Syllabus
Anthropology 100: General Anthropology
Fall Semester 2000, University of Wisconsin-Washington County
Class Room: 274
Class Time: 9:25-10:40 AM TR
Instructor: Chris Hays Office Hours: 11am to 12:30 pm, TR, or by appointment
Office: 205; office phone number: 335-5225
Email: chays@uwc.edu
Course Description
This course provides an introduction to the broad field of anthropology and it
is designed primarily for those who have no previous courses in
the field. It briefly covers the principal themes in the four major
sub-fields of anthropology: ethnology, linguistics, and archaeology.
Anthropology
studies the whole of the human condition and it includes both scientific and
humanistic approaches. It compares cultures and populations across the
world
and examines the development of human diversity over the past few million years.
Class time will include both lectures and ample opportunities for discussion and debate. There will also be occasional videos.
Goals
The
principal goal of the course is to provide you with a general overview of the
field of anthropology. The holistic and comparative approach
used by anthropology will be very useful to further studies in any
discipline. The course will give the background to begin critically and
thoughtfully
evaluating much of the information in popular culture and the media relevant to
anthropology.
Requirements
You
will be expected to attend all classes and to participate actively in class
discussions (this is 10% of your grade). You can expect a total
(the combination of the textbook and reserve readings) average of about 50-60
pages of reading per week.
There will be two exams for this course and two quizzes. The quizzes are
short assessments (30 minutes in length) and consist of multiple choice
and short answers. The exams are longer (50 minutes in length) and consist
of multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. Students will be
responsible for material in the readings and for material covered in class, most
of which will not be found in the readings.
Grading
First
Quiz
15%
Second
Quiz
15%
Midterm
Exam
30%
Final
Exam
30%
Discussion and
Attendance
10%
Assigned Readings
Textbook
Kottak, Conrad
2000 Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity. (Eighth
edition) McGraw Hill, New York. Note that the CD disc that came
with some of the textbooks is not required.
Reserved Readings: These are generally short articles (3-5 pages) that will be placed on reserve at the library.
Class Schedule (subject to revision)
Assigned Reading
Chapters in Kottak (K)
Readings on reserve (R)
Week of Sept 6-8: Introduction to course and anthropology K: 1, 2; R-Kurin, Lee, Rachels
Week of Sept 11-15: Culture and Communication K: 3, 4; R-Kottak, Miner, Tannen
Week of Sept 18-22: First Quiz on Sept 19; Ethnicity K: 5; R- to be assigned
Week of Sept 25-29: Race; begin Evolution and Genetics K: 6, 7; R- Brace, Gill
Week of Oct 2-6: Evolution and Genetics K: 7, 8; R-Diamond, Oliwenstein, Futuyma
Week of Oct 9-13: Primates and Early Hominids K: 8, 9
Week of Oct 16-20: Modern Humans and First Farmers K: 10, 11
Week of Oct 23-27: Making Living and
Adapting;
K: 12; R-Good, Counts
Midterm Exam on Oct 26
Week of Oct 30-Nov 3: Kinship and Political Systems K: 13, 14
Week of Nov 6-10: Marriage and Gender K: 15, 16; R-Nandah, Sillah
Week of Nov 13-17: Religion and Arts K: 17, 18; R-Purdum, Gmelch
Week of Nov 20-22: Quiz on Nov 21; Modern World System
and
K: 19; R-Helweg, Lappe
Colonialism
Week of Nov 27-Dec 1: Development and Culture Exchange K: 20, 21; R-Shoefoot
Week of Dec 4-Dec 8: Applied Anthropology: Relevancy and Jobs K: 22; R-to be assigned
Week Dec: 11-15: American Popular Culture and Course Overview K: Appendix; R-to be assigned
Dec 21: Final Exam