Course requirements: This class is an active learning class. This means that the students and the instructor share responsibility for educating our peers and ourselves. We will engage ourselves with the issues we discuss in class by:

As a result, if you do not come to class, you will not be able to fulfill all the course requirements.

This class is also a "J" course, combining both "composition" and "oral" components through oral presentations, writing practice, and an active learning approach. The assignments and grade distribution are as follows:

Written papers and exams will be graded according to:

In general, an "A" paper will explicitly combine class and individual readings with ideas discussed in class, analyzing perspectives and issues that have arisen in class discussions, but also showing independent and critical thought; as well as outside research when appropriate. It will need to be coherent and logically written. If papers have not been spell-checked and proof read, they will be returned ungraded and marked as late. I reserve the right not to accept any late papers. However, if I do decide to accept them, they will be marked down accordingly.

In order to accommodate the O component, you will be responsible for presenting your research findings to the class (15%), as well as taking turns to run daily class discussions regarding the assigned readings (10%). A discussion leader will have to introduce the salient points from the reading as well as raise timely and thought-provoking questions, listen to responses, and work them into an understandable framework for his/her peers. Both of these presentations will be evaluated by class members as well as by the instructor. We will determine as a class the appropriate criteria for evaluating oral presentations. 5% of your grade will come from the quality and seriousness of your evaluations for your peers. You must be here on all presentation dates, whether or not you are presenting a paper or your final paper grade will be dropped one full letter grade.

A note on global awareness: As this is an anthropology class, you will be reading about research conducted both locally and in far away places. You will be responsible for recording the locations of all the groups studied during this course on this map. You will be tested to make sure you know where these groups live.

A note on academic honesty: Within the culture of academia there are certain rules and regulations that have developed over time. One of the most sacred is the notion of academic honesty. For example, if we include someone else's ideas in our papers - whether in their words or our own words, we must acknowledge that it is someone else's ideas. Using other people's ideas appropriately in your papers is an important part of writing in an academic environment. We should be proud to build upon the people who have come before us and need to show this pride by acknowledging their work. We will discuss appropriate ways of citing other peoples' works in Anthropology papers. In the meantime, I would like to direct your attention to the definition of Academic dishonesty published in the University Bulletin: "Academic dishonesty refers to acts of plagiarism, cheating and falsification of research data. 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." If anyone is caught plagiarizing, cheating, or pursuing any other forms of academic dishonesty in this class, they will automatically fail and be reported to the dean's office. If you have any questions about this policy, please come and see me.

Books

Books are available at the Bookbridge and at the Campus Bookstore. You will need to purchase the following books for this class:

1) Monaghan & Just, Social & Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction
2) Spradley and McCurdy. 2002. Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology. 11th edition. Allyn & Bacon.
3) Fadiman, Anne. 1997. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.