Anthropology of

Complexity and
Inequality
Graduate Seminar

Time: T 1:00-3:45
Location: TBD
Instructor: Zoe Rawski
Email: Zoe.Rawski@utsa.edu
Office: MH 3.04.17
Office Hours: By appointment

Course Description:

Welcome to the Anthropology of Complexity and Inequality! In this graduate

seminar course, we will explore issues of sociopolitical inequality and complexity through
an anthropological lens. These issues will primarily be addressed through the use of
ethnographic and archaeological data, thus making a diachronic, cross-cultural perspective
possible. Relevance to student research is of the utmost importance to this course, and as
such a wide variety of concepts and theories will be introduced.

Course Goals and Objectives:

This seminar aims to provide a foundational understanding of anthropological

approaches to the topics of complexity and inequality across a broad regional scale.
Students will learn past and present approaches to the topic in order to apply these
theoretical paradigms to their own graduate research in the topic.
Upon completion of this course students will have a range of comparative data for
use in their own research regarding complexity and inequality in the archaeological and
ethnographic record. Students will be able to describe and compare prevailing theoretical
paradigms from neoevolutionary approaches and more recent non-linear and heterarchical
understandings of the topic. Students will also be familiar with relevant ethnographic as
well as archaeological examples in order to best understand their own region of study, as
will be demonstrated by independent, student driven research conducted under the
guidance of the professor.

Required Materials:

During this course, we will be reading a wide variety of books. As this is an upper
division graduate course, the reading list is quite extensive. On average, we will be reading
one book per week. When possible, these materials (and additional articles) will be
provided to students via the Blackboard Learn website. Students should purchase all books
listed on the reading list unless otherwise noted. These books are available at the campus
bookstore as well as through various online retailers such as Amazon and others.

The reading list in order of use is as follows (NOTE: readings with asterisks will be
provided on Blackboard Learn):

***The Archaeology of Inequality, by Randall McGuire, 1991. ISBN: 9780631179597.***

The History of Sexuality: Vol. 1, by Michel Foucault, 1990. ISBN: 978-0679724698.

Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige, Sarah Milledge Nelson, 2004.
ISBN: 978-0759104969.
Love in the Time of AIDS: Inequality, Gender, and Rights in South Africa, by Mark
Hunter, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-253-22239-8.

Ideology, Power and Prehistory, by Daniel Miller and Christopher Tilley, 2008. ISBN:
9780521090896.
Religion and Power: Divine Kingship in the Ancient World and Beyond, by Nicole
Maria Brisch, 2008. ISBN: 1885923554.

Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report, by Saba Mahmood, 2015.

ISBN: 9780691153285.
***Selections from Capital, Vol. 1, Karl Marx, 1867. ISBN: 9780486138350***.
Europe and the People Without History, by Eric R. Wolf, 2010. ISBN: 9780520268180.

Sociocultural Evolution: Calculation and Contingency, by Bruce Trigger, 1998. ISBN:

978-1557869777.

***Selections from Alternatives of Social Evolution: Second edition, by Nikolay Kradin,

A. Korotayev, and D. Bondarenko, 2011. ISBN: 978-3844324334.***
Heterarchy and the Analysis of Complex Societies, by Robert M. Ehrenreich, Carole L.
Crumley, and Janet E. Levy, 1995. ISBN: 978-0913167731.
Argonauts of the Western Pacific, by Bronislaw Malinowski, 1922. ISBN: 9780881330847.

How Chiefs Come to Power: The Political Economy in Prehistory, by Timothy Earle,
1997. ISBN: 978-0804728560.
Theory from the South: Or, How Euro-America is Evolving Toward Africa, by Jean
Comaroff and John L. Comaroff, 2012. ISBN: 978-1594517655.

Decolonizing Anthropology: Moving Further Toward an Anthropology for Liberation,

by Faye V. Harrison, 1997. ISBN: 978-0913167830.

Course Requirements:
Weekly Discussion Papers (10x at
5% each)
Seminar Discussion Leading (2x at
10% each)
Final Research Paper, including:
Abstract (5%)
Literature Review (10%)
Final Paper (15%)

50%
20%
30%

Weekly Discussion Papers (50%): Each

week, students will be required to submit a short paper discussing the weeks
reading materials. These papers should be 4 pages in length, double spaced. These
papers should present a critical analysis of the assigned reading and, where
relevant, incorporate material previously discussed in class for comparison
purposes. These analyses must include a brief synthesis of the reading, as well as
your personal critiques and praises of that material. All discussion papers must be
submitted via Blackboard Learn by 5 P.M. the night before class. Late discussion
papers will be docked 5% for every hour they are late. Discussion papers will not be
required on the first or last day of class, nor will they be due when any major
assignment is due. This leaves a total of 12 weeks requiring papers, however
students may choose which weeks they wish to write as long as 10 papers have
been completed by the end of the semester. If more than 10 papers are submitted,
the 10 highest grades will be used to calculate the final grade.

Discussion Leading (20%): Twice during the semester, you and a partner will
serve as the discussion leader for our seminar. As discussion leader, you are
expected to provide handouts to the class in hard copy illustrating some of the key
points you took away from the reading, as well as keys topics for discussion. You are
expected to produce, for yourself, a significant quantity of discussion questions that
will guide our conversation and ensure a lively discussion for the entirety of the
class period.
Final Research Paper (30%): At the end of the semester, students will submit a
final research paper on a topic of their choosing. This topic should tie course themes
(and readings) to individual student research. In order to ensure student progress,
students will be required to meet a number of benchmarks along the way. This
includes the submission of a short (200 word) abstract describing the topic of their
choosing for professor feedback and approval. Once the abstract has been approved,
students will be required to submit a 10-page literature review synthesizing course
readings with outside literature relevant to their topic. Finally, students will submit
a completed research paper, of 20-25 double spaced pages in length.

Course Policies:

Use of technology in the classroom: During our class, I will refrain from using my
cell phone for texting, checking emails, or any other purposes. I ask that you show
me the same courtesy and do not use your cell phone during class. If you have to
take a call in case of an emergency, please exit the classroom to do so in order to
minimize the distraction to the rest of the class. In this same vein, I ask that all
laptop use be restricted to class purposes such as taking notes. If either of these
agreements are violated, and you are found using your laptop inappropriately or
using your cellphone in any capacity, you will receive a warning. If I have to ask
again, you will be referred to student conduct.

Late work: In this class, the policy better late than never always applies. Even an
extremely low grade on an assignment will do less damage to your course grade
than a zero will. As discussed above, late weekly discussion papers will be docked
5% for every hour they are late. This is intended to ensure that I will have time to
grade all discussion papers before our class meeting the next day. For the final
research paper and its associated benchmarks, 10% will be deducted from the grade
for every 24 hours that it is late.
Extra credit: Extra credit assignments may be assigned at the discretion of the
instructor. If an extra credit opportunity is given to any student, it will be made
available for all students.

Academic integrity and classroom behavior: All students are required to adhere
to the standards put forth by the UTSA Student Code of Conduct. This document
covers all issues of student conduct, including academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and
other inappropriate activities in the classroom. If any student is caught cheating on
an exam or assignment, they will receive an automatic zero on that grade. If the
offense is repeated, a zero will be assigned for the course grade. In order to avoid
any unintentional violations of this code, I encourage you to review the document in
its entirety, as your continued enrollment in this course will serve as your
agreement to the rules included therein. The entire document can be found here:
http://catalog.utsa.edu/informationbulletin/appendices/studentcodeofconduct/

Course Schedule:

*NOTE: This schedule is subject to change at the instructors discretion*

Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
FINAL EXAM
PERIOD

Topic

Introduction to
Inequality

Concepts of Power
Axes of Inequality:
Gender
Axes of Inequality:
Gender
Axes of Inequality:
Religion
Axes of Inequality:
Religion
Axes of Inequality:
Religion
Axes of Inequality:
Economics
Axes of Inequality:
Economics
Evolution of
Societies
Alternative
Pathways to
Complexity
Alternative
Pathways to
Complexity
Social Complexity
Social Complexity
Decolonizing
Anthropology
Decolonizing
Anthropology

Reading

McGuire 1991

Foucault 1990
Nelson 2004
Hunter 2010

Miller and Tilley

2008
Brisch 2008
Mahmood 2015

Assignment Due
Nothing! Come
prepared to
discuss
Weekly Paper
Weekly Paper
Weekly Paper

Weekly Paper

Abstracts Due

Weekly Paper

Marx 1867

Weekly Paper

Trigger 1998

Weekly Paper

Wolf 2010

Kradin et al. 2011

Ehrenreich et al.
1995

Malinowski 1922
Earle 1997
Comaroff &
Comaroff 2012
Harrison 1997

Weekly Paper

Literature Reviews
Due
Weekly Paper

Weekly Paper
Weekly Paper
Weekly Paper

Nothing! Come
prepared to
discuss
Final Research
Papers Due