Cultural Anthropology
This assignment has two parts.
First, please select one of the course readings NOT found in the textbook:
Made in Madagascar or a chapter from that text
Reflections on #Occupy Everywhere
Black Girl Ordinary
Who D’at
Racial Formation
Or
Bad Subjects…
Within that article identify at least one anthropological concept/term/analytic we have discussed in class. They can be specific anthropology terms or can be a more general concept that anthropologists use in a fashion different from the general population. The authors may use them without directly telling you that they are being used. Tell me how the authors use the concept, define, and explain the concepts you chose. I’d recommend bringing in the textbook’s definition or other classroom source as well as the author’s definition into your analysis of the concept. Then outline how that concept is working out in the article you chose.
Second, use anthrosource ( https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com (Links to an external site.) or here (Links to an external site.) if you need to access it off campus) to find an article that contains this term. For example, if your term is culture (please don’t use this one as it isn’t in any of the articles!) you can search it in anthrosource’s search bar at the top right. There are more than 30,000 results that come up for culture. Most concepts will have multiple results.
Choose a research article to read and report back on it in our paper. Please tell me what are the article’s theme, location, and key argument? Please be sure to identify the ways this anthropologist uses the concept or term you’ve identified from course readings. How is it similar, different, or perhaps even unrecognizable from its use by another anthropologist? What does the similarity and difference in use of the same concept tell you or make you think about? Finally, relay to your reader the ways that this juxtaposition helps us understand how anthropological concepts might be used differently by different anthropologists depending on their data and context.
***
Note that the keyword/concept need not be in the title of the article you’ve selected. I would suggest reading several abstracts before settling on a paper to discuss in this assignment. Additionally, it may be useful to identify concepts or keywords and look for an article before doing the work to write the section defining them. If you are unable to locate an article you like that you might be able to change the concept before getting in too deep. Similarly, if the first article you choose seems to difficult, you’re free choose a different one. Finally, the article you choose should be 1) a research article and not a book review, 2) have been published after the year 2000, and 3) in a journal searchable through Anthrosource.
As usual please try to write between 600 and 800 words, include your name and page numbers (be warned!), and use the Chicago Manual of Style for your citations. Of course, if you’d like to use another style you may do so. Please do so consistently. Feel free to check out the rubric to see what I’ll be looking for. Good luck.
