Approaches to Culture:
Graduate Seminar in Anthropological Theory
Gordon Mathews
This course is designed to give postgraduate students a solid foundation for
understanding cultural theory in anthropology. The readings are sometimes long,
but they are all important in coming to understand anthropological theory, in all its
complexities.
1 The course requirements are as follows:
1) A 10-12 page paper, due November 8, on this question: “Can anthropological
theory be scientific? Or is the effort to be scientific misguided? Explore this in terms
of the history of anthropological theory.” This will make up 40% of your grade.
2) A 16-18 page paper, due December 13. This paper should discuss five of the
different approaches to culture that we have considered within the context of your
own prospective anthropological research (or for M.A. students, any topic of interest).
This paper will give you the chance to integrate what you have learned in the course
with your own research. This will be 60% of your grade.
Course Topics
1) Introduction: Why Anthropological Theory?
Classical Theory
2) Seeing Through Society (Marx, Weber, Durkheim)
3) Cultural Evolution and Cultural Relativism (Morgan, Tylor, Boas, Kroeber)
4) Comprehending “the Other” (Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard, Mead)
5) Society, Culture, Mind: How Are We Molded? (Radcliffe-Brown, Benedict, Levi-Strauss)
Contemporary Theory
6) Contemporary Cultural Evolution (White, Harris, Diamond)
7) The Turn to Interpretation (Turner, Geertz)
8) Postmodernism and Critical Advocacy (Clifford, Rosaldo, Scheper-Hughes)
9) Culture, Biology, and Gender (Wilson, Cronk, Ortner)
10) Culture and Globalization (Mintz, Hannerz, Appadurai, Sahlins)
Thinking With Theory
11) Culture and Self/Self-Presentation (Geertz, Strauss, Goffman, Berreman)
12) Culture, Practice, and Power (Ortner, Berger and Luckmann, Bourdieu)
13) Why We Can’t Comprehend the World (Marx, Foucault, Becker)
14) Cultural Identity: Who Are We, Anyway? (Hall, Barber, Gupta, Mathews)
1 Two of the books listed in the syllabus below, Jerry D. Moore’s (2004) book entitled Visions of
Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists and Readings for a History of
Anthropological Theory edited by Paul A. Erickson and Liam D. Murphy (2001), are available for
purchase from the bookstore here on campus.
Sept. 6: Introduction: Why Anthropological Theory?
-- “Theory in Cultural Anthropology,” in Robert H. Lavenda and Emily A. Schultz, Core
Concepts in Cultural Anthropology (Mountain View CA: Mayfield, 2000), p. 185-203.
GN316.L39 2000
Part One: Classical Theory
Sept. 13: Seeing Through Society
--E. C. Cuff, W. W. Sharrock, and D. W. Francis, “Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile
Durkheim,” in Perspectives in Sociology, (London: Routledge, fourth edition,
1998), p. 15-20, 23-32, 41-50, 56-59, 64-71, 75-79. HM586.C84 1998
--Karl Marx, “The German Ideology,” in Robert Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels
Reader (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978), p. 146-175. HX39.5.A224 1978
--Max Weber, “Introduction,” “Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism,” in The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (New York: Charles Scribners’ Sons,
1958), p. 13-31, 155-183. BR115.E3W4 1958
--Emile Durkheim, “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life,” in W. Lessa and E.
Vogt, eds., Reader in Comparative Religion : An Anthropological Approach (New York:
Harper and Row, 1979), p. 27-35. BL80.2.L44 1979
Sept. 20: Cultural Evolution and Cultural Relativism
--L.L. Langness, The Study of Culture, (Novato, CA: Chandler & Sharp,
revised edition, 1987), p. 13-36, 50-58. GN17.L36 1987
--Jerry D. Moore, “Tylor,” “Morgan,” “Boas,” Kroeber,” in Visions of Culture: An
Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists (Walnut Creek, CA:
Altamira Press, 2004), p. 5-45, 65-77. GN33.M587 1997
--Edward Burnett Tylor, “The Science of Culture,” Lewis Henry Morgan, “Ethnical
Periods,” Franz Boas, “The Methods of Ethnology,” A. L. Kroeber, “What
Anthropology is About,” in Paul A. Erickson and Liam D. Murphy, eds., Readings
for a History of Anthropological Theory (Peterborough CA: Broadview, 2001), p.
26-42, 43-55, 121-129, 141-154. GN33.R4 2001
Sept. 27: Comprehending “the Other”
--Jerry D. Moore, “Benedict,” “Mead,” “Malinowski,” “Radcliffe-Brown,” Evans-
Pritchard, ”Levi-Strauss,” in Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological
Theories and Theorists (Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 2004), p. 78-87, 104-
116, 134-173, 231-246.
--Bronislaw Malinowski, “The Subject, Method and Scope of this Inquiry,” from
Argonauts of the Western Pacific, in Paul Erickson and Liam Murphy, eds., Readings for
a History of Anthropological Theory (Peterborough CA: Broadview, 2001), p. 206-227.
--E. E. Evans-Pritchard, “Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events,” in William A.
Lessa and Evan Z. Vogt, eds ., Reader in Comparative Religion: An
Anthropological Approach (Harper and Row, 1979), p. 362-366
--Margaret Mead, “Introduction to Coming of Age in Samoa,” in Paul A.
Erickson and Liam D. Murphy, eds., Readings for a History of Anthropological
Theory (Peterborough CA: Broadview, 2001), p. 155-162
--Derek Freeman, “Mead’s Misconstruing of Samoa,” in Paul Erickson and Liam
Murphy, eds., Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory, p. 454-465.
Oct. 4: Society, Culture, Mind: How Are We Molded?
--L.L. Langness, The Study of Culture, (Novato, CA: Chandler & Sharp,
revised edition, 1987), p. 74-98, 99-108.
--A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, “On Joking Relationships,” “On Social Structure,” in
Structure and Function in Primitive Society (New York: Free Press, 1965), p. 90-104,
188-204. GN490.R3 1965
--Ruth Benedict, “The Integration of Culture,” in Patterns of Culture (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1934), p. 45-56. GN400.B4
--Claude Levi-Strauss, “The Structural Study of Myth,” in Structural
Anthropology (New York: Anchor Doubleday, 1967), p. 202-228. GN320.L453
--Edmund Leach, “Structuralism in Social Anthropology,” in P. Erickson and L.
Murphy, eds., Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory (Broadview, 2001),
p. 313-331
Part Two: Contemporary Theory
Oct. 11 Holiday
CHANGED DATE Oct. 12: Contemporary Cultural Evolution
--Jerry D. Moore, “White,” “Steward,” “Harris,” in Visions of Culture: An
Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists (Walnut Creek, CA:
Altamira Press, 2004), p. 179-215.
--Leslie White, “Energy and the Evolution of Culture,” in P. Bohannan and M.
Glazer, eds, High Points in Anthropology, 2d edition (New York, Alfred A. Knopf,
1988), p. 337-355. GN17.H54 1998
--Marvin Harris: “Culture and Nature,” “Murders in Eden,” “The Origin of War,”
“The Origin of Pristine States,” “The Cannibal Kingdom,” “The Hydraulic Trap,”
“The Origin of Capitalism,” “The Industrial Bubble” in Cannibals and Kings
(New York, Random House: 1977), p. 3-7, 11-25, 47-64, 101-123, 147-166,
233-247, 251-267, 271-284. GN357.5.H37 1977b
--Jared Diamond, “Yali’s Question,” “Collision at Cajamarca,” “Farmer Power,”
“History’s Haves and Have-nots,” in Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History
of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years (London: Vintage 1998), p.13-25, 67-
81, 85-103. HM626.D48 1998
Oct. 18: The Turn to Interpretation
--Jerry D. Moore, “Turner,” “Geertz,” in Visions of Culture: An Introduction to
Anthropological Theories and Theorists (Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press,
2004), p. 247-269.
--Victor Turner, “Symbols in Ndembu Ritual,” in Paul A. Erickson and Liam D.
Murphy, eds., Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory (Peterborough CA:
Broadview, 2001), p. 357-382
--Clifford Geertz, “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture,”
“Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese Example,” “Deep Play: Notes on the
Balinese Cockfight,” in The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973),
p. 3-33, 142-170, 412-454. GN315.G36
--“Clifford Geertz: Unabsolute Truths,” New York Times Magazine, April 9, 1995, p.
44-47
Oct. 25: Postmodernism and Critical Advocacy,
--James Clifford, “Introduction: Partial Truths,” from Writing Culture, in Paul A.
Erickson and Liam D. Murphy, eds., Readings for a History of Anthropological
Theory (Peterborough CA: Broadview, 2001), p. 598-630
--Renato Rosaldo, “The Erosion of Classic Norms,” in Culture and Truth
(Boston: Beacon, 1989), p. 25-44. GN345.R667 1993b
--Salzman, Philip Carl, “Critical Advocacy: Feminism and Postmodernism,”
Understanding Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theory (Prospect
Heights IL: Waveland, 2001), p. 113-125. GN357.S254 2001
--“Objectivity and Militancy: A Debate,” articles by Roy Andrade and Nancy
Scheper-Hughes; commentary. Current Anthropology , vol. 16, no. 13 (1995):
399-441.
Nov. 1: Culture, Biology and Gender
--E.O. Wilson, “The Morality of the Gene,” [from Sociobiology: The New
Synthesis] in R. Jon McGee and Richard L.Warms, eds., Anthropological
Theory: An Introductory History (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 2000) p. 395-400.
GN33.M33 2000
--Marshall Sahlins, “Introduction,” “Critique of the New Sociobiology,” The Use
and Abuse of Biology, in Paul A. Erickson and Liam D. Murphy, eds.,
Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory (Peterborough CA:
Broadview, 2001), p. 441-453.
--Lee Cronk, Preface, “The Blob,” “First Contact,” “An Infectious Idea, in That
Complex Whole: Culture and The Evolution of Human Behavior (Boulder CO:
Westview, 1999), p. ix-xv, 39-88. GN365.9.C76 1999
--Sherry Ortner, “Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?” in Woman,
Culture, and Society, M. Z. Rosaldo and L. Lamphere, eds. (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1974), p. 67-87. HQ1154.R68
Nov. 8: Culture and Globalization
--Robert H. Lavenda and Emily A. Schultz, “Globalization and the Culture of
Capitalism,” Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology (Mountain View CA: Mayfield,
2000), p. 169-183. GN316.L39
--Sidney Mintz, “Introduction,” “Power,” “Eating and Being,” in Sweetness and
Power (London: Penguin, 1985), p. xv-xxx, 151-214. GT2869.M56 1998
--Ulf Hannerz, “The Local and the Global: Continuity and Change,” “The
Global Ecumene as a Landscape of Modernity,” “The Withering Away of the
Nation?” in Transnational Connections (London: Routledge, 1996), p. 17-29,
44-55, 81-90. CB428.H365 1996
--Arjun Appadurai, “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural
Economy,” in M. Featherstone, ed., Global Culture, (London: Sage, 1990), p.
295-310. HM621.G56 1990
--Marshall Sahlins, “Good-bye to Triste Tropique: Ethnography in the Context
of Modern World History,” in Robert Borofsky. ed., Assessing Cultural
Anthropology (New York : McGraw-Hill, 1994), p. 377-395. GN316.A83 1994
Part Three: Thinking With Theory
Nov. 15: Culture, Self, and Self-Presentation
--Clifford Geertz, “From the Native’s Point of View”: On the Nature of
Anthropological Understanding,” in Local Knowledge: Further Essays in
Interpretive Anthropology (New York: Basic Books, 1983), p. 55-70. GN316.G43
--Claudia Strauss and Naomi Quinn, “A Cognitive/Cultural Anthropology,” in Robert
Borofsky. ed., Assessing Cultural Anthropology (New York : McGraw-Hill, 1994), p.
284-297.
--Erving Goffman, “Performances,” in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
(London: Penguin, 1959), p. 28-82. HM1051.G6
--Erving Goffman, “On Face-Work,” in Interaction Ritual (New York: Pantheon, 1967),
p. 5-45. HM1111.G59 1982
--Gerald Berreman, “Prologue: Behind Many Masks: Ethnography and Impression
Management,” in Hindus of the Himalayas (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993),
xvii-lvii. DS486.S56B4 1993
CHANGED DATE Nov. 24: Culture, Practice, and Power: How We Shape the
Society That Shapes Us
--Jerry D. Moore, “Ortner,” “Bourdieu,” in Visions of Culture: An Introduction to
Anthropological Theories and Theorists (Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press,
2004), p. 303-337.
--Sherry Ortner, “Theory in Anthropology Since the Sixties,” in Paul A.
Erickson and Liam D. Murphy, eds., Readings for a History of Anthropological
Theory (Peterborough CA: Broadview, 2001), p. 642-687.
--Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, “Society as Objective Reality” (part), in
The Social Construction of Reality (New York: Anchor Doubleday 1966), p. 47-91.
BD175.B4 1967
--Pierre Bourdieu, “Structures and the Habitus,” in Outline of a Theory of
Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 72-95.
DT298.K2B6
--Richard Jenkins, Pierre Bourdieu (London: Routledge, 1992), p. 66-102.
H4477.F8J46 1992
Nov. 29: Why We Can’t Comprehend the World
--Karl Marx, “The Fetishism of Commodities,” in R. Tucker, ed., The Marx-
Engels Reader (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978), p. 319-329.
--Michel Foucault, “The Body of the Condemned,” “Docile Bodies,” “The Means
of Correct Training,” “Panopticism,” “Complete and Austere Institutions,”
“Illegalities and Delinquency,” in Discipline and Punish, reprinted in P. Rabinow,
ed. The Foucault Reader (New York: Pantheon, 1984), p. 170-238. B2430.F68
--Ernest Becker, “Self-Esteem,” “Culture: The Relativity of Hero-Systems,” in
The Birth and Death of Meaning (New York: The Free Press, 1971), p. 65-74,
112-129. BD450.B39 1971
--Roy Baumeister, “Epilogue,” in Meanings of Life (New York: Guilford Press,
1991), p. 357-370. BF778.B32
Dec. 6: Cultural Identity: Who Are We, Anyway?
--Stuart Hall, “The Question of Cultural Identity,” in S. Hall, D. Held, and T. McGrew,
eds., Modernity and its Futures (Cambridge, UK: Polity, 1992), p. 274-316.
HM831.M62 1992
--Benjamin R. Barber, “Introduction,” “Essential Jihad: Islam and
Fundamentalism,” in Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are
Reshaping the World (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), p. 3-20, 205-216.
HM681.B37 1995
--Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson, “Beyond ‘Culture’: Space, Identity, and the
Politics of Difference,” in J. Inda and R. Rosaldo, eds., The Anthropology of
Globalization: A Reader (Malden, MA: Blackwell), p. 65-80. GN27.A673 2002
--Gordon Mathews, “On the Meanings of Culture,” “Searching for Home in the
Cultural Supermarket,” in Global Culture / Individual Identity: Searching for Home
in the Cultural Supermarket (London: Routledge, 2000), p. 1-23, p. 177-197.
HM753.M37 2000 |
狗仔卡
发表于 2006-8-1 21:15:09
提升卡
沉默卡
变色卡
千斤顶
显身卡