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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Syllabic Cycles—Social and Cultural Theory 2014 (b)

On this date on Round and Square's History 
20 August 2013—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 08-20
20 August 2013—From the Geil Archive: Curly Fives
20 August 2012—The New Yorker and the World: Introduction
20 August 2011—Displays of Authenticity: Real Coffee

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
ANTH 206: Weeks 1-8                   ANTH 206: Weeks 9-16 
[a] Confrontation RF
Social and Cultural Theory
Anthropology 206
Autumn 2014
TTh 8:00-9:50 a.m.
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Tuesday           12:00-1:30
363-2005                                                                                   Thursday         12:00-1:30
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment 

Required Books for All Enrolled Students 
Bowen, Elenore Smith, Return to Laughter 
Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice 
Connell, Evan. Mr. Bridge 
Connell, Evan. Mrs. Bridge 
Gordon, Fifty Key Anthropologists
Kipnis, Andrew. Producing Guanxi 
Moberg, Mark. Engaging Anthropological Theory 
Moore, Henrietta and Todd Sanders. Anthropology in Theory: Issues in Epistemology*

LaFleur, Robert. Round and Square (www.robert-lafleur.blogspot.com) 
The New York Review of Books (NYRB) 

*We will be using the new second edition of this book; if you are using the first edition, you must check library reserve to get the essays that are missing—you are responsible for them, no matter which edition you use.

Required Ethnographies (Choose one SET from the list below) 
Rosaldo, Renato. Ilongot Headhunting: A History   AND
Rosaldo, Michelle. Knowledge and Passion
                             OR
Schiefflin, Edward. The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers  AND
Feld, Steven. Sound and Sentiment. 
All books are on library reserve. 
***  *** 
Building upon ANTH 100 (Society and Culture), this course helps students develop increased sophistication in the way that they frame and think about social and cultural (not to mention historical) phenomena.  Our approach to the subject will be both historical and “pragmatic.”  It is necessary to understand the development of various intellectual strains within anthropology. A good foundation in them gives solidity to analytical constructions (this is precisely the reason that philosophers spend a good number of pages in every work “framing” their subject matters in terms of the history of philosophy).  It is far from being a trifling exercise.  We will also take a “pragmatic” approach, by asking ourselves which perspectives work best for our purposes, and our interests.  Learning to balance these seemingly contradictory (but actually beautifully entwined) approaches is one of the keys to excellent theoretical work in and beyond the field of anthropology.

Evaluation
Quizzes                                                                      15%
Theoretical Letter                                                       15%
Bridges to Theory Review Essay                               20%
Ethnography Review Essay                                       25%
Final Exam                                                                 25%
Class attendance and participation is expected.  
 
Anthropology 206
Social and Cultural Theory
Week IX
(October 21, 23) 
Connell, Mr. Bridge (Entire book)
           Love                               Family Portrait                 In the Counting House 
           Two Women                   Dinner at Home               The Tip 
           No Oil                             Lester                              Trouble in the Road Ahead 
           Senator Horton Bailey    Forgive Us Our Debts     Prohibition 
           Life Begins at...              Thumper                          The Dream 
           Struggling Upward…     Thayer’s Drugstore           The Pony 
           Bleak Day                      Cadillac                             Locusts 
           You Don’t Love Me        Call Me Avrum                   EK 
           Kansas City Power...     Paper Hat                          Purple Crayon 
           Stiff Lower Lip                Barbarians                        Boxtops 
           The Gardener’s Child    Summer in Georgia           Underground 
           Discretion                      New Clothes                      Yuh, Yuh, Yuh 
           The Pistol                      Halloween                          Daiquiri for Harriet 
           Harriet and Carolyn       Onward Christian Soldiers Home from the Office 
           Handful of Change        Season’s Greetings           The Squirrel 
           Happy Days                  Cousin Lulu’s Estate          Nevacal 
           Fleur-de-lis                    The Family Tree                 New Neighbors 
           LS                                 The Regatta…                    Semi-pro 
           Golden Gloves              Crosby                               Beefcake 
           The Fight                       In the Garden                    Do You Remember…? 
           Happy Birthday              How Much?                       The Dawn Patrol 
           Ground Glass                Liberal Arts                        High School Album 
           Moment Musicale          Coppélia                            Hair Shirt 
          So Soon?                      Juliet                                  Tijuana 
           Mariuana                       The Primrose Path             Harriet’s System 
           Witch Doctor                  Happy Easter                    Bawdy Story 
           Wild Party                      Wastebaskets                    The Laborers 
           Bleh!                              Stockings                           4 A.M. 
           Sweet Shit                     Silver                                 California Sunshine 
           Watering the Flowers    Mrs. Paul A. Cornish          In the Aztec Room 
           Houyhnhum                  7:42 A.M.                            The Jeweler’s Son 
           Jussi Bjoerling              The Lecture on El Greco     Equality 
           Jews                             Bernice                               Jade Pig
           New Writing...               Billy Jack Andrews, Pro      Peggy 
           Venus of Mission Hills   Letter                                  Art of India 
           Publishers’ Graveyard   Good Luck                         Foul Weather 
           On the Morning Train    Petra                                  Good Night, Good Night! 
           J’ai Faim                       Moulin Rouge                     Les Sabots de Millet 
           Cannes                         Darkness at Noon              Another One 
           The Etruscans              Mi Piace la Banana            From Rome
           Intimations                    Wedding Present               Football 
           Square Peg                  The Dancing Master           Hot Number 
           Socrates                       Eagle Scout                        Locking Up 
           A Pal of Morrie             Crime and Punishment       Autumn 
           Black Pledge                Gil Davis                             Guess Who? 
           Legal Secretary            In the Vault                         Winter 
           The Volunteer               Death Ray                          Joy to the World
Bridges to Theory Essay Due in my office (MI 111) 
on Sunday, October 27 at 10:00 p.m.
Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

Week X 
(October 28, 30)
Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, 72-95 
Structures and the Habitus 
            A False Dilemma: Mechanism and Finalism
            Structures, Habitus and Practices
           The Dialectic of Objectification and Embodiment 
Moberg, Engaging Anthropological Theory, 293-314 
            Postmodern Political Economy and Sensibilities 
Gordon, Fifty Key Anthropologists
These passages include "general information" reading from Gordon's book; these will be on the quizzes and final.
     Eleanor Burke Leacock
     Oscar Lewis
     Robert H. Lowie
     Marcel Mauss
     Lewis Henry Morgan
Moore, Anthropology in Theory, 445-500
Part IV/Section 13: Coherence and Contingency 
            The Invention of Women (Oyěwùmí)
            Valorizing the Present (Dhareshwar)
            Cosmological Deixis and Amerindian Perspectivism
Part IV/Section 14: (Re)defining Objects of Inquiry
            What Was Life? Answers from Three Limit Biologies (Helmreich)
            The Near and the Elsewhere (Augé)
            Relativism (Latour)
Week XI 
                                                 (November 4, 6) 
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, 96-124 
Generative Schemes and Practical Logic: Invention Within Limits
            The Calendar and the Synoptic Illusion
            Economy of Logic
            The Body as Geometer: Cosmogonic Practice 
Moberg, Engaging Anthropological Theory, 315-334 
            The Contemporary Anthropological Moment 
Gordon, Fifty Key Anthropologists
These passages include "general information" reading from Gordon's book; these will be on the quizzes and final.
     George Peter Murdock
     Rodney Needham
     Hortense Powdermaker
     Paul Radin
     Jean Rouch
     Renato Rosaldo
Moore, Anthropology in Theory, 500-575
Part IV/Section15: Subjects, Objecxts, and Affect
            How to Read the Future...(Zaloom)
            Signs Are Not the Garb of Meaning...(Keane)
            Affective Spaces, Melancholic Objects...(Navaro-Yashin)
Part IV/Section 16: Imagining Methodologies and Meta-things
            Beyond "Culture": Space, Identity, and the Politics...(Gupta and Ferguson)
            What is at Stake—and is not—in the Idea...(Marcus)
            Grassroots Globalization and the Research Imagination (Appadurai)
            The End of Anthropology, Again...(Comaroff)
Part IV/Section17: Anthropologizing Ourselves
            Participant Objectivication (Bourdieu)
            Anthropology of Anthropology? Further Reflections on Reflexivity (Sangren)
            World Anthropologies: Cosmopolitics for a New Global...(Ribeiro)
            Cultures of Expertise and the Management...(Holmes and Marcus)

(Due 11/23 at 10:00 p.m. as an e-mail .pdf attachment)
 Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy
                                    
Week XII
(November 11, 13)
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, 124-139 
Generative Schemes and Practical Logic: Invention Within Limits (continued)
            Union and Separation
            Thresholds and Rites of Passage    
            Reunions of Contraries and Denial 
           New Guinea Group 
Schiefflin, The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers 
          Kaluli Pronunciation
          Ceremonies and Reciprocity
          In the Shadow of the Mountain
          I’m Sorry, Brother, I Don’t Eat That
          Organizing Actions: Those at the House and Those Who Came
          The Unseen World and the Opposition Scenario
          Assertion and Appeal
          Anger, Reciprocity, and the Rhythms of Experience
          The Perception of a Human Condition
          Ceremonial Occasions and Preparations
          The Gisaro
          Gisaro and the Opposition Scenario 
           Philippines Group 
Rosaldo, Ilongot Headhunting
           Introduction                                                                                  
       The Past Made Present
            Perspectives on Ilongot History                                
            Stories of the Butag-Rumyad Feud, 1923-1956        
            The Celebration of the Covenant, 1969                     
       Social Structure Set in Motion
            The Source of Collective Memories, 1941-1945       
            The Politics of Headhunting,1945-1954                    
            The Politics of Marriage, 1955-1960             
       The Deconstruction of Collective Identity                     
            Rumyad in Historical Perspective, 1883-1905                      
            The Feud in Historical Perspective, 1890-1928        
            Afterword                                                       

Week XIII 
(November 18, 20) 
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, 140-158 
Generative Schemes and Practical Logic: Invention Within Limits (continued)
            Making Use of Indeterminacy
            The Habitus and Homologies 
           New Guinea Group
Feld, Sound and Sentiment
            Introduction                                                                              
            The Boy Who Became a Muni Bird                                              
            To You They are Birds, to Me They Are Voices in the Forest
            Weeping That Moves Women to Song                              
            The Poetics of Loss and Abandonment                               
            Song That Moves Men to Tears                            
            In the Form of a Bird: Kaluli Aesthetics       
           Philippines Group
Rosaldo, Knowledge and Passion 
            The Ilongots
            Knowledge, passion, and the heart
            Knowledge, identity, and order in an egalitarian world
            Horticulture, hunting, and the ‘height’ of men’s hearts
            Headhunting: a tale of “fathers,’ ‘brothers,’ and ‘sons’
            Negotiating anger: oratory and the knowledge of adults
            Conclusion: Self and social life
(Due 11/23 at 10:00 p.m. as an e-mail .pdf attachment)
 Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

Week XIV 
(November 25) 
Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, 159-183 
Structures, Habitus, Power: Basis For a Theory of Symbolic Power
            Doxa, Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy
            Symbolic Capital 
Gordon, Fifty Key Anthropologists
These passages include "general information" reading from Gordon's book; these will be on the quizzes and final.
     Gayle Rubin
     Edward Sapir
     Sir Edward Burnett Tylor
     Anthony Wallace
     Monica Hunter Wilson

Week XV 
(December 2, 4) 
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, 183-197 
Structures, Habitus, Power: Basis For a Theory of Symbolic Power (continued)
            Modes of Domination
Gordon, Fifty Key Anthropologists
These passages include "general information" reading from Gordon's book; these will be on the quizzes and final.
     Marshall Sahlins
     Arnold van Gennep
     Victor Turner
Kipnis, Producing Guanxi (whole book by Thursday) 
            Introduction 
       Part I: Practices of Guanxi Production 
            Introduction
            1 Everyday Guanxi Production
                        Types of Guanxi 
                        Embodying Guanxi 
                        Visiting, Exchanging Favors, Helping Out
            Kinship Terms and Names
            2 Guest/Host Etiquette and Banquets
                        Guest/Host Etiquette
            3 Gift-Giving
                        Gifts
                        Gift-giving Occasions
                        Talking about Gifts and Guanxi 
                        Case Studies
                        Discussion
            4 “Kowtowing”
                        Ketou in Fengjia
                        Ketou as Guanxi-Producing Ritual
            5 Weddings, Funerals, and Gender
                        Weddings
                             Female-Centered Guanxi 
                             Ambiguous Transfer
                             Difficult Ending
                             Funerals
            6 Feeling, Speech, and Nonrepresentational Ethics
                        Nonrepresentational Speech Ethics
       Part II—Guanxi Versions
                         Guanxi in Fengjia, 1948-1990
                         Guanxi Version Throughout China
                         Guanxi and Peasant Subculture
                         Epilogue 

Week XVI
(December 10) 
Final Exam
All Late Work Due by Wednesday, December 10 by 10:00 p.m. 

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
ANTH 206: Weeks 1-8                   ANTH 206: Weeks 9-16
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