Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences The University of Alabama

Culture, Mind and Behavior
ANT405/505

Fall, 2002

Dr. William W. Dressler

Introduction

The aim of this course is to provide the student with a framework for understanding how culture influences individual behavior.  Much of the course will emphasize readings in the area of cognitive anthropology, which is devoted to the study of the link between cultural and psychological processes. 

Reading Assignments

 All readings are on reserve.  There is no required text.

Evaluation

ANT405 - There will be two exams (one midterm and one final), a paper, and a research assignment.  The paper will consist of an integrative and critical essay over articles to be assigned by me.  The first exam will be a traditional in-class short-answer and essay exam.  The second exam will be a take-home.  The research assignment will require the collection of a small amount of data.  Contributions of these requirements to the final grade are as follows: midterm = 25%; final = 25%; paper = 25%; research assignment = 15%; and, class participation = 10%.

ANT505 – There will be an in-class essay exam; a take-home final exam; a research assignment; and, a term paper.

Aug. 21 - Introduction/Course Overview

Part I – Cognitive Anthropology and Culture Theory

Aug. 27-Aug. 29 – Theories of Culture

• D’Andrade, RG. 1984. Cultural meaning systems, pp. 88-119 in Culture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self and Emotion. RA Schweder and RA Levine, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Keesing, Roger M. 1974. Theories of culture, in Annual Review of Anthropology. BJ Siegel, AR Beals and SA Tyler, Eds. Vol. 3. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews Inc.

• Pelto, PJ and GH Pelto. 1975. Intra-cultural diversity: Some theoretical issues. American Ethnologist 2: 1-18.

Sept. 3-Sept. 5 – Theoretical Foundations of Cognitive Anthropology: Ethnoscience

• Spradley, James. P. 1972. Adaptive strategies of urban nomads: the ethnoscience of tramp culture, in The Anthropology of Urban Environments. T Weaver and D White, Eds. Pp. 21-38. Monograph 11, The Society for Applied Anthropology Monograph Series.

• Spradley, James P. 1972. An ethnographic approach to the study of organizations, in Complex Organizations and Their Environments. MB Brinkerhoff and PR Kunz, Eds. Pp. 94-105. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown

• Spradley, James P. 1972. Down and out on Skid Road, in Life Styles: diversity in American Society. SD Feldman and GW Thielbar, Eds. Pp. 340-350. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.

Sept. 10-Sept. 12 – The Critique of Ethnoscience and the Emergence of Schema Theory

• Shore, Bradd. 1996. Chap. 2: Rethinking culture as models, pp. 42-71 in Culture in Mind. New York: Oxford University Press

 Part II – Research Methods in Cognitive Anthropology

Sept. 17-Sept. 19 -  Techniques for Generating Data

• Bernard, H. Russell. 1994. Chap. 11: Structured interviewing, in Research Methods in Anthropology. 2nd Ed. Pp. 237-255. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

• Fleisher, Mark S. and Jennifer A. Harrington. 1998. Freelisting: Management at a women’s federal prison, in Using Methods in the Field: A Practical Introduction and Casebook. VC de Munck and EJ Sobo, Eds. Pp. 69-84. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.

• Roos, Gun. 1998. Pile sorting: “kids like candy,” in Using Methods in the Field: A Practical Introduction and Casebook. VC de Munck and EJ Sobo, Eds. Pp. 97-110. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.

Research assignment – Collect data using free-listing plus one other technique.

Sept. 24-Sept. 26 – Analyzing Cognitive Data

• Luborsky, Mark R. 1993. The identification and analysis of themes and patterns, in Qualitative Methods in Aging Research. J. Gubrium and A. Sankar, Eds.  Pp. 189-210. Walnut Creek, CA: Sage.

• Caulkins, Douglas. 1998. Consensus analysis: do Scottish business advisers agree on models of success? in Using Methods in the Field: A Practical Introduction and Casebook. VC de Munck and EJ Sobo, Eds. Pp. 179-196. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.

• de Alba Garcia, Javier, et al. 1998. Consensus analysis: high blood pressure in a Mexican barrio, in Using Methods in the Field: A Practical Introduction and Casebook. VC de Munck and EJ Sobo, Eds. Pp. 197-210. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.

Discussion of the results of the research assignment.

Oct. 1-Oct. 3 – More on Analyzing Cognitive Data

• Caulkins, Douglas and Sue Hyatt.  1999. Using consensus analysis to measure diversity in organizations and social movements. Field Methods 11: 5-26.

•  White, Geoffrey. 1987. Proverbs and cultural models, in Cultural Models in Language and Thought. D. Holland and N. Quinn, Eds. Pp. 151-172. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Oct. 9  - Catch-up and review day before midterm

Oct. 10  - Midterm Exam

Part III – Research Results in Cognitive Anthropology

Oct. 15-Oct. 17 - Cultural Models of Ethnicity

• Trosset, Carol and Douglas Caulkins. 2001. Triangulation and confirmation in the study of Welsh concepts of personhood. Journal of Anthropological Research 57: 61-81.

• Caulkins, Douglas. 2001. Consensus, clines and edges in Celtic cultures. Cross-Cultural Research 35: 109-126

• Foster, Brian L. and Geoffrey M. White. 1982. Ethnic identity and perceived distance between ethnic categories. Human Organization 41: 121-130.

Oct. 22-Oct. 24 – Cultural Models of American Life I

•  Spiro, M.E. (1993) Is the Western conception of the self “peculiar” within the context of world cultures?  Ethos 21: 107-153.

•  Holland, D.and A. Kipnis. (1994) Metaphors for embarrassment and stories of exposure. Ethos 22: 316-342.

•  Cain, Carole. (1991) Personal stories: identity acquisition and self-understanding in alcoholics anonymous. Ethos 19:210-253

Oct. 29-Oct. 31 – Cultural Models of American Life II

•  Holland, Dorothy. 1987. Culture sharing across gender lines. American Behavioral Scientist 31: 234-249.
• Luborsky, Mark R. 1994. The retirement process. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 8: 411-429.

• Quinn, Naomi. (1996) Culture and contradiction. Ethos 24: 391-425.

• Strauss, Claudia. 1990. Who gets ahead? American Ethnologist 17: 312-328.

Nov. 5-Nov. 7- Cultural Models, Health and Health Care

• Young, James C. and Linda C. Garro. 1980. Variation in treatment decision making in two Mexican communities. Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC.

• Garro, Linda C. 1986. Intracultural variation in folk medical knowledge: a comparison between curers and noncurers. American Anthropologist 88: 351-370.

• Chavez, Leo, et al. 1995. Structure and meaning in models of breast and cervical cancer risk factors. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9: 40-74.

Nov. 12 - Nov. 14 - Connecting Culture and Behavior

• Chick, Garry E. 1981. Concept and behavior in a Tlaxcalan cargo hierarchy. Ethnology 20: 217-228.

• Dressler, William W., Mauro C. Balieiro, and Jose Ernesto Dos Santos. 1997  The cultural construction of social support in Brazil: Associations with health outcomes. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry  21: 303-335.

•  Wright, Anne, et al. (1993) Cultural interpretations and intracultural variability In Navajo beliefs about breastfeeding. American Ethnologist 781-796.

Nov. 19 – Reasoning and Making Decisions

• Hill, Carole E. 1998. Decision modeling: its use in medical anthropology, in Using Methods in the Field: A Practical Introduction and Casebook. VC de Munck and EJ Sobo, Eds. Pp. 139-164. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.

• Bauer, Mark C. and Anne L. Wright. (1996) Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods to model infant feeding behavior among Navajo mothers.  Human Orgnaization 55: 183-192.

Nov. 21 – No class, American Anthropological Association Meetings

Nov. 26 – Reasoning and Making Decisions (cont.)

Dec. 3-Dec. 5 – Summary and Conclusions

• D’Andrade, Roy G. 1995. Summing up, in The Development of Cognitive Anthropology.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Papers due: Friday, Dec. 6 – Close of business

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