"As part of my ethnography I follow this shaping process, examining how facts travel in the world, but also how they never travel alone. Instead they are always packaged in the form of stories, explanations, and experiences, as authorized or unauthorized accounts, and they necessarily include definitions of human nature."

-Joseph Dumit A Digital Image of the Category of the Person

• Course: Anthropology through Expressive Cultures (Spring 2010)
• Classroom: Phillips 265
• Days/Hours: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-1:45
• Instructor: Jean Dennison
• Office: Alumni 409C
• Official E-mail: jeand@email.unc.edu
• Office Hours: Tue: 2-3, Thurs: 2-4 (or by appointment)

• Teaching Assistant:
• Office:
• Email:
• Office Hours:

The purpose of this class is to investigate expressive culture (both written and visual) whose primary aims are to challenge/provide a fresh perspective on cultural assumptions. Rather than presenting a singular truth, these works attempt to engage lived experience and compel viewers to think critically about the world around them. By contextualizing these works within wider anthropological debates, the class will encourage students to explore the various factors shaping their world today including race, gender, representation, colonization and global relations.   

Rather than seeing this engagement of lived experience as narrowly limited to the ethnographic/documentary genres, this class will consider a wide range of examples, including novels, science fiction, Hollywood, world, and experimental works. Students will be asked to critically assess  the claims made by writers and film–makers and work toward a better understanding of how the real in social life can be understood and represented. In addition to the weekly readings, students will be required to post multiple times per week on the course blackboard page, take two exams, and create their own visual or written response to current cultural assumptions.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: 1) critically explore issues of cultural anthropological concerns including race, gender, representation, colonization and global relations; 2) use their critical reading/viewing skills to investigate how facts travel through expressive culture; 3) use strategies learned in class to create their own expressive cultural response.

The following books can be purchased at University bookstores or online.

• After Life (Hecht)
  
• A Pipe for February (Red Corn)
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Alexie)
• A Small Place (Kincaid)
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Fadiman)
• Recomended: Middle Sex (Eugenides)

Participation (200 points)

Participation in the recitation sections are a major component of this class.  If you do not attend recitation or cannot talk articulately about class lectures, film screenings, and the assigned reading, your participation grade will suffer. The highest grade you can receive without articulate participation in your section is a C. Recitation sections will begin in week two of the semester, with discussions focused around the previous week's class material.  There will be no sections weeks 10-12.  The participation grade will be broken into two parts and graded based on your performance during the two halves of the semester.

Posting (200 points)

For each class, starting on 1/14 and excluding the classes in March, students are required to write one short answer/discussion question on the in-class lecture, film and/or reading assignment due that day. All questions must be posted to the appropriate place on the course's blackboard page within 24 hours of the class in which they took place or were due. These questions will not be accepted late and are intended to show student engagement with class material. Because of the number of questions required for the class, missing up to two classes (and their postings) will not hurt your grade. If you are going to miss more than two postings due to sickness or family emergency, please contact the TA ahead of time.  These postings will be graded on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being 'exceptional', 8 being 'adequate', and 6 being 'needs improvement.'  Students can earn up to 20 extra credit points by completing all 22 posts.

Expressive Culture Project (200 points)

Utilizing some of the strategies presented within the readings/films from class, create a short expressive culture response. Ethnographic/fictional writing responses should be between 5-7 double spaced pages long; video projects should be 2-5 minutes long; web projects should have at least 3 interactive pages; drawing/design projects should contain at least 5 sequenced images; photography projects should contain at least 10 sequenced images/combined images; and found image assignments should contain at least 20 sequenced/combined images. Students should choose the format of their response based on their previous experience and what they are trying to communicate. Students are encouraged to discuss their project ideas with the professor during office hours. 

These visual responses should engage one or more of the thematic topics discussed in class including: the document, colonial histories, race, gender, sexuality, tourism, politics, pluriverse, economy, medical, science and technology, indigeneity or migration.

By the fourth week of class students are required to sign-up on the class blackboard page to present their expressive culture project. Class presentations will take place 3/18/10 through 3/27/10. Presentations will be limited to 5 minutes and will involve reading a section of or displaying your visual work for the entire class. Students are required to post these projects on the class blackboard page as .tif, .pdf or .mov files before their class presentation. Each project will be graded based on its ability to communicate anthropological information expressively, with half of the grade based on the anthropological content and the other half on the aesthetic success.

Around the UNC campus there are several places to access equipment. The Beasley Multimedia Resource Center and The Media Resources Center both have still and video cameras available as well as computers with video and webpage design software. You are strongly encouraged to reserve the equipment from the MRC well ahead of time, but the Beasley center is on a first come first serve basis, so get there early. While the Beasley center is only open to students enrolled in classes registered with the center, such as ours, the Media Resource Center is open to all students, faculty and staff. During the semester the Beasley center will provide various training sessions including in Final Cut Pro for video editing and various software for webpage design. The MRC also offers online tutorials and one-on-one media lab classes in a wide range of visual media programs to fit your schedule. You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of these training opportunities. The Beasley center also has trained staff on hand during operating hours to answer additional questions.

Of course, students are also welcome to edit/design their projects at home with their own or free editing software.

Technology problems are very common, so please do not wait until the last minute to attempt this assignment. Problems with technology will not be accepted as an excuse for late projects.

To edit video students will need:

• External Hard drive – mac platform ($25-800)
• Mini-dv tapes ($5-10 a piece)
• DVD-R discs for saving final project ($3-20 depending on # of discs)
• A great deal of patients and time

Midterm (200 points)

Based on the lectures, films, and readings from the first half of the semester, students will complete a short-answer in-class exam.  Prior to the exam, students will be given a list of 30 possible questions, from which five will be selected for the exam.  Each question will be worth 40 points and should be answered in no more than 250 words.  One source for these questions will be students' postings.

Final (200 points)

Based on the lectures, films, and readings from the second half of the semester, students will complete a short-answer in-class final exam.  Prior to the exam, students will be given a list of 30 possible questions, from which five will be selected for the exam.  Each question will be worth 40 points and should be answered in no more than 250 words. One source for these questions will be students' postings.

Grading

• 930-1000 (points)          A
• 900-929                       A-
• 870-899                       B+
• 830-869                       C
• 800-829                       B-
• 770-799                       C+
• 730-760                       C
• 700-729                       C-
• 670-699                       D+
• 600-669                       D
• 599 and below              F

Honor Code

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has had a student-administered honor system and judicial system for over 100 years. The system is the responsibility of students and is regulated and governed by them, but faculty share the responsibility. If you have questions about your responsibility under the honor code, please bring them to your instructor or consult with the office of the Dean of Students or the Instrument of Student Judicial Governance at:http://honor.unc.edu. This document, adopted by the Chancellor, the Faculty Council, and the Student Congress, contains all policies and procedures pertaining to the student honor system. Your full participation and observance of the honor code is expected.

Plagiarism in the form of deliberate or reckless representation of another's words, thoughts, images or ideas as one's own without attribution in connection with submission of academic work, whether graded or otherwise. Plagiarism will not be tolorated in this class and will result in a failing grade for the class and suspension for one academic semester. Materials for class assignments should be produced specifically for this class unless prior approval from the professor is granted.

Accomodations

Week 1 - The Document

• 1/12 – Intro to class; Lecutre.
• 1/14 – Read for class: After Life 1-37; View in class: Born Into Brothels (83)

Weeks 2 - Sexuality

• 1/19 – Read for class: AL 38-74; Lecture; View in class: En Bild (25)
• 1/21 – Read for class: AL 77-124; View in class: XXY (91)
  

Weeks 3 - Tourism

• 1/26 – Read for class: AL 125-178; Lecture; View in class: City of Murals (17)
  
• 1/28 – Read for class: A Small Place 3-37; View in class: Cannibal Tours (70)
  

Weeks 4 - Politics

• 2/2 – Sign up for Expressive Culture Project Presentation; Read for class: SP 41-81; Lecture
• 2/4 – Read for class: A Pipe for February 5-33; View in class: Paradise Now (91)
  

Weeks 5 - Colonial History

• 2/09 – Read for class: PF 34-66; View in class: Night Cries (19); Lecture
• 2/11 – Read for class: PF 67-102; View in class: Perfumed Nightmare (91)
  

Week 6 - Pluriverse

• 2/16 – Read for class: PF 103-136; Lecture
• 2/18 – Read for class: PF 137-168; View in class: The Weeping Camel (87)
  

Weeks 7 - Race

• 2/23 – Read for class: PF 169-204; Lecture
• 2/25 – Read for class: PF 205-235; View in class: Bamboozled (135)
  

Weeks 8 - Economy

• 3/2 – Read for class: PF 236-269; View in class: The Yes Men (82)
  
• 3/4 – Midterm Exam

Week 9 - Spring Break

• 3/09 – No Class
• 3/11 – No Class

Weeks 10 - Presenations

• 3/16 – Read for class: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down 3-31; Student Presentations
• 3/18 – Read for class: SC 32-59; Student Presentations

Week 11 - Presenations

• 3/23 – Read for class: SC 60-92; Student Presentations
• 3/25 – Read for class: SC 93-118; Student Presentations

Week 12 - Medical

• 3/30 – Student Presentations; Read for class: SC 119-153
  
• 4/1 – Read for class: SC 154-180; View in class: Business of Being Born (84)
  

Week 13 - Scinece and Technology Studies

• 4/6 – Read for class: SC 181-224; Lecture
• 4/8 – Read for class: SC 225-249; View in class: Gattaca (106)
  

Week 14 - Gender

• 4/13 – Read for class: SC 250-288; Lecture; View in class: Fry Bread Babes (30)
• 4/15 – Read for class: The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian 1-53; View in class: Toungues Untied (55)
  

Week 15 - Indigeneity

• 4/20 – Read for class: AT 54-113; View in class: How, We Are Present (15); Lecture
• 4/22 – Read for class: AT 114-167; View in class: The Business of Fancy Dancing (83)
  

Week 16 - Crossing Borders

• 4/27 – Read for class: AT 168-230; View in class: Persepolis (98)
  

Final Exam (Saturday May 1, 2010 12pm)