Anthropology of American Life Section Information

Anthropology of American Life 

ANTH 180 / AMST 180

Either ANTH 180 (Item 5210) or AMST 180 (Item 5211) may be taken for credit, not both. 

Instructor:  Julie Smith, Ph.D.

Instructor’s Email:jsmith@bcc.ctc.edu

This course provides an introduction to a cultural understanding of contemporary American society. We discuss major theoretical and conceptual principles and perspectives of present-day cultural anthropology and cultural studies, and the way they could be applied to study the life-ways of various American communities. We explore how the perspectives and methods offered by anthropology, so useful for understanding others, can assist us understand the United States.

We also view the United States as a linkage of real and imagined geographies crossed by overlapping networks of immigration, globalization and transnationalism. We look at how the United States is more than the sum of its geopolitical borders, how it exists in the practices and  

Readings
I – Distant Mirrors: America As A Foreign Culture
Philip R. DeVita/James D. Armstrong (eds.)

2) Reflecting on America: Anthropological Views of U.S. Culture
Boulanger, Clare L. Boulanger (ed.) 

3) A series of short articles and chapters are also provided to complement the assigned test books.

Grading -- Total of 100 points
Weekly Class Discussion Participation: 15 points
Weekly Feedbacks on Readings: 15 points
Mid-Term Exam: 20 points
Final Exam: 20 points
Research Project: 30 points   

Final Project
The focus of the final project is an outline of a study of an American social or cultural phenomenon or process from an anthropological perspective. 

Students choose the focus of their final project by the end of the second week of the quarter. Projects have to do with subjects and information from our readings, class discussions, and your own research and interest.

Minimum length – Five typed pages, including bibliography, but should show the progress of the research process and thinking behind it.

Course Expected Outcomes:

· Describe the approaches to studying people, cultures and cultural productions taken in the related fields of cultural anthropology and cultural studies, identify the various components of the culture concept, and explain the components that all cultures have in common. 

· Explain some of the differences in the anthropological approach when applied to our own culture in contrast to other cultures, explain some of the insights gained from studies made of aspects of American culture by foreign scholars doing fieldwork in this country.

· Identify the major characteristics of the American political economy and the changing patterns of economic inequality.

· Identify the cultural characteristics of exercise of power and politics in the U.S.

· Describe the theoretical approaches and the conclusions drawn regarding American culture in the studies done by various social scientists, and draw contrasts among, and offer critiques of, these approaches. 

· Describe the major changes that have occurred in American life as the result of specific technological changes.

· Explain contemporary anthropological views on ethnicity and nationalism and demonstrate knowledge of the history of multicultural America.

· Explain contemporary anthropological views on gender, family and generation, and demonstrate knowledge of the history of gender and family relations in America.

· Describe some of the representations of American life in various American rituals.