The Study of Culture through Language (215-0-1)
Instructors
Idil Ozkan
Meeting Info
ANTHRO Sem Rm 104 - 1810 Hinmn: Mon, Wed 1:00PM - 3:30PM
Overview of class
Course Description:
This course provides an introduction to the field of linguistic anthropology. Drawing from ethnographic studies of culture through language use in different social settings, students will develop an understanding of how language shapes and reflects social structures, identity, and communication practices in societies. Through theoretical readings, case studies, documentaries, and practical exercises, we will analyze linguistic practices as lenses through which to investigate aspects of identity formation as well as power relations among groups in societies. We will address issues such as language standardization, language as symbolic power, linguistic nationalism and minority languages, multilingualism, language learning and socialization, "accents," and more. These topics will provide grounds for understanding:
- What is language, how it shapes the way we think and vice versa,
- How different linguistic varieties are understood to index social differences including speakers' social class, ethnicity/race, and gender
- How these perceptions about linguistic varieties reproduce inequality and other power relations.
Learning Objectives
Through participation in learning activities, students will:
1. Develop an understanding of the role of communication, across cross-cultural contexts.
2. Identify how anthropologists examine language and communication ethnographically.
3. Locate and relate current linguistic significance in everyday life to course concepts or themes.
4. Establish and defend a position regarding the role of a particular speech or communication style in everyday life through original writing and speaking.
Class Materials (Required)
Required materials will be provided on Canvas
Class Materials (Suggested)
Basso, K. H. (1996) Wisdom sits in places: landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque, N.M: University of New Mexico Press.
Bonvillain, N. ed., 2016. The Routledge handbook of linguistic anthropology. Routledge.
Duranti, A. (1997) Linguistic anthropology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Eckert, P. & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013) Language and gender. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Paugh, A. L. (2014) Playing with languages : children and change in a Caribbean village. New York: Berghahn Books.
Rosa, J. (2019) Looking like a language, sounding like a race: raciolinguistic ideologies and the learning of Latinidad. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Cavanaugh, J. R. & Shankar, S. (eds.) (2017) Language and materiality : ethnographic and theoretical explorations. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Class Attributes
Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area