50:070:213:01, Fall 2018
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:10-12:30
Armitage Hall, Room 121

Professor Cati Coe
405-407 Cooper Street, Room 203
Office hours: Tuesdays, 3:30-4:30pm, Thursdays, 10:00-11:00, or by appointment
phone: (856) 225-6455
email: ccoe@camden.rutgers.edu

Course website: https://caticoe.camden.rutgers.edu/courses/introduction-to-cultural-anthropology/

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to one of the four major fields of anthropology—cultural anthropology—and to give you an appreciation of the diversity of ways that people organize their social life, from their marriages to their politics, from their goals in life to the ways that they organize social and financial resources.  After a brief introduction to key concepts in the field of cultural anthropology and a discussion of methods of research, we will begin to immerse ourselves in the worldviews and perspectives of rice farmers in Guinea Bissau, strawberry pickers in Washington State, surrogate reproduction in India, ordinary Buddhists in Thailand and how they solve problems, and Western Apache narratives of place and morality. Attention will be given to the themes that cut across these ethnographies: modes of production, conceptions of the self, the body and health, ways of knowing and not knowing, and power.

Five books are available at the campus bookstore and on reserve at the circulation desk at Robeson library:

Please note: This is a reading intensive course. You will fail this course if you do not keep up with the readings. Please plan your time well to complete the books. Do not let yourself fall behind!

Global Communities

This course fulfills the new general education requirement in Global Communities.

Taking a variety of disciplinary approaches to the examination of societies, economies, and political systems, as well as ideas and beliefs and how they are formed, courses in Global Communities should introduce students to the diverse ways in which humans have organized their social relations.

Upon completing a course in this category, students should be able to do at least two of the following:

1. Describe ways in which communities around the globe have been interconnected and interdependent historically and/or in the present in terms of the movement of ideas, culture, people, money, and goods.
2. Identify central practices, institutions, and ideas of regions, nations, or peoples outside the U.S. as well as how the representations of those regions, nations, or peoples have been used and contested.
3. Recognize how issues of difference (racial, religious, gender, etc.) have been treated in non-U.S. cultures and societies and/or in a global context.
4. Analyze a cultural, economic, environmental, geographic, historical, political, linguistic or literary, scientific and/or sociological issue facing one or more countries, or globally.
5. Explore issues that transcend national borders and their implications for policy and practice.
6. Describe the point of view of peoples from outside the U.S. on specific issues.

The course fulfills all these goals.

Requirements

1) Three Examinations (20% each)

• Dates: 1st exam October 9th, 2nd exam November 13th, final exam December 18th, 11:30-2:20
• Questions (definitions, short answer, and essays) on the exams will be derived from the readings, films, class lectures and discussions
• You should attend class and pay careful attention to class lectures and discussions, taking detailed notes. Powerpoints are located on sakai.

2) Five Quizzes (4% each)

• Dates: September 20th, October 11th, October 25th, November 15th, and November 29th
• Quizzes (short answer, multiple choice, true and false) are to measure your comprehension of material in the assigned readings.
• These quizzes are given at the start of class, with closed notes and closed book.
• No one will be admitted once the quiz begins until after the quizzes are collected.

3) Papers (5% each)

• 4-5 page paper comparing rice farmers and reflecting on rice in the United States: due October 2nd
• 4-5 page paper comparing film and book representation of surrogacy and examining your own beliefs about birth/surrogacy

4) Attendance and Participation (10%)

• Participation is strongly encouraged.
• Be attentive in class, avoiding distracting yourself and others with focus on your cellphone or laptop.
• Late arrivals and early leavings are disruptive to your learning and the concentration of others, and will be noted as part of your participation grade.  Plan to come to class on time and stay until the class ends.

To do by before class on September 6th:

• Get a NetID if you don’t already so that you can access library resources online and from home: https://netid.rutgers.edu/index.htm
• Know how to access your Rutgers scarletmail email account, as all communication from me about the course will go to this email account.
• Have your photo taken at the Impact Booth at the Campus Center, if you do not have one already
• Obtain the books at the University District Bookstore or through other avenues
• Read the single reading in the library reserves.
• Review Rutgers’s policy on academic integrity.

Schedule of Readings, Films, Quizzes and Examinations