Introduction to American Anthropology and Ethnology

elective courses

Students should be interested in learning about anthropology, ethnology, acquiring tools from social sciences for understanding cultural phenomena. Students should be interested in understanding the role of anthropologists in the development of American culture and public life.

Anthropology as the study of culture has greatly impacted modern thought, both in humanities

and social sciences, thanks to its distinctive methods, wide areas of study and evolving

epistemology. This course aims to introduce students of American Studies into the fundamental

achievements of 20-century American anthropology, which will allow them to better understand

the phenomenons of American history, politics and culture, as well as its interactions with its Others.

This course will equip students with the basic knowledge of theories developed by ethnology and cultural anthropology. The aim of the course is to give students new tools for a better analysis and understanding of American culture. The literature for the course is divided into four main thematic blocks: theories of family, gender and kinship; the Other and their role; myth, symbol, storytelling and spirituality; power and political life. The students will also get acquainted with the role of American anthropologists as public intellectuals and some aspects of anthropologists’ influence on American thought in social studies and humanities.

Jane Collier, Michelle Rosaldo, Sylvia Yanagisako: Is There a Family? New Anthropological Views, in: Gender and Sexuality Reader, ed. R Lancaster, M. di Leonardo, Routledge 1997

"Kinship Terminology", Laurent Dousset, in: The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Edited by Hilary Callan, 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

"Gender and Kinship", Laurent Dousset, in: The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Edited by Hilary Callan, 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Suzanne A. Brenner (2001) Why women rule the roost: rethinking Javanese ideologies of gender and self-control, [in:] Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender an Body Politics in Southeast Asia, (ed.) Aihwa Ong, Michael G. Peletz, p. 19-50.

Evan B. Towle, Lynn M. Morgan: Romancing the Transgender Native. Rethinking the Use of the "Third Gender" Concept, in: The Transgender Studies Reader, Routledge, 2006.

Ruth Benedict, “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture, Houghton Mifflin, 1946.

Lila Abu-Lughod: Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others, American Anthropologist, 2002, 104(3), 783-790.

Horace Miner: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, American Anthropologist, 1956, 58(3),503-507.

Joseph Campbell “The Hero’s Journey”, 1949, Princeton.

Knowledge:

• Student ha a basic knowledge of main figures in American ethnology and anthropology

• Student can identify and apply basic anthropological concepts to the understanding of American culture

• Student knows main anthropological theories pertaining to family and kinship

• Student knows main anthropological theories pertaining to myth, symbol and storytelling

• Student knows main anthropological theories pertaining to power and political life

• Students know the role of key anthropologists in American public life and in development of reflection on American culture

Skills:

• Student knows how to take part in teamwork and present its results

• Student can take part in a moderated discussion and voice their observations

• Student can perceive their culture or American culture as an object of scientific study

Competence:

• Student can apply basic anthropological theories to the analysis of phenomena in American culture

• Student can problematize the concept of family and understands it varies depending on the culture

• Student can observe elements of myth, symbol, aspects of spiritual life in phenomena of American culture today

Assessment methods and assessment criteria:

1. Final test results (80%)

2. Class activity (20%)

Grading scale: Oceny: 100-88/5; 87-73/4; 72-57/3; 56-0/2