Anthropology of Gender
Anthropology 438
Winter 2008
MWF 12:30-1:55
DDH 104K
Dr. Karen Stocker Office Hours:
DDH CC 218 MW 2:00-3:15
Course Goals:
Students in this course will
learn to think, speak, and write critically about the role of gender in a
variety of cultures, and about how the discipline of anthropology has addressed
it, historically speaking.
Course objectives:
Students will demonstrate
critical thinking and oral presentation skills by leading discussion and by
presenting their final paper to the class. Students will further written skills
and critical thinking ability by writing papers that link concepts from the
readings to films and that link an ethnography read outside of class to
anthropological articles and concepts from class. Students will gain an
understanding of basic ethnographic methods and concerns about representation.
In both written and oral work, students will demonstrate understanding of the
difference between sex and gender, of gender as a social construct, and how
gender intersects with other angles of identity to shape experience.
Course requirements:
Students will be responsible for keeping up with readings and participating in discussions about them, as well as leading discussion twice. Students will also write one 3-5 page paper in response to a film about gender. In addition to participating actively in class, students will read an ethnography about gender (from the list provided) outside of class, and will write a final paper in which they draw ties between readings throughout the quarter and their selected ethnography, as well as conduct research related to the topic of that ethnography using scholarly sources from the discipline of anthropology. In preparation for this assignment, students will turn in an annotated bibliography of their scholarly sources. In order to demonstrate comprehension of basic ethnographic methods, students will participate in the development of an interview protocol, and carry out interviews and analysis of interview data. Students will present their final research projects to the class on the last day of the quarter.
Required texts:
Stone, Linda and Nancy P. McKee
2007 Gender and
Culture in
Lewin, Ellen, ed.
2006 Feminist Anthropology: A Reader.
Other required
readings will be placed on electronic reserve (online) through the Walter
Stiern Library. To access materials
on electronic reserve, visit www.lib.csub.edu
and click on “Course Reserves.” Find the reserve readings for Anth 438 by
course number or by my last name. Click on “Electronic Reserve
Grading and
Assignments:
Lead Discussion 15 points
Discussion preparation 15 points
Response Paper (3-5 pages) 25 points
Preliminary paper on gender in your own life (January 9) 15 points
Turn in choice of ethnography for final (January 14) 5 points
Paper analyzing your interviews
about gender (Feb. 6) 30
points
Appendix including interview
protocol and summary of responses (2/6) 20
points
List of at least 5 journal
articles for your final paper (Feb. 8) 5
points
Annotated bibliography of 5
relevant, scholarly sources (Feb. 22) 15
points
Participation* in class discussions 15 points
2nd Paper on gender in your own life, revisited (Feb. 27) 15 points
Participation in peer review process (by bringing and critiquing a draft)
(March 5) 15 points
Presentation on chosen ethnography (March 10) 10 points
Final paper on ethnography (March 14) 50 points
TOTAL 250
points
* See item three under Classroom Policies for an explanation of what constitutes adequate participation.
Grading scheme:
100 - 93 = A
92 - 89 = A-
88-86 = B+
85 – 83 = B
82 - 79 = B-
78-76 = C+
75 - 73 = C
72 - 69 = C-
68 - 66 = D+
65 – 63 = D
62 - 59 = D-
58 and below = F
Classroom policies:
1. I will not accept late
papers for any reason. All papers are due at the beginning of class on the date
listed, and you must attend class that
day to have your paper accepted. There are enough paper opportunities and
response paper opportunities that you can plan ahead to choose assignments to
complete on time and with deadlines on dates when you will be able to attend
class. If you are unable to make it to class, plan on doing one of the other
assignments, instead. As for discussion questions, you get four days on which
you need not bring in discussion questions. If you have to miss class or are
late to class, I will count that as one of the four days on which you are
exempt from bringing discussion questions. In addition to turning in a hard
copy of each paper, please submit an electronic copy to www.turnitin.com before class begins. You
will each need to get a free turnitin.com account in order to do this (in
accordance with the specific instructions that I will distribute in class). If
you do not submit your paper to turnitin.com, the grade for your paper will be
reduced by 10%.
2. Do not come into class
late or leave early, unless you have a compelling reason that you have
discussed with me prior to class.
3. If you miss class, it is
your responsibility to find out what you missed. Any more than three unexcused
absences will affect your grade negatively (with every four absences, your
grade will be lowered). Excused absences are those for which you can provide
documentation proving illness, death in the family, or participation in a
university-sponsored event. Students with perfect attendance who find themselves
on the border between two grades at the end of the quarter will be given the
benefit of the doubt. Likewise, students without excessive absences, who
participate actively in class will receive the same benefit. Active
participation includes not only frequency, but quality of participation,
in a manner that demonstrates both completion of assigned work and respect for
classmates and the instructor. Demonstrating respect includes taking care to
avoid monopolizing discussion, interrupting classmates, and taking more than
one’s share of time. It also includes making sure that one’s comments are
directly pertinent to the topic at hand.
4. Please turn off your
cell phone.
5. All students must adhere
to CSUB’s policy on Academic Integrity. Students who do not do so may receive
an F in the course and will face disciplinary sanction by the Office of Student
Discipline and Judicial Affairs. Please see the General Writing Guidelines for
more information on what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it.
6. Qualified students with
disabilities who need appropriate academic adjustments should contact me as
soon as possible to ensure that your needs are met in a timely manner. Any
disability needs to be verified by Services for Students with Disabilities (
7. Students are responsible
for tracking their own grade progress (see “Grading and Assignments,” and
“Grading Scheme” above).
8. When I grade your papers,
I do not want to know who you are, so as to avoid any bias in grading. To this
end, I request that you turn in all papers with your name typed on the top
right corner of the first page only. Fold over this corner of each paper toward
the back before you turn in your paper to assure your anonymity.
Assignments
are due on the day under which they are listed. For example, by Friday, January
4, students must have read Chapter 1 (the Introduction) in GCA (Gender
and Culture in
Wednesday, January 2
Topic: A Historical View of the Anthropology of Women, the Anthropology of Gender, and basic underlying concepts for the course
Friday, January 4
Topic: Basic questions and concepts in Anthropology of Gender
Assignment: GCA (Gender and Culture in
Monday, January 7
Topic: “The Anthropologists’ Wives” and Early Feminist Anthropology
Assignment: FA Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5
Wednesday, January 9
Topic: Fieldwork
Assignment: Two page paper due on how you see gender as having affected your life and where you see gendered divisions in the world around you
Film: Margaret Mead: Coming of Age
Friday, January 11
Topic: Concerns in Fieldwork and Representation
Assignment: FA 8, 7, and 10
First student-led discussions.
Monday, January 14
Topic: Fieldwork and representation, continued
Assignment: Turn in your choice of ethnography for the final paper (and order it or check it out from the library); In class: develop interview questions for studying gender in our own society
Wednesday, January 16
Topic: The nexus of race and gender; colonialism; Interviewing, continued
Assignment: GCA Chapter 2
Response paper due to Margaret Mead: Coming of Age
Friday, January 18
Topic: Gender and Sexual Orientation
Assignment: GCA Chapter 4
Monday, January 21 HOLIDAY – no classes
Wednesday, January 23
Topic: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality
Assignment: FA 6, 21, and 22
Student-led discussions
Friday, January 25
Topic: Archival Research on Gender
Assignment: Start reading your ethnography (you will need to know the basic underlying ideas of it in order to select appropriate journal articles related to its topic)
Meet in Walter Stiern
Library
Monday, January 28
Topic: Gender and Sexuality, continued
Film: Ma Vie en Rose
Assignment: Assignment: GCA Chapter 5; work on finding journal articles and on your interviews
Wednesday, January 30
Topic: Gender, Ethnicity, and Race
Assignment: GCA Chapter 6 and FA Chapters 9 and 13
Student-led discussion
Friday, February 1
Topic: Family, Marriage, and Partnering
Assignment: GCA Chapter 3; be working on your interviews
Monday, February 4
Topic: Family, continued
Assignment: GCA Chapter 8; be working on your interviews
Response paper due to Ma Vie en Rose
Wednesday, February 6
Topic: Interviews about Gender: salient themes, what you would do differently
Discussion groups about your interviews
Assignment: Turn in your analysis of interviews about gender
Friday, February 8
Topic: Family, Marriage, and Partnering, continued
Film: “Strange Relations”
Assignment: Turn in your list of five qualitative, scholarly articles
Monday, February 11
Topic: Gender, Kinship, and Religion
Assignment: Read your ethnography and read the following articles on electronic reserve:
Fernea, Elizabeth W. and Robert A. Fernea
2006 Symbolizing Roles: Behind the Veil. In Conformity and Conflict. James Spradley
and David W. McCurdy, eds. Pp. 223-230. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Martin, Emily
1997 The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has
Constructed a Romance Based on
Stereotypical
Male-Female Roles. In.Situated Lives:
Gender and Culture in
Everyday
Life. Louise Lamphere, Helena Ragoné, and Patricia Zavella, eds. Pp.
85-98. New York: Routledge.
Film: Cut From a Different Cloth
Wednesday, February
13
Topic: Anthropological Conceptualizations of Conception and Reproduction
Assignment: FA Chapters 12, 14, and 18
Student-led discussions
Friday, February 15
Topic: Gender and Human Rights; Critical cultural relativism
Assignment: FA Chapters 15, 16, and 17
Student-led discussions
Response paper due to Strange Relations
Monday, February 18
Topic: Contemporary Concerns in Anthropology of Gender
Assignment: GCA Chapter 9; be working on your annotated bibliography and reading your chosen ethnography
Response paper due to Cut From a Different Cloth
Wednesday, February
20
Topic: Contemporary Concerns in Anthropology of Gender, continued
Assignment: be working on your annotated bibliography; begin an outline for your final paper
Film: Beyond Killing Us Softly
Friday, February 22
Topic: Gendered Divisions in Labor
Assignment: Turn in your annotated bibliography; bring a list of divisions of labor by gender that you see around you in your daily life
Monday, February 25
Topic: Gendered Divisions in Labor
Assignment: FA Chapters 11,19, and 20; continue reading your chosen ethnography
Student-led, small-group discussions
Wednesday, February
27
Topic: Revisiting basic concepts about gender
Assignment: Turn in your second paper on how you see gender as having played a role in your life, and how your views of gender in the US or around the world have changed; begin working on a draft of your final paper
Response paper due to Beyond Killing Us Softly
Friday, February 29
Topic: Development and Globalization
Assignment: Be working on a draft of your final paper
Monday, March 3
Topic: Development and Globalization, continued
Assignment: Be working on a draft of your final paper
Film on development: Local Heroes 3: The Power to Change
Wednesday, March 5:
Topic: Gender and schooling
Assignment: GCA Chapter 7
Friday, March 7
Topic: Feminist Pedagogy and Peer
review and constructive criticism
Assignment: Bring a draft of your work in progress (final paper) – this must be more than an outline, but it need not be complete or polished – and a list of writing concerns for you reviewers to watch for
Monday, March 10
Topic: Student presentations of research projects (ethnographies and supplemental research)
Response paper due to The Power to Change
Bring proof of having provided and received feedback on drafts
Final papers will be due on Friday, March 14, at 11:00 a.m. Turn them in to my office (DDH CC 218), or the main Soc/Anth office (DDH AA 209) and to turnitin.com. This will serve as your final exam.
Guidelines for leading discussion
Each student will lead discussion twice during the quarter. I will record the higher of your two grades. Prepare at least 5 open-ended questions (that neither require yes/no answers nor identification of specific answers). Your questions should include a balance of questions that ask your peers to process the material read (to provide opinions and interpretations of the concepts and arguments presented) and those that tie the readings to your peers’ own experiences. Your role, as a discussion leader, is not to lecture the class, but to promote discussion about the readings. Write questions that are likely to promote discussion, and be prepared to have follow-up comments or questions to your peers’ responses, in order to keep discussion going.
You will be graded on how well you keep discussion going, based on the nature of your questions and your ability to follow them up with additional comments, as well as on the written work that you turn in. Immediately following your discussion (on the date of your discussion), turn in a paper that includes the author and title of the article you’ve discussed, your typed list of discussion questions, and a typed paragraph, summarizing the author’s main points.
If any of the main concepts of the article are unclear to
you, and thus prohibit writing a succinct paragraph about the chapter, feel
free to visit me during office hours (or by appointment) to clarify any
questions you might have about the readings.
Select an ethnography from the following
list for your final project.
Abu-Lughod, Lila
1993 Writing Women’s Worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[Bedouin Women; Contemporary Ethnography]
Abu-Lughod, Lila
1986 Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. Berkeley:
University of California Press. [Bedouin Women; Contemporary Ethnography]
Anzaldúa, Gloria
1987 Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books. [Chicana and Boder Politics and Conceputalizations of Gender; Contemporary Theory]
Behar, Ruth
2003 Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza’s Story. Boston:
Beacon Press. [Mexican Women and Gender Roles; Contemporary Ethnography]
Bourgois, Philippe
2003 In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. [Indirect Account of Learning Gender Roles;
Political
Economy; Harlem; Contemporary Ethnography]
Bowen, Elenore Smith
1964 Return to Laughter; An Anthropological Novel. New York: Doubleday.
[Early Women’s Writings in Anthropology; Ethnographic Portrayals though
Novel]
Deloria, Ella Cara
1990 Waterlily. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
[Early Women’s Writings in Anthropology; Ethnographic Portrayals though
Novel]
Ferguson, Ann Arnett
2001 Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity. Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
[Masculinity in the US; Contemporary Ethnography]
Gutmann, Mathhew C.
1996 The Meanings of Macho; Being a Man in Mexico City. Berkeley:
University of California Press. [Masculinity in Mexico; Contemporary
Ethnography]
Holland, Dorothy C. and Margaret Eisenhart
1990 Educated in Romance: Women, Achievement, and College Culture.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[Gender Roles and Schooling in the US; Contemporary Ethnography]
Hurston, Zora Neale
1990 “Tell My Horse”: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica. New York:
Perennial Library.
[Early Women’s Writings in Anthropology; Ethnographic Portrayals though Literary Forms]
Kondo, Dorinne
1990 Crafting Selves: Power, Gender, and Discourses of Identity in a Japanese
Workplace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[Gender and Identity in Japan; Contemporary Ethnography]
Levinson,
Bradley A. U.
2001 We
Are All Equal: Student Cultures at a Mexican Secondary School, 1988
– 1998. Durham: Duke University Press.
[Gender, Social Class, and Schooling in
Mexico; Contemporary Ethnography]
Mac an Ghaill, Mairtin
1994 The Making of Men: Masculinities, Sexualities and Schooling.
Buckingham: Open University Press.
[Masculinities; Contemporary
Ethnography]
Mead, Margaret
1928 Coming of Age in Samoa. New York: Perennial Classics.
[Early Women’s Writings in Anthropology]
Menchú, Rigoberta (and Elisabeth Burgos-Debray)
1987 I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. London and New
York: Verso. [Genocide and Gender Roles in Guatemala; Testimonial]
Newton, Esther
1990 Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press. [Transgender Issues; Contemporary Ethnography]
Ong, Aihwa
1987 Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in
Malaysia. Albany: SUNY Press.
[Gender and Labor in Malaysia; Contemporary Ethnography]
Orenstein, Peggy
1994 Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-esteem, and the Confidence Gap. New
York: Anchor Books. [Gender and Schooling in the US; Contemporary
Ethnography]
Sears, James T.
1991 Growing Up Gay in the South: Race, Gender, and Journeys of the Spirit.
New York: Haworth Press. [Sexuality in the US; Contemporary Ethnography]
Sewell, Tony
1997 Black Masculinities and Schooling: How Black Boys Survive Modern
Schooling. London: Trentham. [Masculinities; Contemporary Ethnography]
Shostak, Marjorie
1981 Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman. New York: Vintage Books. [Anthropologists’ Wives; Gender in Botswana; Contemporary Ethnography]
Stephen, Lynn
1991 Zapotec Women. Austin: University of Texas Press.
[Gender and Social Class in Mexico; Contemporary Ethnography]
Taggart, James M.
1990 Enchanted Maidens: Gender Relations in Spanish Folktales of Courtship
and Marriage. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
[Gender and Narrative in Spain]
Taggart, James M.
1997 The Bear and His Sons: Masculinity in Spanish and Mexican Folktales.
Austin: University of Texas Press. [Gender and Narrative in Spain and Mexico]
Townsend, Nicholas W.
2002 The Package Deal: Marriage, Work, and Fatherhood in Men’s Lives.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt
1993 In the Realm of the Diamond Queen: Marginality in an Out-of-the-Way
Place. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[Gender in Indonesia; Contemporary Ethnography]
Willis, Paul
1977 Learning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs.
New York: Columbia University Press.
[Gender and Schooling in Britain; Contemporary Ethnography]
Wolf, Margery
1992 A Thrice Told Tale: Feminism, Postmodernism, and Ethnographic
Responsibility. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[Gender in Taiwan; Anthropologists’ Wives; Postmodern Ethnography]
General
Writing Instructions
•
With regard to organization, make sure that your paper has an introduction that
presents your main argument in a clear manner. The body of your paper should
support the ideas proposed in the introduction. The conclusion should serve to
wrap up your paper, not present new ideas not previously discussed throughout the
paper. The introduction and conclusion should speak to each other.
•
Generally speaking, you ought to choose one verb tense and stick to it
consistently.
•
My writing pet peeves (and other things that make me cringe as a reader) are as
follows:
“Alot”
is not a word. Most students who write “alot” mean “a lot.” An “effect” is the
result or consequence of some action. It is a noun. To “affect” something is to
bring about such a consequence. It is a verb. Please do not use them
interchangeably. “It’s” = “It is,” rather than denoting the possessive nature
of “it.” Apostrophes denote possession, not plurality. Make sure that your
sentences contain agreement. (If you are referring to a singular subject, make
sure your verb form reflects that. Likewise, if you are discussing a plural set
of subjects, make sure your verb form reflects their plurality.) Be aware of
the difference between “there,” “they’re,” and “their,” “are” and “our,” “its”
and “it’s” (see above), “to” and “too,” “led” and “lead,” and “woman” and
“women.” Recognize the difference between “apart” (separate) and “a part.”
Avoid using slashes between words. Often, you can either pick one of the two
words (if they mean the same thing) or connect them with commas or the word
“and” or “or” to better get your point across if they mean different things.
• Proofread your work. You should not turn in your first draft as
a final paper. Write out your response to an assigned topic. Then proofread for
grammar, spelling, and clarity, and to make sure that you have addressed the
question thoroughly. Go back to the assignment sheet to make sure you have
answered all parts of the question. Edit your work with an eye to the issues
outlined above. Then revise and turn in a more polished draft.
•
Avoid plagiarism. If you have any doubts about what it means, please err on the
side of excessive caution and/or come see me. Remember that even if you cite a
quoted phrase, you need to use quotation marks. If you paraphrase an author’s
concept, you still need to cite it, even though you have used your own words.
To paraphrase appropriately, you need to boil down the whole concept and put it
into your own words. It is not sufficient to plug in synonyms for the author’s
words.
• To cite something from your textbook, cite by author(s), date,
and page number. For example, for a quote or concept from page 45 of Gender and
Culture in America, cite by Author’s last name, date of the publication,
and page number (in parentheses, just before the period at the end of the
sentence) as follows: (Stone and McKee
2007: 45). [This is for a quote from page 45. Note that the punctuation goes
after the parentheses]. If you allude to a concept from the book, even if you
do not quote the author directly, use the same citation style. If you quote from
an author whose work is included in an edited volume, cite by author rather
than editors of the book. For example, for a reference to a concept or
quotation from page 133 in Karen Brodkin’s chapter in the book Feminist
Anthropology, edited by Ellen Lewin, cite as follows:
(Brodkin 2005: 113). In most cases, you would then include a
bibliography at the end of your paper and provide the full citation of the
article. For the purposes of this class, as long as you are citing only
readings from the class, you do not need to include a bibliography. However, in
your final paper, you will need to include a bibliography.
•
Since we are not worthy of knowing the authors of our readings personally,
refer to them by last name rather than first name.
•
It is fine (and even preferable) to use the first person (“I”) in written work
for cultural anthropology.
ª
Please spell out numbers under ten.
• Please staple your work before you come to class and put your name only on the right corner of the first page.