This course could cover almost anything, since anthropology is a product of the modern world and cultural anthropology essentially has been a study of human beings in all parts of the world.  My own interests have been the numerous localized factions and conflicts that have been active in much of the non-western world and also the rapid changes that have been occurring in a globalizing society.  Our readings will focus on a number of hot spots around the world -- Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, India, Brazil, West Africa, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, as well as the United States -- and because events continue to challenge our ability to keep abreast of affairs I will be handing out additional readings on current events.  Because of the handouts in the course, to reduce the financial burden on the department, I will ask you to contribute a small sum of $3 to pay for these hand-outs; this I will collect in the second week of classes, after the drop-add flurry is over.

General Requirements

Reading:  Below is a schedule of readings but I will possibly change specific assignments as the course proceeds.  Other specific assignments can be given weekly, sometimes daily, in preparation for discussions in class.  Some of the assignments will come from the textbooks but others will come from the handouts.  Reading materials to be purchased are the following:

    At the Campus Bookstore:
> Farooka Gauhari:  Searching for Saleem : an Afghan woman's odyssey.  Foreword by Nancy Dupree.  Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.  ISBN 0803221568
>Sulima and Hala as told to Batya Swift Yasgur: Behind the burqa : our life in Afghanistan and how we escaped to freedom.Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, 2002. ISBN 0471263893
>Philip Gourevitch:  We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families : stories from Rwanda.New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998. ISBN 0374286973
>Desmond Mpilo Tutu:  No Future Without Forgiveness.  New York: Doubleday.  2000.  ISBN: 0385496907

    At Hi-Tec Copy Center [corner of Big Bend and Milbrook], a course packet that will contain the following articles:
Mersipassi-Ashtiani, Ali.  1994.  "The Crisis of Secular Politics and the Rise of Political Islam in Iran."  Social Text 12(1) [#38]:  51-84. ISSN 0164 2472
Nafisi, Azar.  2003.  [pp 81-153] Reading Lolita in Teheran:  A Memoir of Books.  NY: Random House ISBN 0-375-50490-7
Denich, Bette.  1994.  "Dismembering Yugoslavia: Nationalist Ideologies and the Symbolic Revival of Genocide."  American Ethnologist 21(2):367-390. [ISSN 0002-7294]
Trudgill, Peter.  1983.  [pp 42-48] Sociolinguistics.  OUPress.
Friedman, Tom.  1990.  [pp 76-105] From Beirut to Jerusalem. Farrar Straus & Giroux.  ISBN: 0385413726
Burton, Barbara. "Brutality and Bureacracy:  Human Rights, intimate violence ...: ".
Boremanse, Didier.  2000.  "Sewing Machines and Q'echi' Maya Worldview."  Anthropology Today 16(1): 11- 18 [ISSN 0268-540x]
Wilde, Alexander.  1999.  "Irruptions of Memory:  Expressive Politics in Chile's Transition to Democracy" Journal of Latin American Studies 31: 475-500. [ISSN0022-216X]

Attendance and class participation:  You will be expected to attend every class and to participate in discussions of the required readings.  There will be a number of lectures but the success of the course will depend heavily on your participation.  Class attendance and participation will definitely help in the writing assignments and examinations; there is virtually no chance of surviving without consistent exposure to what happens in class.  For that reason a record of attendance will be kept.  If you expect to miss a class, please notify me first, or as soon afterwards as possible.  A student that misses more than 3 classes [unexcused] should not expect to earn an A or A-; a student who misses more than 6 hours should see me about the terms of continuing in the course.
Mondays and special activities:  I plan to use Mondays for special activities.  Normally examinations will be on Mondays [see schedule below] and papers will be due on Mondays.  When I show a film it will be on a Monday; if we don't finish a film we may continue it on the following Monday.  Be sure to be present when  film is shown; again, attendance will be taken.  I will eventually ask you to write some short comments on the films late in the course and your responses could have a marginal influence on your grade.

Examinations and papers:  There will be three examinations and one paper.  You will be given some clues as to what to expect on the exams;  mostly they will be short answer questions.   The final project will be a take-home paper.  The dates of examinations are approximate.  To prepare you for the examinations I may give you a list of possible questions.   We will be studying issues:  come prepared to show that you understand the issues, the processes involved in the specific social developments that we will examine.  The final paper will not be cumulative; it will count no more than the other examinations but it will differ somewhat from the others in that it will require you to bring the lecture material more precisely to bear upon the major issues raised in the readings.

A special note to pass/fail students: Pass/fail students will have to do all the same activities as the other students and pass at the level of a C on all exams/papers.  Any pass/fail student who has a B+ average toward the end of the course will be excused from the last paper.

Organization of the course and specific activities

Class meetings will be of three kinds.  One kind of activity will be our discussions about assigned readings.  I will assume you are following the reading schedule and my lectures will be aimed at making the readings intelligible to you.  There may also be some additional reading assignments on short notice.  Stay on schedule.  Come to class prepared to discuss the readings.  A second kind of activity will be the lectures.  You will be expected to keep notes; material from the lectures will directly bear upon the examination questions.  Because I am best informed on affairs in Asia, my lectures may be biased to that part of the world but the relevance of the principles discussed to other parts of the world will, I hope, be evident.  A third activity will be films.  Usually these will be shown on Mondays; attendance will be taken and you will be asked some questions about the films on the tests.

Course Schedule: Reading assignments for the following dates:   [ …  = Lecture topic]
 

8/27  W

8/29  F  Gauhari, first chapter [Afghanistan history]

9/1  M  Labor Day

9/3  W  Gauhari  [Afghan hist]

9/5  F  Gauhari [Afghan hist; beginning of war]

9/8  M  [film] ["Afghan Exodus"]

9/10  W Yasgur, Burqa [Afghanistan:  Battle for Kabul]

9/12  F Yasgur, Burqa [Taliban]

9/15  M Yasgur, Burqa [film "Taliban"]

9/17  W Yasgur, Burqa [Taliban]

9/19  F  Yasgur, Burqa [Taliban]

9/22  M  Exam on Gahuhari "Searching," Yasgur, "Behind the Burqa" [and lectures]

9/24  W  Nafisi:  Reading Lolita [selection] [Iran] [film]

9/26  F  Nafisi:  Reading Lolita [Iran]

9/29 M Nafisi:  Reading Lolita [Iran]

10/1 W  Friedman:  [selection from] From Beirut to Jerusalem ...

10/3 F  Friedman:  [selection from] From Beirut to Jerusalem ...

10/6  M Friedman:  [selection from] From Beirut to Jerusalem ...

10/8 W  Berman, Paul.  "The Philosopher of Islamic Terror."

10/10 F  Berman, Paul.  "The Philosopher of Islamic Terror."

10/13  M Exam on Nafisi, Friedman, Berman

10/15 W  Denich [Yugoslavia] [film:  Borderlands]

10/17 F  Denich [Yugoslavia]

10/20  M  Denich [Yugoslavia]

10/22  W  Bringa:  Being Muslim the Bosnian Way

10/24  F  Fall break

10/27  M Bringa:  Being Muslim the Bosnian Way

10/29  W Gourevich: Rwanda [film: Valentina's Nightmares]

10/31  F  Gourevich:  Rwanda

11/3  M  Gourevich:  Rwanda

11/5 W Gourevich:  Rwanda

11/7  F  Exam on Denich and Gourevich

11/10  M Tutu:  South Africa [film]

11/12 W Tutu:  South Africa

11/14 F  Tutu:  South Africa

11/17 M  Tutu:  South Africa [film:  South Africa]

11/19 W Tutu:  South Africa

11/21  F  Tutu:  South Africa

11/24 M Wilde: Chile [film]

11/26  W  break, Thanksgiving

11/28  F break, Thanksgiving

12/1  M Wilde:  Chile

12/3  W Wilde: Chile

12/5  F Discuss the paper:  Chile and South Africa:  symbols and power

12/8  M  last class

12/12 Final exam:  on uses of symbols in the two cases:  Chile and South Africa