Anthropology- Review of Film "When Two Worlds Collide"

Introduction to Global Anthropology GLOB242/LCS 242 Fall 2018 Dr. Alex Perullo Professor of Anthropology [email protected] Office: Suite F, Room 2409 Office Hours: T and Th from 11:00-12:00 The focus of this course is around the concepts of culture and globalization. Culture refers to the learned system of beliefs, values, and rules for living which a group of people organize their lives. Influenced by media (television, the Internet, film, music, etc.), capitalism, free markets, travel, and communications, globalization is a term that helps describe our current century. It expresses the rapid movement of ideas, goods, services, and beliefs throughout the world. Through reading anthropological case studies and conducting our own research, this class aims to help each student comprehend the diversity of cultures throughout the world and the impact of global processes on those cultures. In addition, we work on developing a strong understanding of logical arguments to better assess the information that we read and hear about, as well as to create strong arguments in independent research. Readings Readings are posted on Blackboard. Please note: it is important for you to complete the readings throughout the semester. Your grades in both participation, assignments, and the final exam depend on your ability to make sense of the readings. To ensure that you understand the materials, it is best to print out the Blackboard readings, find the main argument, make note of key points that support the thesis, and be able to talk about the relation of the article to the course topics. In many classes, I will ask you to discuss important and relevant information from the readings in class. Course Objectives

1. Anthropological Knowledge: Attain a clear, working knowledge of Anthropology scholars, methods, history, and ideas. This is facilitated by readings, tests, lectures, and in-class assignments.

2. Analysis: Thoroughly (systematically and methodically) analyze your own and others' assumptions and carefully evaluate the relevance of contexts when presenting a position. This is facilitated by readings, debates, and discussion, as well as in-class and take-home assignments.

3. Critical Thinking: Use texts, general background knowledge, and/or specific knowledge of the author’s ideas to draw more complex inferences about the author’s message and attitude. This is facilitated by class discussions and debates.

4. Global Awareness: Attain an understanding of global interconnectedness, including social and cultural movements. This is facilitated by readings, lectures, discussions, and debates.

5. Cultural Relativism: Attain involved and thoughtful reflection of similarities/differences among cultures. Includes self-reflection with a movement toward cultural relativism. This is facilitated by most of the assignments and exercises that take place over the course of the semester.

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Global Studies Major/ Minor/ Concentration Global Studies is a growing major at Bryant University. The program prepares students to learn about the world around them and about global interactions necessary to succeed an interconnected world. Numerous job opportunities exist for Global Studies graduates, including work on policy issues, international development, academic research, and local community initiatives. With strong support by the university, it is an exciting time to study Global Studies. To learn more, go to global.bryant.edu. This course counts as one of the requirements for the Global Studies major. Course Edicts Assignments should be turned in on time unless you have asked for permission to hand them in late. Permission is generally only granted for specific reasons, such as travel for school or a sport team. Without prior permission, you cannot turn in a late assignment. This means that you cannot hand in an assignment several weeks after the due date and expect to receive credit.

• There are no extra-credit assignments in this class. • All grades are posted on Blackboard throughout the semester. If you have an issue with any

posted grade, please bring up your concern promptly and do not wait until the end of the semester.

• Open laptops and hand-held devices are not permitted in class. If you see someone in class using a computer, it may be that they have a specific reason for using it. Please do not take it as a sign that you may also use your computer. The exception is that you may use your computer flat on the table during the semester.

• Tardiness will count against you. You are required to be in class ready to begin by the scheduled start time.

• E-mails are generally only answered once a day and not on the weekends. Please post all questions related to assignments, quizzes, and exams to Blackboard. You can post the questions to the discussion board. Generally, when you ask a question, others may have the same query. Responding to a question on Blackboard means that everyone can see the answer.

• You may come to office hours for questions about any course material or you can arrange another time to meet.

• Finally, too many absences (>5) can result in a failing grade for the course. Course Content During the semester we sometimes discuss difficult subject matter such as depression, human trafficking, and violence against humans. It is not always possible to warn you about these subjects in advance of class as they can emerge spontaneously from class discussions and questions. The readings and the syllabus for the course, however, should give you some indication about the direction of classroom discussions. If you carefully look through these items at the start of the semester, you should have a good sense on how to prepare yourself for future classes. Academic Standards Plagiarism of any kind will result in failure [0]. Plagiarism is presenting ANY materials or ideas composed by anyone else as if they were your own. You are plagiarizing when you 1) "borrow" an idea, turn of phrase or passage from your someone else’s paper; 2) copy sentences from a website;

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3) summarize without citation from other sources, such as articles or books. If you need to know more about plagiarism, please consult the following resource: https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/. Course Requirements Assignments and Participation (25%) You will have 7-8 assignments during the semester that you will need to finish before the class in which they are due. The assignments pertain to the topics in class and are usually 2-3% of your final grade. You must post the assignment to Blackboard before the class starts for credit. No hand- written take-home assignments will be accepted. You are also required to attend one of the human rights lectures this semester (there are four being offered). You can pick any one of the lectures, attend the entire lecture, and write a two-page discussion about the content of the topic and its relation to class themes. Please include specific details about what you found interesting and what you found challenging in the talks. Here is a list of the speakers. They will be presenting at the Interfaith Center.

1. Tuesday, September 25th at 3:30pm: Alex Nading, Human Rights, Justice, and Global Epidemics;

2. Friday, October 19th, at 2:00pm: Navid Fozi, the Question of Religious Freedom in the Islamic Republic of Iran: A Universal Human Right or an Imperial Project?;

3. Thursday, November 1st, at 3:30pm: Richard Wilson, How to Deal with Hate: Balancing Security and Freedom of Speech;

4. One additional speaker in December. Participation is graded throughout the semester. Talking about course readings is a requisite part of this course. If you do not participate, then your grade will be affected come the end of the semester. Quizzes (25% or 2.5% each): You have nine take-home, online quizzes during the semester. These quizzes become available through Blackboard (under “Quizzes”) on a Wednesday and are due the following Tuesday by 8:00am. You cannot submit your quizzes late or redo the quizzes. Keep in mind, you have six days to complete these quizzes. If you forget to take them, then you lose 3% of your grade. There are no makeups or excuses for missing a quiz including traveling for sports, family, or other events. The quizzes can be taken anywhere—on or off campus—at any time of the day during the six days they are available. You can also leave them open for several days as you take the quizzes. Therefore, if you miss a quiz, you will simply receive a zero. There will also be one country quiz based on countries discussed in class. These countries include: Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Nepal, Japan, Nicaragua, the United States, England, Russia, China, France, Bangladesh, India, Peru, Sudan, South Sudan, South Africa, Fiji, Iran, Papua New Guinea, Jamaica, Greece, Tibet, Guinea, and Mozambique. We may add others throughout the semester. The quiz will take place on November 13th.

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Paper Trail Project (30%) The paper trail is an annotated, chronological study that follows your research journey from your research question to an analysis of documents. In total, there are seven parts to the project, which will be completed throughout the duration of the semester. You will not be writing the final research project. Instead, you will complete many of the most important steps in order to conduct quality research. The paper trail project provides a means to learn effective methods and techniques for conducting secondary research. You learn to gather, evaluate, and present information about a research topic, which will better prepare you for writing research paper, conducting your own research, completing case studies, and even evaluating the information that you hear and read about in your daily lives. Full details on Blackboard under “Assignments.” Final Exam (20%): Here are your final exam questions. In your answers, be sure that you reference, cite, and examine the readings/films we used during this semester. For each answer, you should reference at least four unique readings/films. In total, you should discuss twelve readings/films in your final exam. Please keep in mind, that short, five-minute film clips used in class do not count as a source though you may use it in your essay. You will be allowed to bring in notes from class for the exam. However, you cannot use the original articles/book chapters.

1. What did you learn about anthropology and anthropologists during the semester? Be specific in your answer and discuss important figures, ideas, and methods in your answer. Please also be sure to explain what anthropology is and what anthropologists do in your answer.

2. What issues from class did you find the most interesting and most relevant to problems that humans face today? Why? Please be detailed in your answer and reference specific readings.

3. If you could create a career based on the research we examined, what would your career look like? Where would you go? What methods would you use? What would you need to do in order to achieve this career goal?

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Course Calendar, Readings, and Assignments. The blue header show each of the main topics for the course, while the light gray shading shows classes dedicated to the Paper Trail Project. Any item in bold is due on the day it is listed. Remember, quizzes are due by 8:00am on the days that they are listed.

September 4 Introduction

September 6 Ethnocentrism Read Horace Miner “Body Ritual” (Blackboard) and Syllabus Quiz.

Culture, Fieldwork, and Community

September 11 What is culture?

Read, Robert Lavenda and Emily Shultz, “Culture.” Online quiz.

September 13 What is culture, #2? Assignment: “Map Yourself”

September 18 What is fieldwork?

Read, Katie Nelson, “Doing Fieldwork: Methods in Cultural Anthropology.” From the book Perspectives. Online quiz.

September 20 Fieldwork, culture, and community

One of the following readings will be assigned to you for class. Complete the worksheet titled “Fieldwork and Culture Assignment” posted on Blackboard. Read, Victoria Sanford, “Excavations of the Heart: Healing Fragmented Communities.” Read, Laura Ahearn, “Literacy, Power and Agency. Love Letters and Development in Nepal.” Read Lynch “It’s Funny because we think it is true.”

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Read Iza Kavedzija, “The Good Life in Balance: Insights from Aging Japan.”

September 25 Research Topic (Lecture on Power)

Part 1: Selecting and Researching Your Topic

September 27 Research Question

Part 2: Read an encyclopedia entry about your topic and create a concept map. Also, begin process of journaling (part 6 of your project). You should keep up with your journal entries throughout the semester.

Rights and Power

October 2 Rights and Power Read Rosa Freedman, “Failing to Protect.” Online quiz.

October 4 Rights and Power, #2 Complete “Rights and Power” assignment.

October 9 What is poverty? Read Scott Wisor, “What is Poverty?” Online quiz.

October 11 No class

October 16 Rights, power, and sweatshops

Read: Tim Bartley et. al. “Apparel and Footwear: Standards for Sweatshops.” Skip pages 168-173 though it might be of interest to those working on China as a research topic. Online quiz.

October 18 Research Topic

Part 4: Complete, upload to Blackboard, and print for class your annotation of one article. Class workshop on your annotation.

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Health, Power, and Community

October 23 What is health? Sashur Henninger-Rener, “Health and Medicine.” From the book Perspectives. Online quiz.

October 25 How do communities impact health?

Read: Alex Nading “Dengue in the Landscape.”

October 30 How does suffering impact the poor?

Read: Seth Holmes “Chapter 4: How the Poor Suffer.” Online quiz.

November 1 How does poverty issues impact mothering?

Read: Nancy Scheper-Hughes, “Mother’s Love, Death Without Weeping.” & Read: “A Dying Town.” Online: https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/public- health

November 6 How does poverty impact psychological care?

Read: Joao Biehl “A Life.” Online quiz.

November 8 How does poverty impact community health?

Assignment: Synthesis Chart: Create a chart showing the connections and linkages between all of the readings in this section.

November 13 Research Topics

Finding and Evaluating Websites & Country Quiz (taken in class). List of countries appears above in the syllabus.

November 15 Research Topics

Checking paper trail project: you should have found all of your sources, annotated many of them, and completed most of your research journal entries. Also, we will work on part 7: thinking through your research summary.

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November 20- 22

No class on Thursday Thanksgiving Break

The Anthropocene: Environment, Sustainability, and Cultural Change

November 27 What is sustainability?

Palmer, “Culture and Sustainability.” From the book Perspectives. Online quiz.

November 29

How do different peoples come to understand climate change?

Read Andrew J. Hoffman, “How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate.”

December 4 How do factories and mining impact the poor?

You will be assigned one of the readings: Read “At What Cost?” by the organization Global Witness. Or Read Sarah Marie Wiebe, “Home is Where the Heart Is.”

December 6

How do factories and mining impact the poor?

Assignment: Watch the film “When Two Worlds Collide” on Kanopy. See details under “Assignments” on Blackboard.

December 11 Research Topics Paper Trail Projects are Due.

Final Exam (8:00am) Tuesday, December 18th at 10:00am. (9:30am) Thursday, December 20th at 2:00pm.

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References for Blackboard Readings Ahearn, Laura M. 2001. Invitations to Love: Literacy, Love Letters, and Social Change in Nepal. Ann

Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Bartley, Tim, Sebastian Koos, Hiram Samel, Gustavo Setrini, and Nik Summers. 2015. Looking Behind the Label: Global Industries and the Conscientious Consumer. Global Research Studies. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Biehl, João. 2007. “A Life: Between Psychiatric Drugs and Social Abandonment.” In Subjectivity: Ethnographic Investigations, edited by Biehl, Good, Kleinman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 397-421.

Hoffman, Andrew J. How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate. Stanford, California: Stanford Briefs, an Imprint of Stanford University Press, 2015.

Holmes, Seth M. 2013. “Chapter 4: How the Poor Suffer.” Fresh fruit, broken bodies: migrant farmworkers in the United States. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.

Kavedžija Iza. 2015. “The Good Life in Balance.” Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 5 (3): 135–56.

Kirsch, Stuart. 2006. Reverse anthropology: indigenous analysis of social and environmental relations in New Guinea. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

Lavenda, Robert H, and Emily A Schultz. 2018. Anthropology What Does It Mean to Be Human? Fourth edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

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

Nading, Alexander M. 2014. Mosquito Trails: Ecology, Health, and the Politics of Entanglement. Berkeley: University of California Press

Sanford, Victoria. 2003. Buried Secrets: Truth and Human Rights in Guatemala. 1St ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. 1989. “Mother’s Love: Death Without Weeping” from Natural History October: 8-16.

Wiebe, Sarah Marie. 2016. Everyday exposure: indigenous mobilization and environmental justice in Canada's chemical valley. Vancouver; Toronto: UBC Press.

Wisor, Scott. 2017. The Ethics of Global Poverty: An Introduction. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.

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Films:

Life and Debt. Produced by Stephanie Black, (Motion Picture Director),. Directed by Belinda Becker, Michael Manley, Stanley Fischer, Michael Witter, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, David Coore, Jerry Rawlings, Malik Sayeed, John Mullen, Jamaica Kincaid, Tuff Gong Pictures, and New Yorker Video (Firm). New Yorker Films Artwork, 2003. DVD.

Stori Tumbuna : Ancestors' Tales. Produced by Paul Wolffram. Kanopy Streaming, 2014. Online Video.

When Two Worlds Collide. Directed by Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel, First Run Features Exclusives (Firm), $4dst, and Kanopy (Firm), $4dst. First Run Features Exclusives, 2017. Online Video.