| Class Schedule |
Week 1 Introduction to the Course
What is cultural anthropology? What constitutes the fundamental philosophical orientations in cultural anthropology? What are the main strands of intellectual thought in the history of anthropology?
Week 2 Kinship
Kinship is a foundational concept in anthropology, shaping how societies define relationships, inheritance, and social obligations. While traditionally understood through biological ties and descent, anthropologists have expanded the concept to include social, legal, and even multispecies connections. This week, we will explore key theories and ethnographic cases, from classic lineage studies to contemporary discussions on chosen families, queer kinships, and assisted reproductive technologies.
Obligatory readings:
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2004. “Kinship.” In What is Anthropology?, 98-116. London: Pluto Press.
Sahlins, Marshall. 2013. “What Kinship Is – Culture” In What Kinship Is – And Is Not, 1-61. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Whyte, Kyle. 2021. “Time as Kinship.” In The Cambridge Companion to Environmental Humanities, edited
by Cohen Jeffrey, Foote Stephanie, 39–55. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Week 3 Reciprocity
Reciprocity is a fundamental principle in socioeconomic life, shaping relationships through the exchange of gifts and obligations. We will examine classic and contemporary perspectives on reciprocity. Through these readings, we will discuss how reciprocity extends beyond material transactions, shaping power, and social cohesion across different cultural contexts.
Obligatory readings:
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2004. “Reciprocity.” In What is Anthropology?, 84-97. London: Pluto Press.
Mauss, Marcel. 2001 [1925]. “Introduction” and “The Exchange of Gifts and the Obligation to Reciprocate (Polynesia)” In The Gift: The form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies (2nd ed.), 1-24. London and New York: Routledge.
Graeber, David. 2012. Chapter 5: “A Brief Treatise on the Moral Grounds of Economic Relations,”In Debt: The First 5000 Years, 89-126. Brooklyn: Melville House.
Week 4 Rituals and Symbols
This week explores how symbols and public rituals produce social meaning and moral order. In “Deep Play,” Clifford Geertz interprets the Balinese cockfight as a cultural text that dramatizes status, rivalry, and hierarchy. We then turn to Aaron Herald Skabelund’s analysis of Hachikō in Empire of Dogs: Canines, Japan, and the Making of the Modern Imperial World to examine how an animal becomes a national symbol of loyalty and belonging. Together, the readings invite us to ask how rituals, monuments, and shared narratives transform animals into powerful carriers of political and moral meaning.
Obligatory readings:
Geertz, Clifford. 1972. “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.” Daedalus 134 (4): 56–86.
Skabelund, Aaron Herald. 2011. "Chapter 3: “Fascism’s Furry Friends: The ‘Loyal Dog’ Hachikō and the Creation of the ‘Japanese’ Dog”In "Empire of Dogs: Canines, Japan, and the Making of the Modern Imperial World." Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Week 5 Writing‘Others’
How we write about others shapes not only our understanding of the world but also the power dynamics embedded in knowledge production. This week, we will critically examine the politics of representation in anthropology and beyond. Through these readings, we will discuss how scholars navigate the ethics of representing others and consider alternative approaches to writing about difference.
Obligatory readings:
Said, Edward. 1978. “Chapter 1: The scope of orientalism (section I).” In Orientalism, 31-49. New
York: Vintage Books.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 2003. Anthropology and the Savage Slot: The Poetics and Politics of Otherness. In Global Transformations, 7-28. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2008. “Writing against culture.” The Cultural Geography Reader. Routledge, 62-71.
Week 6 Commodity Pathways
Commodities are more than just objects of exchange—they have social lives, shifting in meaning and value as they move through different contexts. This week, we will explore how commodities travel along complex pathways, shaped by cultural, economic, and political forces. Through these readings, we will consider how commodities are transformed as they circulate and the broader implications of these processes.
Obligatory readings:
Appadurai, Arjun. 1986. “Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value” In The Social Life of Things, 3-63. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
West, Paige. 2006. "Chapter 3: Imagined Primitive" In "From Modern Production to Imagined Primitive: The Social World of Coffee from Papua New Guinea." Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Week 7 Power and Inequality
This week explores how power shapes the production of knowledge and the experience of inequality. In “Truth and Power,” Michel Foucault argues that what counts as “truth” is produced within specific regimes of power. We then examine Brett L. Walker’s account of itai-itai disease in Japan to see how scientific authority, corporate interests, and state institutions shaped the recognition of environmental harm.
Obligatory readings:
Foucault, Michel. 1980. “Truth and Power.” In Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977, edited by Colin Gordon, 109–133. New York: Pantheon Books.
Walker, Brett L. 2010. "Chapter 4: Engineering Pain in the Jinzu River Basin" In "Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan." Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Week 8 Worldmaking
This week explores how humans and nonhumans participate in the making of worlds. Rather than assuming that only humans create meaning, we examine how different beings perceive, relate, and inhabit their environments. The readings challenge the nature/culture divide and invite us to consider how worlds are shaped through interaction, interpretation, and embodied experience.
Obligatory readings:
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2004. “Nature.” In What is Anthropology?, 117-135. London: Pluto Press.
Kohn, Eduardo. 2007. How dogs dream: Amazonian natures and the politics of transspecies engagement. American Ethnologist 34.1: 3–24.
[Names and Pronouns]
Students are expected to refer to their classmates by their stated names and pronouns. If you go by a different name or gender pronoun than the one that appears on the official course roster, please let me know. |