History of Anthropological Thought

 

Course Description

The history of any social institution, body of thought, or culture can be thought of in two particular ways: (1) as the progression of specific internal events –i.e. the history of anthropology as the genealogy of specific thinkers/ethnographers and their students, and (2) as embedded within wider social processes, i.e imperialism, nation building, civil rights movement, etc.. In this course we will explore development of anthropological theory from both vantage points.

Couse Readings

Please read prior to first class:Thomas C. Patterson. 2001. A Social History of Anthropology in the United States. New York: Berg Publishing.

For other readings please refer to course sylabus.

Course Syllabus

Term 1 course syllabus

Anth Blog

Background notes, commentaries, and resources can be found on an anthropology blog written by C. Menzies: http://blogs.ubc.ca/anth100

A Note on Laptops in Class

Laptops, cell phones, and any other form of electronic recording or communication device will not be used in our class. There are good reasons for some people with documented learning profiles to use laptops to take notes rather than using pen and paper. However, for most people the art and craft of writing notes by hand still remains a critical practice to engage in. As potential and aspiring anthropologists you will find yourself in locations in which the only way to take notes is by paper and pen. Please consider this to be a practicing ground for those circumstances.

There are no good reasons (under normal circumstances) to use a cell phone in class.

Additional Resources

Anthropology and Society. Podcasts of presentations made by Charles Menzies on a variety of topics. Some of the items may have relevance for the course. To access a podcast of available presentations copy this URL http://www.ecoknow.ca/podcast/rss.xml and paste it into your podcast software application or click here to select individual talks.