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

Social Structure
ANT 436-001
Fall, 2007

  Professor: Dr. M.D. Murphy
  Class Place and Time: 22 ten Hoor, Tues. & Thurs.  11-12:15 p.m.
  Office: 19B  ten Hoor
  Office Hrs:  Thurs. 2-5 pm and by appointment
  email: mdmurphy@tenhoor.as.ua.edu

INDEX

Course Objectives eLearning and Lecture Notes Reading List Class Attendance and Participation Examination Schedule Make-up Examination Policy and Optional Term Papers Grading Course Web Pages

Course Description
This course of lectures, discussions, readings and films will explore the attempts of anthropologists to describe, interpret and analyze the social relations of a wide range of human societies, past and present. Topics will include kinship, marriage, descent, residence, modes of production, the control of sexuality and aggression, religion, and social evolution.

Course Objectives and Student Learning Objectives: At the end of this course attentive students will be able to:

• Understand the historical development of anthropological thinking on the structure and organization of human social life
• Appreciate the great variety of social formats devised by different human populations
• Understand some of the principal forces at work on societies that promote social change and development

Course Prerequisites:  12 hours of anthropology, graduate status, or the permission of the instructor

BAMA Account Emailer

Students are required to use their "bama" email account for this course.  Bama email accounts are created near the beginning of each semester for all students who do not already have one. Once your account is created, you should receive an account information sheet in the mail.  If you do not know your bama account name, ask me.  If you forget it, you can access it online at https://bama.ua.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~acctweb/accountchange.pl.

If you prefer to use a different emailer (Yahoo or MSN, for example), all you need to do is automatically forward all of your "bama" mail to your preferred email address.  Directions for doing so are to be found at: https://bama.ua.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~helpdesk/sforward.pl.

eLearning and Lecture Notes

By all means take advantage of the eLearning site I have constructed for  this course.  Among other resources, it provides you with easily downloadable pdf  files of the Power Point Presentations used in class.   Access eLearning at http://elearning.ua.edu or log onto your MyBama site and click on the "Student" or "Academic" tabs. Click onto "ANT 436" and log onto eLearning by using the same password and userid that work for accessing MyBama

PDF files present you with material very similar to that of the Power Point Presentations used in class, but in a format that is relatively quick and easy to print out. To take advantage of this feature you must have a copy of Acrobat Reader on the computer you are using.  Most, if not all, University Computer Labs will have this software installed. You can download a free copy for your own machine at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html 

Web Supplements

• Marriage Exchange Diagrams 
• Urigubu
• Tiwi Marriage
• Basic Kinship Charts (for practice)

Reading List

E.E. Evans-Pritchard (1968 [1940]) The Nuer. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

• Nuer web sites

Annette Weiner (1988) The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

• Trobriand web sites

Asen Balikci (1989) The Netsilik Eskimo. Waveland Press.

• Netsilik & Eskimo web sites

Napoleon Chagnon (1996) Yanomamo: The Fierce People. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

• Yanomamo web sites

Michael D. Murphy, A Kinship Glossary: Symbols, Terms, and Concepts (A study guide on the web at http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/436/kinship.htm ) PDF version of Kinship Glossary.

Chart for comparing structural features of focus societies. PDF version of same chart.

Note: For relatively inexpensive used copies of the books for this course, check out FetchBook.info

Also check out BooksPrice, which bundles all used books together for one price. On 7-19-07 the low price for the four books listed above was $34.57, shipping included. Retail price for new copies was $132.80. The longer you wait to buy, the more likely the price is to go up.

Class Attendance and ParticipationAttendance is required and excessive absences will lower the student's grade for the course. Active classroom participation will be noted and may figure in the final grade.

Examination Schedule

• The Midterm Examination (Thursday, October 18): This exam will emphasize the lectures to date, but will also cover Evans-Pritchard's The Nuer and Weiner's The Trobrianders in their entireties. 
• Essay (due date: Tuesday, Nov 20 at 5 p.m.):  This take home essay will be sent to me as a Microsoft Word attachment to an email (mdmurphy@tenhoor.as.ua.edu). The essay topic requires the student to demonstrate that the ethnographic monographs have been carefully read and considered in light of the lectures. 
• The Final Examination (Thursday, December 13, 8 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.): This exam will cover all the readings and lectures assigned for the course, but with an emphasis on previously untested lecture material, as well as Murphy's A Kinship Glossary: Symbols, Terms and Concepts. Web version.  PDF version

Make-up Examination Policy & Term Papers

Students who miss the midterm--for whatever reason--will be required to write a 15-20 page, typewritten paper on a topic approved by the instructor in advance. Those who wish to substitute a paper for the mid-term may do so but plans should be made early in the term.

Grading

The final grade for the course will be based on the midterm (30%), the essay (30%)  and the final exam (40%).  Poor attendance will lower the grade for the course. 

Course Web Pages A Kinship Glossary: Symbols, Terms, and Concepts Definitions of "Culture" Definitions of "Society" Web Links to Focus Societies Anthropology Department Web Site: This web site provides comprehensive information about UA anthropology programs, faculty and facilities. Writing Tools for Anthropology Students (and others, too)  A wide array of writing resources, including bibliographic sites, databases, dictionaries, encyclopedias, style guides, etc. Library Research in Anthropology Web Site: A guide to conducting library research in anthropology at UA. Use this site for the essay and web work. Anthropology on the Internet: A jump site to interesting anthropology sites on the Internet Anthropological Theories. Access the student constructed pages on anthropological theory here.

• Kinship and Social Organization Interactive Tutorial by Brian Schwimmer
• What Is Culture?

Return to M.D. Murphy's Page
Return to Anthropology Department Web Page