COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course we explore sex and sexualities from anthropological perspectives, raising questions about the histories, meanings and uses of sexuality in Euro-American and "non-Western" societies, and about the place of sexuality in relationships between "the West" and "the non-West" (colonialism, imperialism, globalization). As that suggests, the organization of the course reflects an expansive and integrated approach to defining and studying sexualities. This approach allows us to explore, in different societies and at different historical moments, the interrelationships between sexuality and, for example, understandings of the body, the person, the community, reproduction, knowledge, hierarchy, desire, and power, as well as sexuality's interrelationships with politics, economics, kinship, and religion, among others. This approach also licenses us to examine the linkages between sexuality and the development and maintenance of race/racisms, class and gender ideologies. As part of this approach, we will study indigenous theories of sexuality in various societies, including the U.S., by reading ethnographic case studies which take sexuality as a key focus. The case studies you will encounter in course readings range from 17th century Western Europe to 19th century colonial Southeast Asia to late 20th century Pacific Islander societies; they treat privileged white teens in 1990s Atlanta, Georgia, and working-class transgender prostitutes in Salvador, Brazil in that same decade. The topics they investigate range from queer sexualities to "family values"; from scientific discourse on sexuality to sex workers' narratives about building political organizations; from sexualized yam exchanges in Melanesia to the U.S. Attorney General's report on pornography. And more.
The general projects of this course are three: first, by exploring the variability in what sexuality is and can be, to learn to pose a variety of questions about how sexuality comes to mean in relation to other features of social life (politics, economics, kinship, gender, stratification, etc.). Second, to learn to analyze the assumptions -- theoretical, political, cultural -- embedded in or surrounding sexual practice, sexual desire, and discourses on sexuality. And, finally, to develop understandings of human sexualities that are less wedded to and more critically engaged with the cultural assumptions of U.S. American society.

COURSE PREQUISITES & FORMAT

This course fulfills Category "G" (Global Interdependencies) of Binghamton University's General Education program. The core projects of the course which relate to "Global Interdependencies" are: exploring sex and sexuality as distinctive historical features and foundational aspects of "Western" social organization and investigating the unfolding of that history; exploring sex and sexuality in their varied formulations as distinctive features of "non-Western" societies; and exploring the siting of sexuality in the power-laden relationships between "the West" and "the non-West."
The class format will consist of both lecture and discussion, including regular small-group in-class discussions and various in-class exercises designed to enhance and deepen your engagement with the course projects and materials.

COURSE READINGS

Four required texts and one recommended text (marked with a double asterisk [**] below) have been ordered for this course and are available for purchase at the University bookstore. One copy of each of the required and recommended books is also on 2-hour reserve at Bartle Library reserve reading room. (Bartle Library also has additional copies of some of the texts available for regular loan.)

In addition to the required and recommended texts, there are a handful of articles and excerpted book chapters which are not found in any of the course books but which are required reading at some point during the semester. Each of these articles and book excerpts is on 2-hour reserve at Bartle Library. (On the course schedule, these readings are flagged by the designation, "BARTLE RESERVE.") In the case of excerpted book chapters, both a xerox of the excerpted chapter and the book from which the chapter is excerpted are on reserve. (That means that in addition to finding such a reading under the name of its author, you can also find the reading by searching under the name of the author/editor of the book in which the chapter was published.) Because you are the one ultimately responsible for making sure you do all assigned readings by the date they are due (as laid out on the Course Schedule) and because this is a large class, you will need to PLAN AHEAD TO MAKE SURE YOU READ THESE RESERVE READINGS BY THE DATES THEY ARE ASSIGNED.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS & ASSESSMENT

Clear understanding of and thoughtful engagement with the course materials and the course projects require coming to class and doing the assigned reading by the date it is due (as laid out in the Course Schedule). To encourage each of you to develop such clear understandings and thoughtful engagements, and to allow each of you the opportunity to demonstrate your competencies, the following will be required and determine your final grade:

(1) Attendance. Attendance is required and will be taken at each class meeting. You are allowed up to three absences over the semester. If you miss more than three classes, your final grade will be reduced by 1/3 of a letter grade for each two absences over the three allowed absences. (If, for example, your final grade worked out to an A, and you had a total of five absences, your final grade would be reduced by 1/3 of a letter grade for the extra two absences, and become an A-. If under the same circumstances you had four total absences and your final grade hovered at A/A-, the extra absence would determine an A-.) The only exception to the three-absence limit is absence due to documented family or medical emergencies (you are responsible for providing the appropriate documentation).

(2) Pop Quizzes. (25% of final grade). You can expect eight to ten pop quizzes to be given over the course of the semester. These in-class quizzes are designed to test whether you completed and understood current or very recent assigned readings (as given in the Course Schedule).

(3) Homework Assignments. (25% of final grade) Periodically, I will ask you to take additional time outside of class for a specific small project: for example, reflecting on and writing a brief (1-page, for example) response to a question I pose related to the readings, lectures, or in-class discussions; or, for example, visiting a particular website or doing some tailored web-based searching and then writing about your findings. There will be eight to ten such small "homework" assignments over the course of the semester, and they will have variable point values announced at the time each is assigned.

(4) Midterm Exam. (25% of final grade) The Midterm Exam will be a take-home exam that poses essay question(s) developed out of the first half of the course readings, lectures, and in-class discussions. You will be asked to write essay(s) responsive to the posed question(s). The Midterm exam question(s) will be handed out about a week before the Exam is due. The Midterm will be graded on the basis of: depth of understanding demonstrated in the essay(s), clarity of writing, and clarity of thought demonstrated.

(5) Final Exam. (25% of final grade) The Final Exam will take place during Final Exam Week and consist of short answer and short essay questions. The Final Exam will be cumulative, i.e., it will cover the entire semester's materials (readings, films, lectures, class discussions, etc.).

MISCELLANEOUS COURSE POLICIES

(1) Lateness. All written work required in this course will have specific due dates, and failure to submit work by the date it is due will result in late penalties. There will be a progressive reduction in the grade given to a specific assignment, one based on the number of class meetings between the class when the assignment was due and the class when you ultimately submit it: your grade for a specific assignment will be reduced by 1/3 of a letter grade for each class meeting the lateness drags on. (If, for example, you submit homework meriting a B+ on a Thursday that was due earlier in the week on Tuesday, your grade would be reduced by 1/3 of a letter grade, to B; if you submit that same homework on the following Tuesday, one week late, your grade would be reduced by a 2/3 of a letter grade, to B-.)

(2) Academic Dishonesty. The University Bulletin gives the following definitions of plagiarism and cheating:
Plagiarism is taking and passing off as one's own the ideas, writings, computer-generated material, etc. of others: that is, the incorporation into one's written or oral reports of any unacknowledged published, unpublished or oral material from the work of another. It is the right of the faculty member to whom such reports are submitted to decide whether plagiarism has been committed....

Cheating is using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise.
Binghamton University has joined an on-line plagiarism and prevention detection service, "Turnitin.com". By registering for this course, you agree that all written work you submit may be subjected to a textual similarity review by Turnitin.com.

(3) Appropriate Use of E-mail. Written work for this course will not be accepted via e-mail.

ADDITIONAL COURSE SUPPORTS

(1) Listserve. A class listserve will be in place by the second week of classes, and information on how to un/subscribe will be covered in class once the listserve is established. You should feel free to use the listserve to continue conversations that began in class, to initiate discussion of current events that relate to course projects or materials, as well as to set up discussion groups or study groups, etc..

(2) A Dynamic Classroom. There may well be times when lectures and in-class discussions are not enough to help you to clearly understand course materials -- readings, assignments, etc.. In large classes like this one, it is challenging for instructors to present material in ways that are illuminating for each and every one of the students in the lecture hall. For these reasons and many others, please raise the questions you have about course materials during our class meetings. In most cases, the question you're thinking of raising is one that some of your classmates are also mulling over. Asking questions also makes for a much more interesting classroom: it keeps you engaged, it's interesting for me, and it's an important aid to my ability to help you understand the course materials.

(3) Meeting with the Teaching Staff. That said, there may also be times when the answers you get to the questions you ask in class still do not help you to clearly understand course materials. If you are having difficulties with course readings or assignments, I strongly encourage you to meet with me or with one of the course's teaching assistants to discuss your questions or areas of confusion. Student/Instructor meetings can be a truly valuable part of your learning process, and I hope you will take advantage of these opportunities. My office hours are given on the front page of this syllabus, and the teaching assistants' office hours are given below. We can also set up appointments to meet with you at other times if you have scheduling conflicts with our regular office hours.

Teaching Assistants:

COURSE SCHEDULE

NOTE: On the Course Schedule below, "G/S Reader" refers to The Gender/Sexuality Reader: Culture, History, Political Economy, edited by Roger Lancaster and Micaela di Leonardo (New York: Routledge, 1997).

I. Histories of Sex in the West

II. Sexing Kinship & Cosmology

III. Desire, Sexuality & Gender in Critical Perspective

IV. Sexing the Body & Its Labors

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