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* We need to totally redesign the World Simulation. It will not be in the ballroom this year.


About this class:

Cultural Anthropology explores different cultures in all of their manifestations - from how people make a living to what people live for. In an increasingly interconnected world, cultural differences lie at the root of many of our most pressing challenges, throughout the world and in our own personal lives. There has never been a time when Cultural Anthropology has been more important than it is right now.
Recent Activity

Fall 2008 Class Schedule

August 25 – Introductions

August 27 – a brief history of Anthropology and why they don’t eat cows in India
Haviland, Chapters 1 & 2
Online Reading: Holy Cow Remains Subject of Legal Fight


September 1 – No class. (Labor Day)

September 3 – Virtual Fieldwork Experience in Central New Guinea
Haviland Chapter 3
Reader: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner


September 8 – Race and Structural Racism
Haviland Chapter 4 (pages 91-95)
Examine Website: Race: The Power of an Illusion

September 10 – Language (& Body Language)
Havila
nd Chapter 5
Reader: Fighting For Our Lives by Deborah Tannen


September 15 – Language, Worldview, and Media Ecology

Reader: Shakespeare in the Bush by Laura Bohannon
Online: Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman


September 17 – Language, Gender, Personality, Self, and Identity

Haviland Chapter 6
Reader: “I Can’t Even Open My Mouth!” by Deborah Tannen
Koobecaf Assignment due by Saturday at Midnight (submit by e-mail to TA or bring to class)


September 22 – EXAM ONE


September 24 –
Introducing the World Simulation
Haviland Chapter 7
Discussion Section Name Quiz - 20 points.

September 29 – A History of the World ...
Haviland Chapter 8
Reader: Too Many Bananas ... by David Counts
SPECIAL READING FOR YOUR GROUP (ASK TA FOR DETAILS)

October 1 –
Exchange and Coca-Colanization
Reader: Why Can’t People Feed Themselves by Lappe & Collins




October 6 – No class.


October 8 – Sex, Love and Marriage
Haviland Chapter 9
Reader: When Brothers Share a Wife (87-89)

Reader: Who Needs Love! In Japan, Many Couples Don’t (112-115)

Discussion: Sex, Love and Marriage ... Brainstorm Basic Simulation Rules



October 13 – PreRecorded (video shown in class) Family, Social Organization, and Stratification

Haviland Chapters 10 and 11

October 15 – A Portal To Media Literacy (Online Lecture About the World Simulation
shown online AND in Umberger 105 at normal class time.)
Read "The Crisis of Significance." by Michael Wesch
Exam Two Review Sheet

Discussion: Family, Social Organization and Stratification ... Brainstorm Simulation Rules
WHAT IS LOVE? Extra credit due before section this week (submit by e-mail to TA or bring to class)



October 20 – EXAM TWO (100 points)


October 22 – Power (Hard, Soft, and Structural)
Haviland Pages 381-384

Discussion: Family, Social Organization and Stratification ... Brainstorm Simulation Rules of Engagement



October 27 – Political Organization, Law & Order

Haviland Chapter 12
Reader: The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead by Del Guercio

October 29 – Culture and the Supernatural
Haviland Chapter 13
Reader: Baseball Magic by George Gmelch

Discussion: Political Organization & Religion + Brainstorm Simulation Rules



November 3 – New Religious Movements

November 5 – Art & Music
Haviland Chapter 14

Discussion: Religion, Art, and Cultural Values + Brainstorm Final Simulation Rules
November 7th (Friday) EXAM THREE DUE ON-LINE BY 11:59 pm (open book) (100 points)
November 9th (Sunday) Simulation Rules Proposals Due by 11:59 pm (100 points)



November 10 –
Culture Change and the World System
Haviland Chapter 15
Reader: Why Can’t People Feed Themselves (Read Again – really, it’s that important.)
TAs & Wesch will begin preparing props and other necessities for the World Sim

November 12 –Introduction to Structural Power and the World Simulation (final rules will be revealed)
Haviland Chapter 16
Posters Due. Bring them to Waters 206 or leave in Waters 204.
FINAL ETHNOGRAPHY SECTIONS DUE BY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14th at 11:59 pm! (100 points)
(Final integration of ethnographies due by Sunday, November 16th at 11:59 pm)

Discussion: Go over World Simulation Rules



November 17 – WORLD SIMULATION PART ONE

Review pages 381-393

SimUpdate Quiz Due by Tuesday at Midnight


November 19 – WORLD SIMULATION PART TWO
Reader: The Price of Progress by John Bodley


Discussion: World Simulation Outcomes & Correspondences to Real World History
Historians send first draft of history reports Wednesday night to Wesch so he can start piecing it all together for the final video



November 24 - Discuss World Simulation - Structural Power and Structural Violence
Videographers must submit short video histories in class or before class (see instructions)


World Simulation Reflection (30 points) due by midnight November 25th! (on K-State Online like a Quiz)

November 26 – THANKSGIVING BREAK




December 1 – No class ... sorry! :-( I'll be in Rome, Italy.
Online Readings may also be assigned as appropriate, depending on results of simulation.

December 3 – Arrive at 8:25 am: Watch "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube" by Wesch (shown online AND in Umberger 105 at normal class time.)
I will be in Berlin, Germany discussing results of World Simulation.




December 8 - Video and Discussion of World Simulation / Finding Solutions to Global Problems


December 10 – An Ethnography of the Future
Online: Read Ray Kurzweil's Vision of the Future


Final Exam Friday, December 19th at 11:50 am in Umberger 105

Class moderator: Dr. Michael Wesch
Classroom - Religion in Culture
Dubbed "the explainer" by Wired magazine, Michael Wesch is a cultural anthropologist exploring the impact of new media on human interaction. After two years studying the effects of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea, he has turned his attention to the impact of social media and digital technology on global society. His videos on technology, education, and information have been viewed over ten million times and are frequently featured at international film festivals and major academic conferences worldwide. Wesch has won several major awards for his work, including a Wired Magazine Rave Award and the John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in Media Ecology. He is also a multiple award-winning teacher whose teaching projects are frequently featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education and other major media outlets worldwide. Wesch is currently serving on the Editorial Board of Advisors for Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Wesch's Blog ...



Office: Waters 206
Office Hours: TBA




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