printer friendly pageANTHRO 143B: Anthropology and International Development
International development as a set of projects, policies, and controversies has been a major force in shaping the world over the past seventy years. Throughout, the discipline of anthropology has been involved¿both as participant and as critical observer. After a brief overview of development theory and history, this course will discuss (1) the ways in which anthropology has contributed to development projects and ideas and (2) how the discipline has critiqued development practice over the past three decades. What has anthropology offered to those who work towards social and economic development¿and how has development shaped the discipline itself? Readings will include detailed ethnographic and historical case studies from across the developing world.
ANTHRO 144A: Practice of Everyday Life in Kazakhstan: From Nomadism to Modernity (REES 244A)
An interdisciplinary introduction to the historically nomadic land of Kazakhstan, its peoples and their lifestyles ¿ the practice of everyday life. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, Kazakhstan is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory is greater than Western Europe: it stretches from the fringes of Europe to the borders of Mongolia and China. The seminar surveys language and society, traditional economics and customary law, rituals and folk customs, local dwelling, craft and art, the cultural panorama, the historical relationship between sedentary and nomadic peoples as well as new approaches to the study of nomads in modernity. Speaking of the present time, we will follow the changing nomads in a changing world. The instructor is going to base, to the extent possible, on the extremely rich fieldwork data recently discovered in Kazakhstan -- the data is yet little known in the West. The seminar will make extensive use of audio-visual materials and films.
ANTHRO 144B: The Buddhist Body in East Asia: Charisma, Gender, and the Gift of the Body (ANTHRO 244B)
This course introduces Buddhist practices and texts of embodiment as a subject of the anthropology of the body. We draw on research in social/cultural anthropology, history, and religious studies, and examine a selection of approaches to the Buddhist body: the body of power in Buddhist charisma, the gender of the bodhisattva¿s and monastic body, the techniques of the body in meditation and martial arts, healing and cultivation, and the gift of the body in bioethics and medical education. We draw on examples in different traditions of Buddhism in a range of societies with a special focus on Chinese Buddhism.
ANTHRO 145: Race and Power (ANTHRO 245, CSRE 145F)
This course examines how race is made. We will pay close attention to how people engage with material, economic, scientific, and cultural forces to articulate human group difference as a given, and even natural. In this seminar, we will look at the construction of race as a literally made phenomenon, where historical, colonial, bodily, market, and humanitarian constituent elements both circulate and sediment racial understandings. To focus our readings and discussions we will divide this vast terrain into three units: race and the colonial encounter, race and biopower, and race and capital.
ANTHRO 145B: Reinventing the Other: Greeks, Romans, Barbarians
Ancient ethnography was a highly conventionalized tradition stretching from "the father of History," Herodotus, to the last historian of the ancient world, Procopius. We will read selections of these two authors' works as well as of Sallust, Tacitus, and lesser known ones. Within various theoretical frameworks'rhetorical, anthropological, structuralist we will reconstruct the shifting images of The Other, explore what they tell us about their producers, and reflect on what ancient ethnography contributed to its modern descendant.
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
ANTHRO 146: Global Mobilities (STS 200B)
In this STS senior capstone seminar, students will study the local and global impacts of the technologies that have increased personal mobility. STS majors must have Senior status to enroll in this Senior Capstone course.
ANTHRO 146A: Anthropology of Youth
This course will be a survey of classical texts and contemporary research on youth and generations. We will explore the historical and cultural construction of `youth¿ and youth practices across regions over time. We will pay special attention to the organization of contemporary capitalism, its effect in producing marginality and exclusion, and issues underlying youth political movements.
ANTHRO 149A: Cities and Citizens in the Middle East (URBANST 144)
This course will explore historical formation of cities and citizens in the Eastern Mediterranean since the 19th century.We will explore urban development, economy, social classes and local politics with a focus Egypt and Turkey and in particular two world-historical cities, Cairo and Istanbul. Drawing on history, cultural anthropology, geography and sociology disciplines, we will examine how urban space in Egypt and Turkey have reconfigured through histories of colonialism, nationalism, developmentalism and globalization. Rural to urban immigration, informality, gendered places, consumption, urban regeneration, local politics and branding the city will be the themes of our discussion. We will study these themes in relation to two main questions: How do spatial changes engender new social practices and redefine cultural difference?; How do power struggles at the intersection of local and global interests shape urban change? It will be of interest for urban studies majors and other students at all levels who would like to study urban struggles and change in Turkey, Egypt, the Middle East and the Global South.
ANTHRO 150A: Minaret and Mahallah: Women and Islam in Central Asia (FEMGEN 150A, REES 250A)
Introduction to women's culture and art in Muslim countries of Central Asia. Women, bearers of family rites and folklore, are the key figures in transmission of traditional culture and guardians of folk Islam. Women helped to keep the continuity of Islamic education in Central Asia during the harsh times of Communist dominance. The whole wealth of women's oral tradition will be demonstrated and examined to the extent possible. The course will make broad use of audio-visual materials.
Instructors:
Kunanbaeva, A. (PI)
ANTHRO 151A: Contemporary Chinese Society Through Independent Documentary Film (ANTHRO 251A)
An overview of social issues in contemporary China as seen through its emerging independent documentary film movement. Topics covered include representations of history, political power and accountability in the reform era, human rights, urbanization, the environment, homelessness and inequality, sexualities, addiction, and the role of media in society. Each viewing is accompanied by readings in media theory or the anthropological/sociological study of contemporary China. Can be taken with or without research component. Films include English subtitles.
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