Instructor: Eva Bagg, Ph.D.

Phone: 760-252-2411 x7287

Location: Barstow Community College, 2700 Barstow Road, Barstow, CA 92311

Office B15B

Office Hours:

Monday, Wednesday:  10:00 – 11:30 am

Tuesday, Thursday: 4:00 - 5:00 pm

You may reach your instructor live by telephone (760-252-2411 x7287) during these office hours. You may leave a message at this number at this number at any time. You may also contact your instructor by e-mail at ebagg@bcconline.com.

An introduction to the study of human culture and the concepts, theories, and methods used in the comparative study of sociocultural systems. Subjects include subsistence patterns, social and political organization, language and communication, family and kinship, religion, the arts, social inequality, ethnicity, gender, and culture change. The course applies anthropological perspectives to contemporary issues. Degree applicable; transferable to UC/CSU (CAN ANTH 4)

Students majoring in psychology or sociology will benefit from this course, as it will place their knowledge of the sociology and psychology of humans in a broader, global context. If you are majoring in business you will learn fundamentals of culture that are applicable to understanding workplace culture, and you will be introduced to cutting-edge research methods that are driving the development of innovative products and services around the world today. If you are majoring in child development, you will learn to appreciate the role that culture plays in how children are socialized and how cultural resources are key to their formation of identity and self. If you plan to pursue a degree in medicine or healthcare you will learn how culture shapes the way people conceptualize health and illness and how those understandings affect the design of methods of health care delivery and intervention.

Choose virtually any aspect of the human condition, and the discipline of anthropology will offer a unique perspective from which to broaden your understanding. If you are simply interested in deepening your understanding of what makes humans of all kinds tick, then you will benefit from this course. You will sharpen your observational skills and will learn how to become a more active listener and, therefore, a better communicator.

In the box below type one way you can benefit from taking this course.

1. An Internet browser to access web pages. Netscape 3.0, Internet Explorer 3.0 or the equivalent is the minimum.
2. An email address to receive class materials. (A free email account such through Hotmail or Yahoo is acceptable.)
3. Ability to complete assignments and exams within the timeframe of the course and according to the schedule of activities (see XI. Assignment and Exam Schedule of this syllabus)
4. Ability to structure your time to complete readings, assignments, online discussion entries, and examinations as required in the course schedule.
5. The ability to create and submit college-level written materials.
6. There will be one on-campus meeting for the final examination. Personnel at the Barstow Community College Computer Commons (not the library) will be proctoring the exam at the Barstow campus. The exam will also be proctored at the Barstow Community College location at Ft. Irwin (in the computer lab by college staff).
7. If you cannot attend the exam meeting you will have to find a proctor approved by the instructor, for example, a librarian or education officer, and an approved site, such as a library or an education center, to take the exam. The student must send to the instructor the name, location and fax number of the proctor. Proctors for this course must have access to a working fax number, and proctor information must be received by the end of the third week of class.

This is a university-level course that requires the student to possess certain academic skills. Students should be able to read and write at the English 101 level. Although this is not a formal prerequisite for entry into the course, students without this level of skill will find the course overwhelming. Please assess your abilities and base your educational planning accordingly. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact your instructor at 760-252-2411 x7287 or at ebagg@bcconline.com.

In the box below type, "I understand this is a university-level course that requires reading and writing skills at the English 101 level. I will contact the instructor if I have any questions or concerns about my entry-level preparedness to succeed in this course. I also understand and meet the requirements listed for this course in the list above."

1. The anthropological perspective with emphasis on concepts of culture, relativism and holism
2. Recognition of ethnocentrism and how to seek understanding of cultural differences
3. Anthropological methods of research
4. Comparative survey of the following domains of culture, with emphases on both human universals and cross-cultural variability:

1. Language and non-verbal communication
2. Human adaptive subsistence and resource allocation strategies
3. Patterns of marriage, family and residence
4. Cultural constructions of gender and sexuality and their relations to biological sex
5. Processes of socialization and enculturation
6. Kinship and descent
7. Political organization and leadership
8. Systems of belief and artistic expressive forms

5. Models of culture change and modern applications of anthropology

1. Understand the basic distinctions among the four fields of anthropology: cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, archaeology and linguistics. Furthermore, students will be aware of some of the most common applications of each of the sub-fields to challenges that face local and global societies.
2. Explain cultural differences as they result from different historical and environmental circumstances.
3. Exemplify through specific ethnographic cases the wide range of cultural variability in the world as well as essential human universals that are shared across all societies.
4. Understand the anthropological concept of culture and be able to relate it to cross-cultural communication and issues of diversity in complex societies.
5. Understand culture as a holistic and integrated system and be able to demonstrate through ethnographic examples how the various cultural subsystems, including the subsistence, economic, social, political and ideological subsystems, are interrelated.
6. Critique modern social scientific models and theories about human behavior in terms of their universal validity or as potentially historically and culturally situated constructions.
7. Conduct an ethnographic interview and do basic participant observation as part of qualitative research exercises.
8. Develop or deepen appreciation for cultural diversity and see cultural difference in terms of evolving adaptations to local environment and social conditions.
9. Recognize his or her own ethnocentric biases, understand how they developed, and learn ways to overcome them.

2. Four quizzes
3. A midterm and a final examination
4. Four assignments with written component

A variety of assignments have been designed to engage students with different learning styles

5. Participation in online discussion (posting each week of the class)

Some postings require viewing of video clips contained on the CD that comes with the textbook

In the box below type, "I have the textbook and CD-ROM for this course or I will have it by the end of the first week of the course."

1. Quizzes and examinations (All quizzes and examinations are open book and open notes.)

• Quizzes are intended to help you review material presented in the text and the exams, to reinforce key concepts central to the course, and keep you on track with the progression of the course. Quizzes will be multiple choice and true/false.
• The midterm and final are designed to help you synthesize learning from sections of the course. They may include some short answer and multiple choice type questions, but will mostly require short essay answers. I have designed these exams to provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the big ideas learned in class. (This means that you need to answer the questions in your own words. If you refer to content in your textbook, be certain to paraphrase either what was written or put only a sentence or two in quotes, with some description or comment on what you understand the quoted text to mean. Copying sections from your text is considered plagiarism and is grounds for receiving a failing grade. Finally, I see no point in testing you on obscure details that you will likely forget after the exam. My goal is that the exams simply reinforce your learning so that you will take away from the course something of value to you.
• Only the FINAL examination requires a proctor (see instructions above in section III on Requirements).

Assignments

• Mostly, I hope you will enjoy these activities. I have designed them with the intention that they are interesting, fun and that learning will happen automatically for you by doing them. They have been structured so that they give you practice at doing what anthropologists are specialized at doing: observing, interviewing in a very special way, listening deeply, seeing patterns in what you see and hear, and communicating what you learn about other cultural groups and about yourself and your own culture.
• When grading your assignments, I will look for evidence that you have completed each assignment according to the instructions, have reflected on the assignment to the extent that you have learned something new or reinforced a concept presented in the reading or in lecture, and communicate in an intelligible manner what you have learned in writing. I will not mark down your assignments for errors in grammar or punctuation; this is not a composition course. Careless writing, however, usually reflects careless thinking. Everyone can always improve his or her writing, but this takes practice. These assignments will give you the chance to practice developing your writing along with learning the material.
• The length of the written part of these assignments will be one to two pages (doubled spaced).

Participation in online discussion

• At the end of each lesson, I will pose you a question or set of questions that you are to answer on the discussion board. You must also respond to at least one posting by a fellow student. These questions will address issues raised by your text, the lecture, or a video clip that you will be instructed to view on the CD provided with your text (also available on reserve at the library).
• Each of you is an important member of the class as a whole. I will pay attention to and care about your participation. As an anthropologist, I see learning as an inherently social activity (even when you are in a room alone reading your text, society and culture are at work influencing your learning). Although we cannot interact live in a classroom, we can experience each other’s ideas online. This participation provides you another opportunity to reinforce your learning (expressing yourself does this automatically) and to expand your learning through classmates and the instructor. As in a classroom environment, it is my job as instructor to ensure that everyone feels safe to express and explore his or her ideas through discussion. This means that respect for one another must always be maintained.

In the box below type, "I understand and agree to abide the the methods of evaluation listed above."

NOTE: All due dates are listed on the home page of the course!

Week	Subjects	Reading	Assignments
1	Introduction to anthropology and its four subfields	Read chapter 1	Posting to discussion board
2	Applied anthropology Anthropological concept of culture	Read chapter 14 Read chapter 2	Quiz #1 (chapters 1, 14, and 2) Assignment #1 Posting to discussion board
3	Anthropological fieldwork Culture and language Culture and symbolic meanings	Read chapter 3 Read chapter 4	Assignment #2 Posting to discussion board
4	Psychology and culture Culture and personality Culture and human development Culture and psychosocial health Cultural adaptive patterns: subsistence strategies Defining an "affluent" society	Read chapter 5 Read chapter 6	Quiz #2 (chapters 3, 4 and 5) Posting to discussion board
5	Distribution and consumption Mechanisms of exchange Food consumption Global economic concerns	Read chapter 7	Assignment #3 Posting to discussion board
6	Social organization and kinship Family organization and marriage	Read chapter 8	Midterm (covers chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7) Posting to discussion board
7	Kinship and descent Male, female and gender Culture and human sexuality	Read chapter 9 Read chapter 10	Assignment #4 (due May 8) Posting to discussion board
8	Culture and politics: attempts to maintain social order Culture and systems of belief	Read chapter 11 Read chapter 12	Quiz #3 (chapters 8, 9 and 10) Posting to discussion board
9	Culture change: local and global	Read chapter 13	Quiz #4 (chapters 11 and 12) Final posting to discussion board Final exam

In the box below type, "I understand and agree to abide by the course schedule listed above."

XII. Class policies

Academic honesty

Plagiarism is claiming as your own a paper, report, outline or creative product which in whole or in part was prepared by someone other than yourself. Plagiarism can result in failure of the course.

Make-up examinations

Make-up examinations will be given only for exceptional cases and must be cleared with the instructor. The student must contact or leave a message with the instructor prior to the scheduled exam for a make-up time to be arranged.

Conduct for online participation

Students are to post comments or questions relevant to the lesson or assignment at hand. Special concerns of a personal nature that affect a student’s participation should be communicated directly to the instructor only. Postings should be written with care and should never be used to personally criticize another student. Differing viewpoints are encouraged, but these should be communicated with respect for all parties participating. Any student who uses the public posting space to attack another student may be dropped from the course.

Dropping a course

Please remember that it is the student’s responsibility to drop a course if they deem it necessary to do so. Ceasing participation does not constitute formal withdrawal (which students must do through the college’s Admissions and Records office). If you have officially signed up for the course and stop participating in discussions and submitting assignments without formally withdrawing from the class, you will receive an "F" grade for the course that will appear on your official transcript.

Disclaimer:

A syllabus is not a contract between instructor and student but rather a guide to course procedures on participation, requirements, grading, and objectives. The instructor reserves the right to amend the syllabus when emergency circumstances dictate. Students will be duly notified.

In the box below please type, "I understand and agree to abide by the class policies listed above. Further, I understand what plagiarism is and know that omitting plagiarism will result in failure of the course."

Disability Statement: 

If you have a disability which may impact your success in this course, you may contact the Disability Student Programs and Services (DSPS) office to arrange any reasonable accommodations and supports to which you are entitled.  It is the responsibility of the student to initiate these procedures. The DSPS department can be contacted by calling 760-252-2411 x7224 or 760-252-6759 TTY/TDD or emailing dsps@bcconline.com.

In the box below type: I understand that if I have or suspect I have a disability I can contact the DSPS program at the number or email address listed above and request reasonable accommodations. Further I realize it is my responsibility to contact the DSPS department.