questions will be drawn from these questions. Please come prepared to discuss these questions in small groups. Bring the book and the questions.

(3)  Ethnography Essay (50 points):

Choose EITHER of the assigned ethnographies, and write a 3 page (minimum) essay about it. You can use discussion questions as a basis for your essay, or you may discuss the book in your own way.  Please make a title page with title, your name, due date, and course.  Essay must have an introduction and conclusion, with the usual rules about coherent paragraphs in between. Please use 12 font, 1 inch margins, double-space.  Number your pages (but not page 1).  Cite the page number in parentheses in your essay if you use any direct quotes, like this (p. 35).  Be sure to include the title of the book and the author in the introduction.  Due on Wednesday, 8/9/07.

(4)  Film Summaries (45 points):

Students are required to write a one-page structured summary for ANY 3 of the full-length films shown. Required format is on next page of the syllabus. It’s OK to go over 1 page if you need to.  Film summaries are due any day during the week following the showing of the film. [That is, Week 1 films summaries are due during Week 2, and so on].

(5) Exams (275 points):

There will be two midterms (Monday 7/24 and Tuesday 8/1) and one final exam (Thursday 8/10).  Exams cover assigned readings, films, and class lectures/discussions.  Exam format will be part objective and part essay or short answer.  For each exam, please bring a Scantron (#882-E) and a small blue book.

(6)  Attendance and Participation:

Your regular attendance is expected, and is required on the day of the final. You are expected to have read the assigned books prior to the date specified, and be prepared to discuss the materials. 

Summary of Requirements and Grading Scale:

Film  

Assignment Instructions

• All papers must be typed

• Use standard font (e.g. Times New Roman or Arial, etc.) and font size 12

• Multiple pages, if any, must be stapled in upper left corner

• Multiple pages must be numbered (do not number page 1)

• It’s OK to exceed the suggested number of pages

• Cover pages required only for the Ethnographic Essay, not for Film Summaries

OTHER INFORMATION and POLICIES:

Handouts, extra copies of syllabus:  These materials will be posted online on the Anthropology Department Homepage http://anthro.fullerton.edu/AnthroCourses.htm. 

Makeup Exams:  Makeup exams are NOT automatically allowed.  Notify me in advance of the exam if you cannot take the exam at the scheduled time. Makeup exams will be allowed only for verifiable and unavoidable reasons. If allowed, makeup exam must be taken within one week of the scheduled test date. 

Assignments:  Late work is officially not accepted; however, at my discretion, I may accept late work at 5 points off per day late. Please do NOT email assignments unless you have made prior arrangements with me.  Please do NOT put assignments in my mail box, unless you have made prior arrangements with me. 

Academic Misconduct: Please consult the Student Handbook for University policies on academic misconduct. Examples include cheating on tests, or plagiarism [representing someone else’s work (including information from the internet) as your own, without acknowledgment].  Cheating and/or plagiarism will not be tolerated.  Violations will result in a failing grade for the assignment, or exam, and potentially a failing grade for the course.

Week 1           Introduction and overview. Anthropology and culture, basic terms and concepts.

(7/10 - 13)      Subsistence strategies, cultural adaptations to diverse environments. How environment influences culture. Culture change. Horticulture and hunting in the Amazon (Yanomamo); hunting and gathering on the Plains (Lakota); hunting in the Arctic (Inuit); pastoralism in Siberia (Nenetsi Samoyeds).

Thursday 7/13: Work on Map Assignment

________________________________________________________________________________                                                                                                       

Wk 2               The African continent, geography and ecological zones. European colonialism and its

(7/17 – 20)      influence on modern Africa.  Hunting and gathering in the African rain forest (Mbuti. Baka); pastoralists in the eastern plains (Nuer, Dinka); Hunting-gathering in the Kalahari Desert (Ju/’hoansi). 

Thursday 7/20: Map Quiz

_________________________________________________________________________________

Week 3           Monday 7/24: Midterm #2 (Covers Weeks 1 and 2 only)

(7/24 – 7/26)    The island of New Guinea, geography and ecological zones. Colonial history and

“discovery,” culture contact and change. Highland peoples (Dani, Kawelka) and lowland peoples (Asmat).

                        Thursday, 7/27: Discussion Group 1 (The White Man Will Eat You)

_________________________________________________________________________________

Week 4           New Guinea (continued). The economic institution of “Big Man.”  International mining, and how people incorporated  socioeconomic changes into traditional social systems.

(7/31 – 8/3)      8/2 and 8/3:  Begin new material (carries over to Week 5)

                        Tuesday 8/1: Midterm #2 (Covers 1^st book and New Guinea only)

_________________________________________________________________________________

Week 5           Monday 8/7: Discussion Group 2 (New Pioneers in the Heartland)

(8/7 – 8/10)   Intensive agriculture: the island of Bali. Tribal societies. Hmong in China. Hmong as refugees in the United States. Culture shock and cultural adjustments.

                        Wednesday 8/9: Ethnography essay due

Thursday 8/10:  Final exam (Covers 2^nd book and materials after Midterm #2 only)

 SUMMARY of IMPORTANT DUE DATES

_________________________________________________________________________________

Download syllabus Microsoft Word (.doc) file. If you do not have Word, please use the Word Viewer

.

Link to the additional materials:

• GE Learning Goals

• Anthropological Terms and Concepts

• Discussion Questions Hmong

• Discussion Questions Imbonggu

• Map Assignment

• Study Guide for Midterm