The Study of Culture through Language (215-0-1)
Instructors
Diego Arispe-Bazan
847/467-2770
1902 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL 60208
Meeting Info
University Hall 102: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
This class is an introduction to cultural anthropology - the study of the politics of culture from a global perspective. Readings, lectures, and films explore diverse cultural knowledge, practices, and experiences through the lens of childhood and adolescence, drawing from the fieldwork of anthropologists and ethnographic research.
These cross-cultural studies examine the ways children are socialized, including how childhood and adolescence are conceptualized, embodied, and experienced in different local settings. From youth street racers in Saudi Arabia, urban and migrant punk rockers in Oaxaca, Zambian youth delivering in-home healthcare, to experiences of race, gender, and citizenship for young Black women in a Detroit homeless shelter, all of these examples consider the interrelated factors - social, economic, demographic, and symbolic - that determine the organization of the family, the value and meaning of children, and the place of youth in communities, schools, and the marketplace. As much as people share beliefs and practices, historical and cultural constructions, like that of the life stage known as "childhood," influence domains as varied as morality, intelligence, sexuality, and identity.
In order to appreciate how qualitative research can expand understandings of these topics, course activities provide experiential learning opportunities to engage with ethnographic research methods like participant observation and interviewing.
Registration Requirements
No prerequisites are required for this course
Learning Objectives
How does language produce social reality? How do particular communicative practices both between individuals and between individuals and mass media form what we understand as a shared culture? Why do people who ostensibly belong to a same cultural group experience things similarly or differently?
How does language inform how we view ourselves as individuals and position us vis-a-vis other individuals?
How do circulating cultural notions about social groups, politics, education, etc. spread within a society? How and why do they change as they spread?
How do everyday interactions draw from these cultural notions? How do interactions make their circulation possible and, perhaps, how do they transform them?
What role does language play in processes of identification, socialization, and globalization?
Evaluation Method
Discussion; Quiz; Final Project
Class Materials (Required)
"Wortham, S. & Reyes, A. (2021). Discourse Analysis Beyond the Speech Event, 2nd ed. 9780367503741
RodrÃguez, J. L. (2020). Language and revolutionary magic in the Orinoco Delta. Bloomsbury Publishing."
Class Attributes
Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area
SDG Peace & Justice
Associated Classes
DIS - ANTHRO Sem Rm 104 - 1810 Hinmn: Tues 8:30AM - 9:20AM
DIS - Parkes Hall 213: Fri 9:00AM - 9:50AM
DIS - Parkes Hall 212: Fri 10:00AM - 10:50AM