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Challenge 1: DUE
Sept. 6 Use information provided in lecture and information provided on websites. I suggest the following websites to begin your research. Do not limit your research to these sites. http://www.aaanet.org/careers.html This website discusses what anthropology is and what careers are available with an anthropology degree. http://www.tamu.edu/anthropology/news.html This site lists a number of anthropology website resources including a section called "in the news." Check these pages for information on the four sub-fields. http://www.emory.edu/COLLEGE/ANTHROPOLOGY/Linganth/ http://vlib.anthrotech.com/guides/archaeology.shtml http://vlib.anthrotech.com/guides/cultural.shtml http://vlib.anthrotech.com/guides/biophysical.shtml Challenge 2: DUE
Sept 20 Mary Leakey: Unearthing History Challenge 3: WEEK 5 or 6 In-class quiz Challenge 4: WEEK 8 In-class quiz Challenge 5: DUE Oct. 28 Find an article from a current (printed within the last year) newspaper or magazine that involves a discovery or major issue in archeology. Click here for current articles on anthropology (select one of the articles that focus on some aspect of archeology). You may also want to try searching in the Scientific American magazine database for an interesting article. After reading the article, type a 1-page (single-spaced) essay identifying the main point of the article and explaining the significance of the discovery or issue. Comment on what you learned from reading this article and what it can contribute to our knowledge of human society. Attach a copy of the article to your essay. Attention: do not simply reiterate the article! Briefly summarize the main archeological point. The bulk of your essay should be your comments on the significance and what you gained from reading the article. I expect each individual paper to be unique in its discussion of the significance and personal insight. Challenge 6: DUE Nov. 4 Peruse the web and find a site/page related to anthropology, and one not already directly linked to this site, which you think should be integrated into this course. Print the pages from the site and type a 1-1.5 page (single-spaced) explanation for why it is relevant to the course and a justification for its inclusion. Again, I expect each individual paper to be unique. Remember, success on the challenges is not only a matter of completing what is required. Simple completion of the required assignment is expected and is "average." Average means a "C." Success is also a matter of how WELL you complete the requirements which involves your choice of website, how you write about it (i.e. how well you explain its relevance to anthropology and the degree to which you justify its inclusion in the course or the degree to which you convince me to include it), and your creativity. Challenge 7: DUE Nov. 8 (or so) In-class quiz Challenge 8: DUE Nov. 18 or 20 In-class quiz Challenge 9: PAPER DUE DEC. 13TH * Be patient, the paper description is somewhat long! We began this course with a discussion of the "anthropological imagination" which denotes the ability to see contemporary human life as part of an unfolding expanse of time, history, circumstance, and human world-building. Through time and in response to circumstance, humans impose meanings on the natural world thereby defining the world they inhabit and the practices by which they adapt to their environments and their physical characteristics. Because we all have a unique set of experiences, each person, to some degree, inhabits her/his own personal world, but that world is dramatically shaped by the culture in which the person grew up and the culture in which they continue to participate. Thus, although we each have our own culturally constructed world, we hold much in common with others in our society who share our culture. Who we are, what we think, what we feel, and what we do are largely determined by the rules and in the settings/relationships defined by our shared culture. The anthropological imagination provides a means for students to understand the diversity of culturally constructed human worlds around the globe and a capacity to reflect on their own constructed worlds. This reflection can deepen our understanding of the forces that compel us to be who we are and lead to a more conscious individual manifestation of our human lives. The final challenge requires students to apply an anthropological imagination to their lives and the constructed nature of their "reality" and, thus, of themselves. One
aspect of world construction is the manner in which gender is constructed and used as a
primary ordering principle in all societies. The
gender system developed within cultures includes gender categories, specific gender roles,
how those roles play out in particular settings, the values and expectations that
accompany those gender roles and, finally, a structure of gender stratification. "Cocktail Waitress" is an ethnography of
American gender roles and how they are created and enacted in a particular setting--a
college bar. Despite the changes in American
society that were taking place in the 1960s and 1970s "regarding civil rights,
equality, women's liberation and sexual mores," the anthropologists discovered that,
in Brady's Bar, traditional American gender roles prevailed (Spradley and Mann: 146). The anthropologists were "surprised at the
strengths of these traditional role conceptions" and shocked at the pervasiveness of
the "traditional view of women as passive, as sexual objects, as low status, as
peripheral to male social life, as persons who serve others" (Spradley and Mann:
146). In other words, traditional American
cultural constructions of gender, including its structure of stratification, continued to
exert a huge influence over the actual behavior and perceptions of the men and women in
Brady's Bar despite public cultural changes. Spradley
and Mann discovered that in Brady's Bar "Like most of the institutions of American
society, men hold sway at the center of social importance" (1975: 145). The
findings of Spradley and Mann indicate an American gender system with a deeply rooted
gender stratification which systematically reduces the status of women in relation to men
and, both directly and indirectly, limits women's access to resources and opportunities. Since the 1970s, ideas concerning gender and
understandings of gender roles have continued to change in American society, but many
argue that the traditional pattern of gender roles, expectations, and
behaviors continues,
perpetuating a resilient American gender stratification.
For example, Loe finds similar gendered activities in a 1990s study of
"Bazooms," a restaurant that not only perpetuates but capitalizes on the kinds
of traditionally feminine behavior and roles that Spradley and Mann found in Brady's Bar
(Loe 1996, available on U of I Library reserve, see below). The paper assignment begins with these findings. The
first section of this challenge consists of a brief review of the relevant literature, in
this case Cocktail Waitress, which forms the basis for the second section. Identify the major findings of Spradley/Mann in
Cocktail Waitress concerning the American gender system as it manifests in the
bar/restaurant setting. Citing specific
examples from the research, describe the gender roles observed in waitress work, explain
the gendered interactions between males and females, and, based on the authors' analysis,
comment on the underlying gender stratification. Overall,
demonstrate your understanding of this reading and your ability to summarize the key
points. The
second part of this challenge involves the application of an anthropological imagination
to your life experience, in particular, to your experience as a gendered being. Although Cocktail Waitress is a study of a
college bar, a limited setting, it reveals the American gender system in general since the
bar, as an American cultural product, incorporates and reflects that larger system, rather
than inventing gender anew. Because the bar
incorporates the larger cultural American gender system, the women who came to work there,
while finding much to learn about bar culture, found the cultural organization of the bar
familiar (see Cocktail Waitress pages 26-28). In
much the same manner, students who are respondents to this challenge, as products of
American culture its gender system, while not members of Brady's bar, can find much
familiar in the patterns of gender acted out in Brady's.
Students' experiences of/with gender extends far beyond restaurants and bars
into much of their daily life as they play out, negotiate, and develop their learned
gender roles. Since much of the world
students inhabit and much of their daily lives are shaped by this system of gender and
since students, after thoroughly reading the ethnography Cocktail Waitress, are now
anthropologically well-informed about the nature and functioning of this cultural system,
the gendered aspects of students' lives is a good site to apply the anthropological
imagination. In the second part of this
paper, I want you to apply the same kind of observation and analysis of gender roles and
interaction to your own gendered experience that these researchers applied to the limited
settings (a bar and a restaurant). You may
also include description/analysis of the gendered behavior of others' you observe or
interact with. To
make the connection between anthropological analysis, such as that of Spradley and Mann,
and your experience, you must employ an anthropological imagination to what it is you do
concerning gender. You must cultivate some
reflexive "objectivity" or distance from your subject (which is your own
gendered behavior and interactions) to explore how you have learned, enacted and contested
these constructions of gender. In what ways
do you "fit" the gender roles and behaviors described by the researchers? In what ways have you behaved or been expected to
behave in a manner similar to the roles described by Spradley and Mann? I
do not want you to discuss generalities concerning contemporary gender roles, your
opinions of them, or broad statements about how these gender roles are limited to the
finite contexts of bars or restaurants. I
want you to analyze specific examples and/or contexts in which you enact your gender
roles, often without thinking about it, or in which you are subject to others' gendered
actions. Think about what you do, as a male
or female, in interaction with others who are likewise gendered beings. YOU MUST DESCRIBE ACTUAL EXAMPLES TO SUPPORT YOUR
STATEMENTS. Use examples from your own
experience as if you were describing the behavior as an anthropologist--it becomes part of
the ethnographic record. Spradley and Mann also talk about ways in which people are not simply passive recipients
of role-play, but participate in the manifestations of gender--people have
"agency." In the simplest terms and
in relation to the topic of gender, agency means the ability of individuals to actively
negotiate, resist, and manipulate their gendered roles.
You might want to explain how the women in this study negotiate their
gendered roles or how the men and women assert their roles in a negotiated process during
interactions with the opposite gender. You
could compare these findings with your own experience.
How have you done this in your life? Have you expanded your gendered
behavior and identities beyond those attributed to waitresses and/or patrons by the
researchers, or beyond expectations of others imposed on you? How about others you interact with? What has been the response by others when you have
rejected or expanded traditional gender roles? Have you faced any consequences? Overall,
in this second part of the essay, I am asking you, informed as you now are by
anthropological approaches to analyzing gender, to become consciously aware and analytical
of your gendered behavior. This takes a
certain "distance," the kind of distance often encountered by anthropologists
when visiting another culture, but a distance that can be cultivated in us all in terms of
our own selves. Specifically, you should draw
parallels between your own experience and the findings of Spradley/Mann and Loe. You should also find some differences between your
experience of gender and the findings in the studies.
You should discover that gender is in part a negotiation carried out in the
context of social interaction, as Spradley and Mann contend. You will find that your actions, and your
conformity to gender ideals/roles, shift over time and according to the situation, and
that there is variation among you and those you interact with. Ultimately,
this exercise sheds new light on the nature of the things we all take for granted as
“natural,” “normal,” and "familiar" responses as cultural
members. Focusing on gender systems, this
exercise helps demonstrate the degree to which we are all embedded in our cultural
adaptations and illuminates the conscious processes, facilitated by anthropological and
other types of analysis and self-reflection, that can potentially free us to make more
informed choices and assessments concerning ourselves and human behavior. I hope you find the analytical process, the
anthropological imagination, involved in this paper interesting and satisfying. Keep
in mind, your essays must be informed by the material from class and your research. In other words, it is not enough to simply express
what you "think" about contemporary gender roles and/or gender equity. Although you are partially using yourself and your
experience as data, you are first and foremost an anthropologist in this exercise. You must report primarily on what you have
discovered in your research and in you knowledge-gathering from this class. MECHANICS: PRESENTATION: Part of the project involves creating a coherent, fluid, and concise essay/paper. This includes: -Correct grammar and spelling CONTENT: The other part of the project is the content, analysis, and critical thought. -Demonstrate your knowledge of the course content, anthropological
perspective, and concepts LENGTH: The paper should be 2
pages, 12 pt. font, and single spaced. INSURANCE: !MAKE AND KEEP A COPY OF THE PAPER! CITATIONS: -Cite the book or other sources each time you refer to them in your
paper REMEMBER: Write, edit, re-write! *THE CHALLENGE IS DUE IN CLASS
ON DEC. 13TH. |