BUI 301 Spring 2004

Blount Undergraduate Initiative College of Arts & Sciences The University of Alabama

This Blount Seminar considers a number of key generalizations or propositions about the nature of culture that have emerged in the 150 year career of anthropology. This course of discussions, films and readings will explicate some of these alleged properties of culture with the goal of preparing Blount students to better understand and evaluate both their own inter-cultural experiences and the cross-cultural materials they may encounter in other course work undertaken at the University.

Course Format: This course will meet twice per week in sessions of 75 minutes and will combine elements of the lecture course and the seminar. Each topic will be considered in two sessions. In the first meeting of the week (Tuesdays) Prof. Murphy will outline the history of the proposition about culture under consideration, seeking to draw students into its discussion. In the second session (Thursdays) designated students will lead the discussion of the assigned readings for the week. All students are expected to come to seminar prepared to discuss both the readings and the lecture material.

BAMA Account Emailer: Students are required to use their "bama" email account for this course, not only to communicate with the professor, but also to access WebCT (see below). 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 Remember that your password for your bama account is not the same as your initial password for WebCT.

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.

WebCT and Course Notes By all means take advantage of the WebCT site I have constructed for this course. Among other resources, it provides you with easily downloadable pdf files of the notes and hand-outs used in class. Access WebCT at (http://webct.ua.edu/webct/public/home.pl).

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

Readings: Several articles and/or book chapters will be assigned each week. There are no textbooks for this course. All of the readings will be placed on E-Reserve of the UA Library. Go to http://amelia.ua.edu/ and click on Course Reserves. Search for "M.D. Murphy" and look up the article by its title (not the author's name). Once you have located the article you can download it or print it out from the library server. The library has facilities to do this, if you do not have a computer at home. Ask a reference librarian for help or consult online instructions for printing e-reserve articles.

Writing Assignments: Reviews Students will be required to write four short reviews of the readings over the course of the semester. Approximately every three weeks each student must submit a review of one (or several) of the weekly reading assignments. For organizational purposes each student will be assigned to one of three groups (Groups A, B, C) which will rotate review due dates. The review should be a minimum of 4 pages long (1000 words) and must be typewritten and double-spaced. Each review will be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format (as an attachment to an email message) and will bear the writer’s name, the date, and the complete citation of the work being considered. Reviews will be carefully edited and may be returned for rewriting. Not following the General Guidelines for Reviews (see below) will result in the deduction of points.

Discussions & Class Participation: Students will be assigned to lead the discussion of particular readings for each Thursday session. Discussion leaders will be expected to provide a brief synopsis of the reading and to begin our consideration of the text and the point of view of its author. Student performance of this task, as well as general contribution to discussion, will be evaluated. Class participation will be evaluated separately from attendance. That is, the quality of participation is assessed apart from point deductions for poor attendance.

Attendance Policy: Attendance at every class meeting is a non-negotiable requirement. More than four unexcused absences will lower the course grade at the rate of 5% per absence.

Examinations: Midterm Exam: Thursday, February 26; Final Exam: Monday, May 3 at 8 - 10:30 a.m.

Make-Up Exam Policy: Students who miss the midterm—for whatever reason—will be required to write a 15-20 page paper on a topic approved in advance by the professor and following very specific guidelines.

Grading Policy: Reviews= 25%; Midterm=25%; Final=25%; Participation=25%

Properties of Culture

Points of Discussion & Readings

reading list is tentative and subject to change

Week I
Jan 8

Introduction

All articles are on E-Reserve of the UA Library System. Go to http://amelia.ua.edu/ and click on Course Reserves. Search for "M.D. Murphy" and look up the article by its title (not the author's name). Once you have located the article you can download it or print it out from the library server. The library has facilities to do this, if you do not have a computer at home. Ask a reference librarian for help or consult online instructions for printing e-reserve articles.

Week 2
Jan 13 & 15

What is Culture?

Anthropologists and others do not always agree on what the concept of "culture" properly refers to in the real world. What distinguishes the anthropological from the fine arts approach to culture? How does one’s specific construal of "culture" affect the understanding of its general properties.

Matthew Arnold, "Sweetness and Light" from Culture and Anarchy
Matthew Arnold, "Doing as One Likes" from Culture and Anarchy
Roy D’Andrade, "Culture"
A. Barnard & J. Spencer, "Culture"

Week 3 A
Jan 20 22

Culture is Definitionally and Distinctively Human

It is quite impossible to be human without culture, thus the "nature" vs. "nurture" debate is founded upon a false dichotomy. If there is no doubt that culture is part of human nature, to what extent may we also claim that culture is unique to our species?

Michael Carrithers, "Nature and Culture"
Robert Boyd & Peter Richerson, "Culture & Human Evolution"

Week 4 B
Jan 27 & 29

Culture Exhibits Great Variety

Anthropology’s signature observation is that human culture admits of tremendous variety. But is cultural variation without limit and of such a nature as to make different cultures incommensurate?

Don Brown, "Human Universals"
Gwen J. Broude, "Variations in Sexual Attitudes, Norms, and Practices.
James G. Matlock, "Universals and Variation in Religious Beliefs and Practices.

Week 5 C
Feb 3 & 5

Biological Differences Do Not Explain Cultural Variation

The elements of culture are not transmitted biologically. Cultural differences are not reducible to real or apparent biological ones. What is the difference between race and ethnicity?

C. Loring Brace, "The Concept of Race in Physical Anthropology"
Franz Boas, "Human Faculty as Determined by Race"
Henry Louis Gates, "Race as the Trope of the World"

American Anthropological Association Statements on "Race":

Statement on "Race"

Statement on "Race" and Intelligence

AAA Response to OMB Directive 15: Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting

How good are you at assigning people to racial categories? Can you tell the race of people by looking at them? Take a racial sorting test at http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_00-home.htm

Week 6 A
Feb 10 & 12

Culture is Adaptive

Perhaps the most salient property of culture is that it is the principal instrument of adaptation for our species. How far can we go understanding the elements of culture (or their various configurations) simply in terms of their adaptive merit?

Roy D'Andrade, "Cultural Darwinism"
Marvin Harris ,"The Cultural Ecology of India’s Sacred Cows"

Week 7 B
Feb 17 & 19

Culture Evolves

Human Culture (considered as a species-wide phenomenon) seems to be moving from the relatively simple and homogeneous to the relatively complex and fragmented. Moreover, any particular cultural system exhibits the property of chronic mutability. How can we best describe and understand the changing nature of cultural phenomena?

Marshall D. Sahlins "Evolution: Specific and General"
Kent V. Flannery, "Prehistoric Social Evolution"
Ward Goodenough, "Outline of a Framework for a Theory of Cultural Evolution"

Week 8
Feb 24 & 26

REVIEW & MIDTERM

Tues.: Review of material to date

Thurs: MIDTERM February 26

Week 9 C
March 2 & 4

Culture Consists of a Vast Number of Bits of Knowledge

At the most fundamental level, culture consists of bits of information (beliefs, values, procedures for doing things, symbols, etc.). How may we gain knowledge of them? Since every cultural system is vast, even those of the "simplest" societies, how do we decide which particles of knowledge to examine? How is cultural knowledge packaged? Does the packaging of culture change with increasing social complexity?

Alan Schroedl, "The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon"
A.F.C. Wallace, "On Being Just Complicated Enough"
Theodore Schwartz, "The Size and Shape of Culture"

Week 10 A
March 9 & 11

Culture is Integrated

The knowledge elements that make up cultural systems are not randomly arrayed; they are organized. But just how well integrated are cultural systems?

Ruth Fulton Benedict, "The Integration of Culture"
R. Lauriston Sharp, "Steel Axes for Stone Aged Australians"

Week 11
March 16 & 18

Ethnographic Films

Week 12 B
March 23 & 25

Culture is Distributed

The information comprising a cultural system must be shared (otherwise, by definition, it is not cultural but idiosyncratic), but it is never shared completely or perfectly by all of its participants. How is culture distributed among the members of a social group?

Ralph Linton, "Status and Role"
Marc Swartz, "Culture Sharing & Culture Theory"
Tomas Gerholm, "On Ritual: A Postmodernist View"

March 30 & April 1

Spring Break

Week 12 C
April 6 & 8

Culture is Socially & Spatially Contained

Until recently anthropologists generally acted as if the relationship between society, culture, and territory could be described as: One People-One Culture-One Place. If that was ever true, is it true now?

Ralph Linton "One Hundred Percent American"
D. Douglas Caulkins "Consensus, Clines, and Edges in Celtic Cultures"
Charles Frake "Pleasant Places, Past Times, and Sheltered Identity in Rural East Anglia"

Week 13 A
April 13 & 14

Culture is Emotionally Charged

Cultures are knowledge systems that may also serve to express, promote, and contain human emotions in variable ways. To what extent can cultures be characterized in emotional terms?

Stanley Brandes, "Like a Wounded Stag"
M.D. Murphy, "Emotional Confrontations"

Week 15 B
April 20 & 22

Culture Oppresses & Mystifies

Cultural elements can work against, as well as for, the interests of those who entertain them. How is culture manipulated to give advantage to some people in a social group at the expense of others? How may culture work to distract people from understanding their own exploitation? Who is to be the judge of these matters?

W.E.B. DuBois, "Double Consciousness"
Maxine Margolis, "Blaming the Victim"
C.D. Shearing & P. Stenning, "Say ‘Cheese!’"
Robert Lawless, "Haitians: From Political Repression to Chaos"

Week 16 C
April 27 & 29

Culture is Destabilizing in a Postmodern World

How have the phenomenal technological (and intellectual) developments of modernity, particularly in recent decades, affected the properties of culture? Considering the historical trajectory of human cultural systems, what lies ahead?

Edward Bruner "Maasi on the Lawn"
Umberto Eco "The City of Robots"
Clifford Geertz, "The Uses of Diversity"

Week 17
May 3

FINAL EXAMINATION

Monday, May 3, 2003
8 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Culture

Anthropological Approaches to "Culture" (note: web pages prepared by UA graduate students)

Writing & Library Research Sites