ANTH 260 - Current Themes in Anthropological Theory and Method

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

The focus is upon particular cultural sub-systems and their study in cross-cultural perspective. The sub-system selected varies from year to year. Examples include: kinship systems, political organizations, religious beliefs and practices, verbal and nonverbal communication.

May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

Topic for 2020/21a: Participatory Action Research. In this course, we learn about, and engage in, participatory action research (PAR) methods. Using Vassar College as a case study, students generate knowledge about institutional history and practice in order to promote cultural and organizational awareness and deeper understanding of practices that promote, or work against, a sense of inclusion and belonging among students on campus. Students teams select a topic of research to pursue throughout the semester, and go through the process of insight gathering, social analysis, and textual and oral representations of your observations and findings. The overarching aim is for students to gain a critical perspective on how to conduct PAR on social organizations, the knowledge of which can inform how scholars link research to action. Topics include historical and contemporary institutional practices, research ethics, and social science methodologies. Candice Lowe Swift.

Topic for 2020/21b: The Anthropology of Water. Many anthropologists study water as a focus of political contention and environmental impetus to action. But cultural anthropology’s special contribution to water studies may be its insights into how water is valued, socially and affectively, in culturally and historically different ways. Water is necessary for human life. But it is always, also, meaningful in a remarkable range of ways that do not necessarily begin with scarcity, nor end with any one universal goal, even health or profit. Focusing on the relation between drinking water and wider cultural systems, the course introduces three approaches to drinking water: (1) Semiotics of Bottled Water includes readings from the anthropology of food and beverage, consumer culture, and meaning-making in everyday life. (2) Water as Global Commodity considers water in the context of the anthropology of gifts and commodities. (3) Water Projects considers state, corporate, and activist discourses about water with attention to anthropological studies of social and environmental impacts. Case studies may include Bali, the US, New Guinea, Eastern Europe, Fiji, and Singapore. The course includes group projects on water in local cultural contexts. Martha Kaplan.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS