This was the homepage for my Cultural Anthropology 2016 course, which was the last time I was able to use Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s book Global Transformations: Anthropology and the Modern World in a classroom setting. This cultural anthropology course would ideally occur after a four field Introduction to Anthropology.
My more recent cultural anthropology course attempted to preserve some of these lessons, but using different textbooks:
There were five required books for Cultural Anthropology 2016:
- Robert Welsch and Luis Vivanco, Cultural Anthropology: A Concise Introduction, 2016
- Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture, 1934.
- Elenore Smith Bowen [Laura Bohannan], Return to Laughter: An Anthropological Novel, 1954.
- Elizabeth Chin, Purchasing Power: Black Kids and American Consumer Culture, 2001
- Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Global Transformations: Anthropology and the Modern World, 2003.
Part 1 – The beautiful idea of culture
1. Trouillot, “Introduction” (1-5); [see the 2013 blog-post Purpose of Anthropology for reflections on these introductory pages.]
- Trouillot, “Anthropology and the Savage Slot” (7-28)
- Welsch & Vivanco, “Anthropology: Asking Questions about Humanity” (1-21)
4. Benedict, 130-172
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 2, “Culture: Giving Meaning to Human Lives” (22-40)
6. Benedict, 223-278
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 4, “Ethnography: Studying Culture” (61-79)
Film: Divorce, Iranian Style
Part 2 – Beautiful Idea, Beautifully Naïve: Culture in the Field
7. Trouillot, “North Atlantic Fictions” (29-46)
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 8, “Power: Politics and Social Control” (143-164)
8. Bowen, 1-115
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 3, “Linguistic Anthropology” (41-60)
9. Bowen, 116-155
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 10, “Kinship, Marriage, and the Family” (184-201)
10. Bowen, 156-221
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 9, “Gender, Sex, and Sexuality” (165-183)
Film: Strange Beliefs
11. Bowen, 222-297
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 11, “Religion: Ritual and Belief” (202-220)
12. Trouillot, “Adieu, Culture” (97-116)
Film: Advertising Missionaries
Part 3 – The Culture Problem
13. Trouillot, “A Fragmented Globality” (47-78)
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 5, “Globalization and Culture” (80-100)
14. Chin, 1-61
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 7, “Economics: Working, Sharing & Buying” (124-144)
15. Chin, 63-115
16. Chin, 117-141
Welsch & Vivanco, chapter 13, “The Arts” (242-259)
17. Chin, 143-205
18. Welsch & Vivanco, “The Body: Biocultural Perspectives on Health & Illness” (221-241)
Third Paper Due
Film: Race: The House We Live In
Cultural Anthropology at the End of the World
19. Trouillot, “The Anthropology of the State” (79-96)
Welsch & Vivanco, ch. 6, “Sustainability: Environment & Foodways” (101-123)