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Anthropology 300
Cultural Anthropology: Theory and Ethnography
Spring Semester, 2015
Tuesday and Thursday, 2:30PM - 3:45PM
Social Science 6232
Yukti Mukdawijitra
mukdawijitra@wisc.edu
5462 Social Sciences Building, Observatory Drive
Office Hours: Tuesday 3:45 - 5:45 pm. or by appointment.
Course Description
This course surveys cultural anthropology with emphasis on ethnographic description,
methodology, and contemporary theory. The course focuses on both humanistic and
social scientific approaches to human sociocultural diversity.
Assessments
1)
Class participation
20%
Participation in class discussion is very important. To facilitate discussion, before attending the class, students must take notes and prepare at least 5 questions relating
to the readings. Team up with one of your classmates to summarize the main ideas
and interesting points of the weekly readings. Turn in a soft copy of the note via
email before the TUESDAY class. Bring a copy of the note for your discussion in
the class.
2)
Two book reviews
40% (=20+20)
Each student must write two 5-page (double-spaced) book review essays. Choose two
books from the following list to review:
- Keith Basso. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western
Apache. Albuquerque: University of. New Mexico Press, 1996.
- Ruth Behar. Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in between Journeys. Duke University Press
Books, 2013.
- Katherine A. Dettwyler. Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa. Waveland,
1994.
- Tim Ingold. Lines: a brief history. Routledge: London, 2007.
- Saba Mahmood. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.
- Daniel Miller. Tales from Facebook. Cambridge: Polity, 2011.
- Kirin Narayan. Alive in the Writing: Crafting Ethnography in the Company of
Chekhov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.
- Aihwa Ong. Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, the New America. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press, 2003.
- Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Silencing the Past: power and the production of history. Beacon Press, Boston, 1995.
- Andrew Walker. Thailand's Political Peasants: Power in the Modern Rural Economy.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2012.
The book review essays must present the books main arguments or issues as well as
the reviewers (the students) critical and academic discussion about the authors content, argument, and data. Students must bring issues discussed in this class or the
class materials into the book reviews.
The book reviews are due on Thursdays of WEEK V and Week X. Turn in the soft
copy via email.

3)
Filednotes
15%
Starting from Week XI to Week XV, each student will conduct his/her ethnographic field
research and write fieldnotes recording collected data necessary for writing an ethnographic research paper (see below). Turn in a 1-page research proposal in Week X.
During ethnographic research weeks, students should spend at least 3-hour ethnographic research and write the fieldnotes. Bring a hard copy of at least 2 pages of the
fieldnotes to the class and turn in the fieldnotes after the class.
4)
Ethnographic research paper
25%
Write one ethnographic paper based on field experiences, fieldnotes, documents,
course materials, interviews, participant observation, and other necessary information.
Topics of the paper are various. Use theories, concepts and information taken from the
assigned readings as a starting point. Students must consult the instructor while gathering data and report briefly to the class periodically. An ethnographic paper is 8-10
pages (double-spaced).
The research paper is due on May 13, 2015 at 4 pm. Turn in the soft copy via
email.
Class Schedule
PART ONE: OVERVIEW
Week I (January 20, 22)
Introduction
Read:
- Bruce M. Knauft. Stories, Histories and Theories: Agendas in Cultural Anthropology
In Genealogies for the Present in Cultural Anthropology. Pp. 9-39. New York: Routledge.
- James Urry. A History of Field Methods In Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Con- duct. ed. R.F. Ellen (1984), pp. 35-61.
- Sherry B Ortner. Theory in Anthropology Since the Sixties Comparative Studies in
Society and History. 26 (1984): 126-166.
PART TWO: ANCESTORS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Week II (January 27, 29)
Evolutionism
Read:
- Herbert Spencer, The Social Organism (1860) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, The Science of Culture (1871) In Anthropological Theory:
an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill,
2008.
- Lewis Henry Morgan, Ethnical Periods (1877) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
Week III (February 3, 5)
The Foundations of Sociological Thought
Read:
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Feuerbach. Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist
Outlook (1845-1846) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee
and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

- Karl Marx. "Manifesto of the Communist Party In The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed,
by Robert C. Tucker (New York: Norton, 1978). Pp. 473-500.

- Max Weber. The Fundamental Concepts of Sociology. In The Theory of Social and
Economic Organization. Talcott Parsons, ed. Pp. 87-157. (New York: Free Press,
1947).
- Emile Durkheim. What is a Social Fact' (1895) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
PART THREE: ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY, THE CLASSICAL
Week IV (February 10, 12)
Boasian
Read:
- Franz Boas, The Methods of Ethnology (1920) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- A. L. Kroeber, Eighteen Professions (1915) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Benjamin L. Whorf, The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language
(1939) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L.
Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Ruth Fulton Benedict, Psychological Types in the Cultures of the Southwest (1928) In
Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.).
Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Margaret Mead, Introduction to Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) In Anthropological
Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw
Hill, 2008.
Film: Odyssey Series: Franz Boas (1981).
Week V (February 17, 19)
Functionalism and British Social Anthropology
Read:
- Bronislaw Malinowski, The Essentials of the Kula (1922) In Anthropological Theory:
an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill,
2008.
- Bronislaw Malinowski. "Introduction" In Argonauts of the Western Pacific, pp 1-20.
- A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, On Joking Relationships (1940)
- Max Gluckman, The Licence in Ritual (1956) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Evans-Pritchards Witchcraft, Oracle and Magic. Chapter One.
Week VI (February 24, 26)
Cultural Materialism and Cultural Ecology
Read:
- Leslie White, Energy and the Evolution of Culture (1943) In Anthropological Theory:
an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill,
2008.
- Julian Steward, The Patrilineal Band (1955) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Marvin Harris. The Cultural Ecology if Indias Sacred Cattle (1966) In Anthropological
Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw
Hill, 2008.
- Roy Rapport. Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations among a New Guinea
People (1967) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R.
L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.

- Eric Wolf. Peasantry and Its Problems (1966) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
Week VII (March 3, 5)
Structuralism
Read:
- Saussure, Ferdinand de. 2000. [1916] The Nature of the Linguistic Sign, Language
and Linguistics, Linguistic Value In The Routledge Language and Cultural Theory
Reader. Burke, Lucy, Tony Crowley, and Alan Girvin. eds. Pp. 21-32, 53-63,
105-113. London: Routledge.
- Claude Levi-Strauss. Linguistics and Anthropology (1952) In Anthropological Theory:
an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill,
2008.
- Claude Levi-Strauss. Four Winnebago Myths: A Structural Sketch (1960) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston:
McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Sherry B. Ortner, Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture? (1974) In Anthropological
Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw
Hill, 2008.
Week VIII (March 10, 12)
Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology
Read:
- Mary Douglas, External Boundaries (1966) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Victor Turner, Symbols in Ndembu Ritual (1967) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Clifford Geertz, Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight (1973) In Anthropological Theory: an introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Clifford Geertz. 1973. Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture
In The Interpretation of Cultures. Pp. 3-30. New York: Basic Books.
PART FOUR: ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY, THE CONTEMPORARY
Week IX (March 17, 19)
The Postmodernism and the Post-Structuralism
Read:
- Rosaldo, Renato. Subjectivity in Social Analysis In Culture and Truth: The Remaking
of Social Analysis. (1989), pp. 168-195.
- Pierre Bourdieu, Structures, Habitus, Practices (1980)
- Renato Rosaldo, Grief and a Headhunter's Rage (1989) In Anthropological Theory: an
introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
- Lila Abu-Lughod, A Tale of Two Pregnancies (1995) In Anthropological Theory: an
introductory history. R. J. McGee and R. L. Warms (eds.). Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
Week X (March 24, 26)
Cultural Studies and Post-colonialism
Read:
- Raymond Williams. (1977) Hegemony, Traditions, Institutions, and Formations,
Dominant, Residual, and Emergent, and Structures of Feeling In Marxism and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- Raymond Williams. (2002 {1958]) Culture is ordinary In The Everyday Life Reader.
Highmore, B. ed. Pp. 91-100. London: Routledge.

- Stuart Hall. (2005 [1980]) Cultural Studies and the Centre: some problematics and
problems. In Culture, Media, Language: Working papers in Cultural Studies,
1972-79. Hall, S. et al. eds. Pp. 2-35. London: Routledge.
- Dick Hebdige. (1979) Introduction, From culture to hegemony In Subculture: The
meaning of style. London: Routledge.
- Dephesh Chakrabarty. (2002) A small history of subaltern studies In Habitation of
Modernity. Pp. 3-19. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
SPRING RECESS: MARCH 28 - APRIL 5
PART FIVE: ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND WRITING
Week XI (April 7, 9)
Writing Fieldnotes
Read:
- Emerson, Robert M., Fretz, Rachel I. and Shaw, Linda L. 1995. Writing Ethnographic
Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ch. 1, 2, 3.
Film: Margaret Mead and Samoa (1988).
Week XII (April 14, 16)
Writing People, places, and times
Read:
- Emerson, Robert M., Fretz, Rachel I. and Shaw, Linda L. 1995. Writing Ethnographic
Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ch. 4, 5.
Week XIII (April 21, 22)
Documenting Meanings
Read:
- Emerson, Robert M., Fretz, Rachel I. and Shaw, Linda L. 1995. Writing Ethnographic
Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ch. 6, 7.
Week XIV (April 28, 30)
Picturing Cultures
Read:
- From Pictorialization to Visual Anthropology In Handbook of Methods in Cultural
Anthropology. Ber- hard, H. Russell (ed.) Lanham: Altamira, (2000 [1998]).
Week XV (May 5, 7)
Writing Theory and Ethnographic Argument
Read:
- Nader, Laura. (2011) Ethnography as Theory. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory
1(1): 211-219.
- Wilson, William J. (2010) The Role of Theory in Ethnographic Research Ethnography
10(4): 549-564.
- Gay y Blasco, P. and Wardle, H. Ethnography as Argument In How to Read Ethnography. London: Routledge, 2007.
READING MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT THE LIBRARY RESERVE (https://lcp.library.wisc.edu/viewer/show/34501). RECOMMENDED AND REQUIRED BOOKS ARE RESERVED IN THE LIBRARY.