DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF KENT

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

SE301 2000-2001
N.B.: The reading list and details of lectures for the Lent Term will be distributed later

Course convenor: Room Tel. E-mail: Office Hours:

Dr Philip Thomas Eliot College W4.4 (from second half of term, Eliot College S4.S1) x. 3537 p.thomas@ukc.ac.uk Fridays, 9-11

COURSE INFORMATION Aims and Objectives Anthropology invites us to expand our sense of human possibilities through the study of other forms of life. Renato Rosaldo A discipline which arose with other social sciences in the mid- to late-nineteenth century, social and cultural anthropology has made a speciality of studying other peoples worlds and ways of life. With increasing frequency, however, anthropologists have turned towards home, using insights gained from studying other cultures to illuminate aspects of their own society. By studying peoples lives both at home and abroad, social and cultural anthropology attempt to both explain what may at first appear bizarre and alien about other peoples ways of living whilst also questioning what goes without saying about our own society and beliefs. Or, to put it another way, social and cultural anthropology attempt, among other things, to challenge our ideas about what we take to be natural about human nature and more generally force us to take a fresh look at what we take for granted. Drawing on studies of different cultures and societies, from the mountainous interior of the Philippines to the industrial heartlands of Britain and America, this course will introduce you to the discipline of social and cultural anthropology through a selection of topics which have been chosen to give you a taste of the kind of issues that social and cultural anthropologists study and the kinds of arguments and theories they have developed. The course is not, however, intended as a comprehensive introduction to the discipline, and does not by any means cover all the issues, debates and sub-fields within social and cultural anthropology. Rather, by choosing a select number of topics, it is aimed at giving you a sense of what social and cultural anthropology is about, and what makes it different from other social sciences. In so doing it will give you a grounding in a discipline which you may want to continue to study in your second and third years Course Organization The course is taught by weekly lecture and seminar. In addition, films will be shown from Week 2 of the Michaelmas Term. Please also note that attendance at lectures, seminars and films is compulsory Lectures - Fridays, 12.00-1.00, in Rutherford Lecture Theatre 1 Seminars - Groups, places, times and teachers will be posted on the timetable noticeboard. Films - Mondays, from 6.30pm in Grimmond Lecture Theatre 3 (Rutherford Lecture Theatre 1 in weeks 2-4) Assessment The course is assessed by coursework (20%) and unseen examination (80%). The coursework consists of three equally weighted essays, the third of which will be a timed exercise written during your weekly seminar. Essay titles can be found in the reading list (below). The unseen exam is scheduled for the Trinity term and for this you will be asked to answer 4 questions from a total of 12. Essay submission and exam details can be found in the timetable, below. Timetable Lectures 1. The Scope of Anthropology - 29 September 2. Culture and Cultures; Society and Societies - 6 October 3. Food for Thought: The Cultural Logics of Culinary Taboos - 13 October 4. Blood, Pollution and Power: A Look at Menstruation - 20 October 5. Its a Mans Mans Mans World: Idioms of Masculinity and Paths to Manhood - 27 October 6. Blood and Sex: A Look at the Facts of Life - 3 November 7. With this Ring...: A Look at Marriage (and Incest) - 10 November 8. Family Values: Love and Enmity within Marriage - 17 November 9. Till Death Do Us Part? A Look at Divorce - 24 November 10.Labours of Love: A Look at the Meanings of Work - 1 December 11.Its the Thought That Counts: Giving, Receiving, Reciprocating - 8 December 12.Grasping the Global: Consumption in a World of Goods - 15 December Essays Essay deadlines are as follows: ~ Essay 1 to be handed in by 15 December 2000 ~ Essay 2 to be handed in by 30 March 2001 ~ Essay 3 to be written during the seminar held during the week of 26-30 March 2001 Essays 1 and 2 should be handed in to Eliot Extension L46

Examination Notification of examanition details will be made at a later date. Sanctions, Extensions, Exemptions Essays submitted late will not be marked unless medical or other evidence is provided, as for examinations. An essay that is submitted late without an extension will therefore receive a mark of zero. Requests for extensions should be made to your seminar tutor and are usually only granted for medical reasons. Exemption from the timed essay and examination are likewise only granted for medical reasons. General Note on Library Resources Every item on the reading list is stocked by the library and listed on the library catalogue. As far as possible (given budgetary constraints) multiple copies of books are available, and (where copyright law permits) photocopies of certain items have been placed in the short loan collection. Regrettably, however, competition for library resources means that you will not always find what you want on the shelves when you want it. With regard to preparing for seminars and essays, you should plan ahead as much as possible and secure copies of the material you need in advance. You also need to be considerate of others by not hoarding library materials and by ensuring that you return it when it is finished with. Reading List Basic Readings Each lecture is based around a number of basic readings and you should aim to read as many of these as possible, giving priority to those items marked with an asterisk (*). These items are generally stored in the short-loan collection. Further Readings The list of further readings serves as both additional material for seminars and, along with supplementary readings, should be used as a bibliographic resource for writing essays. Much of this material is available on one-week loan. On-line Journal Access Items marked (E) are not only available in hard copy form in the periodicals section of the library and sometimes in xerox form in the short loan collection, but are additionally published in journals which can be accessed electronically via the Online Resources gateway on the university library web page. For advice on this mode of access, ask library staff. Reading for Seminars For seminars you should minimally read the starred basic readings. In addition, you should attempt to read the other items on the list of basic readings, and failing that, a comparable amount of material from the list of further readings. Reading for Essays Essay titles are listed by topic, but that does not mean that you are confined to the reading list for that topic when writing an essay. When you find it useful to do so, you should bring in material from a different topic, and many essay titles are designed to enable you to draw on material from more than one topic. In addition, you are encouraged to read beyond the reading list by (1) following up suggested readings in textbooks, encyclopedias and dictionaries; (2) following up items listed in bibliographies of things you read; and (3) more generally browsing the library for relevant books and journal articles.

Some General Notes on Reading Material Encyclopedias and Dictionaries The following encyclopedias and dictionaries are a useful way to familiarize yourself with anthropological terms and concepts. Though use of them is recommended they should not be used as a substitute for further reading. All the books listed are available in paperback at relatively affordable prices; of the four, I would recommend the volume by Barnard and Spencer. Barfield, T. (ed.) Dictionary of Anthropology (Blackwell, 1997) Barnard, A. & J. Spencer (eds) Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Routledge, 1996) Ingold, T. (ed.) Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology (Routledge, 1994) Seymour-Smith, C (1986) Dictionary of Anthropology (Macmillan, 1986) Textbooks There is no single textbook for the course, though use has been made of two books designed to introduce students to social and cultural anthropology. Hendrys Introduction to Social Anthropology is available in paperback. Keesings Cultural Anthropology is meanwhile available in 3 editionsfor this course I have cited chapter numbers to the 2nd edition (1981) and the 3rd edition (1998); the third edition is currently only available in hardback, but at a relatively affordable price. Multiple copies of both these books are held by the library, but you may want to think about buying your own copy. Finally, remember that these books should be regarded as the starting point of your reading on any given topic, and that you should follow up what you learn in them by reading other material on the reading list and in the lists of further reading that they contain Hendry, J. An Introduction to Social Anthropology: Other Peoples Worlds (Macmillan, 1999) Keesing, R. Cultural Anthropology: A Comtemporary Perspective, 2nd edition (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981) now out of print Keesing, R. (with A. Strathern) Cultural Anthropology: A Comtemporary Perspective, 3rd edition (Harcourt Brace, 1998) Monographs Introductory anthropology books aim at giving you a general picture of the discipline and its sub-fields; but they do not give you detailed accounts of particular societies. In anthropology, such accounts are found in ethnographic monographs, book-length studies of particular peoples lives, beliefs and practices. This course draws repeatedly on a number of studies of this type and you should aim to read one or two monographs during the term. Doing so will give you a better understanding of a particular people and their way of life, as well as providing you with additional material to use in your essays and exams. All these items are stocked by the library, but few of them are available in multiple copies; those books marked p/b are (to the best of my knowledge) currently available in paperback, and can be obtained through the university bookshop. Abu-Lughod, L. Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society (University of California Press, 1986) p/b Abu-Lughod, L. Writing Womens Worlds: Bedouin Stories (University of California Press, 1993) p/b Campbell, J. Honour, Family and Patronage: A Study of Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountain Community (Oxford University Press, 1964) du Boulay, J. Portrait of a Greek Mountian Village (Oxford University Press, 1974) Evans-Pritchard, E. Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer (Oxford University Press, 1951) p/b Gottlieb, A (1992) Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought (University of Chicago Press, 1992) p/b Herzfeld, M. The Poetics of Manhood: Contest and Identity in a Cretan Mountain Village (Princeton University Press, 1985) p/b Hutchinson, S. Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War and the State (Univ. of California Press, 1996) p/b Martin, E. The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction (Open University Press, 1987) p/b Okely, J. The Traveller-Gypsies (Cambridge University Press, 1983) Rosaldo, M. Knowledge and Passion: Ilongot Notions of Self and Social Life (Cambridge University Press, 1980) p/b Rosaldo, R (1980) Ilongot Headhunting, 1883-1974: A Study in Society and History (Stanford University Press, 1980) p/b Weiner, A. The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1988) p/b

LECTURE TOPICS AND READING LIST 1. The Scope of Anthropology What kind of a discipline is social and cultural anthropology? Is it a science or is it more closely akin to the arts and humanities? As a way of answering these questions we will look at two examples of anthropological analysis and broadly sketch the field of anthropological research. Basic reading: Carrithers, M (1992) The bugbear, science in Why Humans Have Cultures, chapter 8; OR Carrithers (1990) Is anthropology art or science? Current Anthropology 31: 263-282 (E) *Martin, E (1991)The egg and the sperm: how science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical womens roles, Signs 16: 485-501; reprinted in L Lamphere et al (eds) Situated Lives: Gender and Culture in Everyday Life, pp.85-98 Keesing, R, Cultural Anthropology, chapter 1 (2nd and 3rd editions) *Sahlins, M (1972) The original affluent society, in Stone Age Economics, pp.1-39 Further reading: Cohen, A et al (1996) Social anthropology is a generalizing science or it is nothing, in T Ingold (ed) Key Debates in Anthropology, pp.17-54 Geertz, C (1973) Thick description: toward an interpretive theory of culture, in The Interpretation of Cultures, chapter 1 Hendry, J (1999) An Introduction to Social Anthropology, Introduction Sanjek, R (1990) On ethnographic validity, in R Sanjek (ed) Fieldnotes, pp.385-418 Essay: 1. To what extent is anthropology a science? 2. Culture and Cultures; Society and Societies Social and cultural anthropology is the study of society and culture. But what do these terms mean, and what do we mean by the distinction between society and societies, and culture and cultures? In addition, how do we understand the difference between societies and between cultures? In answering these questions we will look at two examples of cultural stereotyping and investigate the way that notions of evolution and progress colour our perceptions of other peoples. We will also ask what is meant by ethnocentrism and what kind of challenge this poses for the understanding of people different from ourselves. [Key concepts: culture; society; race; evolutionism; ethnocentrism; cultural relativism] Basic reading: Keesing, R, Cultural Anthropology, chapters 4 and 18 (2nd edn.); chapters 2 and 16 (3rd edn.) * Grinker, R (1994) Houses in the Rainforest: Ethnicity and Inequality among Farmers and Foragers in Central Africa, chapter 3; reprinted as Houses in the rainforest: gender and ethnicity among the Lese and Efe in Zaire, in R Grinker and C Steiner (eds) Perspectives on Africa, pp.228-245 *Lvi-Strauss, C (1958) Race and History; reprinted in Lvi-Strauss (1976) Structural Anthropology, vol.2, chapter 18 Okely, J (1983) The Traveller Gyspies, chapters 1-2 Further reading: Barnard, A & J Spencer (1996) Culture, in A Barnard & J Spencer (eds) Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, pp.136-143 Carrithers, M (1992) The question, in Why Humans Have Cultures, chapter 1 Ferguson, J (1996) Development, in A Barnard & J Spencer (eds) Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, pp.154-160 Hendry, J (1999) An Introduction to Social Anthropology, chapters 1 and 5 Kuper, A (1988) The Invention of Primitive Society, chapter 1 Viveiros de Castro, E (1996) Society, in A Barnard & J Spencer (eds) Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, pp.514-522 Williams, R (1983) Culture and Society, in Keywords

Essays: 2. What is cultural relativism and what issues does it raise for the understanding of people different to ourselves? 3. How does our notion of progress shape our perception of other peoples? 4. Using examples from popular culture and/or the media, discuss how ideas of primitiveness and savagery continue to flourish and circulate in the contemporary world. (N.B.: For this essay you may want to use novels (from Enid Blyton to Joseph Conrad), film and television, or contemporary reportage of such issues as ethnic conflict or debates over asylum seekers. For help in accessing back copies of newspapers, you should make enquiries in the library). Supplementary readings: Fabian, J (1983) Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object McGrane, B (1989) Beyond Anthropology: Society and the Other Street, B (1975) The Savage in Literature Torgovnick, M (1990) Gone Primitive: Savage Intellects, Modern Lives 3. Food for Thought: The Cultural Logics of Culinary Taboos Food and drink are a biological need, a basic requirements for the sustaining of human life. But is what we eat and drink simply determined by our nutritional needs? People from different cultures not only eat different foods, they also define both what is and what is not edible in different ways (witness most Britons distaste for snails and horse flesh). But what is the basis of different categorzations of the edible and inedible? What is the logic by which some cultures proscribe or taboo certain foods, whilst others eat them? In seeking answers to these questions we will look at the symbolic properties of food, principles of symbolic classification, and ecological versus cultural explanations of food taboos. [Key concepts: taboo; biological vs. cultural explanations; symbol; symbolic classification] Basic reading: *Douglas, M (1966) Purity and Danger, Introduction and chapter 3 Harris, M (1985) The abominable pig, in Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture, pp.----; reprinted in Counihan and van Esterik (ed) Food and Culture, pp.67-79 *Hendry, J (1999) An Introduction to Social Anthropology, chapter 2 Hutchinson, S (1992) Dangerous to eat: rethinking pollution states among the Nuer of Sudan, Africa: 62: 490-504 Sahlins, M (1976) Food preference and tabu in American domestic animals, in Culture and Practical Reason, pp.170-179 Further reading: Gottlieb, A (1992) Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought, pp.62-71 Okely, J (1983) The Traveller-Gypsies, chapter 6 Ross, E (1980) Patterns of diet and forces of production: an economic and ecological history of the ascendancy of beef in the United States diet, in Ross (ed) Beyond the Myths of Culture: Essays in Cultural Materialism, pp.----Radcliffe-Brown, A (1952) Taboo, in Structure and Function in Primitive Society, pp.131-152 Schieffelin, E (1976) The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers, chapter 3 Tambiah, S (1969) Animals are good to think and good to prohibit, Ethnology 8: 424-459; reprinted in M Douglas (ed) Rules and Meanings, pp.127-166; also reprinted in Tambiah, Culture, Thought and Social Action, pp.169-211 Weiner, A (1988) The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea, chapter 6 Essays: 5. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different explanations of food taboos (see esp. items by Douglas, Harris, Ross, Sahlins) 6. Discuss the relationship between food taboos and the organization of society (see esp. items by Gottlieb, Radcliffe-Brown, Schieffelin, Tambiah, Weiner)

4. Blood, Pollution and Power: A Look at Menstruation Continuing with the subject of taboo, we here look at menstruation and its relationship to ideas about pollution and power. Menstruation is an experience common to all women, but does it carry the same meanings in all societies? Is there a universal menstrual taboo, and is menstrual blood always seen as polluting? One of our aims here is to question the extent to which bodily processes give rise to a universal human experience and symbolic order. [key concepts: pollution; gender and the body as symbolic constructs] Basic reading: Douglas, M (1968) The relevance of tribal studies, Journal of Psychosomatic Research 12: 21-28; reprinted in Douglas (1975) Implicit Meanings, pp.60-72 Buckley, T & A Gottlieb (1988) A critical appraisal of theories of menstrual symbolism, in Buckley and Gottlieb (eds) Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation, pp.1-50 *Gottlieb, A (1982) Sex, fertility and menstruation among the Beng of the Ivory Coast, Africa 52(4): 34-47; OR Menstrual cosmology among the Beng of Ivory Coast, in T Buckley and A Gottlieb (eds) Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation, pp.55-74 *Martin, E (1987) The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction, chapters 3 and 6 Further reading: Abu-Lughod, L (1986) Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society, chapter 4 Buckley, T and A Gottlieb (eds) (1988) Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation, chapters by Delaney, Appell, Lawrence, Skultans Douglas, M (1966) Purity and Danger, esp. chapter 9 Faithorn, E (1975) The concept of pollution among the Kafe of the Papua New Guinea highlands, in R Reiter (ed) Toward an Anthropology of Women, pp.127-140 Gottlieb, A (1990) Rethinking female pollution: the Beng case (Cte dIvoire), in P Sanday and R Goodenough (eds) Beyond the Second Sex, pp. 113-138; OR Gottlieb (1992) Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought, chapter 2 Hutchinson, S (1992) Dangerous to eat: rethinking pollution states among the Nuer of Sudan, Africa: 62: 490-504 Lindenbaum, S (1972) Sorcerers, ghosts and polluting women: an analysis of religious belief and population control, Ethnology 11: 241-253 Meigs, A (1978) A Papuan perspective on pollution, Man 13: 304-318 (E) Okely, J (1983) The Traveller-Gypsies, chapter 11 Skultans, V (1970) The symbolic significance of menstruation and the menopause, Man 5: 639-651 (E) Essays: 7. What can anthropological studies of menstrual pollution tell us about the human experience of biological phenomena? 8. Discuss the relationship between bodily and non-bodily forms of pollution (see esp. items by Douglas (1966), Hutchinson, Meigs) 5. Its a Mans Mans Mans World: Idioms of Masculinity and Paths to Manhood From womens bodies we move to mens, and more generally to ideas about masculinity. This topic will be looked at in two different ways. Firstly, in relation to rites of passage; and secondly in relation to moral values. The emphasis will be on the way in which ritual symbols and moral values relate to social action or behaviour. [key concepts: rites of passage; values and action; masculinity] Basic reading: Connell, R (1995) Masculinities, chapter 1 *Evans-Pritchard, E (1940) The Nuer, chapter 6 *Hendry, J (1999) An Introduction to Social Anthropology, chapter 4 Hutchinson, S (1996) Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War and the State, chapter 6 Wade, P (1994) Man the hunter: gender and violence in music and drinking contexts in Colombia, in P Harvey and P Gow (eds) Sex and Violence: Issues in Representation and Experience, pp.115-137 Further reading: Abu-Lughod, L (1986) Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society, chapter 3 Brandes, S (1981) Like wounded stags: male sexual ideology in an Andalusian town, in S Ortner & H Whitehead (eds) Sexual Meanings, pp.216-239 Cornwall, A & N Lindisfarne (eds) (1994) Dislocating Masculinity, chapters by Cornwall and Lindisfarne, Loizos, Lindisfarne, Forrest, Back

Herzfeld, M (1985) The Poetics of Manhood: Contest and Identity in a Cretan Mountain Village, esp. chapters 1-2 and 4 Loizos, P and E Papataxiarchis (eds) (1991) Contested Identities: Gender and Kinship in Modern Greece, chapters by Papataxiarchis, Zinovieff Moran, M (1997) Warriors or soldiers? Masculinity and ritual transvestism in the Liberian civil war, in L Lamphere et al (eds) Situated Lives: Gender and Culture in Everyday Life, pp.440-450 Peletz, M (1994) Neither reasonable nor responsible: contrasting representations of masculinity in a Malay society, Cultural Anthropology 9: 135-178; reprinted in A Ong and M Peletz (eds) Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia, pp.76-123 Rosaldo, M and J Atkinson (1975) Man the hunter and woman: metaphors for the sexes in Ilongot magical spells, in R Willis (ed) The Interpretation of Symbolism, pp.43-75 Rosaldo, M (1980) Knowledge and Passion: Ilongot Notions of Self and Social Life, chapters 5 and 6 Rosaldo, R (1980) The Ilongot male life-sycle, in Ilongot Headhunting, 1883-1974: A Study in Society and History, pp.136-152 Van Gennep, A (orig. 1909) Rites of Passage, chapters 1 and 6 Essays: 9. Comparatively discuss the relationship between violence and notions of masculinity in any TWO societies. 10. What can male initiation tell us about cultural understandings of human maturation? Supplementary reading: Bloch, M (1986) From Blessing to Violence: History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina of Madagascar, chapters 4-6 Fardon, R (1990) Between God, the Dead and the Wild: Chamba Interpretations of Ritual and Religion, chapter 5 Heald, S (1982) The making of men: the relevance of vernacular psychology to the interpretation of a Gisu ritual, Africa 52(1): 15-36 Herdt, G (1982) Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation in Papua New Guinea Herdt, G (1987) The Sambia: Ritual and Gender in New Guinea, chapters 4-7 La Fontaine, J (1985) Initiation Turner, V (1967) Mukanda: the rite of circumsision, in The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual, pp.151-279 11. Discuss the relationship between indigenous morals and/or values and the difference between men and women in any ONE society (N.B.: Material from a number of different topics, most notably 4, 5 and 6, are relevant to this essay) Supplementary reading: Abu-Lughod, A (1993) Writing Womens Worlds, chapters 3 and 5 Campbell, J (1964) Honour, Family and Patronage, chapter 10 du Boulay, J (1974) Portrait of a Greek Mountian Village, chapter 5 Loizos, P and E Papataxiarchis (eds) (1991) Contested Identities: Gender and Kinship in Modern Greece, chapters by du Boulay and Herzfeld 6. Blood and Sex: A Look at the Facts of Life Anthropologists have long been interested in the ways in which people conceptualize the relationship between parents and their children. Though not universal, the idea that this is a blood relationship is actually quite widespread, yet the significance of blood is culturally variable. Here we will look at ideas about blood and sex as the bases of parent-child relations and their relationship to kinship as a structured set of social relationships. We will also look at the challenges posed by the use of reproductive technologies and practices such as surrogacy to our ideas about the naturalness of the family. [key concepts: patriliny, matriliny, consanguinity, biological vs. social kinship] Basic reading: *Barnes, J (1973) Genetrix : genitor :: nature : culture? in J Goody (ed) The Character of Kinship, pp.61-73 Keesing, R, Cultural Anthropology, chapter 11 (2nd edn.); chapter 9 (3rd edn.) *Malinowski, B (1929) The Sexual Life of Savages, chapter 7; OR Malinowski (1948) Baloma: the spirits of the dead in the Trobriand islands, in Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays Ragon, H (1996) Chasing the blood tie: surrogate mothers, adoptive mothers and fathers, American Ethnologist 23: 352-365; reprinted in L Lamphere et al (eds) Situated Lives: Gender and Culture in Everyday Life, pp.110-127 Schneider, D (1968) American Kinship: A Cultural Account, chapters 2-3

Further reading: Abu-Lughod, L (1986) Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society, chapter 2; OR AbuLughod (1993) Writing Womens Worlds, chapter 1 Carsten, J (1995) The substance of kinship and the heat of the hearth: feeding, personhood and relatedness among Malays on Pulau Langkawi, American Ethnologist 22: 223-241 du Boulay, J (1974) Portrait of a Greek Mountian Village, chapter 7 Edwards, J et al (1993) Technologies of Procreation: Kinship in the Age of Assisted Conception Gibson, T (1985) The sharing of substance versus the sharing of activity among the Buid, Man 20: 391-411 (E); OR Gibson (1986) Sacrifice and Sharing in the Philippine Highlands: Religion and Society among the Buid of Mindoro, pp.88-106 Gottlieb, A (1992) Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought, chapter 3 Hendry, J (1999) An Introduction to Social Anthropology, pp.181-195 Hutchinson, S (1996) Nuer Dilemmas, chapters 4-5 Hutchinson (2000) Identity and substance: the broadening bases of relatedness among the Nuer, in J Carsten (ed) Cultures of Relatedness, pp.55-72 Iossifides, M (1991) Sisters in Christ: metaphors of kinship among Greek nuns, in P Loizos and E Papataxiarchis (eds) Contested Identities: Gender and Kinship in Modern Greece, pp.135-155 Okely, J (1983) The Traveller Gypsies, chapter 5 Weiner, A (1979) Trobriand kinship from another point of view: the reproductive power of women and men, Man 14: 328-348 (E) Weiner, A (1988) The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea, chapter 3 Young, M (ed) The Ethnography of Malinowski, chapters 3-4 Essays: 12. How useful is the distinction between biological and social kinship? (see esp. items by Barnes, Carsten, Gibson, Iossifides, Malinowski, Schneider) 13. What can a societys ideas about procreation tell us about their system of kinship relations? (see esp. items by Carsten, Gibson, Hutchinson, Malinowski, Schneider, Weiner) 14. Using material from TWO different societies, compare ideas about the relationship between blood and kinship (see esp. items by Abu-Lughod, Carsten, du Boulay, Gottlieb, Hutchinson, Okely, Ragon, Schneider) 7. With this Ring...: A Look at Marriage (and Incest) All societies regulate human sexuality, most notably through the incest taboo, a rule which often coincides with who is and is not marriageable. Here we will look at one famous explanation of the incest taboo (famous, that is, within anthropology) and at the relationship between incest taboos, marriage and the concept of exchange. In doing so we will look at marriages involving the exchange of cattle, as well as at mariages between women, between women and ghosts, and between brothers and sisters. [key concepts: incest; exogamy; affinity; alliance; bridewealth] Basic reading: *Evans-Pritchard, E (1951) Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer, chapters 2-3 Hutchinson, S (1996) Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War and the State, chapters 4-5 Keesing, R. Cultural Anthropology, chapter 12 (2nd ed.); chapter 10 (3rd edn.) * Levi-Strauss, C (1969) The Elementary Structures of Kinship, chapters 2 and 4-5 Shaw, B (1992) Explaining incest: brother-sister marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt, Man 27: 267-300 (E) Further reading: Abu-Lughod, L (1993) Writing Womens Worlds, chapter 4 du Boulay, J (1974) Portrait of a Greek Mountain Village, chapter 6 Campbell, J (1964) Honour, Family and Patronage: A Study of Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountian Community, chapter 6 Charsley, S (1991) Rites of Marrying: The Wedding Industry in Scotland Comaroff, J (ed) (1980) The Meaning of Marriage Payments Glasse, R and M Meggitt (eds) (1969) Pigs, Pearlshells and Women: Marriage in the New Guinea Highlands Gottlieb, A (1986) Cousin marriage, birth order and gender: alliance models among the Beng of Ivory Coast, Man 21: 697-722 (E); OR Gottlieb (1992) Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought, chapter 4 Hendry, J (1999) An Introduction to Social Anthropology, pp.195-206

Hopkins, K (1980) Brother-sister marriage in Roman Egypt, Comparative Studies in Society and History 22: 303-354 Hutchinson, S (1992) The cattle of money and the cattle of girls among the Nuer, American Ethnologist 19: 294-316; reprinted in R Grinker and C Steiner (eds) Perspectives on Africa, pp.190-209 Okely, J (1983) The Traveller Gypsies, pp. 152-169 and 175-192 Radcliffe-Brown, A & D Forde (eds) (1950) African Systems of Kinship and Marriage Rosaldo, R (1980) Ilongot typifications of the domestic cycle, in Ilongot Headhunting, 1883-1974: A Study in Society and History, pp.177-196 Schieffelin, E (1976) The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers, chapters 3-4 Weiner, A (1976) Women of Value, Men of renown: A New Perspective on Trobriand Exchange, chapter 7 Weiner, A (1988) The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea, chapters 4-5 Essays: 15. Comparatively discuss the structure and significance of marriage in any TWO societies 16. Discuss the the relationship between marriage practices and political and economic change in any ONE society 17. Compare Lvi-Strausss discussion of incest with AT LEAST TWO of the following: La Fontaine, J (1988) Child sexual abuse and the incest taboo, Man 23: 1-18 (E) McKinnon, S (1995) American kinship/American incest: asymmetries in a scientific discourse, in S Yanagisako and C Delaney (eds) Naturalizing Power, pp.25-46 Roscoe, P (1994) Amity and aggression: a symbolic theory of incest, Man 29: 49-76 (E) 8. Family Values: Love and Enmity within Marriage In many parts of the world the domestic unit of the household is formed around a married couple. Here we will look at the economic relations within and beyond this unit, as well as at feelings of amity and enmity that arise during shopping and disputes over the division of labour and control over resources such as money. [key concepts: the household; intra-household relations and politics; reciprocity; consumption] Basic reading: *Sahlins, M (1965) On the sociology of primitive exchange, in M Banton (ed) The Relevance of Models for Social Anthropology, pp.139-236; reprinted in M Sahlins (1972) Stone Age Economics, pp. 185-275 Miller, D (1998) Making love in supermarkets, in A Theory of Shopping, chapter 1 Pesquera, B (1997) In the beginning he wouldnt even lift a spoon: the division of household labour, in L Lamphere et al (eds) Situated Lives: Gender and Culture in Everyday Life, pp.208-222 * Whitehead, A (1981) Im hungry mum: the politics of domestic budgeting, in K Young et al (eds) Of Marriage and the Market, pp.93-116 Further reading: Devault, M (1997) Conflict and deference, in Counihan and van Esterik (ed) Food and Culture, pp.180-199 Giddens, A (1992) Romantic love and other attachments, in The Transformation of Intimacy, chapter 3 Harris, O (1981) Households as natural units, in K Young et al (eds) Of Marriage and the Market, pp.136155 Macfarlane, A (1987) Love and capitalism, in The Culture of Capitalism, chapter 6 Maher, V (1981) Work, consumption and authority within the household: a Moroccan case, in K Young et al (eds) Of Marriage and the Market, pp.117-135 Pahl, J (1990) Household spending, personal spending and the control of money in marriage, Sociology 24: 119-138 Essays: 18. How does Sahlinss model of primitive exchange help us understand economic relations between members of a household? 19. Is there more to marriage than love?

9. Till Death Do Us Part? A Look at Divorce Divorce is often seen as lying at the heart of current concerns about the crisis of the family. Given their interest in marriage, what have anthropologists got to say about the phenonenon? And what can divorce tell us about anthropological discussions of marriage? Furthermore, is the rise in divorce a problem confined to the West, or is it more widespread? And if so, what factors might explain this? Basic reading: Evans-Pritchard, E (1951) Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer, pp.91-96 and 113-115 *Hutchinson, S (1990) Rising divorce among the Nuer, 1936-1983, Man 25: 393-411 (E); OR Hutchinson (1996) Nuer Dilemmas, chapter 4 * Simpson, B (1994) Bringing the unclear family into focus: divorce and re-marriage in contemporary Britain, Man 29: 831-850 (E) Simpson, B (1997) On gifts, payments and disputes: divorce and changing family structures in contemporary Britain, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3: 731-746 (E) Essays: 20. What can divorce reveal about anthropological theories of marriage? 21. What can the study of divorce tell us about wider transformations in society? 10. Labours of Love: A Look at the Meanings of Work Work not only occupies a very large part of peoples time (though see Sahlins, topic 1) but is also an important part of peoples sense of who they are. Here we will look at three very different contexts in which work seems to have a highly symbolic element; that is, where there is more to work than simple labour. In doing so we will touch on why some people work less than they might, on the relationship between work and identity, and on the division of labour between men and women, most notably husbands and wives. [key concepts: the relationship between work and social organization; sexual division of labour; symbolic and economic dimensions of work; work and identity] Basic reading: *Cohen, A (1979) The Whalsay croft: traditional work and customary identity in modern times, in S Wallman (ed) Social Anthropology of Work, pp.249-267 *Douglas, M (1962) Lele economy compared with the Bushong, in P Bohannan and G Dalton (eds) Markets in Africa, pp.211-233; reprinted in G Dalton (ed) Economic Development and Social Change, pp.----; also reprinted in R Grinker and C Steiner (eds) Perspectives on Africa, pp.101-118 Keesing, R. Cultural Anthropology, chapter 10 (2nd edn.); chapter 8 (3rd edn.) Theodossopoulos, D (1999) The pace of work and the logic of the harvest: women, labour and the olive harvest in a Greek island community, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5: 611-626 (E) Further reading: Campbell, J (1964) Honour, Family and Patronage: A Study of Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountain Community, chapters 2 and 7 Evans-Pritchard, E (1951) Kinship and Marriage among the Nuer, chapter 4 Gibson, T (1986) Sacrifice and Sharing in the Philippine Highlands: Religion and Society among the Buid of Mindoro, chapter 3 Hendry, J (1999) An Introduction to Social Anthropology, pp.207-217 Hutchinson, S (1992) The cattle of money and the cattle of girls among the Nuer, American Ethnologist 19: 294-316; reprinted in R Grinker and C Steiner (eds) Perspectives on Africa, pp.190-209 Okely, J (1983) The Traveller Gypsies, chapter 4 Ortiz, S (1994) Work, the division of labour and co-operation, in T Ingold (ed) Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology, pp.891-910 Rosaldo, M (1980) Knowledge and Passion: Ilongot Notions of Self and Social Life, chapter 4 Weiner, A (1988) The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea, chapter 7 Essays: 22. Is work more than a simple economic activity? 23. Comparatively discuss the relationship between work and identity in any TWO societies (see esp. items by Cohen, Douglas, Okely, Theodossopoulos) 24. In what ways is work shaped by ideas about gender? (see esp. items by Campbell, Douglas, EvansPritchard, Gibson, Rosaldo, Weiner; see also readings for topic 10)

11. Its the Thought that Counts: Giving, Receiving, Reciprocating Here we will look more extensively at issues of exchange and reciprocity through Mausss famous essay on the gift. Contextualizing this work, we will look at one of anthropologys most famous examples of gift exchange, the kula, and compare this to contexts of gift giving in Britain, paying particular attention to the social relationships that both enable and are facilitated by the exchange of gifts. [key concepts: gift; commodity; exchange and social relationships] Basic reading: *Carrier, J (1993) The rituals of Christmas giving, in D Miller (ed) Unwrapping Christmas, p.55-74; OR Carrier (1995) Gifts and Commodities, chapter 8 Davis, J (1972) Gifts and the UK economy, Man 7: 408-429 (E) Malinowski, B (1967) Kula: the circulating exchange of valuables in the archipelagoes of eastern New Guinea and Tribal economics in the Trobriands, both in G Dalton (ed) Tribal and Peasant Economies, pp.171-223; OR Malinowski on the kula, in E Leclair and H Schneider (eds) Economic Anthropology, pp.17-39 *Mauss, M (orig. 1924) The Gift Further reading: Cheal, D (1988) The Gift Economy Gregory, C (1994) Exchange and reciprocity, in T Ingold (ed) Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology, pp.911-939 Hendry, J (1999) An Introduction to Social Anthropology, chapter 3 Hyde, L (1983) The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, esp. part 1 Parry, J (1986) The Gift, the Indian gift and the Indian gift, Man 21: 453-473 (E) Sahlins, M (1972) The spirit of the gift, in Stone Age Economics, pp.149-184 Titmuss, R (1970) The Gift Relationship: From Human Blood to Social Policy Weiner, A (1985) Inalienable wealth, American Ethnologist 12: 210-227 Essays: 25. Is there a radical difference between the practice of giving gifts in Western and non-Western societies? 26. Discuss the relationship between either the kula or the potlatch and social inequality. Kula readings: Malinowski, B (1922) Argonauts of the Western Pacific, esp. chapters 3, 6, 11, 14, 17, 19, 21 and 22 Weiner, A (1976) Women of Value, Men of Renown: New Perspectives on Trobriand Exchange Weiner, A (1988) The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea, chapters 7-9 Weiner, A (1992) Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping while Giving, chapter 5 Young, M (ed) (1979) The Ethnography of Malinowski, chapters 7-9 Potlatch readings: Boas, F (1966) Kwakiutl Ethnography, chapters 1 and 3-4 Codere, H (1950) Fighting with Property: A Study of Kwakiutl Potlatching and Warfare, chapters 1, 3, 6 Drucker, P (1967) The potlatch, in G Dalton (ed) Tribal and Peasant Economies, pp.481-493 Kan, S (1986) The nineteenth-century Tlingit potlatch: a new perspective, American Ethnologist 13: 191212 Kan, S (1989) Symbolic Immortality: The Tlingit Potlatch of the Nineteenth Century, esp. chaps. 4 and 9 Piddocke, S (1969) The potlatch of the southern Kwakiutl: a new perspective, in E Leclair and H Schneider (eds) Economic Anthropology, pp.283-299 Wolf, E (1982) Europe and the People without History, pp.182-194 12. Grasping the Global: Consumption in a World of Goods Societies do not exist in isolation from each other or from history and the global economy, and even the remotest corners of the globe have been touched in one way or another by colonialism, capitalism and the spread of consumer goods and electronic communications. But how have anthropologists dealt with these phenomena, and what implications do they have for the study of different cultures and societies? Here we will focus on these issues by looking at the consumption of imported foreign goods, and ask to what extent cultural autonomy and diversity is being eroded by the economic conditions of the contemporary world. [key concepts: colonialism; cultural imperialism; consumption and the meaning of goods; consumption and identity; globalization and localization]

Basic reading: *Gottlieb, A (1992) Under the Kapok Tree: Identity and Difference in Beng Thought, chapter 6 *James, A (1997) How British is British food? in P Caplan (ed) Food, Health and Identity, pp.71-86; OR James A (1996) Cooking the books: global or local identities in contemporary British food cultures, in D Howes (ed) Cross Cultural Consumption, pp.77-92 Keesing, R. Cultural Anthropology, chapter 19 (2nd edn.); chapter 17 (3rd edn.) Miller, D (1995) Consumption and commodities, Annual Review of Anthropology 24: 141-161 (E): OR Consumption studies as the transformation of anthropology, in Miller (ed) Acknowledging Consumption, pp.264-295 Further reading: Abu-Lughod, L (1995) The objects of soap opera: Egyptian television and the cultural politics of modernity, in D Miller (ed) Worlds Apart, pp.190-210 Bohannan, P (1955) Some principles of exchange and investment among the Tiv, American Anthropologist 57: 60-70; reprinted in E Leclair and H Schneider (eds) Economic Anthropology, pp.300-311; also reprinted in R Grinker and C Steiner (eds) Perspectives on Africa, pp.119-128 Counihan, C (1997) Bread as world: food habits and social relations in modernizing Sardinia, in Counihan and van Esterik (ed) Food and Culture, pp.283-295 Hutchinson, S (1992) The cattle of money and the cattle of girls among the Nuer, American Ethnologist 19: 294-316; reprinted in R Grinker and C Steiner (eds) Perspectives on Africa, pp.190-209 Mintz, S (1979) Time, sugar and sweetness, Marxist Perspectives 2: 56-73; reprinted in Counihan and van Esterik (ed) Food and Culture, pp.357-369 Toren, C (1989) Drinking cash: the purification of money in ceremonial exchange in Fiji, in J Parry and M Bloch (eds) Money and the Morality of Exchange, pp.142-164 Wolf, E (1982) Europe and the People without History, pp.3-19 and 385-391 Essays: 27. What can the study of consumption and/or money tell us about the relationship between local communities and the wider world?