NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY

ANT 309W Cultural Anthropology (3)
      Proseminar in sociocultural anthropology for majors and minors.         (Permission of instructor required.)

TEXTS:
   Required:

           History of Ideas:
              Moore, Jerry D., 2004, Visions of Culture: Anthropological Theories and Theorists, 2nd Ed.
                                        Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
          Ethnographies:
                Downs, James F., 1972 The Navajo. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc.
                Dubisch, Jill , 1995 In a Different Place: Pilgrimage, Gender and Politics at a Greek Island Shrine.
                        Princeton University Press.
                Small, Cathy A., 1997, Voyages: From Tongan villages to American suburbs.
                        Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press.

         Ethnographic Methods:
              Bailey, Carol A., 2007, A Guide to Qualitative Field Research, 2nd Ed.
                                        Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press / Sage Publications, Inc.
   Recommended:
         Central Concepts
             Lavenda Robert and Emily A.Schultz, Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology., 3rd Edition
     
   Supplementary articles will be identified and required for the course, and will be placed in Vista shell.                 

CALENDAR and ASSIGNMENTS

OBJECTIVES:

         This course constitutes the core course in sociocultural anthropology, a companion course to the core courses in the other three sub-disciplines of anthropology. Students will read and discuss works on the history of ideas in socio-cultural anthropology,the methods by which sociocultural data is collected, the ethics constraining this processs, and how the findings of such investigations are presented in ethnographies. By the end of the semester, students are expected to demonstrate, oraly and in writing, a mastery of :

• the distinctive and defining features of sociocultural anthropology,
• the essential vocabulary and ideas in the primary topical domains of sociocultural anthropology,
• the history of ideas in sociocultural anthropology, including the primary schools of thought, exemplary theories, pertinent facts about the lives of the persons espousing those theories, and
• familiarity with some of the issues currently impacting the field.

PROCEDURES:

         Course will be conducted in seminar format with students, individually, taking responsibility for presentation of assigned topics (chapters, articles) and all students expected to participate in subsequent informed, critical discussion of the topic. Students will have homework assignments designed to better prepare them for seminar preparation and discuission.

ASSESSMENTS and EVALUATIONS:

         In addition to credit awarded for participation and homework assignments, students will evaluated through composition and submission of a series of (#) short essays (to be expanded following first meeting ).

last updated on 07.08.07

This page is maintained by:
Reed D. Riner, Professor,
Department of Anthropology
email: Reed.Riner@NAU.edu