ANTH 240 - Cultural Localities

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as LALS 240) Detailed study of the cultures of people living in a particular area of the world, including their politics, economy, worldview, religion, expressive practices, and historical transformations. Included is a critical assessment of different approaches to the study of culture. Areas covered vary from year to year and may include Europe, Africa, North America, and India.

May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

Topic for 2013/14a: Mesoamerican Worlds. An intensive survey of the culture, history, and politics of several neighboring indigenous societies that have deep historical and social ties to territory now located in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. This course explores the emergence of powerful Mesoamerican states with a cosmology tied to warfare and human sacrifice, the reconfiguration of these societies under the twin burdens of Christianity and colonial rule, and the strategies that some of these communities adopted in order to preserve local notions of identity, and to cope with or resist incorporation into nation-states. The course also introduces students to a selection of historical and religious texts produced by indigenous authors. After a consideration of socio-religious hierarchies, and writing and calendrical systems in Precolumbian Mesoamerica, the course focuses on adaptations resulting from interaction with an evolving colonial order. The course also investigates the relations between native communities and the Mexican and Guatemalan states, and examines the representation of indigenous identities, the rapport among environmental policies, globalization, and local agricultural practices, and indigenous autonomy in the wake of the EZLN rebellion and transnational indigenous movements. Students proficient in Spanish will be encouraged to use original sources for course projects. Mr. Tavárez

Topic for 2013/14a: The Indian Ocean. This course is an introduction to the multiple cultures and peoples of the Indian Ocean. Using historical works, ethnographies, novels and film, we explore the complex trade networks and historical processes that have shaped the contemporary economies, cultures, and social problems of the region. Although the course concentrates on the southwest Indian Ocean, we approach the region as a cultural, economic, and political sphere whose various regions were closely interconnected. Topics include: colonialism, labor and trade migrations, religion, race, gender, and creolization. Ms. Lowe Swift

Topic for 2013/14b: Indigenous Social Movements: Andes/Amazon. This course examines the way that native groups of South America have appropriated “indigeneity” as a way to advance their political and social interests in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We first briefly trace the history of earlier mobilizations (e.g., the colonial revolts of Tupac Amaru and “Taki Unquy”) as a way of grappling with the specificities of contemporary indigenous movements. We then consider these contemporary social movements as a way to illuminate some broad themes about indigenous political mobilization: their character as responses to neoliberalism and globalization, their transnational, pan-indigenous character, their goals of decolonization and pluralism, etc. An ongoing theme throughout the class will be the relationships between Andean and Amazonian forms of indigenous political mobilization. Mr. Smith

Prerequisite(s): previous coursework in Anthropology or Latin American and Latino/a Studies or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.