Lecturer: Dr
Aleksandar Bošković
Outline:
The
course will focus on the different methodological approaches, with the special
emphasis on the styles of writing ethnography. The main textbook for this part
of the course is Holy and Stuchlik's Actions,
Norms, and Representations (Cambridge University Press, 1983), and it will
provide one way of looking into how the data are used and interpreted. Another
crucial text will be Roy Dilley's edited volume The Problem of Context (Berghahn, 1999), which will be available as
a photocopy.
Other
crucial issues that will be covered are the ones of relativism (what is it? is it feasible?) and interpretive method in anthropology (through one of its most famous
representatives, Clifford Geertz). We shall also touch upon the issues of
representation, especially when it comes to the non-Western anthropological
traditions, as well as criticisms »from the native's point of view« (for
example, Maxwell Owusu's text »Ethnography of Africa«).
The course
will focus on theory, especially within last three decades. What are different
theories being used in the recent anthropological research? And how do they
relate to the changinh world that we are trying to understand/study/interpret?
The
course as a whole should provide you with some basis for your own independent
research, providing you with the necessary tools for future work.
Readings,
regular attendance, and participation in discussions. All written work for the
course is to be typed, double-spaced with ample margins. Please consult me if
you have any questions related to style.
The
first reading assignments are Gilbert Ryle's text »The thinking of thoughts.
What is 'Le Penseur' doing?« and the Introduction in Clifford Geertz's The Interpretation of Cultures.
It is also
strongly recommended that students read Actions, Norms and Representations
before the beginning of the course.
|
lecture |
topic |
reading |
|
1 |
General introduction
to the course |
/ |
|
2 |
“Interpretive science
in search of meaning…” Geertz and beyond |
Gilbert Ryle, “The Thinking of Thoughts. What is ‘Le Penseur’ doing?” (1968); Clifford Geertz,
“Thick description: Towards and Interpretive Theory of Culture” (from The
Interpretation of Cultures) |
|
3 |
“Culture” |
Christoph Brumann,
“Writing for Culture: Why a Successful Concept Should Not be Discarded”
(1999); Verena
Stolcke, “Talking Culture: New Boundaries, New Rhetorics of Exclusion in [both from Current
Anthropology] |
|
4 |
Styles of writing
ethnography |
Robert Thornton, “The
Rhetoric of Ethnographic Holism” (1988) [from Cultural Anthropology]; Maxwell Owusu, “Ethnography of Roy Dilley, “Ways of
Knowing, Forms of Power” (1999) [from Cultural Dynamics] |
|
5 |
Anthropology of supermodernity – contemporary French anthropology |
Marc Augé, An
Anthropology for Contemporaneous Worlds (1999) |
|
6 |
The problem of
context |
Roy Dilley (ed.), The
Problem of Context |
|
7 |
Anthropology between
the global and the local – some methodological challenges |
Mariza Peirano,
“When Anthropology is at Home: The Different Contexts of a Single Discipline”
(1998) [Annual Review of Anthropology]; Ralph Trouillot, “The Anthropology of the State in the Age of
Globalization…” (2001) [Current Anthropology]; Carola Lentz, “Colonial Constructions and
African initiatives: The History of Ethnicity in |
Students
should present one of the assigned readings in class, as well as write the
final paper by the end of June, on the topic approved by me.