COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND SOCIAL WORK

ANT 201-3678: Cultural Anthropology

Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:10am-12:05PM (Classroom 4S 218)

Professor: Ismael García Colón

Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:30-3:30PM or by appointment Office: 4S Room 237
Phone #: (718) 982-3766 Email: garciacolon@mail.csi.cuny.edu

Course Description: This course has three main objectives: (1) to provide an overview of key
topics in cultural anthropology; (2) to encourage critical thinking about key anthropological and
social scientific debates, past and present; and (3) to analyze explanations for, and causes of cross-
cultural similarities and differences. We will attempt to understand both the universal process
through which human beings constitute themselves through culture, and the great diversity of
cultural forms that result. In the past, anthropologists usually studied distant places and “foreign”
peoples, the more different from “us” the better. We will look at this “we/they” dichotomy in the
context of today’s increasingly interconnected world and explore what happens when
anthropological tools are used not only to look at the “other,” but in the analysis of our own
complex and diverse society.

Course Requirements:
Essays: Each student will be expected to write two (2) essays (2-3 pages each) (25% each= 50%).
The first essay will count as the midterm. Essays should be turned in at the beginning of class, and
NO LATE PAPERS will be accepted. If a student fails to turn in a paper (for emergency reasons
only), then she/he will meet with the instructor to discuss an alternative (usually a 10-page paper).
Please remember to keep copies of all your written work.

Assignments and Surprise Quizzes: Students will be expected to complete 5 different assignments
and surprise quizzes during the semester (5% each= 25%). The instructor will describe the specifics
of the assignments and due dates. NO make up assignments and quizzes will be given. If a student
misses an assignment or quiz (for emergency reasons only), then she/he will meet with the
instructor to discuss an alternative.

Participation: Students are expected to attend class regularly and participate actively in class
discussions (25%). Students will be expected to have done the reading assigned for each class prior
to that class. Group activities during class will also factor into your final participation grade.

To avoid anonymity and to make learning an effective, active process of dialogue, you must feel
free to challenge the views of the instructor or other students. In order to do so effectively, please
follow three basic rules:

• Be courteous. Do not interrupt, but wait until the speaker has finished making his/her point.
Make a note of what you want to say, so that you don’t forget it.
• Be logical when you argue. Base what you have to say on evidence from the readings, lectures
or your own knowledge.
• Be tolerant of how others express themselves. Your fellow students may speak English
differently than you or have opinions that you don’t share. You may still learn a lot from them.
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By creating a comfortable space for them to share their ideas, you also make it easier for you to
express yourself.

Grades: Essays (50%), Assignments and Surprise Quizzes (25%), and Participation (25%).

Films: Part of the requirements for this course is to watch films in class. The instructor expects you
to pay attention and take notes during film presentations. Some of the films shown may contain
scenes of violence, sex, and harsh language and may be considered, by some, to be objectionable.

Attendance Policy: Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class. In accordance with CSI
policy, more than four (4) absences will result in an automatic “WU”in the course. I do not need to
see any notes or excuses. If you arrive to class after I have taken roll or leave class more than 20
minutes early, it will count as ½ an absence.

Behavior in Class: Students are expected to show up on time and to attend all classes. Talking or
other disruptive behavior in class will not be tolerated and disruptive students will be asked to leave
the class and to visit the Dean of Students. If you are talking or otherwise disrupting the class, I may
ask you to leave and mark you absent. If this happens repeatedly, it will affect your participation
grade and final grade in the course.

Students are not allowed to eat in class and head-or ear-phones are not to be worn, regardless of
whether the players are running. Turn off and put away your cellular phone before class starts.
No text messaging is allowed during class. Tape recorders and laptops will not be allowed in the
classroom.

Only students registered in the course will attend classes. Students cannot bring friends or
acquaintances to the classroom.

You can only be exempted from these rules by a doctor’s note or in exceptional cases by speaking
to me before the day in question.

Disabilities: Students with disabilities are required to document their needs with the Office of
Disability Services, and to inform the instructor during the first two weeks of the semester (unless
you are diagnosed afterwards). Please read the course requirements and make sure that you can
fulfill them. Otherwise, the instructor will expect you to complete with and perform all
requirements.

CSI’s policy on plagiarism and cheating: “Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It
is violated by such acts as borrowing or purchasing assignments (including but not limited to term
papers, essays, and reports) and other written assignments, using concealed notes or crib sheets
during examinations, copying the work of others and submitting it as one’s own; and
misappropriating the knowledge of others. The sources from which one derives one’s ideas,
statement terms, and data, including Internet sources, must be fully and specifically acknowledge in
the appropriate form, failure to do so constitutes plagiarism. Violations of academic integrity may
result in failure in a course and disciplinary actions with penalties such as suspension or dismissal
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from the College” (Undergraduate Catalog, 2005-2007: 48).

TEXT: A course reading packet is available at the CSI’s bookstore.

Suggested Readings: Conrad Phillip Kottak. 2008. Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to
Cultural Anthropology, Sixth Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Additional readings may be added during the course of the semester.

Calendar

Week I (January 28): Introduction

No readings

Week II (February 2 and 4): The Scope of Cultural Anthropology

1. Kottak, Mirror for Humanity, pp. 1-21 (“What is Anthropology?”).
2. Kuklick, A New History of Anthropology, pp. 35-51, (“North American Traditions in
Anthropology: The Historiographic Baseline”). Chapter by Regna Darnell.

Week III (February 9 and 11): Ethnography, Ethics, Interpretation, and Objectivity
1. Kottak, Mirror for Humanity, pp. 23-39 (“Ethics and Methods”).
2. Thomas, Skull Wars, pp.77-90 (“Collecting Your Fossils Alive”).
3. Endicott and Welsch, Taking Sides Turner, pp. 324-345 (“The Yanomami and the Ethics of
Anthropological Practice”). Essays by Turner and Hagen et al.

Week IV (February 16): Protection of Human Research Subjects; Ethnography and

Education
1. Register and complete CITI modules (http://www.citiprogram.org).
2. Willis, Learning to Labor, pp. 1-7, 171-193.

No class on February 18

Week V (February 23 and 25): Debates about Culture and Cultural Relativism
1. Crehan, Gramsci, Culture, and Anthropology, pp. 38-57.
2. Endicott and Welsch, Taking Sides, pp. 47-68 (“Should Anthropologists Abandon the Concept of
Culture?”). Essays by Abu-Lughod and Brumann.
3. Endicott and Welsch, Taking Sides, pp. 359-378 (“Should Anthropologists Work to Eliminate the
Practice of Female Circumcision?”). Essays by Salmon and Skinner.

Week VI (March 2 and 4): Ideology and Religion

1. Siskind, Janet. 1992. “The Invention of Thanksgiving.” Critique of Anthropology 12: 167-191.

First Essay Due on March 4.

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Week VII (March 9 and 11): Race and Ethnicity

1. Allan Goodman. 2005. “Two Questions About Race.” In Is Race Real? A Web Forum Organized
by the Social Science Research Council http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Goodman/
2. American Anthropological Association, “Official Statement on ‘Race.’”
http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm
3. Brace, C. Loring. 2000. “Does Race Exist? An Antagonist’s Perspective.” Nova Online
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/brace.html
4. Lacey, Marc. 2004. “A Decade After Massacres, Rwanda Outlaws Ethnicity.” NY Times.

Week VIII (March 16 and 18): Families, Kinship, and Marriage

1. Lavenda and Schultz, Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology, pp. 153-178 (“Relatedness” and
“Marriage and Family”).

Week IX (March 23 and 25): Gender Relations

1. Endicott and Welsch, Taking Sides, pp. 169-185 (“Do Sexually Egalitarian Societies Exist?).
Essays by Lepowsky and Goldberg.
2. Nagel, Joane. 1998. Masculinity and Nationalism: Gender and Sexuality in the Making of
Nations. Ethnic and Racial Studies 21(2):242-269

Spring Recess March 29-April 5

Week X (April 6 and 8) Politics and Economy

1. Lavenda and Schultz, Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology, pp. 109-152 (“Political
Anthropology” and “Economic Anthropology”).

Week XI (April 13 and 15): History, Power, and Culture

1. Roseberry, Anthropologies and Histories, pp. 31-54 (“Marxism and Culture”).
2. Thomas, Skull Wars, pp. 91-101 (“Is Real History Embedded in Oral History?”).

Week XII (April 20 and 22): Globalization, Colonialism, and Development

1. Wolf, Europe and the People without History, pp. 3-23 (“Introduction”).

Week XIII (April 27 and 29): Indigenous Rights, Social Movements. and Change
1. Turner, Terence. 1993. “The Kayapo Resistance.” Reprinted in Conformity and Conflict:
Readings in Cultural Anthropology, James Spradley and David W. McCurdy (eds.), pp. 391-409.

Week XIV (May 4 and 6): Transnationalism, Cultural Hybridity, and Immigration
1. Nina Glick Schiller, et al. 1995. “From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational
Migration.” Anthropological Quarterly 68(1):48-63.
2. Lopez, The Farmworkers’ Journey, pp. 1-10 (“Chapter One: The Farmworkers’ Journey”).

Second Essay Due on May 6.

Week XV (May 11 and 13): Anthropology and Popular Culture; Concluding Thoughts.
1. Films: Krippendorf’s Tribe and The Nanny Diaries.