Selected Readings of Classic Ethnography

HD211
Fall 2006
Monday 10:10-12:00
Room D602

Dr. Thomas Abel

tabel@mail.tcu.edu.tw
D718
856-5301 Ex. 7665

n Tin M Lo-sh

Objectives:
The main objective of this course is to learn about ethnography. Ethnography
is research about some people somewhere in the world, conducted by an
anthropologist (sometimes called ethnographic fieldwork). Ethnography is
also the book that is written by an anthropologist about their research.
Anthropologists do ethnography and they write an ethnography.
Each week I will lecture about a classic ethnography written by a famous
anthropologist. You will learn the typical format and content of ethnography,
and how that has changed since anthropologists began doing fieldwork. In
addition, as you learn the history of ethnographic writing, you will become
familiar with the history of theory in anthropology.
The second objective of this course is to improve your English. You will
improve your anthropological English vocabulary, and you will have the
experience of taking a class in English.

Readings:
Students will buy a copy of the class PowerPoint presentations. Please bring
these to class each week. My lectures will follow the presentations and you
can use them to help you listen and understand the lectures.

Assignments and Grades:

There are no exams.
Weekly Vocabulary Quizzes

40%

The purpose of the vocabulary quiz is:

1. Improve your anthropological vocabulary in English
2. Prepare you to listen to my lecture and understand English
Vocabulary Quiz procedure:
1. I will give you a new vocabulary list each week.
2. You must learn the vocabulary list before the next week.
3. I will give you a short vocabulary quiz each week (starting on the
second week)

Translations and Reading

The purpose of this assignment is:

10%

1. To let you hear a little of the original ethnography

2. To improve your English reading and listening
Procedure:
1. Each week I will give one or two students a short section of text from
the ethnography (1-2 paragraphs)
2. You will read and understand the paragraph in English
3. You will translate the paragraph into Chinese
4. The next week one student will read the text to the class in English(!)
5. Another student will read the text in Chinese

Final Project

50%

Perform ethnographic fieldwork in the Hualien county area

Make a PowerPoint presentation for the class
You can use video, photographs, voice recordings
I will discuss some possible subjects before Week 9
You can propose other projects
You will give me a title of your project in writing on Week 9
Part 1 Group project
30%
PowerPoint presentation, in English(!)
Part 2 Individual project
10%
Short written report about your contribution to the project, in English(!)
Part 3 Grade from partners
10%
You will give each member of your team a grade, which shows that
they contributed to the project. Your average score from your partners
will count 10% of your grade.

Attendance
Students should always attend all their classes. This is especially true for this
class. One of the objectives of the class is to improve your knowledge of
English vocabulary, but also your English listening ability. If you come to
class every week, bring your notes, and make a real effort to follow the
lectures, your listening ability will improve. If you do not come to class you will
miss this opportunity and the chance to learn about the classics of
anthropology, which will help you in all your future anthropology courses. You
will also miss the quizzes, and your grade will suffer.

Schedule:
Week 1:
Introduction

Week 2:
Functionalism
The Essentials of the Kula by Bronislaw Malinowski (1922)

Week 3:
Culture and Personality
Psychological Types in the Cultures of the Southwest by Ruth Benedict (1930)

Week 4 (Class on Saturday):

Cultural Ecology and Neoevolutionary Thought
The Patrilineal Band by Julian Steward (1936)

Week 5:
Neomaterialism: Evolutionary, Functionalist, Ecological, and Marxist
The Cultural Ecology of Indias Sacred Cattle by Marvin Harris (1966)

Week 6:
Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology
Symbols in Ndembu Ritual by Victor Turner (1967)

Week 7:
Neomaterialism: Evolutionary, Functionalist, Ecological, and Marxist
Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations among a New Guinea People by
Roy A. Rappaport (1967)

Week 8:
Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology
Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight by Clifford Geertz (1973)

Week 9:
Submit project descriptions

Week 10:
Postmodernism
Grief and a Headhunters Rage by Renato Rosaldo (1989)

Week 11:
Neomaterialism: Evolutionary, Functionalist, Ecological, and Marxist
From Jibaro to Crack Dealer: Confronting the Restructuring of Capitalism in El
Barrio by Philippe Bourgois (1995)

Week 12:
First Group Project
The Dobe Ju/hoansi (Pp. 1-60)

Week 13:
Second Group Project
The Dobe Ju/hoansi (Pp. 61-92)

Week 14:
Third Group Project
The Dobe Ju/hoansi (Pp. 93-124)

Week 15:
Fourth Group Project
The Dobe Ju/hoansi (Pp. 125-167)

Week 16:
No Class New Years Day

Week 17:
Fifth Group Project
The Dobe Ju/hoansi (Pp. 167-end)

Week 18:
Turn in Individual Project Reports