SYMBOLIC ANTHROPOLOGY



SYMBOLIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Spring 2012

Course 10646R Anthropology 360

T-2:00-4:50 PM

GFS 107

Instructor: Joseph R. Hawkins, Ph.D

Contact Information: Office GFS 229 or GFS 122 for drop off of papers etc., or ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, 909 West Adams.

Phone: Anthropology Office- (213) 740 1900 for messages only as I am almost never there, or @ ONE- (213) 741 0094.

Office Hours: 3:30- 4:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays at ONE, or by appointment, mailbox in the Anthropology office, GFS122.

Course Description

This course offers an introduction to symbolic and semiotic anthropology for upper-level students. Symbolic anthropology is a way of understanding culture as systems of symbols, meanings, and intentions. For the purpose of this seminar cultures are understood as "symbolic orders" or, alternatively, as worldviews comprising meaningful discourse and counter-discourse in condensed forms. Semiotics is, most simply put, the study of signs. In either view, culture is seen as more than disconnected habits or practices but as a living, breathing web of shared meaning constantly in a state of flux. Symbolic anthropology focuses on figurative rather than literal meanings; on expressive culture (e.g., folklore, myth, ritual, humor, political speech). Topics in symbolic anthropology include: totemism, ritual pollution; taboo; rites of transition; divine kinship; fertility rituals; folk medicine; body mutilation, tattooing, and cosmetics; and symbolic constructions of gendered relations. This course asks how symbolic practices represent social and political values and takes a number of approaches to the analysis of the topics at hand. This class will be taught in seminar style. What that means is that you as a participant are expected to come to class prepared for discussion of the materials under consideration.

Required Texts

Womack, Mari, Symbols and Meaning: A Concise Introduction, Walnut Creek, CA: Alta

Mira Press, 2005.

Alexander, Jeffrey C., and Steven Seidman eds., Culture and Society: Contemporary

Debates, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. (CS)

Newton, Esther, Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America, University of Chicago Press, 1972.

Hebdidge, Dick, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, London: Routledge Press, 1991.

Legend: SM= Symbols and Meaning CS = Culture and Society, pc = photocopy.

Week 1 Mutual Introductions Discussion of the Syllabus

Understanding Symbols

Read: Womack, Ch. 1, Preface, and CS “Analytical Debates,” Part 1 Intro. for this date, (and Ch. 2 for Week 2 -get started on the readings early in other words).

Mini Lecture and Vocabulary Review

Week 2 The Study of Symbols

Read: Womack Chap. 2, Douglas and Saussure in CS.

Week 3 The Study of Symbols Cont’

Read: Sahlins and Gramsci CS and Freud and Jung (pc).

Covers first three weeks

Week 4 Symbols and Social Organization

Read: Womack Chap. 3

Parsons and Shils, and Geertz CS,

Spago Lecture

First Journal Due

Week 5 Symbols and Social Organization Cont’

Read: Lipset, Goffman, Greek Mythology (pc).

Begin Reading Mother Camp

Week 6 Symbols, Ritual, and Religion

Read: Womack Chap. 4, Turner CS

Week 7 Symbols Ritual, and Religion Cont’

Read: Walzer, Pitts CS.

Week 8 Mother Camp

Begin reading Hebdige

End of Term Presentation Topic Due

Second Journal Due Weeks 4-8 Day 2, Wed.

Week 9 Symbols and the Arts

Read: Womack Chap. 5 Bourdieu CS

SPRING BREAK- March 12-17

Week 10 Symbols and Social Crisis

Womack Chapter 6, Barthes’ World of Wrestling CS

Week 11 Symbols, Ideology, and Secular Reason

Adorno, Marcuse, Bell (290) CS

Third Journal Due, Day 2, Weeks 9-11

Week 12 Hebdidge: Subculture

Cont’ with Film Assortment

Week 13 Gendered Symbols and Meaning

Foucault, Smith-Rosenberg, Willis CS

Week 14 Gendered Symbols and Meaning cont’

cont’ Begin In Class Presentations

Fourth Journal Due, Day 2, Weeks 12-14

Week 15 In-Class Presentations of Contemporary Analyses of Symbols

Complete Presentations and Wrap Up. Written Version of Presentation by May 5, 2011 before noon

Journals

Journals are expected to be two pages in length, and no more than four pages not hand-written, but double-spaced, proofread, and edited. They should review the readings for weeks 1-3, and 4-5, 6-7, etc. Take notes as you read to make this easier. Stylistically they chart a course between a formal analytical style and personal musings on the readings at hand. Each journal must also contain two rhetorical or philosophical questions about the readings, which I will post in Power Point display, anonymously for the class to discuss. This is to catalyze discussion without undue embarrassment. The sixth journal will be a review of what you learned in the course and what you think I could do better to improve it.

Class Presentation

Treat the final assignment as a presentation at a conference. On Mar 5thth, hand in a five hundred world Abstract of the essay topic to be covered. These usually start “The proposed essay will examine…” Then, begin preparing a 10 minute (time yourself reading the essay out loud or extemporizing with notes) presentation for class. Over the last two years I was amazed by the ingenuity and originality of the topics presented. You are welcome to use Power point, posters or any other audio that you need but you will have to arrange for the proper media device in advance.

Grade Breakdown

Journals 15 x 4 60

In-Class Presentation[1] 25 25[2]

Attendance and In-Class Participation 15

Total 100

Notes on Registration and Grades

1. Students whose names do not appear on the university’s official class list by the appropriate cut off date, will not be permitted to participate (attend class, take exams, or receive credit).

2. Make-up tests and exams are accepted only in extreme emergency. A doctor’s excuse will be required.

3. A course grade of “Incomplete” must be arranged with Dr. Hawkins before the last class.

4. Please advise Dr. Hawkins of any learning disabilities in the first week of the semester so that accommodations can be worked out in advance.

Requirements

Class Meetings

Lecture, discussion, in-class exercises and/or films comprise the usual class format. Students should come to class prepared to participate by completing assignments prior to the first class meeting of the week specified.

Cell phones and pagers should be turned off; I make this mistake too, but lets all try. Wandering in and out of the classroom, except for emergencies is unacceptable.

Class Participation

Attendance is key to successfully completing this course. Be aware that students are awarded for attending class, and held responsible for missing classes. Class meetings will begin on time and late arrivals will not be accepted. At the discretion of the professor, students who are late for class or who engage in non-course related activities (reading newspapers, doing homework) during class will not receive credit for attending that day.

Assignment Submissions

Assignments are not accepted in electronic format, that is, via e-mail. My reason for this is that it is just too difficult to keep track of all the files and I do not have time to print out seventy five essays per week. All assignments not received on the assigned date are graded off one half letter grade for each day after the assigned date. For example, if due on Monday an A automatically becomes an A- after one day of tardiness (Tuesday), two days (Wednesday) a B+, etc..

Notes on Plagiarism and Appropriate Citations

Plagiarism is the taking of words or ideas and passing them off as one’s own. Use citations when directly quoting or paraphrasing the words or ideas of another author (see examples below). There is nothing wrong in acknowledging an intellectual debt to someone! However, students should say something new about the material cited to justify quoting or paraphrasing it.

Direct Quotes

When making a direct quote (using someone else’s words) use quotation marks. Cite the author, year of publication and the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence after the quotation marks before the period.

Example: “The Japan Foundation has been around since the early 1970s, when it was established by a government concerned with Japan’s suspect reputation around the world” (Treat 1999:12).

Paraphrasing When paraphrasing (rewording someone else’s words/idea) cite where you obtained the phrases, words or ideas, at the end of the sentence before the period.

Example: The Japan Foundation is an organization that was established to help improve Japan’s reputation around the world (Treat 1999).

List the bibliographical information of any publications cited in a “References Cited” section at the end of your essay. Bibliographical style is optional, just be consistent. It may be helpful to follow the format used in the References section of American Ethnographer or The Chicago Manual of Style. If you are genuinely interested in being an anthropologist it is best to completely familiar with this. Students from other disciplines are welcome to use other styles such as APA, MLA, etc. Just be consistent.

Grading Scale

93-96%=A

90-93%=A-

87-89%=B+

83-86%=B

80-82%=B-

77-79%=C+

73-76%=C

70-72%=C-

67-69%=D+

63-66%=D

60-62%=D-

0-59

Syllabus Changes

Students will be held responsible for any changes in the syllabus that are announced in class.

Weekly Schedule and Reading Assignments

The readings assigned are required as a supplement to in-class discussion and lecture and should be completed prior to the first day of each week. Students are expected to use the texts as tools and underline, or otherwise highlight the readings’ theses or key points. Keep current with the reading assignments! Doing so makes class much more interesting, and makes it easier to complete the writing assignments in a timely manner.

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[1] A percentage point will be removed for each absence.

[2] This grade is based on 10 pts for presentation in class and 15 pts for an eight to ten page paper.

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