ANTH 112J Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology
Winter 2018
Jan 4, 9, 11: Introduction to course: What is anthropology? What are its ethical challenges?
READ: Course notes: Introduction to Anthropology;
Schiller, pp. 1-12
Campbell, John R. (2010) “The ‘problem’ of ethics in contemporary anthropological research.” Anthropology Matters Journal 12(1): 1-17.
American Anthropological Association (2012) “Statement on ethics.”  http://ethics.americananthro.org/category/statement/

What is anthropology : University of South Florida graduate student response (http://prezi.com/vmvomt3sj3fd/this-is-anthropology/)

What does anthropology study?
Whom do anthropologists study?
How do anthropologists study?
What are the political and ethical implications of anthropological research?
How do anthropologists present their research?
    Effective reading: (link to annotated bibliography resources: http://stfx.libguides.com/c.php?g=101558&p=658461)
    - what is the purpose of the work?
        - is it an academic article? (i.e. in a refereed journal; has an argument; presents evidence that is analysed using definitions, concepts, theory; takes the form of an essay)
            - is it an academic review article?
        - a polemical article? (i.e. is an argument, but tends to be light on the evidence and analysis)
        - is it a “text”, presenting terms, concepts, information for educational purposes?
        - a report? (i.e. simply presents information, with perhaps a conclusion based on evidence, but is not a theoretically analysed work)
        - is it a policy? Does it give rules and guidelines to be followed by members of a group?
        - a popular press article? (i.e. is in a newspaper or magazine; tends to present information in accessible language)
    - related to the above question is to ask why you are reading the article, or why your professor chose it – in the latter case, use cues from the course outline; for example, if it is in a section called “theory,” then you can assume that the work is being used to represent a specific theory
    [since, apart from the “text,”  most of what you will read in this course constitute academic articles, the rest of the questions assume that]
    - what is the argument? (Look for words like “argument,” “suggest,” “takes the view,” etc.)
    - what is the type of evidence being used?
    - what assumptions are made, or what definitions and theoretical framework are being used or presented?
    - reflect on the argument and analysis to figure out if you are convinced, or what other implications it might have

Four sub-disciplines
    -archaeology: study of the past through material remains
        - prehistory and historical
    - biological/physical anthropology:
        - primatology
        - paleoanthropology: (hominid evolution)
        - human (physical) variation
    - linguistic anthropology
        - historical linguistics
        - descriptive/structural linguistics
        - sociolinguistics
    - socio-cultural anthropology

This course focuses on socio-cultural anthropology
    - study of the diverse socially generated and sustained ways there are of being human
    - “who are they?”; “who are we?”
    - Culture
        - culture is complex and has various meanings
            - “cultures” are the product of complex interactions, and all societies we currently know exist as they do as the result of historical engagements with other societies
            - the anthropological concept of culture is not essentialist, but we recognize strategic or tactical essentialism
        - shared (although it may also be contested and fragmented)
            - complex, internally divided (by class, “race”, ethnicity, gender, age, etc.), diverse
        - dynamic

How does anthropology approach the study of “culture”?
    - uses a specific people-focused methodology to get qualitative information
    - characteristics of anthropological research:
        - learned (not natural)    
        - holistic
        - comparative
        - culturally relative (vs. ethnocentric)
            - absolute versus critical cultural relativism
        - reflexive

The politics of anthropological research
    - studying “up” or studying “down”

Group work on critical cultural relativity:
    - Tuesday January 9: is child labour good or bad?
    - Before class on Thursday January 11, reread the definition of critical cultural relativity on the Moodle notes, then watch these videos:
        - A North American case: Knowledge Essentials/Children’s Chores: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGMI3zwG_rY
        - International labour organization video: The Road to 2016: Towards the End of Child Labour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc5QuTVb_6k
        - Child workers and their union in Bolivia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um9q_SzrH5k

        Group work:

What is an anthropological question? How are research questions in anthropology framed, as opposed to other disciplines?
    - originally, but rarely now: “What are the features of society X?”
        - that questions implies a static, bounded and internally homogeneous society
    - more common now, one of:
        - “How does factor A (that is, an event, a process, a technology, an interaction with another group, etc. ) affect group of people B at time R (or over period S)?” (taking into account that another group of people might be differently affected)
        - “How can we understand feature C among group of people D at time R (or over period S)?”
        - these questions take into account cross-cultural variation, internal differences, dynamic historical processes and that societies are not neatly bounded but overlap and interact in a variety of ways.

Schiller:
    - a study of globalization, migration, markets and identity
        - her question is something like: “How is identity constructed by different groups in the context of San Lorenzo market in Florence, a market that is traditionally and typically Florentine at the same time that it is increasingly diverse and a global meeting and work place?”
    - whom does she study?
    - note how she places her study in the context of other works on markets
        - academic writing is a (slow) conversation with others

Ethics (Campbell and AAA statement)
    - what is the history of ethics policies for associations of anthropologists, especially the AAA
        - why have ethics policies been developed, what controversies have there been and who have they been aimed at?
        - what were “Project Camelot,” “Darkness in El Dorado,” and the “Human Terrain System”?
    - how has the ethical field changed as a result of changes in anthropological research through the 1990s?
    - how does the potential for violence during fieldwork, both for researchers and those researched, impact ethical procedures?
    - why are relations of power central to ethics?
    - what does the AAA statement (note, says it is not a policy) involve?

Engaged anthropology
    - what is “engaged anthropology”?
        - e.g. Low and Merry (2010: S204): “are committed to an anthropological practice that respects the dignity and rights of all humans and has a beneficent effect on the promotion of social justice.”
    - forms of anthropological engagement:
        - sharing and support
        - teaching and public education
        - social critique
        - collaboration
        - advocacy
        - activism
    - dilemmas:
        - should anthropologist be a participant rather than a disengaged observer?
        - how to criticize those who wield power in post-colonial contexts without relying on power relations from colonialism?
        - how to provide anthropological expertise to governments and other powerful bodies without colluding with them
    - barriers to engagement
        - being silenced or unable to talk about injustices and inequalities
        - expectation that one must be “scientific,” “objective” and “neutral”
        - emphasizing particularity rather than universal rights [e.g. absolute versus critical cultural relativism]
        - being silenced so as not to appear to be imposing outsider views
        - career pressures not to make a fuss, to publish, etc.


What are some of the important current issues, and how might anthropologists help in understanding them, or in advocating and working to address the problems?
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