ANTH 303 Anthropological Theory
Introduction: One view of contemporary theory
7 Sept. 2017 What is theory? READ: Glick Schiller, Nina (2016) “Positioning theory: An introduction” Anthropological Theory 16(2-3): 133-145.

Task for next class: Review several issues of recent anthropological journals (e.g. Anthropologica, American Ethnologist, Human Organization, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Canadian Journal of Archaeology, Antiquity) especially those dealing with the subjects you are most interested in, if you have identified a favourite subject area (e.g. North American archaeology, anthropology of development, indigenous studies, etc.). Glance through five or more articles to see what theorists they cite. Again, especially concentrate on the articles that seem most interesting to you. Make a list of these.

The following questions will help guide our discussion as we try to make sense
of theories we examine in this course. In addition, we will apply the theory to the video
shown in the first day of class:

How can this theory be seen as a product of the historical period in which it was created?

What questions does this theory ask?

What information does this theory see as important?

What are other relevant assumptions made by the theory?

How does the theory analyse this information to answer the questions it sees as important?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

Some key concepts and positions from this reading:

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