Syllabus
1. Sociocultural Anthropology and the Nature of Its Controversies
2. Is It Natural for Adopted Children to Want to Find Out About Their Birth Parents?
3. Are Yanomami Violence and Warfare Natural Human Efforts to Maximize Reproductive Fitness?
4. Is Ethnic Conflict Inevitable?
5. Was Margaret Mead’s Fieldwork on Samoan Adolescents Fundamentally Flawed?
6. Did Napoleon Chagnon’s Research Methods Harm the Yanomami Indians of Venezuela?
7. Should Anthropologists Work to Eliminate the Practice of Female Circumcision?
8. Should Anthropologist Refrain to Collaborate with Military?
9. Do Native Peoples Today Invent Their Traditions?
10. Should Cultural Anthropology Stop Trying to Model Itself as a Science?
11. Does Human Nature Lie in Cultural Universals?
12. Should anthropologists stop using the concept of culture?
13. Beyond Controversies in Sociocultural Anthropology * Mandatory literature: WELSCH, R., ENDICOTT, K, eds., Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Anthropology. Guilford: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill,
2003. ABU LUGHOD, L. (2006): Writing Against Culture. In: MOORE, H., SANDERS, T. (eds.). Anthropology in Theory: Issues in Epistemology. Oxford: Blackwell, s. 466-479. BROWN, D. E. „Human universals, human nature & human culture". In: Daedalus Vol. 133, Issue 4, 2004, pp 47-54. BRUMANN, C. „Writing for Culture: Why a Successful Concept Should Not Be Discarded". In: Current Anthropology Vol. 40, Issue 1, 1999, pp 1-27. GEERTZ, C. The Impact of the Concept of Culture on the Concept of Man. In: The interpretation of cultures: selected essays. New York: Basic Books, 1973, pp 33-54. GONZÁLES, R. J. „Towards mercenary anthropology? The new US Army counterinsurgency manual FM 3-24 and the military-anthropology complex". In: Anthropology Today Vol. 23, Issue 3, 2007, pp 14-19. MCFATE, M. „Building Bridges or Burning Heretics?" In: Anthropology Today Vol. 23, Issue 3, 2007, pp
21. KILCULLEN, D. „Ethics, Politics and Non-State Warfare". In: Anthropology Today Vol. 23, Issue 3, 2007, pp
20.* Recommended literature: BARNARD, A. History and theory in anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2000. LAYTON, R. An introduction to theory in anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997.
Annotation
The course will introduce students to selected issues in sociocultural anthropology through the means of reading and interpretation of anthropological papers. It aims to develop critical anthropological thinking and interpretive skills.
Each class will deal with one controversial issue in anthropology which remains unresolved. Each issue will be presented in two papers holding antagonist positions.
Students will be expected to read both papers designated for each week in advance, before each class, and comprehend them to that extent to be able to discuss them in class.