Robert L. Canfield, Professor,  Office Hours: Tue 1-4 or by appointment.  McMillan 340.  Phone: 935-5282 [o], 721-1279 [h].  canfrobt@wustl.edu 
Sarah Kendzior, Teaching Assistant, Office Hours:  ??? or by appointment.    McMillan 349, sjkendzi@artsci.wustl.edu 

General Requirements

1) Reading.  Below is a schedule of lectures and readings to guide you in course preparation.  You should stay on schedule and come prepared for class discussions.  (Changes in the reading schedule may be announced in class; please stay alert for such changes).  As the details in the assigned readings are important, you should come to class with the assigned readings in hand so that you can follow the lectures and participate in the discussion.Much of the time we will work directly from the assigned readings. The textbooks are the following:

 Available at the Book Store: 
McGee and Warms [eds], Anthropological Theory, 4rd edition. Boston:  McGraw-Hill  [referred to as MW on the reading schedule] 

 Available through Erez: 
 A set of additional readings [selections from this set are marked * on the schedule below]. 

2) Attendance:  You will be expected to attend every class period and to be prepared to discuss the material assigned for that day.  Class attendance will definitely help in writing assignments and examinations.  There is virtually no chance of doing well without consistent exposure to what happens in class.  A record of attendance will be kept.  To facilitate that, you will be asked to sit in the same place every class period.  If you expect to miss class, please notify me first, or as soon afterward as possible.  If you miss more than 3 classes [unless excused] you should not expect to earn an A or A-; if you miss more classes than that please see me about the terms of continuing in the course. 

3) Class participation.  You will be expected to participate in discussions of the required material.  There will be a number of lectures, but the success of the course will depend heavily on your participation.  In class sessions I plan to ask questions about the assigned readings in order to elicit comments from you.  Your responses are important to me because they will help me track what you are actually getting out of the assigned readings. 

4) Examinations and papers.  There will be three in-class exams.  They will all be weighed more or less equally; there will be no comprehensive examination.  The readings and my lectures will focus on one unit or topic at a time, and when I have finished two units I will ask you to write a exam on those units.  The lectures and class discussions should help you grasp the assigned readings and prepare you to write the necessary exercise.  The dates of exams are indicated on the schedule below. 
 

Schedule outline

List of additional readings on erez 

*Isaiah Berlin,  1974.  “The Counter Englightenment”.  Dictionary of the History of Ideas. [110-112]
*George Stocking, 1982 [195-233]:  "Franz Boas and the Concept of Culture," pp. 195-233] in  Race, Culture and Evolution [UChic 0226774945]
*Derek Freeman, 1983 [pp 34-61] Ch 3, "The Lauching of Cultural Determinism"; Ch 4 "Boas Proposes and Intractable Problem," Margaret Mead and Samoa. [HarvISBN 0-674-54830-2]
*John W. Bennett, 1998 [pp. 219-256], "Psychology and Anthropology:  Modes of Interface ..." in Classic Anthropoology  [Transaction Press 1-56000-333-2]
*George Stocking, 1995 [pp. 304 -338] "Anarchy Brown in the Andamans and Australia ...; etc.", in After Tylor.  [UWis 0299145840]
*Robert Redfield.  1941.  [pp. ix-xxi; 1-18] "Preface", "Table of Contents", "The Peninsula of Yucatan," in Folk Cultures of Yucatan. 
*Edmund Leach.  1954.  "Introduction," Political Systems of Highland Burma. 
*Fredrik Barth.  1959.  “Segmentary Opposition and the Theory of Games.”  J of the Royal Anthropological Institute 89:5-21.
*Fredrik Barth.  1969.   "Introduction" [9-18],  from  Ethnic Groups and Boundaries; 
*Abner Cohen.  1969.   "Introduction" from Custom and Politics in Urban Africa [1-28]
*Julian Steward.  1955.  Selections [pp. 18-29, 36-42] from Theory of Culture Change. 
*Elman Service.  1962. Selections from Primitive Social Organization. 
*Marvin Harris. 1968.  "Introduction", from Rise of Anthropological Theory. 
*Marvin Harris.  1979. "Theoretical Principles of Cultural Materialism," from Cultural Materialism.
*Eric R. Wolf.  1956.  "Aspects of group relations in a complex society." 
*Eric R. Wolf.  1979.   "Introduction" and selections from Ch 3, Europe and the People without History. [UCalif 0520048989]
*Anthony Wallace, “Revitalization Movements” AA [1956] 58: 264-281.
*Malcomb Crick. 1976:  "The Structuralism of Claude Levi-Strauss," from Explorations in Language and Meaning. 
*Clifford Geertz.  1973.  “Thick description” [3-30], from The Interpretation of Culture.
*Clifford Geertz.  1973.  "Religion as a Cultural System" from The Interpretation of Culture.
*Clifford Geertz.  1973.  "Ideology as a Cultural System" from The Interpretation of Culture.
*Marshall Sahlins.  1976.  “Preface” and Ch 1:  "Marxism and Two Structuralisms" [pp vii - ix, 1-23], in Culture and Practical Reason. 
*Marshall Sahlins.  1981.  [Selections] Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities. ISBN: 0472027212
*Pierre Bourdieu.  1972.  Selections [pp 1-9, 72-87, 171-174], from Outline of a Theory of Practice. 
*Raymond Williams.  1977.  “Selections from Marxism and Literature” [585- 608] from A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory.
*David Harvey.  1990.  Selections [pp 39-53, 356-359] from The Condition of Post-modernism [Blackwell 0631162941]
*James Clifford.  1986.  "Introduction:  Partial Truths."  Writing Culture  [pp 2-11] [UCalif 0520057295]
*Michael Fischer.  “Postmodernism,” pp 368b – 372a, in, Dictionary of Anthropology.
*Benedict Anderson, pp. 37-46, "Origins of National Consciousness," Imagined Communities. [Verso 0860915468].
*M-R Trouillot, “An unthinkable history” from Silencing the Past. Pp. 70-108.
 

 AN3700 Course Schedule: [spring 2008]
 * = in the course packet; MW = in McGee and Warms
 

1/14/2008 M  Syllabus, Introduction.  Importance of cultural theory for anthropological interpretation generally. 
1/15/2008 TU 

                     Unit I:  Pre-professional and early professional anthropology
1/16/2008 W  Pre-professional period: Age of Discovery; Enlightenment, Counter Enlightenment. Reading assignment:  *“Counter-Enlightenment” by Isaiah Berlin.Lecture:  Age of Discovery; Hobbes; modernity concept [modo]; Voltaire; Enlightenment / Counter Enlightenment 
1/17/2008 TH 
1/18/2008 F  Nineteenth Century materialism and mechanism: Marx  Reading assignment: MW [53-66]: Marx-Engels, "Feuerbach: Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist Outlook"; Wolf pp. 73-79 of Europe and the People without History [UCalif 0520048989]. Lecture: Marx: dialectical materialism; evolution
1/19/2008 S 
1/20/2008 X 
1/21/2008 M  BREAK
1/22/2008 TU 
1/23/2008 W  Beginning of the professional period: Civilization and Evolution in the Nineteenth Century: Morgan  Reading assignment: MW3 [56-67]: Morgan: "Ethnical Periods."  Lecture: Morgan: Kinship; Stages of evolution.
1/24/2008 TH 
1/25/2008 F  Beginning of the professional period:  Civilization and Evolution in the Nineteenth Century:  Spencer and Tylor Reading Assignment: MW[5-11] Nineteenth Century Evolutionism; MW [41-56] Tylor: Science of culture.  Lecture: Tylor and nineteenth century evolutionary thought. 
1/26/2008 S 
1/27/2008 X 
1/28/2008 M  Classic formulations: Functionalism: Durkheim  Reading assignment:  MW [82-85] "Foundations of Sociological Thought"; MW 6 [85-92]: Durkheim: "What is a Social Fact?"   Lecture:  Durkheim 
1/29/2008 TU 

                     Unit II:  American cultural determinism before WWII
1/30/2008 W  Classic formulations: Boas, Historical Particularism and Cultural Determinism  Reading assignment:  MW [128-132]: "Historical Particularism"; *Stocking [195-233]: "Franz Boas and the Concept of Culture," pp. 195-233 in Race, Culture and Evolution [UChic 0226774945]  Lecture: Boas and the concept of culture 
1/31/2008 TH 
2/1/2008 F  Classic formulations:  Boas, Culture against Race  Reading Assignment: *Derek Freeman [34 - 61]: Ch 3, "The Launching of Cultural Determinism"; Ch 4, "Boas Proposes an Intractable Problem," in Margaret Mead and Samoa.  Lecture: Boas, Mead (Coming of Age in Samoa, 1927), and the nature/nurture controversy 
2/2/2008 S 
2/3/2008 X 
2/4/2008 M  Classic formulations: Culture and Personality: Benedict.  Reading assignment: MW[216-220] "Culture and Personality"; MW17 [220-230]: Benedict: "Psychological Types."  Lecture:  C and P:  Benedict (Patterns of Culture, 1934), Sapir 
2/5/2008 TU 
2/6/2008 W  Classic formulations:  Culture and Personality:  Margaret Mead Reading Assignment:  *Bennett, Classic Anthropology pp. 219-256, "Psychology and Anthropology: Modes of Interface ..."   Lecture:  Other conceptions of Personality and Culture.  G. H. Mead; G. Bateson
2/7/2008 TH 
2/8/2008 F  Culture in a regional context  Reading assignment:  *Redfield, “Preface,” “Table of Contents,” and [pp 1-18]: "The Peninsula of Yucatan," from Folk Cultures of Yucatan.  Lecture:  Peasants: Redfield's folk-urban continuum; Kroeber's part-societies. 
2/9/2008 S 
2/10/2008 X 
2/11/2008 M  Review 
2/12/2008 TU 
2/13/2008 W  EXAMINATION on Units I and II
2/14/2008 TH 

                    Unit III.  British Social Anthropology
2/15/2008 F  British functionalism:  Malinowski. Reading Assignment:  *“The Group and the individual in functional analysis” [Reprinted in Anthropology and Theory, pp 88-99.  Plus:  In MW: editor’s notes only from ch 13 [p. 157-173], but not Malinowski: "Essentials of the Kula".   Lecture:  Malinowski's participant observation; potential shift in his views.  Later views: function; instrumental behavior; myth and function. 
2/16/2008 S 
2/17/2008 X 
2/18/2008 M  British functionalism:  Radcliffe-Brown Reading Assignment:  In MW: Ch 14 [p. 179-189]:  “On Joking Relationships.”
2/19/2008 TU 
2/20/2008 W  British functionalism: Evans-Pritchard's segmentary lineage.  Reading assignment: Eres:  *Evans-Pritchard “The Nuer” [184-202]:   Lecture:  E-P: The segmentary lineage; Fortes: Dynamics of Clanship among the Talensi 
2/21/2008 TH 
2/22/2008 F  British functionalism:  Critique by Edmund Leach.  Reading Assignment:  *Leach:  “Introduction,” Political Systems of Highland Burma.
2/23/2008 S 
2/24/2008 X 
2/25/2008 M  British functionalism:  Critique by Fredrik Barth  Reading Assignment:  *Barth [5-21]: "Segmentary Opposition and the Theory of Games," 
2/26/2008 TU 
2/27/2008 W  Ethnicity and plural societies.  Reading assignment:  *Barth [9-18], "Introduction," from Ethnic Groups and Boundaries;  [OPTIONAL]  Cohen, "Introduction," from Custom and Politics in Urban Africa;    Lecture: Barth: ethnicity: A. Cohen: ethnicity and custom and politics 
2/28/2008 TH 

                  Unit IV:  American Materialism
2/29/2008 F  Neo-evolutionism I: White  Reading assignment: MW [237-240]: "Cultural ecology and neo-evolutionary thought"; MW 20 [256-275]: White: "Energy and the Evolution of Culture".  Lecture:  White:  Energy and evolution; 
3/1/2008 S 
3/2/2008 X 
3/3/2008 M  Neo-evolutionism II a :  Steward’s patrilineal band.  Reading assignment:  MW 19 [240-256]: Steward: "Patrilineal Band";
3/4/2008 TU 
3/5/2008 W  Neo-evolutionism  IIb:  Steward’s multilineal evolution, cultural ecology, cultural core and adaptation  Reading assignment: *Steward, Selections from Theory of Culture Change [pp 18-29, 36-42]; *Service, selections from Primitive Social Organization.  Lecture: Steward: cultural core; Adaptation; Lattimore, “The Steppes of Mongolia...” from Inner Asian Frontiers of China.
3/6/2008 TH 
3/7/2008 F  A Philosophically Explicit Cultural materialism:  Harris.  Reading assignment: *Harris, "Theoretical Principles of Cultural Materialism," pp 46-60, in Cultural Materialism [Random H 0394412400]; *Harris, "Introduction", from The Rise of Anthropological Theory.
3/8/2008 S 
3/9/2008 X 
3/10/2008 M  Break
3/11/2008 TU  Break
3/12/2008 W  Break
3/13/2008 TH  Break
3/14/2008 F  Break
3/15/2008 S 
3/16/2008 X 
3/17/2008 M  Neo-civilizational studies: Peasants and cultural brokers:  Wolf.  Reading assignment: *Wolf: "Aspects of group relations in a complex society."  Lecture: Wolf on peasants, history, and civilizations: Cultural brokers: “Two types ...”, “Virgin of Guadalupe ...”, “Closed corporate peasant communities”, Sons of the Shaking Earth. 
3/18/2008 TU 
3/19/2008 W  The New Personality and Culture:  Anthony Wallace   Reading Assignment: “Revitalization Movements” AA [1956] 58: 264-281. 
3/20/2008 TH 
3/21/2008 F  Review for exam 
3/22/2008 S 
3/23/2008 X 
3/24/2008 M  EXAMINATION on Units III and  IV 
3/25/2008 TU 

                     Unit V:  Reactions to Materialism
3/26/2008 W  Structuralism:  Levi-Strauss [T-P]   Reading assignment: MW[345-347]  Structuralism; MW 26 [347-362]: Levi-Srauss, "Structural Analysis in Linguistics and Anthropology"; [optional] *Crick:"The Structuralism of Claude Levi-Strauss," from Explorations in Language and Meaning.   Lecture: Levi-Strauss and linguistic models for cultural analysis.
3/27/2008 TH 
3/28/2008 F  A Boasian/structuralist anti-materialist reaction.  Reading assignment: *Sahlins, Ch 1: "Marxism and Two Structuralisms," pp 1-23 from Culture and Practical Reason.  Lecture: Sahlins and the cultural determinist reaction.
3/29/2008 S 
3/30/2008 X 
3/31/2008 M  A new use of structuralism  Reading Assignment:  *Sahlins [Preface and Chs 1 and 2] Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities  Lecture:  Structure in the event 
4/1/2008 TU 
4/2/2008 W  "Anti-materialist reactions: Interpretivism Ia: Geertz  Reading assignment:  *Geertz:  “Thick Description”, in The Interpretation of Culture.  Lecture:  Geertz’s challenge to materialism. 
4/3/2008 TH 
4/4/2008 F  Anti-materialist reactions:  Interpretivism Ib:  Geertz.  Reading assignment: *Geertz: Religion as a Cultural System
4/5/2008 S 
4/6/2008 X 
4/7/2008 M  Anti-materialist reactions: Interpretivism II:  Turner  Reading assignment:  MW39 [536-553]: Turner, "Symbols in Ndembu Ritual"  Lecture:  Turner
4/8/2008 TU

                   Unit VI:  Recent new directions
4/9/2008 W  Revised reflections on Marx:  Gramscian notions of hegemony.  Reading assignment:  *Raymond Williams, “Selections from Marxism and Literature”, pp. 585-608 [Pagination from Culture/Power/History, edited by Dirks, Eley, and Ortner.] 
4/10/2008 TH 
4/11/2008 F  Practice theory:  Bourdieu.  Reading assignment: *Bourdieu, selections [pp 1-9, 72-87, 171-174], Outline of a Theory of Practice.  Lecture: Practice theory [Bourdieu, Ortner, Sahlins] 
4/12/2008 S 
4/13/2008 X 
4/14/2008 M  The post-modernist critique.   Reading assignment: *Harvey, [pp 39-53] from The Condition of Post-modernism; *Clifford, "Introduction: Partial Truths," [pp 2-11] from Writing Culture.; *Fischer, “Postmodern,” Dictionary of Anthropology, pp 368b – 372a. 
4/15/2008 TU 
4/16/2008 W  Responses to the post-modernists. Reading assignment: *Harvey, [pp. 356-369]; Lindholm "Logical and Moral Problems of Postmodernism" JRAI 1997.
4/17/2008 TH 
4/18/2008 F  Another Viewpoint:  Reading Assignment: *B. Anderson [37-46], "Origins of National Consciousness," Imagined Communities. [saved in Erez as "Canfield"]
4/19/2008 S 
4/20/2008 X 
4/21/2008 M  *Bailey [97-129], “Do what you will?” Ch 4, In The Prevalence of Deceit.
4/22/2008 TU 
4/23/2008 W  Review
4/24/2008 TH 
4/25/2008 F  EXAMINATION III:  In Class
4/26/2008 S 
4/27/2008 X 
4/28/2008 M 
4/29/2008 TU 
4/30/2008 W 
5/1/2008 TH  FINALS
5/2/2008 F  FINALS
5/3/2008 S 
5/4/2008 X 
5/5/2008 M  FINALS
5/6/2008 TU  FINALS
5/7/2008 W  FINALS
5/8/2008 TH  FINALS
5/9/2008 F  FINALS