ANTHROPOLOGY 397 (FALL, 2002)

Monday 4:00-5:00 Coordinator: Gayle Fritz

Old McMillan 149 Office: Old McMillan 126

gjfritz@artsci.wustl.edu Hours: Mon. 2-3:30 p.m.

Thurs. 1:30-3:00 p.m. or by appointment

PROSEMINAR: CURRENT ISSUES AND RESEARCH IN ANTHROPOLOGY

This course is designed for undergraduate majors in anthropology, and it is intended to provide an overview of current issues and research directions in the field. This is accomplished by means of weekly presentations by different faculty members, who discuss their own research activities with the class as well as their views on the most significant matters presently confronting the field. We also cover other matters, such as courses taught by the faculty members, graduate school, job prospects in the different areas of the field, and ethical dimensions of research and publication.

The course is taken for one credit. Students are graded on attendance and a written exercise, described below. The first half of the written exercise is due October 21. The second half may be turned in any time thereafter, but no later than December 9, the last meeting of the class.

Students are encouraged to visit the Anthropology Department’s Web site for background information about each member of the department. A file of current C.V.’s (Résumés) for all participating faculty members is kept in the Anthropology Department Office for the use of students who want to know more about the research activities of the faculty.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF PRESENTATIONS:

(At times it becomes necessary to shift speakers around due to unforeseen obligations.)

Sept. 9 Introduction (Gayle Fritz, Coordinator)

Sept. 16 Shanti Parikh and Pascal Boyer (Socio-Cultural)

Sept. 23 Bret Gustafson and Geoff Childs (Socio-Cultural)

Sept. 30 Tab Rasmussen (Physical Anthropology)

Oct. 7 David Browman and John Kelly (Archaeology)

Oct. 14 Lois Beck and Robert Canfield (Socio-Cultural)

Oct. 21 Bradley Stoner and Rebecca Lester (Medical/Socio-Cultural)

First ½ of Exercises Due (Web sites #1-5)

Oct. 28 John Bowen and Patrick Eisenlohr (Socio-Cultural)

Nov. 4 Sara Friedman (Socio-Cultural)

Nov. 11 Glenn Stone (Socio-Cultural)

Nov. 18 Fiona Marshall and Gayle Fritz (Archaeology)

Nov. 25 Erik Trinkaus (Physical Anthropology)

Dec. 2 Richard Smith (Physical Anthropology)

Dec. 9 Patty Jo Watson (Archaeology) Video: Secrets Underground

Final Exercises Due (Web sites #6-10)

RECOMMENDED READING: The Mayfield Quick View Guide to the Internet for Students of Anthropology, Version 2.0 , by John W. Hoopes, Jennifer Campbell, and Michael Keene, 1999. Mayfield Publishing Co., Mountain View, California. (Each student will be given a copy of this book, compliments of the Anthropology Dept.)

BASIS FOR EVALUATION

1. Attendance: Two unexcused absences are allotted to each student without deductions. For each additional unexcused absence, one letter grade will be deducted. All excuses must be explained in writing. Excused absences include.

a. Illness (preferably with doctor's or nurse's explanation)

b. Religious holiday

c. Sports meet (with letter from coach)

d. Death or dire emergency in family

No student will be excused for returning late from (or leaving early for) Fall Break, Thanksgiving, or any special weekend event, no matter who made the reservations or when they were made. No excuses will be accepted for students making up exams or attending study sessions for other courses.

Note: Full credit for attendance will not be given if a student arrives more than a few minutes late or leaves correspondingly early. If a faculty member’s presentation and Question and Answer session end before 5:00 p.m., the remaining class time will be used for discussion of other issues.

2. Exercise: Students will complete Exercise 8 (pp. 116-119) on “Internetworking” from the book, Careers in Anthropology, by John Omohundro (1998, Mayfield Publishing Co.). A photocopy of this exercise is attached to each course syllabus. In this exercise, each student compiles a list of Internet resources for anthropology students. According to Omohundro (2000:116), "This exercise introduces you to Web sites for graduate school, careers, research projects, and e-mail networking with other anthropologists and students.” Omohundro’s “Notes About Contents” column should be replaced by conventional paragraphs rather than a column of casual notes, with each entry being approximately 2/3 page in length, double spaced. Each entry should include a summary of the Web site in the student’s own words, along with a brief evaluation (what was good or bad) describing your personal response and opinion. Each student’s exercise should include the 10 types of Web sites listed by Omohundro in exactly the same order:

1. Résumé writing

2. Anthropological fieldwork and training

3. Study abroad

4. Summary of article in digitally archived or on-line anthropological journal (But see * below)

5. Graduate school program in anthropology

(Entries #1-5 are due Oct. 21)

6. Graphics of hominid fossils

7. Career advice in anthropology

8. Home page of a researcher in anthropology

9. Discussion group in anthropology (If you have trouble with this one, you can substitute Internet coverage of a recent anthropology-related news story.)

10. Something else, anthropology-related, that interests you

(Entries #6-10 are due Dec. 9)

*Item #4 in Omohundro’s list is “Title and author of an article in an on-line journal.” Instead of giving only the title and author, please read a short article (5-15 pages) from an on-line issue of Current Anthropology and summarize it in your entry (ca. 2/3 page). You may need to do this from a wustl.edu terminal.

The first half of the Exercise (Web sites 1-5) should be submitted on October 21. These will be handed back with comments (suggestions for improvement) in late October or early November. The second half of the Exercise (Web sites 6-10) is due no later than the last class, December 9. Again, the entry for each of the ten Web sites should be approximately 2/3 page long, with the total Exercise being at least seven pages long. All work should be typed or word-processed, double spaced, and written in complete sentences, with correct grammar and spelling. Exercises should be original and thoughtful.

Please avoid contractions and other casual, nonacademic usage. Do not use abbreviations such as “anthro”, “grad”, “info”, “photo”, or Wash. U.” Write out all words except ones like U.S. and C.V. Put periods after initials. Underline or italicize scientific names (e.g. Homo erectus), with genus name capitalized and species name lower case. Include full bibliographic reference for the article in Current Anthropology (or other journal) that you summarize and any other references cited (names and initials of all authors and co-authors, date of publication, full title and subtitle of article, volume and issue number, and page numbers).

Grading is on a modified Pass/Fail system. All students who turn in well-written, well thought-out exercises and have no more than two unexcused absences will earn "A"s. Everyone starts out with an "A", and a student will get a lower grade only if absent more than twice or if the Exercise is turned in late or earns less than a Check. Each Exercise will be graded with a Check, a Check-minus, or a Minus. A Check is like a solid Pass (A or B). A Check-minus is like a "C" and will lower the final grade. Most Check-minuses result from exercises being poorly written or too short. A Minus is like an F (No Credit). Attendance and quality of the written Exercise will each account for approximately 50% of the final grade.

NOTE: Any Exercise that includes plagiarized content will receive zero credit. An author’s words cannot be copied verbatim from the Internet without attribution any more than from a published volume. Avoid long citations in this Exercise, but if you do quote from a Web page, include the cited text in quotation marks and attribute it to the individual source if at all possible.