This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

 

Readings

Readings are also listed by session and topic.

Books

Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.:Wiley-Blackwell, 2004. ISBN: 9780631222378.

Amazon logo Myerhoff, Barbara G. Number Our Days. 1 ed. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1980. ISBN: 9780671254308.

Amazon logo Gusterson, Hugh. Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780520081475.

Amazon logo Hutchinson, Sharon. Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War, and the State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780520202849.

Reserve Readings

Bohannan, Laura. "Shakespeare in the Bush." Natural History 75 (1966): 28-33.

Amazon logo Mauss, Marcel. The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000, pp. 1-31, 33-46. ISBN: 9780393320435.

Amazon logo Yan, Yunxian. The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Village. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1996, pp. 74-97. ISBN: 9780804726030.

Amazon logo Peters, Charles. How Washington Really Works. 3rd ed. Perseus Books, U. S., 1992, pp. 3-15, 17-33. ISBN: 9780201570854.

Amazon logo Zemon Davis, Natalie. The Gift in 16th century France. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000, pp. 34-42. ISBN: 9780299168803.

Roth Pierpont, Claudia. "The Measure of America." New Yorker. March 8, 2004.

Shweder, Richard A. "What About 'Female Genital Mutilation'? And Why Understanding Culture Matters in the First Place." Daedalus 129 (Fall 2000): 209-29.

Walley, Christine J. "Searching for 'Voices': Feminism, Anthropology, and the Global Debate over Female Genital Operations." Cultural Anthropology 12, no. 3: 405-38.

Amazon logo Minow, Martha. "About Women, About Culture." In Engaging Cultural Differences: The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracies. Edited by Richard Shweder, Martha Minow, and Hazel Rose Markus, 252-267. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002. ISBN: 9780871547910.

Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. "The Primacy of the Ethical." Current Anthropology 36, no. 3 (1995): 409-428.

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940, pp. 1-50.

SES # TOPICS READINGS
1 Introduction: Anthropology and Its Divisions
2 Being Cultural Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780631222378.

Amazon logo Myerhoff, Barbara G. Number Our Days. 1st ed. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1980, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780671254308.
3 Evolution and Adaptation Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 2. ISBN: 9780631222378.
4 Film: Number Our Days Film

Littman. Number Our Days (1976, 28 min.)

Readings

Amazon logo Myerhoff, Barbara G. Number Our Days. 1st ed. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1980, chapter 2, and 3. ISBN: 9780671254308.
5 Doing Fieldwork Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 3. ISBN: 9780631222378.
6 Ethnography Amazon logo Myerhoff, Barbara G. Number Our Days. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980, chapter 4, and 5. ISBN: 9780671254308.
7 Writing and Pain
8 Uniqueness and Cultural Difference Amazon logo Myerhoff, Barbara G. Number Our Days. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980. ISBN: 9780671254308.

Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 4. ISBN: 9780631222378.
9 Race and Biological Difference
10 Giving and Receiving Mauss, Marcel. The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. New York: W.W. Norton, pp. 1-31, 33-46.

Yan, Yunxian. The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Village. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1996, pp. 74-97.

Amazon logo Peters, Charles. How Washington Really Works. 3rd ed. Reading, Perseus Books, U.S., 1992, pp. 3-15, 17-33. ISBN: 9780201570854.

Amazon logo Zemon Davis, Natalie. The Gift in 16th century France. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000, pp. 34-42. ISBN: 9780299168803.
11 Potlatch and Kula
12 Morality and Cultural Relativism Roth Pierpont, Claudia. "The Measure of America." New Yorker. March 8, 2004.

Walley, Christine J. "Searching for 'Voices': Feminism, Anthropology, and the Global Debate over Female Genital Operations." Cultural Anthropology 12, no. 3: 405-38.

Shweder, Richard A. "What About 'Female Genital Mutilation'? And Why Understanding Culture Matters in the First Place." Daedalus 129 (Fall 2000): 209-29.

Amazon logo Minow, Martha. "About Women, About Culture." In Engaging Cultural Differences: The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracies. Edited by Richard Shweder, Martha Minow, and Hazel Rose Markus. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002. pp. 252-267. ISBN: 9780871547910.

Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. "The Primacy of the Ethical." Current Anthropology 36, no. 3 (1995): 409-428.
13 Thinking Symbolically
14 Anthropological Studies of Science Amazon logo Gusterson, Hugh. Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996, chapter 1-4. ISBN: 9780520081475.

Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 6. ISBN: 9780631222378.
15 Anthropology and Gender
16 Kinship and Marriage Amazon logo Gusterson, Hugh. Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996, chapter 5-8. ISBN: 9780520081475.

Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 5. ISBN: 9780631222378

17 TBA Amazon logo Gusterson, Hugh. Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996, chapter 9 (Comments). ISBN: 9780520081475.
18 Film: The Nuer Film

Gardner and Harris for The Film Study Center at Harvard University. The Nuer (1971, 73 min.)

Readings

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940, pp. 7-50.

Amazon logo Hutchinson, Sharon. "Prologue," and "Orientation." In Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War, and the State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780520202849.

Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 7. ISBN: 9780631222378
19 The Nuer of the Sudan Amazon logo Hutchinson, Sharon. Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War, and the State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996, chapter 2-3. ISBN: 9780520202849.
20 Film: Strange Practices
21 Making Sense of the Nuer Amazon logo Hutchinson, Sharon. Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War, and the State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996, chapter 4 to p. 209. ISBN: 9780520202849.

Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 5. ISBN: 9780631222378
22 Making More Sense of the Nuer Amazon logo Delaney, Carol. Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004, chapter 9. ISBN: 9780631222378
23 Problems with Culture
24 Indigenous Organizing
25 Wrap-up