Fall 2003, ANTH 0780, CRN 35171
Wednesday: 6:00 - 8:30 pm Room: 203 FFA
Instructor: Angela Lockard Reed
Office: Department of Anthropology, 3B21 Posvar Hall
Website: www.pitt.edu/~aklst6
Email: aklst6@pitt.edu, this is the best way to reach me
Phone: 412-648-7527 (during office hours) or 412-648-7500 (main office, leave a message)
Office Hours: By appointment
Announcements:
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology:
Exam 1 average: 80%
Exam 2 average: 81%
Final average: 73%
Final grade class average: 81%
Course Description and Goals:
This course is designed to introduce students to the methods, theories, and concepts of cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropology is a social science that provides a comprehensive understanding of human diversity and helps us understand what it means to be human. In this course we will focus on the basic concepts used by anthropologists in order to compare and contrast how living people with different cultural traditions conduct their everyday life through language, economy, family life and kinship, religion, and other institutions.
We will build our understanding of human diversity by working toward a series of goals. By the end of this course you will be able to do the following:
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Define basic anthropological concepts and apply them to everyday life. |
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Identify, discuss and compare, using relevant examples, different cultural customs related to the family, economy, politics, and religion. |
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Describe some theories anthropologists have developed to study human behavior. |
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Observe cultural interactions and conduct ethnographic interviews in a culturally respectful way, and summarize findings clearly and effectively in written form. |
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Question commonly held assumptions about what is "normal" or "natural" in human experience. |
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Discuss the way anthropology has been used to work on contemporary problems. |
Click here to link to the Course Schedule
Prerequisites:
This course is open to all Pitt students and has no prerequisites. Since all humans belong to a culture, practice specific customs, and carry a wealth of knowledge obtained through life experiences, everyone should be able to easily grasp many of the concepts that will be discussed in class. Your classmates will be very diverse, made up of majors and non-majors, and people with different cultural backgrounds. This diversity will enhance our classroom discussion and be beneficial to you for study groups as well. To ensure the quality of our discussions be sure to show respect for your classmates. It is okay to disagree with your classmates in a tactful manner but you should give everyone a chance to express their opinion. At times we will be discussing sensitive material such as religion, sex, and death. If you feel you will be unable to consider these topics in an open-minded manner, you should consider dropping the class.
Texts:
Required books for this course include a textbook, and three ethnographies. All books are available for purchase at the Book Center. A copy of each of the ethnographies is on reserve at the Hillman Library.
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Cultural Anthropology (Tenth edition) by William Haviland, 2002. Wadsworth Publishing. |
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Parallel Worlds: An Anthropologist and a Writer Encounter Africa, by Alma Gottlieb and Phillip Graham, 1994. University of Chicago Press. |
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The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea by Annette B. Weiner, 1988. International Thomson Publishing. |
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Tecpan, Guatemala: A Modern Maya Town in Global and Local Context, by Edward F. Fischer and Carol Elaine Hendrickson, 2002. Westview Press. |
Study questions for each ethnography are provided in the Course Schedule.
Course Requirements:
Grades for this class are based on two midterm examinations, three essays, class attendance/participation, and a final examination. A final grade will be assigned on the basis of your total point score at the end of the course.
To facilitate your studies, an outline for each lecture will be provided. Copies may be found after each lecture in the Course Schedule.
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Exams will cover required readings, films/videos, and material discussed during lectures. Exams may consist of a combination of multiple choice, short answer, and/or essay questions. The exam dates are listed in the syllabus and can only be missed under extreme circumstances (and supported with appropriate documentation). If you are granted an alternate test date it will be an essay exam. | ||||||||||||||||
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The essay assignments are varied in order to achieve the objectives of the course. Essay 1 will require observation skills and, in a limited way, recreates what ethnographers do when they visit a new community to do research. Essay 2 will require interviews and simulates the use of informants in ethnographic research. Essay 3 involves a comparison of the cultural customs discussed in the ethnographies we will be reading. Your essay assignments are given to you well in advance, therefore, late essays will be marked down five points per day the assignment is late (for example, if you earn a 25, it will be marked 20). No late essays will be accepted after two days past the due date. | ||||||||||||||||
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Students are expected to participate in class. Obviously class participation requires coming to class prepared. Class participation can take various forms including asking questions during class; participating in class or group discussions; visiting the professor during office hours to discuss class-related topics or assignments; and attending weekly lectures. During six randomly selected classes during the semester, students will be asked to submit written questions or written answers to discussion questions. These submissions are worth five points each (for a total of 30 points). The remaining 10 points for class participation/attendance will be assessed by the instructor at the end of the semester based on the student's overall participation in the class. For each class missed beyond two lectures, five class participation/attendance points will be deducted. | ||||||||||||||||
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Summary of Requirements:
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Grading Scale:
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Policy on Cheating and Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious offense and violates university policy. It can take many forms such as copying or paraphrasing material from a book, article, or other written source without citing it; representing someone else's ideas as your own without citing it; or turning in someone else's work and passing it off as your own. Pitt's Academic Integrity webpage (http://www.fcas.pitt.edu/academicintegrity.html) can provide more information. If anyone is caught cheating or plagiarizing during an exam or on an essay it will be confiscated and a zero grade will be given for it. |
Other Information:
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If you are a student requiring special accommodations, meet with the Office of Disability Resources and Services (412-648-7890, http://www.drs.pitt.edu/) and your professor as soon as possible. |
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Students are also encouraged to take advantage of the services provided by the Writing Center (412-624-6556, http://www.pitt.edu/~upglrc/writingcenter.htm). |
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The university provides a study skills workshop through the Learning Skills Center (412-648-7920, http://www.lsc.pitt.edu) for students who are interested in learning about how to take notes, take tests, and manage their study time. |
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Cell phones and beepers must be turned off before you enter the classroom in order to show respect for both the instructor and your fellow students. |
