Welcome to Anth 10, An Introduction to Anthropology. Anthropology is a multifaceted discipline that draws on many different research and theoretical approaches to contribute to a whole that is exciting, but frustrating, stimulating, but schizophrenic, and always changing. Historically, Anthropology has been called the “Science of Man.” Not only have we come to prefer “humans” to Man (women, after all, bear at least half of the responsibility for our species), many anthropologists even question whether or not they are scientists. For our purposes, let’s begin the semester by saying anthropology is the study of human life and diversity. As the semester continues, we can revisit and revise this definition if we see fit.

The purpose of this course is to expose students to the breadth of anthropology. The course is organized with the four fields of anthropology in mind: physical (biological), socio-cultural, linguistic and archaeological anthropology. On the other hand, the course is designed to coordinate the subdisciplines and present them not as four separate disciplines, but different ways of pursuing the same objective: a greater understanding of the human condition. Perhaps, if we avoid hurricanes and blizzards, the stars align, the instructor is guided by supernatural forces, the students are captivated in a hypnotic state of studious intrigue, we too can reach such a perspective. Perhaps we too can arrive at a point where we feel as though we have looked at the range of things that make humans the bizarre creatures that they are and can ask the kind of questions that lead us to have an ever-so-slightly deeper understanding of what it means to be human. If, due to forces beyond our control or those of our own vices (a basketball national championship, for example), we are not able to reach such a point, we will arrive at the end of our journey having read and discussed some really interesting topics that will provoke us, upset us, soothe us and lead us to look differently at the world around us.

The course shakes down like this:

A) You turn in a 2 page composition on the third day of class: Wednesday, January 19. The composition is worth 5% of your grade. No late papers will be accepted.

B) You complete a take-home geography quiz. The quiz requires you to think about places people live and where things happen. You will need to consult an atlas, for which I recommend you visit your friendly reference librarians on the ground floor of Davis Library. The quiz is due Friday, January 21. You may work in groups to complete the quiz, which is worth 5% of your grade. No late quizzes will be accepted.

C) You complete a group presentation. The presentations are based on assigned readings from Anthropology Explored and Guns Germs and Steel. Working in groups of 5-6, you will each read an additional article or chapter in an edited volume, journal or book. Each chapter in AE has a list of additional readings, which I recommend as a starting point. Your additional readings should be from a scholarly source (see web page). Each group member will give a brief (5 minutes max) synopsis of your reading and how it relates to the AE chapter and turn in a one page written version of the synopsis. The group will then lead class discussion of the topic covered in AE and the additional readings. I imagine these discussions being more like a recitation than a regular lecture meeting. There will be a signup sheet for group assignments in class on Friday, January 14. The group presentation is worth 10% of your grade.

D) You write an essay. You will write a 5 page original essay for this course based on questions from class as they relate to Karen McCarthy Brown’s Mama Lola. The purpose of your essay is to connect an issue from the book to a broader theme from the course, such as economy, language, culture, colonialism, healing, race, belief, etc. More detail on the assignment will be provided later. The essay is worth 20% of your final grade and is due April 25. I will deduct 10 points from your essay grade for each day it is late. You must turn in a paper copy of the essay on the due date.

E) You complete three in-class quizzes on the following dates: February 14, March 9, and May 9. The quizzes are designed to not only see if you’ve attended class and read assignments, but to see if you’ve learned key concepts and given some critical thought to the perspectives of the course. You will be notified well in advance of the format of the quizzes. Each quiz is worth 20% of your final grade. Makeup quizzes are strongly discouraged and will be granted only under the most dire of circumstances at the instructor’s discretion.

VERY IMPORTANT: This is a living, breathing document, this syllabus. You should find the official version of it on the web at www.unc.edu/courses/2005spring/anth/010/001/ and you should consult it often. Changes to the syllabus will be made no less than one week in advance and you will be responsible for knowing about them. I will post outlines of my lectures on the web page to guide your studying, though you should not mistake the outlines for comprehensive notes. The web page also contains supplemental materials like a guide to paper writing, a guide to selecting scholarly sources, a link to a dictionary and to various anthropological resources. I recommend you browse the web page at the beginning of the semester to familiarize yourself with its contents and make use of them throughout the semester.

To review, your grade will be calculated like this:

Initial Composition: 5%

Geography Quiz: 5%

Essay: 20%

3 Quizzes: (3x20%) 60%

Group Presentation: 10%

Attendance: There is no official attendance requirement for this course. If I do my job, however, a lack of attendance will show in the quality of your work. Nevertheless, I reserve the right to penalize students who are chronically absent without a valid excuse.

Late Policy: Makeup quizzes are strongly discouraged and will be granted only under the most dire of circumstances at the instructor’s discretion. The initial composition and geography quizzes will not be accepted late under any circumstances. One letter grade will be deducted from the essay for each day it is late. If you have special circumstances that require you to turn it in late, please discuss them with me ahead of time.

Honor Code: I expect all work to be done in accordance with the University honor code.

Texts: The following texts contain required readings. They are available at Student Stores.

1. Brown, Karen McCarthy. Mama Lola.

2. Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs and Steel.

3. Selig, Ruth Osterweis and Marilyn R. London, eds. Anthropology Explored.

4. Additional Readings on reserve in room 313 Alumni Building. These readings are noted in the syllabus as UR (Undergrad Reserve). Note: I wasn't able to make them available in time at the Undergrad. They are not available there. You must take them from Alumni 313 during regular business hours (the room is occasionally used for meetings). Each folder contains all of the reserve readings for the entire semester. I recommend that you check out the reserve reading pack and photocopy the entire thing at one time.

Spring 2005 Weekly Calendar

Assignments are listed on the date they are due and they are underlined. Lecture topics for the day are listed in plain text, and reading assignments are listed in italics. You are expected to have read the assignment before coming to class on the day it appears in this calendar. Abbreviations for the readings are: AE (Anthropology Explored); GGS (Guns, Germs and Steel); ML (Mama Lola); and UR (Undergrad Reserves).

Week One: Introductions

Wed. Jan 12 First Day of Class

Fri. Jan 14 How do we do anthropology?

Read: Yahi’s Question (GGS 13-32)

Was Darwin Wrong? (UR)

Week Two: Evolution and Adaptation

Mon. Jan 17 No Class—MLK Day

Wed. Jan 19 First Composition Due

Natural Selection

Read: Part I (GGS 33-81)

Fri. Jan 21 Geography Quiz Due

Other Modes of Selection

Read: Chapter 7 (GGS 114-130)

Week Three: Nonhuman Primates

Mon. Jan 24 Nonhuman Primates

Read: Human See, Human Do (UR)

What’s love got to do with it? (UR)

Wed. Jan 26 Film: Monkey In the Mirror

Read: “Ape-ing” Language (AE 17-29)

Fri. Jan 28 Group Presentation No. 1

Read: Are Humans Inherently Violent? (AE pp. 30-45)

Week Four: Hominids

Mon. Jan 31 Hominids: Australopithecus and Homo

Read: One Man’s Search for Human Origins (AE 46-63)

Stories Bones Tell (AE 101-114)

Wed. Feb 2 Modern Homo sapiens

Read: The Emergence of Modern Humans (AE 79-91)

Fri. Feb 4 Group Presentation No. 2

Read: New Research in Human Origins (AE 64-78)

Week Five: Evolutionary Legacies

Mon. Feb 7 Film: Story of Lucy

Wed. Feb 9 Archaeology of Disease

Read: Disease in Human Evolution (AE 115-125)

Fri. Feb 11 Group Presentation No. 3

Read: Chapter 11 (GGS 193-214)

Week Six: Adaptation and Subsistence

Mon. Feb 14 Quiz No. 1 on material through Feb 11

Wed. Feb 16 Hunter Gatherers

Read: Chapters 4,5,6 (GGS 83-113)

Fri. Feb 18 Group Presentation No. 4

Read: Ethnoarchaeology among the Efe (AE 194-205)

Week Seven: Adaptation and Subsistence

Mon. Feb 21 What can archaeology tell us?

Read: East Meets West (AE 273-285)

Wed. Feb 23 Film: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

Chapter 8 pages 131-146 and 153-156 (GGS)

Fri. Feb 25 Agriculturalists

Read: Agricultural Origins (AE 171-183)

Week Eight: Adaptation and Subsistence

Note revisions to this week!

Mon. Feb 28 Pastoralists

Read: Chapter 12, 13 (GGS 215-264)

Wed. Mar 2 Rise of Chiefdoms, Emergence of Religion

Read: Chapters 14 (GGS 215-292)

Fri. Mar 4 Group Presentation No. 5

Read: Progress? (AE 184-193)

Week Nine: Language and Culture

Mon. Mar 7 Linguistics

Read: From Tattoo to Piercing (AE 391-410)

Wed. Mar 9 Quiz No. 2 on material through Mar 4

Fri. Mar 11 Film: Voices of North Carolina

Week Ten: Spring Break

March 14 – 18

Week Eleven: Race

Mon. Mar 21 Race

Read: A New Way to Look at Race (AE 145-154)

Wed. Mar 23 Race

Read: Race and Ethnicity (AE 155-167)

Arch. of African American Life (AE 286-296)

Fri. Mar 25 No Class: Holiday

Week Twelve: Contact Between Cultures

Note: Changes to reading assignment for 3/28

Mon. Mar 28 Colonialism

Read: Chapters 15, 16, 17 (GGS 311-353)

Wed. Mar 30 Identity

Read: Colonial Northern Mexico (AE 322-334)

The Silk Road (AE 355-368)

Fri. Apr 1 Refugees

Read: Refugees (AE 369-384)

Week Thirteen: Contact Between Cultures

Mon. Apr 4 Group Presentation No. 6

Read: Chapter 18 (GGS 354-375)

Wed. Apr 6 Group Presentation No. 7

Read: Chapter 19 (GGS 376-401)

Fri. Apr 8 Open Date: To Be Announced

Week Fourteen: Anthropology and Ethnography

Mon. Apr 11 What is ethnography?

Read: Introduction, Chapters 1,2 (ML 1-78)

Wed. Apr 13 Magic, Religion and Belief

Read: Chapters 3,4,5 (ML 80-154)

Fri. Apr 15 Healing

Read: Chapters 6,7,8 (ML 155-258)

Week Fifteen: Our Modern World

Mon. Apr 18 The Modern World System

Read: Chapters 9,10,11 (ML 259-328)

Wed. Apr 20 What is postmodernism?

Finish Mama Lola (ML 329-401)

Fri. Apr 22 Group Presentation No. 8

Read: Cultural Relativism and Human Rights (AE 299-312)

Week Sixteen: Concluding Thoughts

Mon. Apr 25 Essay Due

Read: Epilogue (GGS 405-425)

Wed. Apr 27 Last Day of Class

Read: Afterword (GGS 425-440)

Fri. Apr 29 No Class

Quiz No. 3 during the final exam time slot on Monday, May 9 at Noon.