Ward Keeler

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

The seminar will take the concept of the self as a culturally variable notion, and one with a history even within the West. So it is neither universally similar across the world, nor consistent through time in Western understandings.

One important question we will address is how anthropologists have engaged with attachment theory. Another is how issues of identity intersect with matters of race, gender, and sexuality. The implications of social media for the presentation and realization of self will round out the readings.

Among the authors whose names are likely to appear on the syllabus are Erving Goffman, Takeo Doi, Norbert Elias, James Baldwin, Clifford Geertz, Peter Stearns, Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Naomi Quinn, and Jeanette Mageo.

Requirements:

Each student is required to complete the assigned reading every week and to write a brief, one-paragraph or half-page comment or question on the reading. Students must submit two additional written assignments. The first, due mid-way through the semester, is a consideration of at least four of the readings we have discussed, with reference to each other. The second is either of the following: 1) a paper of ten to twenty pages on a topic of your choosing, but with evidence in the paper that the readings and discussion for this course have had some impact on your thinking; or 2) an annotated syllabus for an upper-division undergraduate course in your field that draws on ideas we have discussed.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

Although I am a committed runner, I am not knowledgeable about sports and am therefore in some ways an unlikely convenor of this seminar. Nevertheless, the immense appeal of mass-mediated sports the world over makes me intensely curious about why it engages people’s attention so effectively. My impression is that sports constitute a form of social interaction of widespread interest for a number of reasons: as a form of encounter that is taken down to its barest elements; as a metaphor for social relations conceived more broadly; as an instantiation of ideas about status, prestige, competition, and the distribution of power; and as a mechanism in which skill and chance mix in excitingly unpredictable ways. In other words, sports, deemed to be peripheral to “real life,” owe their attraction to the ways that they resonate with it. The readings we do will follow out some of these intellectual leads.

The course requirements are as follows: a brief comment on each week’s readings, submitted on line before class; a short mid-term essay (5 to 10 pages); and a final project. The latter can consist either of a research paper on a student’s thesis topic or other related subject matter, informed by the discussions we have had together; or an annotated syllabus intended for a course at the upper-division undergraduate level, with extensive explanations for the inclusion of particular readings as well as the motivating ideas for each topic addressed.

The  seminar will focus on recent anthropological monographs rather than classic, older literature. Readings will include work on ethics that has come to displace some discussion of religion in recent years. Ethnographies will be drawn from several regions of the world. Students will be expected to submit weekly comments as the basis for our discussion, a mid-term essay, and a final project. Propsective students are welcome to contact me to discuss their specific interests.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

The seminar will begin by discussing some basic texts in classical

Western political philosophy (Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, maybe

Montesquieu) as an initial orientation. We will go on to read Foucault

on governmentality, and Agamben's "state of exception." Work by Louis

Dumont and more recent scholars drawing on his analysis of hierarchy,

and its contrasts with Western egalitarianism, will follow. Finally,

we will consider some recent work on populism, drawing on writings by

anthropologists and social scientists in other fields, to consider its

links to both hierarchical and other understandings of

social--including political--relations.

Students who are interested in taking the seminar can contact me for a

more detailed list of readings in December.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

The seminar will consider the juncture of politics and performance. But not in the sense of cultural policy or political intervention in the arts but rather in focusing on the mutual implications of power and attention that any performance entails. Performers are individuals who lay claim to people's attention: they are imposing or at least hoping to exercise some control over others. Spectators are people who choose to submit to performers' claims, at least provisionally. We will look at a number of different kinds of genres to investigate the kinds of techniques performers, and genres, use to justify their hold on people, and the kinds of responses potential spectators make to those claims upon their attention.

Readings will include basic texts by Bauman, Bourdieu, and Brooks, and monographs from a number of different societies in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Students who would like to suggest particular topics are welcome to contact me beforehand (ward.keeler@gmail.com). I am currently on a fellowship overseas but will be back in my office at UT at the beginning of August.

The course aims to provide a general introduction to important themes in the anthropological literature on Southeast Asia. This semester the course will focus on the three countries, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, all of which were colonized by the French and which suffered the most from the depradations of the anti-colonial wars of the mid-twentieth century. Students with prior coursework in anthropology, especially Introductory Cultural Anthropology, will be at some advantage, although coursework in anthropology is not a prerequisite for this course. However, upperclass standing is required. Students who have registered for the course but do not have upperclass standing will not be permitted to remain once the semester starts.

The seminar will start with classic readings in the anthropology of religion, e.g., books by Freud, Weber, and others, and then turn to some important recent contributions, e.g., books by Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood, etc. Ethnographies will be drawn from several regions of the world. Students will be expected to submit weekly comments as the basis for our discussion, a mid-term essay, and a final project. Propsective students are welcome to contact me to discuss their specific interests. 

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

This course introduces doctoral students to major texts in sociocultural theory that have been central to the development of the discipline of anthropology from its colonial roots in North America and Western Europe to the contemporary period. While not a comprehensive history of anthropological theory, this course provides a chronological and contextualized perspective as it explores and interprets the relationships between varying and, at times, competing theoretical, epistemological, and ethical claims on anthropology and related disciplines. Based on classical scholarship by some of the “founding fathers” of modern social science, this course traces parts of the genealogical trajectories taken by the anthropological study of culture and society. Following that intellectual legacy, this course asks a central question: How can we make sense of sociocultural anthropology as an academic discipline today? Problematizing the role the concept of “culture” has played in shaping the idea of the “field,” we will look at “location” as a principal site of epistemological limitation and possibility for anthropological research.

Much of the literature on globalization concerns economic developments and politics, and so lies largely outside the purview of this course. Cultural features of globalization came to the fore with the publication of Edward Said’s Orientalism (1979). But as critics have noted, that work, while enormously influential, nevertheless kept the focus of attention on Westerners and their attitudes toward the non-West (in Said’s case, the Middle East), rather than considering the nature of the actual cultural interchanges among populations in different regions of the world. Other important commentators, stimulated often by Said, have addressed this topic more broadly. Homi Bhabha is perhaps the most noted among them, but one sees, for example, in the work of Hannerz and Appadurai in the 1990s, diverse efforts to relativize Western perspectives in the context of global trends. Chakrabharty’s Provincializing Europe (2000) provides in its very title an excellent tag for all of these intellectual endeavors. Other authors have formulated similarly sweeping takes on the cultural features of globalization: Mike Featherstone and Roland Robertson, Slavoj Zizek (1999), and Nederveen Pieterse (2004), have all entered into these discussions. Recent work by such noted scholars as Paul Gilroy and Anna Tsing  have made further contributions. Ian Buruma, meanwhile, has provided a complement to Said in his analysis of “Occidentalism,” with which he labels the stereotyping ways in which people in Asia construe Westerners. We will be reading some of these scholars’ works, along with more recent, ethnographically based publications dealing with the subject of globalizing culture. 

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

The course will focus on the sociological and anthropological study of masculinity, taking the literature about sports as a guiding thread. Foundational works by Susan Brownell and Michael Messner will serve as a starting point. More recent materials looking at the role of sports in societies the world over will encourage discussion of why so many people, mostly but not exclusively male, enjoy playing and/or watching sports. As one of the most obvious manifestations of globalization, mass mediated sports provide a way to examine the consistencies as well as the antinomies in men’s fascination with sports pretty much everywhere.

Students must write brief weekly responses to the reading, plus a mid-term essay. A final project can consist either of a longer essay or an annotated bibliography for an upper-division undergraduate course on masculinity

This course examines the theoretical approaches that have established the intellectual

foundations of contemporary socio-cultural anthropology. ThisIt course aims to provide

undergraduate students a preliminary grounding in the anthropological theory of culture. A short

tour through some of the important ideas and debates of the 20th century (and beyond), the course

aims at reading carefully as opposed to voluminously.

The course is primarily intended for anthropology majors.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

The seminar will consider the topic of hierarchy, looking at writings on the topic by three of the most important social theorists of the twentieth century. For Weber, we will read selections from Economy and Society, followed by some commentators (including Wendy Brown). For Dumont, we will focus primarily on Homo hierarchicus, his extremely useful overview of the subject of hierarchy as instantiated in the South Asian caste system, plus excerpts from his later writings about Western thinkers. We will also read some of the critical responses to his work by Appadurai, Dirks, and Inden. Finally, we will read writings of Bourdieu, including portions of Distinction, and Masculine Domination, to see how he sought to reconcile analyses based on class and those based on prestige. Students will be required to submit a comment each week on the reading, and to write a mid-term and final essay. 

The course aims to provide a general introduction to important themes in the anthropological literature on Southeast Asia. This semester the course will focus on the three countries, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, all of which were colonized by the French and which suffered the most from the depradations of the anti-colonial wars of the mid-twentieth century. Students with prior coursework in anthropology, especially Introductory Cultural Anthropology, will be at some advantage, although coursework in anthropology is not a prerequisite for this course. However, upperclass standing is required. Students who have registered for the course but do not have upperclass standing will not be permitted to remain once the semester starts.

After an initial consideration of the Western engagement with Buddhism, and then of some fundamental Buddhist concepts, the course will focus almost exclusively on two Theravada Buddhist societies, Burma andThailand. The emphasis throughout will be on the social relations that Buddhists in each of these societies enter into, whether among lay people, among religious, or across the lay/religious divide. 

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

The course will focus on the sociological and anthropological study of masculinity. The first few weeks' readings will provide a general introduction to recent theoretical and empirical work, mostly by sociologists. Two books will demonstrate historical approaches, one on late medieval, the other on early modern and nineteenth century understandings of masculinity. The rest of the readings will consist of more focused ethnographies, including Herzfeld's Poetics of Manhood, two acclaimed studies of gay masculinity, as well as work on Nicaragua, Japan, Islamic masculinities, and South Asia, among others.

The course aims to provide a general introduction to important themes in the anthropological literature on Southeast Asia. This semester the course will focus on the three countries, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, all of which were colonized by the French and which suffered the most from the depradations of the anti-colonial wars of the mid-twentieth century. Students with prior coursework in anthropology, especially Introductory Cultural Anthropology, will be at some advantage, although coursework in anthropology is not a prerequisite for this course. However, upperclass standing is required. Students who have registered for the course but do not have upperclass standing will not be permitted to remain once the semester starts.

The seminar will focus on how gender, sexuality, and violence implicate each other at different points in history and in different societies. Using foundational works by Michel Foucault and Norbert Elias as touchstones, we will look at discourse surrounding sexuality—and its restraint, in asceticism—in the Western classical tradition, in South Asia, in East Asia, and in Buddhist traditions. We will then look at historical instances of violence as moments at which social patterns, and perhaps idealized masculinity especially, are at once intensified and contravened. The Nazi killings and violence in South Asia and Southeast Asia will provide historical examples in which to consider the themes of gender and sexuality and their relevance to incidents of massive social upheaval.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

Buddhism has long appealed to Westerners as a religion they found both profound and likable (unlike others that will remain nameless). Its allure, of course, has depended on its presentation (a.k.a. packaging), and one aim of the course will be to look critically at the history of Western engagements with Buddhism. However, Buddhism on the ground deserves attention, too, and as it happens a number of excellent ethnographers have written on Buddhism as it is practiced in a range of societies. We will read works by anthropologists who have worked in South and (especially) Southeast Asia. In the process, we will compare diverse theoretical approaches to the study of religion, while at the same time comparing the cultural affinities and differences among several Asian societies.

Theories of Culture and Society                                                            Ward Keeler

Ant 330C (30400)                                                                        EPS 1.146     471-8520

TTh 11 – 12:30                                                                                    office hours: Tues 2 - 4

Spring, 2010                                                                                    ward.keeler@mail.utexas.edu

The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with some of the most important theoretical contributions made to the study of culture and society since the nineteenth century. The first half of the course is devoted largely to reading the great systems builders of the social sciences: Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Freud. All of their ideas have been under attack for decades, but their thinking still pervades the social sciences and must be reckoned with. We then turn to figures influential primarily in the history of anthropology, and finally, to recent and contemporary writers in the social sciences whose ideas fuel ongoing debates in anthropology today. The course is conceived primarily for majors but above all for students who are committed to working with difficult, influential, and fascinating texts.

The course combines both lecture, on Thursdays, and seminar discussion, on Tuesdays. Seminar discussion will be based in most cases on short written assignments submitted before class. Attending lectures and seminar discussion is required, and absences must be explained.

The course integrates an intense and demanding regime of reading and discussion with an equally intense and demanding program of writing. In order to assist students with their writing, a portion of every Tuesday class will be devoted to discussing writing. The aim is to encourage students to develop the habit of writing clear and concise prose, organized in such a way that a reader is aware of the overall structure of each sentence, paragraph, and essay.

Requirements:

Final grades will be based on the following requirements: eight short assignments, two longer essays, plus attendance and participation. The short assignments, no more than one page in length, will be worth five points each, for a total of forty points. (Ten short assignments will be made: students can choose not to submit one before spring break, and one after. If a student submits all ten short assignments, the two lowest grades will be dropped.) Each of the two longer essays, about five pages in length, will be worth twenty-five points, for a total of fifty points. Attendance and participation will count for ten points.

Readings:

All readings are available on reserve at the Perry-Castañeda Library. They are also available for purchase. The following books are available at the University Coop Bookstore:

            Anderson, Benedict. 1990. Imagined Communities. London: Verso.

Durkheim, Emile. 2008 [1912]. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Tr. C. Cosman. New York: Free Press. (Other translations are acceptable, but the new translation is preferable.)

            Foucault, Michel. 1979 [1975]. Discipline and Punish. Tr. A. Sheridan. New York: Vintage.

            Foucault, Michel. 1990 [1976]. The History of Sexuality. Tr. R. Hurley. New York: Vintage.

            Freud, Sigmund. 1966 [1920]. Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. Tr. James Strachey. New York: Norton.            Tucker, Robert, ed. 1978. The Marx-Engels Reader. Second edition. New York: Norton.

Weber, Max, 2002 [1920]. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Tr. P. Baehr and G. Wells. New York: Penguin.

Week 1

Tucker, Robert, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 101-05, 146-217, 473-491, 499-500.

The first short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, January 21, and will be due on Tuesday, January 26.

Week 2           

Spencer, Herbert. 1973 [18  ]. "What is a Society?" In, Paul Bohannan and Mark Glazer eds., High Points in Anthropology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, pp. 6-28.

Tylor, Edward. 1958 [1871]. Chapter 1, “The Science of Culture,” and Chapter 4, “Survival in Culture.” Primitive Culture. NewYork: Harper Torchbooks, pp. 1-25, 112-59.

Boas, Frans. 1974 [1889]. “On Alternating Sounds.” In, George W. Stocking, Jr., ed., The Shaping of American Anthropology 1883-1911: a Franz Boas Reader. New York: Basic Books, pp. 72-77.

Boas, Frans. 1940. "The Limitations of the Comparative Method in Anthropology." Race, Language and Culture. New York: The Free Press, pp. 270-80.

The second short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, January 28, and will be due on Tuesday, February 2.

Week 3           

Durkheim, Emile. Introduction; Book 1, Ch. 1 Definition of religious phenomena and of religion; Bk 2, Ch. 7 Origins of these beliefs; Bk 3, Ch. 5 Piacular Rites and the ambiguity of the notions of sacredness; Conclusion. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. (Since different editions of this book are in circulation, providing page numbers would only cause confusion.)

The third short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, February 4, and will be due on Tuesday, February 9.

Week 4           

Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

The fourth short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, February 11, and will be due on Tuesday, February 16.

Week 5           

Freud, Sigmund. 1966 [1920]. Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. Tr. James Strachey. New York: Norton & Co. Lectures 16 - 23, 27-28, pp. 243-377, 412-63.

The first longer writing assigned on Tuesday, February 16. A draft will be due on Tuesday, February 23. Final versions will be due on Tuesday, March 9.

Week 6            

Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1961 [1922], "Introduction," Chapter 3, “The Essentials of the Kula.” Argonauts of the Western Pacific. New York: E.P. Dutton, pp. 1-25, 81-104.

Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. 1965 [1952]. "Introduction;" "The Mother's Brother in South Africa." Structure and Function in Primitive Society. New York: The Free Press, pp. 1-31.

Evans-Pritchard, E.E. 1975 [1940]. “The Nuer of the Southern Sudan.” In, M. Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard, eds. African Political Systems. London: Oxford University Press, pp. 272-96.

Evans-Pritchard, E.E. 1988 [1950]. "Social Anthropology: Past and Present." In, Paul Bohannan and Mark Glazer eds., High Points in Anthropology. Second edition. New York: McGraw Hill, pp. 407-21.

The fifth short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, February 25, and will be due on Tuesday, March 2.

Week 7

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1963 [1945]. Chapter 2, "Structural Analysis in Linguistics and Anthropology." Structural Anthropology, v. 1. New York: Basic Books, pp. 31-54.

Douglas, Mary. 1966. "Introduction,"; Chapter 7, "External Boundaries." Purity and Danger:  An analysis of concepts of pollution and taboo. Hammondsworth: Penguin Books, pp. 11-16, 137-153.

Turner, Victor. 1967. "Symbols in Ndembu Ritual." The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, pp. 19-47.

Turner, Victor. 1969. Chapter 3, “Liminality and Communitas.” The Ritual Process. Chicago: Aldine, pp. 95-130.

Week 8           

Geertz, Clifford. 1973. "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.”  The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, pp. 412-454.

Crapanzano, Vincent. 1986. "Hermes' Dilemma." In, George Marcus and Michael Fisher, eds., Writing Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 51-76.

Rosaldo, Renato. 1989, “Grief and a Headhunterís Rage.” Culture and Truth: the remaking of social analysis. Boston: Beacon Press, pp. 1-21.

The sixth short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, March 11, and will be due on Tuesday, March 23.

Week 9           

Ortner, Sherry B. 1984. "Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties.” In, N. Dirks, G. Eley, and S. Ortner, eds. Culture/Power/History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 372-411.

Bourdieu, Pierre. The Logic of Practice. Pp. 25-65, 98-134

Note: Bourdieu's writing is notoriously difficult. Be sure to allow yourself a good deal of time to do this reading.

The seventh short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, March 25, and will be due on Tuesday, March 30.

Week 10           

Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. Pp. 3-31, 135-228.

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, v. 1. Pp. 1-49, 135-159.

The eighth short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, April 1, and will be due on Tuesday, April 6.

Week 11           

Di Leonardo, Micaela. 1991. Introduction: Gender, Culture and Political Economy: Feminist anthropology in historical perspective. In, M. di Leonardo, ed., Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 1-48.

Crowley, Helen. 1996. Women and the Domestic Sphere. In, Stuart Hall et al., eds., Modernity: an Introduction to Modern Societies. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 344-362.

Stoler, Ann. 2002. Gender and Morality in the Making of Race. Carnal Knowledg and Imperial Power. University of California Press. Pp. 41-59.

Weeks, Jeffrey. 1996. The Body and Sexuality. In, Stuart Hall et al., eds., Modernity: an Introduction to Modern Societies. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 363-394

The ninth short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, April 8, and will be due on Tuesday, April 13.

Week 12           

Anderson, Benedict. 1990. Imagined Communities. Revised Edition. London: Verso.

The tenth short assignment will be assigned on Thursday, April 15, and will be on Tuesday, April 20.

Week 13           

Clifford, James. 1986. “Introduction: Partial Truths.” In James Clifford & George Marcus, eds., Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography.  Berkeley: The University of California Press. Pp. 1-19.

Rosaldo, Renato. 1986, “From the Door of His Tent: the Fieldworker and the Inquisitor.” In, eds. George Marcus and Michael Fisher, Writing Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 77-97.

Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1991. “Writing Against Culture.” In, Richard Fox, ed., Recapturing Anthropology.  Santa Fe: School of American Research Press. Pp. 137-60.

Marcus, George. 1998. “Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography.” Ethnography Through Thick and Thin. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp. 79-104.

Jacobs-Huey, Lanita. 2002. The Natives are Gazing and Talking Back. American Anthropologist 104(3):791-804.

Week 14           

Mamdani, Mahmood. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: a Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism. American Anthropologist 104(3): 766-775.

Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2002. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” American Anthropologist 104(3):783-790.

Atran, Scott. 2009. “To Beat Al Qaeda, Look to the East.” NY Times December 13, 2009.

The second longer essay will be assigned on Thursday, April 29. It will be due on Thursday, May 13, by 4 p.m.

Week 15

No additional reading.

Ant 391 (30590), ANS 384 (31085)                                    Ward Keeler  EPS 1.146

Spring, 2010                                                                        Office hours: Tues 2 to 4& by appt.

EPS 1.130k                                                                        tel: 471-8520

F 9 – 12                                                                        ward.keeler@mail.utexas.edu

Postcoloniality

The seminar will take on two important literatures in postcolonial studies: the origins, vagaries and implications of nationalism, particularly as set forth by Benedict Anderson, and then taken up and debated by other scholars; and the field of subaltern studies. Although a majority of the readings will consist of academic books and articles, a number of novels will also figure importantly in the course. Because Anderson’s own work has focused on Southeast Asia, we will read novels from Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. We will also read a novel by Rabindranath Tagore.

Requirements:

Each student is expected to complete the assigned reading every week and to write a brief, one-paragraph or half-page comment or question on the reading. Those comments will be collected at the beginning of class and used to structure the discussion in seminar.

Students must submit two additional written assignments. The first, due mid-way through the semester, is a consideration of at least four of the readings we have discussed, with reference to each other. This can be a review of the most pertinent or interesting issues that arise, or that touch on projects you are working on. The second is either of the following: 1) a paper of ten to twenty pages on a topic of your choosing, but with evidence in the paper that the readings and discussion for this course have had some impact on your thinking; or 2) an annotated syllabus for a course in your field that draws on ideas we have discussed. Were you to teach a course on postcoloniality at the upper-division undergraduate level, what topics would you address and what readings would you assign? You are expected to develop a syllabus that goes beyond the readings in this course, emphasizing whatever perspectives and areas most directly concern your own interests or work. The syllabus must be extensively annotated. For every reading assigned, you need to provide a brief synopsis of its contents and then an explanation of what purpose it serves in the course and why it comes at that point.

During the last several sessions of the seminar, students will present their term projects as works in progress, to solicit reactions and suggestions from members of the seminar.

Regular attendance is required. All absences must be explained, and following any absence, a two-page discussion of the reading must be submitted at the next meeting of the seminar.

I have placed book orders at the Co-op Bookstore.  The readings will also be available on reserve at the PCL Reserve Room.

Readings:

Week 2

Hall, Stuart. The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power. In, eds. S. Hall, D. Held, D. Hubert, and K. Thompson, Modernity: an Introduction to Modern Societies. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1996. Pp. 184-227.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage, 1978. Pp. 1-110, 284-335, 347-350.

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures. New York: Routledge, 1989. Pp. 1-37, 155-197, 217-218, 220-223/

Week 3

Gellner, Ernest. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 2008. Second edition. PCL Stacks              JC 311 G444 1983

Week 4

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Revised edition. London: Verso Press, 1991. PCL JC 311 A656 1991

Week 5

Balakrishnan, Gopal. Mapping the Nation. London: Verso Books, 1996. On order at PCL.

Week 6

Anderson, Benedict. Spectre of Comparisons: nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the world. London: Verso Books, 1998. PCL              DS 685 A737 1998

pp. 1 – 74, 265 – 368.

Week 7

Anderson, B. Spectre. pp. 77 – 138.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Footsteps. New York: Penguin, 1996.

PL 5089 T8 J4513 1996

Week 8

Mangunwijaya, Y. B. Durga Umayi. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004.

PL 5089 M345 D8713 2004

Bodden, Michael. Woman as nation in Mangunwijaya’s Durga Umayi. Indonesia 62:53-82.

Keeler, Ward. ‘Durga Umayi’ and the postcolonialist dilemma. In, eds. K. Foulcher and T. Day, Clearing a space: Postcolonialist readings of modern Indonesian literature. Leiden: KITLV Press, 2002. Pp. 349-369.

On order PCL.

Week 9

Anderson, B. Spectre. pp. 139 – 191.

Botan, Letters from Thailand. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2002.

PL 4209 B6 C413 2002

Optional Film: Ong Bak

Fine Arts DVD 4260

Week 10

Rizal, José. Noli Me Tangere. New York: Penguin, 2006.

PQ 8897 R5 N513 2006

Week 11

Culler, J. and P. Cheah, eds. Grounds of Comparison: Around the Work of Benedict Anderson. New York: Routledge, 2003.

On order at PCL.

Week 12

Chatterjee, Partha. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

DS 468 C47 1993

Week 13

Chaturvedi, Vinayak. Mapping Subaltern Studies and the Postcolonial. London: Verso Books, 2000.

DS 341 M28 2000

Week 14

Thomas, Nicholas. Colonialism’s Culture: Anthropology, Travel and Government. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.

JV 305 T45 1994B

Week 15

Tagore, Rabindranath. Gora. Penguin to publish in April, 2010. If not available in time:

Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.  Or Tagore’s The Home and the World.

Ant 305 (30340-55)                                                   Ward Keeler   EPS 1.146  

MW 10:00 + sections                                                 office hours: Tuesday 2 to 4 or by appt.

Fall, 2009                                                                 tel: 471-8520

JGB 2.218                                                                email:ward.keeler@mail.utexas.edu    

Introduction to Expressive Culture

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

The course begins by considering the many inferences we draw, often unconsciously, when we look at people’s faces and when we listen to them speak, that is, what implicit meanings we find in people’s appearances and accents. Implicit meanings become particularly noteworthy in expressive genres, such as folklore and mass media. So we will turn our attention to the kinds of meanings, implicit and explicit, that analysts have found (or argued about) in fairy tales. We will then consider how similar kinds of analyses might be made of a number of films, including American, English, and Asian ones: how they, too, constitute something like fairy tales.

An introductory course cannot cover any single topic in great depth. My intention is to compensate for that fact by pointing to some of the many intriguing and timely issues that the subject of expressive culture opens up. My hope is that this survey will entice students into looking into these issues in greater depth in later coursework. More importantly, I hope that the course will enable people to analyze their own experience in cultural, rather than purely individual, terms.

Reading and viewing assignments:

Readings will be available as pdf files on the Blackboard site for the course. The book, Sleuthing the Alamo, by James Crisp, is available in new and used copies at the University Co-op Bookstore. All reading is required.

The course includes a number of films that will be shown on Monday and Tuesday evenings (with the exception of Thanksgiving Week, see below) at 6 p.m.  If you do not attend either of the screenings of a film arranged for the class, you are obliged to arrange to see it on your own time at the Audio-Visual Library in the Fine Arts Library.

Grading and exams:  There will be two mid-term exams and a final essay. Each of the exams will be worth twenty-two points; the final essay will be worth twenty-four. The rest of a student’s grade (32%) will be based on ten (out of a possible twelve) weekly comments students write on the reading and/or viewing (each worth two points), and attendance and participation in section discussion (worth a total of twelve points). Each comment must be submitted through Blackboard before your section meets and as a hard copy you give to your TA in class. (No credit will be given unless you submit your comment in both formats.) No comments will be required during the first week, Thanksgiving week, or the final week of the semester. Assignments cannot be made up. No options for getting extra credit are available in this course except by submitting more than ten out of the possible twelve comments.

Classes will consist of both lecture and discussion. Students are expected to attend class and to be prepared to enter into discussion. Students are also expected to come to class punctually and remain throughout class. Consistent tardiness or frequent absence must be explained.

Schedule

Week 1             August           26-28               Introduction: What do we infer from looking at                                                                              people’s faces?

Reading:

You are required to look at the pages at the following web site:

http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/LangloisLAB/maxims.html 

After reading the material on this page, read through the four other linked pages listed under “Our Research” on the left side of the page (“What makes a face attractive?,” Preferences for Attractive Faces,” “Why do we prefer attractive faces?,” and “Stereotype development”).

If you are intrigued and want to know more about Dr. Langlois’s research, you are encouraged to download the following article:

http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/LangloisLAB/META.PDF

Although much of the article is technical, reading p. 390 to the top of p. 395, and pp. 404-408 will give you the gist of the study and results. This reading is optional but worthwhile.

Week 2             August 31 – September 4            What do we infer from listening to people speak?           

Reading:

Murphy, Robert. Cultural and Social Anthropology: an overture. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall, 1989. Pp. 105-25.

GN 316 M87 1989

Required viewing:

American Tongues  VIDCASS 5999 UGL AV Collection Reserves (56 min)

Monday, August 31, in JBG 2.216, and Tuesday, September 1, at 6 p.m., in JBG 2.218.

Week 3              September 7 – 11            What do we learn from fairy tales? Psychological and

sociological perspectives.           

No class Monday, September 7, Labor Day.

Reading:

Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment. New York: Knopf, 1977. Pp. 3-19, 159-66.

GR 550 B47 1989

Zipes, Jack. Happily Ever After. New York: Routledge, 1997. Pp. 39-60.

GR 550 Z58 1997

Week 4              September 14 - 18            What else do we learn from fairy tales? Feminist

perspectives.

Reading:

Warner, Marina. From the Beast to the Blonde. London: Chatto and Windus, 1994. Pp.

200-40.

GR 550 W38 1994

Week 5              September 21 - 25            How do people imagine themselves as members of

communities?

Monday, September 21: First mid-term exam. Bring blue books.

Reading:

Wilson, William A. Herder, Folklore and Romantic Nationalism. Journal of Popular Culture 6:819-35 (Spring, 1973).

Week 6              September 28 – October 2            How do communities differ?

Reading:

Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Pp. 1-14, 263-307.

GT 95 I58 1992

Week 7              October 5 - 9              Does history consist of stories?

Reading:

Crisp, James E. Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett’s last stand and other mysteries of the Texas Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pp. 1-102.

F 390 C79 200

Required viewing:

The Alamo, directed by John Wayne. DVD 3377 (162 min.)

Monday, October 5, and Tuesday, October 6, at 6 p.m. in JGB 2.216.

Week  8              October 12 - 16            How do we like to represent ourselves?                  

Reading:

Crisp, James E. Sleuthing the Alamo. Pp. 103-98.

F 390 C79 200

Required viewing:

The Alamo, directed by Jon Lee Hancock. DVD 3110 (136 min.)

Monday, October 12, and Tuesday, October 13 at 6 p.m. in JGB 2.216.

Week 9              October 19 - 23            How do we represent ourselves when representing

                                                            others?

Reading:

Lutz, Catherine A., and Collins, Jane L. Reading National Geographic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Pp. xi-xiv, 87-117.

G 1 N275 L88 1993

Required viewing:

Pocohantas, by Disney. DVD  3376 (81 min)

Monday, October 19, and Tuesday, October 20, at 6 p.m. in JGB 2.216.

Week 10             October 26 – 30            Others representing themselves.

Readings:

Himpele, Jeff et al. Visual Anthropology. Review Essays. American Anthropologist 105(4):820-38.

Required Viewing:

The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat). DVD 1344 (161 min)

Monday, October 26, and Tuesday, October 27 at 6 p.m. in JGB 2.216.

Week 11             November 2 - 6            Other others representing themselves.

Monday, November 2: Second mid-term exam. Bring blue books.            

Reading:

Hamilton, Annette. Rumours, Foul Calumnies and the Safety of the State: Mass Media and National Identity in Thailand. Ed. Craig J. Reynolds, National Identity and Its Defenders: Thailand, 1939-1989. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1991. Pp. 341-78.

Required viewing:

Ong-Bak: the Thai Warrior. DVD 4260 (105 min.)

Monday, November 2, and Tuesday, November 3 at 6 p.m. in JGB 2.216.

Week 12              November 9 - 10            Diasporic South Asians representing themselves.    

Reading:

Derné, Steve. Movies, Masculinity, and Modernity: an ethnography of men’s filmgoing in India. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. Pp. 61 – 88.

PN 1993.5 I8 D47 2000

Required viewing:

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. DVD 4306 (189 min)

Monday, November 19, and Tuesday, November 10, at 6 p.m. in JGB 2.218.

Week 13             November  16 - 20            More diasporic South Asians representing themselves,    

differently.

Reading:

Wright, Evan. 2003. The Killer Elite. Rolling Stone, June 26, 2003. Via http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938873/the_killer_elite/

Required viewing:

Bend it like Beckham DVD 1933 AV Library (112 min)

Monday, November 16, and Tuesday, November 17, at 6 p.m. in JGB 2.218

Week 14              November 23 - 25            How does the military make sense of the world?           

Reading:

Lutz, Catherine. Military Restructuring, Civilian Camouflage and Hot Peace (1989-2000). In Homefront: a Military City and the American 20th Century. Boston: Beacon, 2001. Pp.214-253.

Required viewing:

Generation Kill, episode 1, "Get Some." DVD 7464 DISC 1

Monday, November 23 only, at 6 p.m., in JGB 2.218.

Week 15        December 1 - 5            Conclusion: What have you learned in this course?

No additional reading. No additional viewing.

The final essay topic will be made available in class on Wednesday, December 2. It will be due at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, December 15. You must submit your final essay on Blackboard.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

Please check back for updates.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

Interdisciplinary topics relating to Women's and Gender Studies.  Seats restricted to WGS MA and Portfolio students during early registration.  Check cross-listings for home departments and originating field of study.

Please check back for updates.

The purpose of this course is to provide you with theoretical and practical knowledge

about teaching and learning at the postsecondary level, ultimately to help prepare you for a

teaching position in a higher education setting. Major topics that we will cover include (1)

teaching effectiveness, (2) modes of learning, (3) teaching philosophy, (4) course design, (5)

lecture design and delivery, and (6) graduate education and the demands of academia.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

Please check back for updates.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

Please check back for updates.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of culture as a crucial dimension of human life. Because we tend to think of thought and action as stemming from individual impulses, we find the notion of a shared, highly variable, but influential force in our lives hard to fathom.  Even if we speak of "society" as a familiar concept, we tend to make of it a uniform, oppressive force, some institution outside ourselves that we individually confront and oppose. Yet only if we can learn to recognize how deeply we share certain assumptions and inclinations with others--but only some others, and to varying degrees--can we appreciate the degree to which culture inheres within us and makes us who we are.

Please check back for updates.

The ability to learn and use language is a quintessentially human characteristic—one that distinguishes homo sapiens from other animal species. Language is simultaneously generated through and generative of social life; the former is a primary resource that we humans use in both the structuring and accomplishment of the latter. These dynamics form the subject of study of linguistic anthropology.

This course is an introduction to linguistic anthropology. It is impossible in a single semester to provide a complete overview of all topics that linguistic anthropologists address, so this course covers selected topics, the selection of which is aimed to illustrate how linguistic anthropologists go about doing their work: the range of topics they examine, the kinds of questions they ask, the types of approaches and methods they utilize, and the sorts of conclusions they reach.

Please check back for updates.

The ability to learn and use language is a quintessentially human characteristic—one that distinguishes homo sapiens from other animal species. Language is simultaneously generated through and generative of social life; the former is a primary resource that we humans use in both the structuring and accomplishment of the latter. These dynamics form the subject of study of linguistic anthropology.

This course is an introduction to linguistic anthropology. It is impossible in a single semester to provide a complete overview of all topics that linguistic anthropologists address, so this course covers selected topics, the selection of which is aimed to illustrate how linguistic anthropologists go about doing their work: the range of topics they examine, the kinds of questions they ask, the types of approaches and methods they utilize, and the sorts of conclusions they reach.

The purpose of this course is to provide you with theoretical and practical knowledge

about teaching and learning at the postsecondary level, ultimately to help prepare you for a

teaching position in a higher education setting. Major topics that we will cover include (1)

teaching effectiveness, (2) modes of learning, (3) teaching philosophy, (4) course design, (5)

lecture design and delivery, and (6) graduate education and the demands of academia.

Please check back for updates.

The ability to learn and use language is a quintessentially human characteristic—one that distinguishes homo sapiens from other animal species. Language is simultaneously generated through and generative of social life; the former is a primary resource that we humans use in both the structuring and accomplishment of the latter. These dynamics form the subject of study of linguistic anthropology.

This course is an introduction to linguistic anthropology. It is impossible in a single semester to provide a complete overview of all topics that linguistic anthropologists address, so this course covers selected topics, the selection of which is aimed to illustrate how linguistic anthropologists go about doing their work: the range of topics they examine, the kinds of questions they ask, the types of approaches and methods they utilize, and the sorts of conclusions they reach.