Graduate Seminar in
Cultural Anthropology

Professor: Richard L. Warms
Class Meets: T-Th 9:30 - 10:50
Office: ELA 260
Office Hours: Warms: 8:15-9:15 daily and as available.
Tel: 245-8272 (main office)
E-mail: r.warms@txstate.edu

Welcome to Texas State University - San Marcos' graduate seminar in cultural anthropology. We're really pleased to have you all here and we're looking forward to an exciting and challenging semester.

The seminar in cultural anthropology is designed to give you an overview of the history of anthropological theory from the Victorian era to the current day. To that end we will be reading and discussing both original material and analyses of that material by modern commentators. You will find course documents and supplementary readings for the course on the TRACS site and a variety of other supplementary information on the course website at www.marxandspencer.net

Required Readings:
McGee/Warms Anthropological Theory: an Introductory History. 5th edition.
In addition, essays not in the text are on the class TRACS site.

Class Requirements:

Class requirements include two papers, and five “close read” projects, one reading report and a multiple choice final exam.

Please note that all written work for this class must be submitted as email attachments in MS Word. We will be using Word's "track changes" feature so other word processors are not acceptable. MS Office is available at the bookstore at an extremely low price. Work is due by 23:59 on the dates listed. You will note that these are not necessarily days when the class meets. All papers involve a peer review process (described below). Please note that timing is extremely important. Abstracts or papers more than 24 hours late will not be accepted (and, as a result you will have to drop the course).

Papers: Each student will prepare two papers on topics of their choosing relevant to the history under discussion in each period of the class. Papers should be no less than 1500 words and may not be more than 2,250 words (excluding title page, references, and endnotes). Students must hand in a paper title and an abstract of approximately 100 words before each paper is due. Your first paper is worth 35% of your class grade. Your second paper is worth  45% of your class grade.

Exam: There will be a multiple choice final exam testing your general knowledge of history and theory in cultural anthropology. It will count for 15% of your final grade.

Attendance: This is grad school folks. We expect you to be here for every class meeting. If, for some reason, you cannot make a class meeting, please inform me ahead of time by email.  I may, at my discretion excuse absences.  However, please note that instructors are not required to excuse absences regardless of reason.  I anticipate that almost all students will have perfect or nearly perfect attendance. Attendance will count for 5% of your grade as follows:
Perfect attendance: 100
One missed class: 95
Two missed classes: 80
Three missed classes: 60
Four missed classes: 40
More than four missed classes: 0

IMPORTANT.  You will note that your papers, exam, and attendance count for 100% of your class grade.  However, please be aware that I may also add points to or subtract points from your final course grade based class participation, and close read assignments as described below.

No outside reading is required for papers, however it is respected. Papers must be referenced and should show understanding of key concepts in anthropological theory and mastery of readings assigned for class. Papers will be graded for both content and style. Papers must conform to AAA style. Style sheets are available on the web. You can get them by following the link on the class introduction page or by clicking here.

Papers will use a peer review process. The basis of peer reviewing is that students are paired. They read and comment on each other's work before it is submitted to their professor. In this case you'll be paired a different student for each paper. Please note that when you review papers, you should be polite but deeply critical.  I will grade papers in great detail and critique them sentence by sentence.  You are no help to your partner if you do not do the same.

For the first paper:
You will submit your abstract to your professor by 23:59, September 23.
Your professor will return it to you by 23:59 on September 26.
You will then have about ten days to write your paper.
You will submit your paper to your professor and your peer reviewer by 23:59, Oct 5.
Your reviewer will mark-up your paper using the track changes feature in MS Word. The reviewer is responsible for checking for grammatical mistakes, mistakes in logic, or flow. The reviewer should also provide comments indicating the strength and weakness of the paper as well as suggestions for improvement.
Your reviewer will return your paper to you and to your professor by 23:59 on October 8.
You will revise your paper considering your reviewers comments and submit it to your professor by 23:59 on October 12.

For the second paper
You will submit your abstract to your professor by 23:59, October28.
Your professor will return it to you by 23:59 on October 31.
You will then have about ten days to write your paper.
You will submit your paper to your professor and your peer reviewer by 23:59, Nov 9.
Your reviewer will return your paper to you and to your professor by 23:59 on November 12.
You will revise your paper considering your reviewers comments and submit it to your professor by 23:59 on November 16.

No late papers will be accepted for any reason!

Close Read Project: In addition to the papers, you will be required to do five  "close read" projects and presentation.

A close read is an attempt to understand an essay in minute detail. You will be assigned five essays to read closely.  For each essay, follow these steps: Make a paper copy of the essay you've been assigned. Number the paragraphs. Read each paragraph, and then write a brief summary of the paragraph. Your summary should tell the reader what the main point of the paragraph is. It should be much shorter than the paragraph it summarizes. Keep in mind that you're not trying to comment on the paragraph or give your opinion of it. You are simply trying, in your own words, to reproduce exactly what the author meant. Your final product should be a numbered list of your paragraph summaries. I have prepared an example for you and you can find it by following the link on the class opening page. You must submit your close reads to your instructor on the day each essay is scheduled to be discussed.  We anticipate that your close read projects will be thoughtful, well executed, and turned in on time.  Please be aware that your instructors may subtract up to five points from your final course grade for close read projects that are late or are inadequate.  In rare cases of truly exceptional work, instructors may also add up to three points to your final course grade.

Critical Reading Report: You are assigned two essays: Hinsley, "Ethnographic Charisma and Scientific Routine: Cushing and Fewkes in the American Southwest 1879-1893" (from Stocking Observers Observed) and Cushing, "My Adventures in Zuni." The first of these is a modern analytic piece, the second, a 19th century first person account. Your assignment is to write a 1250 word paper in which you provide a very brief summary of each article (about 250 words each) and then an additional 500 words of analysis for each essay in which you discuss the strengths and weakness of each. Grading for this report will be up to three points added or subtracted from your final course grade. It will be helpful to you to read several book reviews from American Anthropologist before doing this project. This project is due at 11:59 on September 18.

Participation: Seminar style classes are based around discussion and debate. In order for them to work students must come prepared to discuss the material they have read. Please arrive to classes having read the assigned material and prepared to discuss it. You will be quizzed on the readings in class.  You will be expected to explain them or at least recount what they say.  Very important: Please understand that you should treat this and all other seminar classes as a sort of game. The ultimate goal of the game is deep knowledge of the subject matter, but the proximal goal is to maintain intense critical discussion. It’s kind of like trying to keep a balloon or ball in the air by bouncing it from person to person. It’s successful and fun when we can keep the ball in the air for a reasonably long time. It’s very important for you to talk in this class. However, it is also very important for you to understand that your professors will rarely applaud your contribution. Instead, they will challenge you to back up your point or consider other factors, or implications. It’s very important for you to challenge other students and respond to their points. The tone of discussion should be professional (click here for an example of what not to do). However, give and take is par for the course. On the one hand, no professor will ever consciously try to humiliate you. On the other, being a little bit tough is a requirement for success in anthropology.

We anticipate that students will contribute regularly to class discussion in a manner that demonstrates their understanding of assigned readings.  Average class participation will have no affect on grades.  However, please be aware that instructors may, at their discretion, add or subtract up to five points from your final class grade for exceptionally good or exceptionally poor participation.

Official Stuff

Students with special needs (as documented by the Office of Disability Services) should identify themselves at the beginning of the term. The Department of Anthropology is dedicated to providing these students with necessary academic adjustments and auxiliary aids to facilitate their participation and performance in the classroom.

The page found at the following link constitutes a supplement to this syllabus. Please visit the page to familiarize yourself with the Anthropology Department’s program learning outcomes (http://www.txstate.edu/anthropology/about/missionstmt-outcomes.html).

All syllabi are subject to change...and this one is more subject to change than most.

Summary of Important Dates:

First Day of Class: August 25

Critical Reading Report, Sept 18

Paper 1:
Abstract due to professor: Sept 23
Professor returns abstract: Sept 26
Paper to reviewer and professor: Oct 5
Reviewers return paper: Oct 8
First paper due: Oct 12

Paper 2:
Abstract for second paper due: Oct 28
Abstract returned: Oct 31
Paper to reviewer and professor: Nov 9
Reviewers return paper: Nov 12
Second paper due: Nov 16

Final Exam: Tuesday Dec. 13, 8-10:30

Readings and Lecture Topics