This course is an introduction to the discipline of anthropology and to anthropological methods which emphasizes three of the traditional subdisciplines of anthropology: biological anthropology, archaeology and sociocultural anthropology. Each of these subdisciplines has developed a large body of knowledge and techniques, which can provide you with interesting and important perspectives on modern life and contemporary problems. Throughout this course we will be concerned with the applications of anthropology and you will be encouraged to reflect on how this information affects your understanding of yourself as well.

Part of the process of becoming a liberally educated individual is acquiring and strengthening skills in discussion, writing and critical thinking. One of my goals in this course is that you do lots of discussing, writing and thinking about what we are learning. I am particularly interested in you developing abilities in holistic thinking because anthropologists take a holistic approach to humans which integrates diverse biological and cultural aspects of the human condition. Thus, I have organized this course around three central questions as follows:

What is anthropology and what are its methods?

How have humans evolved biologically and culturally?

How and why do cultures vary?

There will be several opportunities for you to demonstrate your understanding of the course material. Together these opportunities will sum to 500 possible points.

Essays – Each student will write three essays, one each in response to the three questions around which this course is organized. Each essay will be worth 50 points for a total of 150 points. Further clarification of the specific issues that must be addressed in these essays will be handed out and discussed in class at the end of each unit. Then, in the following class period students will come to class and write an extensive essay answer without notes. You may elect to rewrite one of the first two essays in order to raise your grade. Rewrites will be due on the day the next essay is written. YOU MUST HAVE A WRITTEN MEDICAL EXCUSE OR DOCUMENTED FAMILY EMERGENCY TO MAKEUP A MISSED ESSAY.

Case Study – We will be using a case study called Assault on Paradise as an in depth illustration of cultural anthropology and culture change. You will have the entire semester to read this book on whatever schedule fits with your other responsibilities, but this book is particularly relevant to the final unit of the course. DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO READ IT. Make it your friend throughout the semester so you can be thinking about it all along. Your final exam, which is worth 50 points, will consist of an essay question which asks you to reflect on this book and what you have learned in this course. You will be given the question itself on the last day of class. SEE CASE STUDY INSTRUCTIONS LATER IN THIS SYLLABUS FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Quizzes – There will be 6 unannounced quizzes that test your knowledge of basic facts, terminology and concepts in anthropology. Each quiz will be worth 20 points for a total of 120 points. The intent of these quizzes is to encourage you to learn enough of the terminology and body of knowledge of anthropology to discourse and write meaningfully about the questions we are addressing. The questions on these quizzes will be multiple choice, true-false and short answer. YOU MUST HAVE A WRITTEN MEDICAL EXCUSE OR DOCUMENTED FAMILY EMERGENCY TO MAKEUP A QUIZ.

Journals – You must also keep a journal for this course throughout the semester. This journal is not a diary, but it is a place for more personal responses to class discussion and readings. It is a place for serious reflection on how anthropological knowledge gives us perspective on ourselves and our own values and customs. I will collect your journal 3 times during the semester and there must be at least four new entries to be reviewed in each case. Your journal will be graded on a High Pass (20 pts), Low Pass (14 pts) or Fail (0 pts) based on the depth and quality of your entries basis for a total of 60 points. SEE JOURNAL INSTRUCTIONS LATER IN THIS SYLLABUS FOR MORE DETAILS.

Review – You also must locate and review one web site about anthropology during the semester using the section in Applying Anthropology. Your written review of 3-5 pages must be both descriptive and critical and will be graded on a High Pass (40 pts), Low Pass (28 pts), and Fail (0 pts) basis. SEE REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS LATER IN THIS SYLLABUS FOR MORE DETAILS.

In-class Exercises – You also will earn points for the completion of in-class and, possibly, homework exercises throughout the semester. Completion of all the exercises is worth 80 points; the points for each exercise will be prorated depending on how many we complete. Students who have completed at least 80% of these exercises will be eligible to have borderline grades raised. THERE WILL BE NO MAKEUPS ON THESE EXERCISES ALTHOUGH COPIES ARE AVAILABLE FOR STUDY PURPOSES WHEN APPROPRIATE.

NOTE: Since this is the first time that I have taught an honors section of this course, I realize that we may have to renegotiate the grading structure. If either you as students or I as teacher have serious reservations about how it is working out, we will discuss possible solutions as a class and I will give you a written summary of changes for your records. However, the final say about grading structure is, of course, mine.

Although IUP gives me the right to require attendance, I do not require you to attend a certain number of classes in order to pass the course. The decision about class attendance is yours: I urge you to take your responsibility seriously. Some things you should keep in mind when you make attendance decisions are: 1) you can’t makeup any missed exercises; 2)I use the proportion of completed exercises as a means of evaluating whether I should raise borderline grades at the end of the semester; 3)you could miss an unannounced quiz by not attending class; 4)students usually do better in a courses if they attend regularly.

As described in the IUP Student Handbook, The Source, pp. 58-62 certain standards of academic integrity and honesty are essential within our community. It is your responsibility to know what constitutes a violation of IUP’s standards on academic integrity. I will seek to resolve any incidents of academic dishonesty through an informal conference, but you should expect to earn zero points for the work involved in such incidents and your grade could be lowered as well.

I really would like you to learn some anthropology this semester. I know that the following two proverbs are true:

Native American Proverb:
Tell me, I’ll listen
Show me, I’ll believe
Involve me, I’ll learn

Chinese Proverb:
I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I understand

This course is planned with these ideals in mind, but it is only partially up to me. Your attitude toward I do and I understandengaging with the material is an essential ingredient. Based on what I have heard about Honors College students as well as my own limited experience with you, I am optimistic that most of you are ready to get involved, and I am enthusiastic about the possible results.

Kottak, Conrad Phillip 1996 Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Podelefsy, Aaron and Peter J. Brown 1997 Applying Anthropology:An Introductory Reader (Fourth Edition)

Lewin, Roger 1993 Human Evolution:An Illustrated Introduction (Third Edition)

Gamble, Clive 1994 Timewalkers:The Prehistory of Global Colonization

Kottak, Conrad Phillip 1992 Assault on Paradise

This schedule includes, the class topic for each class, the assigned reading for each class and any additional assignments for each day. You are expected to have read the assigned pages BEFORE each class meeting. Slight changes in this schedule may be necessary and will be announced in class (MFH= Mirror for Humanity, HE = Human Evolution, TW= Timewalkers, AA= Applying Anthropology and AOP= Assault on Paradise)

1/20 What is going to happen in this course?

1/22 What makes anthropology unique?
READ MFH pp. xv-xvii, 1-20; AA pp. 1-5,75-77, 115-117

1/27 What do anthropologists do?
READ AA pp.64-66, 88-91, 102-104, 137-143,345-348, 382-387, and explore Anthro-pology on the web

1/29 What do anthropologists think? Culture and Cultural relativism
READ MFH pp. 21-36; AA pp. 118-136, 144-159; SA 1

2/3 Write Essay #1 in class.

2/5 How do humans evolve?
READ HE pp.3-21, AA pp. 51-63

2/10 How can we learn about the past?
READ HE pp. 25-55,

2/12 How do we construct the past?
READ TW pp. viii-x, 1-46

JOURNAL ENTRY 1 DUE

2/17 What is a hominid?
READ HE pp. 79-125, AA pp. 26-35

2/19 Why did hominids evolve?
READ TW pp. 47-95

2/24 When hominids leave Africa?
READ HE pp. 129-145

2/26 Why did hominids leave Africa?
READ TW pp. 96-143

3/3 What is a modern human?
READ HE pp. 149-200

3/5 How did modern humans originate?
READ TW pp. 144-202
WEB SITE REVIEW DUE

3/17 Why were humans everywhere?
READ TW pp. 203-248

3/19 Why invent food production?
READ AA pp. 36-50, 78-87, 96-101

3/24 Write Essay #2 in class

3/26 NO CLASS
BEGIN AOP IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY

3/31 How can we understand ethnicity and race?
READ MFH pp. 37-73; AA pp. 193-199, 232-242
JOURNAL ENTRY 2 DUE

4/2 What is sociolinguistics?
READ MFH pp.74-90; AA pp. 160-174

4/7 Do people need religion and ritual?
READ MFH pp. 91-107; AA pp. 185-192, 323-344, 349-359

4/9 How can people make a living?
READ MFH pp. 108-131; AA pp. 200-215

4/14 How do people maintain social control?
READ MFH pp. 132-162; AA pp. 301-322

4/16 Why do marriage and gender roles vary?
READ MFH pp. 163-205; AA pp. 243-248, 277-289

4/21 What is the world system?
READ MFH pp. 206-222; AA pp. 369-372
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FINISHED AOP

4/23 Write Essay #3 in class

4/28 What is Applied Anthropology?
READ MFH pp. 223-236; AA pp. 105-113, 216-231

4/30 How can we make the world safe for cultural diversity?
READ MFH pp. 237-270; AA pp. 272-275, 373-381
JOURNAL ENTRY 3 DUE

5/6 12:30-2:30 Write Case Study Essay

Reading an ethnography is a time-honored tradition in an introductory anthropology course for the very good reason that it allows the student to gain in-depth exposure to what anthropological research really involves. The case study you will be reading is a classic as well. It describes, both Kottak’s long association with Arembepe, Brazil which began when he was an undergraduate student in the 1960s and the changes which have taken place in this community as it has been transformed by the modern world.

You will be reading this book on your own schedule. You should begin reading this book no later than the end of March, but if you have a difficult end of the semester with lots of assignments, I encourage you to start it sooner. As you read this case study, be sure to ask yourself both how his work in Arembepe has affected Kottak and how Arembepe has been affected by the process of global industrialism that we will study at the end of the semester. These are the kinds of topics with which your essay question will deal.

You will receive the essay question assignment sheet on the last day of class so that you can prepare for the final exam period during which you will write your essay about this book. I will be looking for an extensive and thorough essay, which will take you an appreciable block of time to write. You cannot, however, bring any notes into the exam period.

Anthropologists often claim that one of the values of anthropology is the extent to which it allows us to know ourselves better. With this in mind, I am requiring you to keep a journal for reflection on your readings and on our class discussions. The focus of this journal should be how anthropological information gives you new perspectives on yourself, your values and your culture. You are not expected to respond to every article you read or to every class discussion, but a minimum of 12 entries (4 each time I check the journals) must be made. Choose the topics on which you reflect on the basis of how they affect you and what they make you think about. There should be plenty of food for thought!

Your entries do not need to be extensive, but I imagine they will be at least a page each. They need to demonstrate thought and serious effort to communicate with me about how the course is affecting you. Don’t give me a synopsis of what you have read; react to it. Remember that I am your audience, date your entries and indicate full titles of articles or dates of class discussions to which you are responding. You should acquire a folder into which lined loose-leaf sheets of paper can be placed and use these for your entries. When you submit your journal submit the whole thing in the folder and continue to make new entries on other paper that you will add when the folder is returned. Be sure your handwriting is legible and try to keep your entries generally free of grammatical and spelling errors. My rule of thumb is that it is not college level work if there are more than 5 errors like this per page. If there are more, I will mark you down or even return it as unacceptable.

I will collect your journals on 2/12, 3/31 and 4/30. They will be graded on 1)creativity and insight as to how a topic relates to you 2)depth of thought and analysis and 3)quality of expression. Each time you submit your journal you will receive either a High pass (20 pts), Low pass (14 pts) or Fail(0 pts). LATE JOURNALS WILL BE PENALIZED 5 POINTS PER CLASS MEETING.

The ways in which people obtain information have been changing with the rapid development of the Internet. This is certainly true for Anthropology as suggested by the Appendix to Applying Anthropology. This assignment is a small effort to help us all become literate in the use of the Internet as a source of information. With the aid of this appendix, I am asking you to surf the net and find an anthropological web site of interest. It doesn’t need to be one listed in the Appendix, but it may be. I have the addresses of several additional web sites as well. Explore your web site extensively. Find out who created it and what their credentials as anthropologists are. Are they affiliated with an anthropological institution and what is credibility of that institution? What can you learn from this web site? Who should consult this web site?

Write a 3-5 page (typed, double spaced) review of the site you select and turn it in on 3/5. This review must contain:

a) complete citation and documentation for the web site including how to get to it, who created it and who has access to it, (5 pts)

b) a description of what is included in the site and what you can learn about anthropology from it, (20 pts)

c) an evaluation of the site, its credibility and its usefulness, (10 pts)

d) college level expression (5 pts)

LATE REVIEWS WILL BE PENALIZED 10 PTS PER CLASS MEETING.