Location: Bowdoin / Sociology and Anthropology / Courses / Spring 2010

Sociology and Anthropology

Spring 2010

Courses


Sociology

010. Racism: H. Partridge T 1:00 - 2:25
TH 1:00 - 2:25 Adams-114; Examines issues of racism in the United States, with attention to the social psychology of racism, its history, its relationship to social structure, and its ethical and moral implications. Note: This course counts toward the major and minor in gender and women’s studies.
022. In the Facebook Age: Dhiraj Murthy T 10:00 - 11:25
TH 10:00 - 11:25 Adams-202; Explores new media forms through discourses of culture, race, space, and power. From the development of the first electronic messaging systems in the 1960s to the advent of interactive social networking Web sites such as Facebook, Bebo and hi5, the role of computer-mediated communication in shaping economies, polities, and societies is discussed. Uses a wide range of sources—recent social science research, Web sites, Facebook, YouTube videos—to examine the roles of new media both in the United States and abroad.
101. Introduction to Sociology: Susan Bell M 2:30 - 3:55
W 2:30 - 3:55 Adams-208; The major perspectives of sociology. Application of the scientific method to sociological theory and to current social issues. Theories ranging from social determinism to free will are considered, including the work of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Merton, and others. Attention is given to such concepts as role, status, society, culture, institution, personality, social organization, the dynamics of change, the social roots of behavior and attitudes, social control, deviance, socialization, and the dialectical relationship between individual and society.
101. Introduction to Sociology: Marie Gaytan T 11:30 - 12:55
TH 11:30 - 12:55 Adams-208; The major perspectives of sociology. Application of the scientific method to sociological theory and to current social issues. Theories ranging from social determinism to free will are considered, including the work of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Merton, and others. Attention is given to such concepts as role, status, society, culture, institution, personality, social organization, the dynamics of change, the social roots of behavior and attitudes, social control, deviance, socialization, and the dialectical relationship between individual and society.
201. Introduction to Social Research: Nancy Riley M 6:30 - 7:55 Adams-406; Provides firsthand experience with the specific procedures through which social science knowledge is developed. Emphasizes the interaction between theory and research, and examines the ethics of social research and the uses and abuses of research in policy making. Reading and methodological analysis of a variety of case studies from the sociological literature. Field and laboratory exercises that include observation, interviewing, use of available data (e.g., historical documents, statistical archives, computerized data banks, cultural artifacts), sampling, coding, use of computer, elementary data analysis and interpretation. Lectures, laboratory sessions, and small-group conferences.
207. Globalization and Identity in the Himalayas: Jan Brunson T 6:30 - 9:25 Adams-406; Using contemporary ethnographies, traces the ways notions of identity—including global, national, ethnic, caste, and individual—have changed among groups in the Himalayas in response to recent political, economic, and historical circumstances. Focuses on the influence of culture on identity formation and the deployment of identity in a political fashion in the Himalayan region. Topics include Hindu caste and gender hierarchies, constructions of ethnicity, Tibetans and tourists, Sherpas and mountaineers, development ideologies, and consumerism.
227. Transnational Race and Ethnicity: Dhiraj Murthy W 1:00 - 3:55 Adams-202; Examines globally mediated formations of ethnic and racial identities, including the ways in which transnational communities are shaped through contact with “homelands” (physically and virtually) and vice versa. Particular attention given to “Black” and “South Asian” diasporic communities based in London and the transnational cultural networks in Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Caribbean that they help maintain. Readings include works by Paul Gilroy, Arjun Appadurai, Les Back, Stuart Hall, Jayne Ifekwunigwe, Ian Ang, and the Delhi-based sarai school.
250. Epidemiology: Principles and Practices: Nancy Riley T 10:00 - 11:25
TH 10:00 - 11:25 Sills-117; Introduces epidemiology, the study of the patterns and influences of disease (and health) in populations and communities. Focusing on the social, political, and economic influences and consequences of patterns of disease and death, considers how these patterns reflect and affect the demographics, social structure, economy, and culture of societies, and how societies mobilize to combat disease and promote health. Focuses particularly on the role of socioeconomic inequality—both within and between countries—in how diseases spread and are managed.
253. Constructions of the Body: Susan Bell M 11:30 - 12:55
W 11:30 - 12:55 Sills-107; Explores the body as a refl ection and construction of language, a source of metaphor, and a political and social “space.” Considers historical and cross-cultural studies about men’s and women’s bodies, sexuality, gender, and power. Throughout, draws from and compares theories of the body in sociology, women’s studies, and gay and lesbian studies.
254. Gender and Sexuality in Latin America: Marie Gaytan T 2:30 - 3:55
TH 2:30 - 3:55 Adams-406; How have economic, political, and cultural influences contributed to the creation and maintenance of gender and sexual identities in Latin America? How are these circumstances challenged by Latin Americans? Examines the relational nature of gender and sexuality, considers questions about the material and discursive dimensions of power, and analyzes how both gender and sexuality articulate with other social categories including class, race, ethnicity, religion, and generation.
310. Advanced Seminar: Current Controversies in Sociology: Craig McEwen T 11:30 - 12:55
TH 11:30 - 12:55 Adams-202; Draws together different theoretical and substantive issues in sociology in the United States, primarily since 1950. Discusses current controversies in the discipline, e.g., quantitative versus qualitative methodologies, micro versus macro perspectives, and pure versus applied work.
Anthropology

101. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology: Jan Brunson T 10:00 - 11:25
TH 10:00 - 11:25 Adams-208; Cultural anthropology explores the diversities and commonalities of cultures and societies in an increasingly interconnected world. Introduces students to the significant issues, concepts, theories, and methods in cultural anthropology. Topics may include cultural relativism and ethnocentrism, fieldwork and ethics, symbolism, language, religion and ritual, political and economic systems, family and kinship, gender, class, ethnicity and race, nationalism and transnationalism, and ethnographic representation and validity.
102. Introduction to World Prehistory: Scott MacEachern T 8:30 - 9:55
TH 8:30 - 9:55 Searles-315; An introduction to the discipline of archaeology and the studies of human biological and cultural evolution. Among the subjects covered are conflicting theories of human biological evolution, debates over the genetic and cultural bases of human behavior, the expansion of human populations into various ecosystems throughout the world, the domestication of plants and animals, the shift from nomadic to settled village life, and the rise of complex societies and the state.
204. Globalization and Identity in the Himalayas: Jan Brunson T 6:30 - 9:25 Adams-406; Using contemporary ethnographies, traces the ways notions of identity—including global, national, ethnic, caste, and individual—have changed among groups in the Himalayas in response to recent political, economic, and historical circumstances. Focuses on the influence of culture on identity formation and the deployment of identity in a political fashion in the Himalayan region. Topics include Hindu caste and gender hierarchies, constructions of ethnicity, Tibetans and tourists, Sherpas and mountaineers, development ideologies, and consumerism.
208. Natives, Art, and Stereotype: Chad Uran T 2:30 - 3:55
TH 2:30 - 3:55 Adams-114; The appropriation of ideas, arts, techniques, words, and rituals from other cultures is an unavoidable consequence of contact between groups. However, as a part of colonization, the appropriation of these more aesthetic phenomena is inextricably tied up with the expropriation of lands, resources, language, religious practices, and even children of Native peoples. This course will examine the practice of cultural appropriation from an anthropological perspective. We will look at cultural appropriation from its philosophical underpinnings, how and where cultural appropriation takes place in terms of the playing out of power differentials, and try to come to grips with how the relationship of the taker and the "giver" reinforce domination across both ideological and practical fields of interaction. We will examine appropriations of Native cultures across a variety of media, including literature, film, popular culture, and art. Using anthropological understanding of stereotype and representation, we will work to uncover how cultural appropriation works between the source culture and the representing culture, looking especially at how stereotypes as simplifications of peoples serve to make Natives “conceivable” to non-Natives.
221. The Rise of Civilization: A MacEachern T 11:30 - 12:55
TH 11:30 - 12:55 Sills-207; Archaeology began with the study of the great states of the ancient world, with Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, the Maya, and the Aztecs. Examines the origins of civilizations in the Old and New Worlds, using archaeological, historical, and ethnographic data. Reviews the major debates on state formation processes, the question of whether integrated theories of state formation are possible, and the processes leading to the collapse of state societies.
229. Maya Archaeology and Ethnohistory: Leslie Shaw M 11:30 - 12:55
W 11:30 - 12:55 Adams-406; Focuses on the Maya civilization of Central America using archaeological data and Spanish accounts of traditional Maya life at the time of conquest. Topics include Maya adaptations to diverse tropical environments, the decipherment of Maya writing, political instability and warfare, and Maya cosmology and the continuation of these beliefs into modern times. Semester projects are used for intensive research into selected issues in Maya archaeology.
253. World Music, Globalization, and Transnational Culture Industries: Anthony Perman T 10:00 - 11:25
TH 10:00 - 11:25 Gibson-101 Tillotson Room; Explores the role of globalization and commercialization in the creation of “world music” and “worldbeat.” Investigates how the demands of an international market and the constraints of neoliberalism shape musical performance and production in various contexts around the world. Also explores how local and cosmopolitan tastes shape the ways in which music is understood as a living practice, a mode of expression, and as a commodity.
254. Gender and Sexuality in Latin America: Marie Gaytan T 2:30 - 3:55
TH 2:30 - 3:55 Adams-406; How have economic, political, and cultural influences contributed to the creation and maintenance of gender and sexual identities in Latin America? How are these circumstances challenged by Latin Americans? Examines the relational nature of gender and sexuality, considers questions about the material and discursive dimensions of power, and analyzes how both gender and sexuality articulate with other social categories including class, race, ethnicity, religion, and generation.
310. Contemporary Issues in Anthropology: Susan Kaplan M 6:30 - 9:25 Adams-208; Close readings of recent ethnographies and other materials are used to examine current theoretical and methodological developments and concerns in anthropology.