Anthropology Courses Research Articles

“I don’t mean to be a dick, but”

AbstractThis article explores the significance of paralipsis to analyses of affect and sociopolitical formation. Taking attested utterances from undergraduate anthropology courses as a point of departure, I examine how one White and female-identified student engaged in a sexualized form of paralipsis to claim distance from her own negative construal of the object-category “girls [that brag about community service].” Deploying what I termdick-rhetoric, in combination with strong affect and assertions of ideological common-sense, this student’s performance was effective at garnering stance ratification and “uptake” from classmates (Jaffe 2009), and facilitating the reproduction of gender and sexual hierarchies. Drawing onBrowne’s (2015)examination of denied racial subjectivity or “dark matter,” I argue that “dick matter” renders genderism and sexual objectification acceptable in university classrooms (among regimes, e.g., racial) – particularly for settings where professors do not engage students in critical exploration of dominant hierarchies and normalization processes. Discussion emphasizes the salience of engaging (ourselves and) students in examination of uses of paralipsis and dick-rhetoric for addressing gender and sexual inequalities.

Trash, teaching and the city: the “Big Hole Counter Narrative” project and the “Urban Anthropology: Research Methods and Fieldwork” course at Sol Plaatje University

This essay reflects on an anthropology course developed at one of the two “post-apartheid” universities in South Africa. The course included collaborating with artists and a local dance/ performance troupe. It culminated in a film by Francois Knoetze (featuring collaborators), a musical performance by the Amandla Danca Teatro, and an exhibition by students. Knitting together practice, theory and alternative research and narrative methods, the course intervened on a developmentalist trajectory in the romantic “sparkling” narrative of Kimberley as the “city of diamonds.” Alternative, ordinary and sometimes contested stories emerged.

Gotas de um oceano

O texto discute as questões de gênero e representatividade observadas a partir de uma análise bibliométrica das disciplinas obrigatórias do curso de Antropologia da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), suas consequências e desdobramentos, apontando as assimetrias acadêmicas bem como as omissões e os apagamentos perpetuados e institucionalizados pela produção científica a partir da formação e propagação de um conhecimento hegemônico.

LIBRARY INSTRUCTION IS A TWO-WAY STREET: STUDENTS RECEIVING COURSE CREDIT FOR PEER TEACHING

Librarians of the George A. S mathers Libraries at the University of Florida, partnered with the Anthropology department to develop a peer-to-peer program to provide outreach to undergraduates taking anthropology courses. The peer instructors, librarians and anthropology department developed a three-credit-hour independent study as a way to compensate the peers for their work. The peer instructors developed a lesson plan, provided classroom and individualized instruction, and developed assessment techniques to evaluate the program. This article discusses the development and implementation of the peer instruction program and presents the results ofthe surveys.

Teaching Anthropological Concepts of Race in Higher Education

Racialism is the belief that humans can be divided into distinct races that are biological fact and can determine many traits of individuals. This concept, while persistent, has been refuted by biological and social science, which indicates that the cultural conception of race is neither a biological reality nor determinant. The discipline of anthropology is well positioned to explain nuances in biological and cultural diversity, but employing the most effective strategies to teach these important, and sometimes controversial, concepts is crucial. Patterns and Efficacy in Teaching Concepts of Race in Anthropology (PETCRA) surveyed nearly 300 undergraduate students in introductory anthropology courses at a predominantly white institution in the United States. Students were given two surveys, before and after instruction, to determine their perception of race. The pre- and post-instructional surveys asked students simple conceptual questions about race, about their own experience of race, and demographic information; the post-survey included questions about the instruction in this subject area. While many students started with racialist perspectives, statistically significant numbers of students adopted a more anthropological view after instruction. Including videos with lecture resulted in statistically significant improvement in students’ answers. Student racial identity development is discussed as an important component for understanding this complex topic, especially within predominately white institutions. This research underscores the importance of evidence-based pedagogical choices in diversity instruction.

“Talking the Talk”: A Case Study in Teaching about Jargon in an Undergraduate Writing-Intensive Anthropology Course

Jargon is frequently considered a “bad” word in the realm of professional writing. Most books on technical writing devote only a small section to explaining the use of technical language with a stern caveat discouraging its use. However, proper use of discipline-specific terms implies membership into a club of professionals who correctly “talk the talk” with each other in their writing. For novice student writers who are just beginning to hone their skills writing in a specific discipline, how can they learn to emulate the writing of professionals?In this paper, I argue that effective use of discipline-specific vocabulary is not discussed often enough pedagogically and that this skill is an important vehicle to professionalize students so that they become more confident writers of anthropology. This paper outlines techniques used in a writing-intensive introductory anthropology course and seeks to raise more dialogue about writing pedagogy in anthropology.

Student Motivation in Response to Problem-based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a self-directed learning strategy where students work collaboratively in small groups to investigate open-ended relatable case scenarios. Students develop transferable skills that can be applied across disciplines, such as collaboration, problem-solving and critical thinking. Despite the extensive research on problem-based learning, an examination of variables that affect student engagement through the implementation of PBL is lacking (Savin-Baden, 2014; 2016). Our research question examined student motivation during problem-based learning implementation in an undergraduate anthropology course (N = 49) with students with diverse subject matter experience and no previous exposure to active learning. Student motivation was examined through surveys, peer-evaluations, and self-reflection exercises. The results showed that student motivation was higher in students with more subject matter experience at the beginning of the course. During the course, motivation decreased in relation to subject matter experience, but by the end of the course the majority of students (76.7%) increased their motivation toward problem-based learning. Based on their subject matter experience, we were surprised that a particular subset of students had low motivation at the end of the course (78%). We discuss some challenges of implementing problem-based learning in a traditional curriculum, and provide suggestions to successfully implement PBL for diverse student populations.

Using cognitive linguistic principles to encourage production of metaphorical vocabulary in writing

Learners in academic English environments face considerable demands on their lexical knowledge. The problem is more than just the acquisition of a large vocabulary, they must also develop an awareness of the range of meanings that words can convey. Academic discourse is known to make frequent use of metaphorical vocabulary to express abstract notions. This article reports on a two-semester investigation into learner production of conventional metaphorical vocabulary in an anthropology course. Analysis of written output revealed that control group metaphor use correlated strongly with overall proficiency, but that experimental group learners responded to the treatment in a more complex fashion.

New genetic and morphological evidence suggests a single hoaxer created 'Piltdown man'.

In 1912, palaeontologist Arthur Smith Woodward and amateur antiquarian and solicitor Charles Dawson announced the discovery of a fossil that supposedly provided a link between apes and humans: Eoanthropus dawsoni (Dawson's dawn man). The publication generated huge interest from scientists and the general public. However, ‘Piltdown man's’ initial celebrity has long been overshadowed by its subsequent infamy as one of the most famous scientific frauds in history. Our re-evaluation of the Piltdown fossils using the latest scientific methods (DNA analyses, high-precision measurements, spectroscopy and virtual anthropology) shows that it is highly likely that a single orang-utan specimen and at least two human specimens were used to create the fake fossils. The modus operandi was found consistent throughout the assemblage (specimens are stained brown, loaded with gravel fragments and restored using filling materials), linking all specimens from the Piltdown I and Piltdown II sites to a single forger—Charles Dawson. Whether Dawson acted alone is uncertain, but his hunger for acclaim may have driven him to risk his reputation and misdirect the course of anthropology for decades. The Piltdown hoax stands as a cautionary tale to scientists not to be led by preconceived ideas, but to use scientific integrity and rigour in the face of novel discoveries.

Instructional Learning Objects in the Digital Classroom: Effectively Measuring Impact on Student Success

ABSTRACTDemonstrating library impact on student success is critical for all academic libraries today. This article discusses how the library of a large online university serving non-traditional students evaluated how customized point-of-need learning objects (LOs) embedded in the learning management system impacted student learning. Using a comprehensive mixed-methods approach utilizing Google analytics, reference statistics, and citation analysis via rubrics, the author investigated the extent to which LOs contributed to students' ability to conduct research independently and ability to create quality bibliographies. Results indicated high usage of LOs, that student research independence increased in all courses analyzed, and bibliographies improved for students in an anthropology course after LO integration. This initiative provided substantial evidence that the LOs positively affected student learning and allowed the library to communicate this impact to key stakeholders.

Influence of Word Clouds on Critical Thinking in Online Discussions: A Content Analysis

This article presents an exploratory research study about the influence of word clouds on critical thinking when they are incorporated into online discussions. In an online discussion, students were asked to critically analyze two speeches, being assigned to one of two conditions: one in which the text was linear, and one in which the text was presented in the form of word clouds. Discussions posts were coded in two blended sections of an undergraduate anthropology course to assess the type and frequency of critical thinking demonstrated therein. Students in the word cloud condition exhibited more instances of critical thinking than students in the linear condition, and more often paired articulation of thought with the citing of evidence. The paper concludes with recommendations for other educators interested in implementing a similar approach.

THE FOUR-FIELD MODEL OF ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE UNITED STATES

This paper assesses the historical and institutional origins of anthropology in the United States in order to understand the development of the four-field model, the persistence of which is considered distinctive of anthropology in the United States. An Atlantic Enlightenment saw the origins of anthropology in the United States. The four fields of anthropology can be traced to the Enlightenment. The four fields were brought together in the context of museums and learned societies in the 19th century United States. The focus of anthropology changed in the early 20th century with the placement of anthropology in the context of the university and the German concept of the defended dissertation as the principal gateway to professionalization (introduced by Boas). Four-field anthropology programs also existed in diverse countries, but did not persist except in the US beyond the early years of the 20th century. Anthropology in the US as a four-field discipline grew throughout the 1930s. After World War II, the discipline expanded greatly in the United States, partly due to the G.I. Bill as well as to increased demand for anthropology courses. Anthropology continued to grow in terms of numbers of institutions offering the PhD and numbers of new doctorates in the field into the 1970s, stabilizing around 400 per year. The usual rank order in number of doctorates per field per year continues to be the same in the early 2000s as it was thirty years ago: cultural anthropology, archaeology, physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology. The four field unity of the discipline came under critical scrutiny in the late 20th century, with the principal criticism being that the holism of the four fields appears to be a function of 19th century museum mentality, but the four fields regardless of cleavages have nevertheless remained together in the same departments in most universities. That trend appears to be continuing in general at the present time in the United States. Keywords: four fields of anthropology, history of anthropology, US university system.

In Memoriam, Ann Chowning, 1929–2016

In Memoriam, Ann Chowning, 1929–2016 Andrew Pawley Ann Chowning died in Auckland on February 25, 2016, aged 86.1 A superb ethnographer who did extensive fieldwork in four different Austronesian-speaking societies of western Melanesia, she also made important contributions to Oceanic linguistics and culture history, including substantial dictionaries of four languages and more than 20 papers, chiefly on comparative-historical topics. She also published on Mayan archaeology, prehistoric flint industries in New Britain, and folklore. Chowning’s life and career as ethnographer, archaeologist, and teacher are well described in a biographical sketch (Huntsman with Chowning 2005) in her Festschrift, a volume aptly titled A polymath anthropologist: Essays in honour of Ann Chowning (Gross, Lyons, and Counts 2005). This memoir will focus on her linguistic work, while placing it in the context of her ethnographic research. Indeed, the two are hard to separate. The special value of Chowning’s works on linguistic topics lies in the fact that they are informed by her encyclopedic knowledge of the ethnography and the history of research on Melanesian societies. This broad and detailed knowledge was also evident in her contributions as a very active critic and reviewer. She was quick to spot flaws in certain claims made by comparative linguists who lacked such broad expertise. My file of correspondence with Ann over several decades is full of letters from her that politely and painstakingly corrected my errors or added to my data. From 1960–65, Chowning was Assistant Professor (Chair 1961–65) in the Department of Anthropology at Barnard College, Columbia University. From 1965–70, she was Senior Research Fellow in Social Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra. In 1970 she joined the staff of the newly established University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, as Associate Professor of Anthropology. In 1977 she moved to Victoria University of Wellington as Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, a position she held until her retirement in 1995. FROM LITTLE ROCK TO PHILADELPHIA Martha Ann Chowning was born on April 18, 1929 in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she attended Little Rock High School, graduating in 1946. In 1954 she made the first of more than 20 field trips to Melanesia. One may wonder, what led a girl from the American South to become an anthropologist in Melanesia? It seems that in high school Ann read widely in the historical disciplines and became deeply interested in American, especially Mayan, archaeology. Her father, Frank Chowning, was a successful attorney. Her niece, Martha Chowning, recalls that “he was very much like Ann, curious about the world, a collector of fine and interesting [End Page 678] things, and a polymath in many ways. He was very interested in family genealogy (he traveled to England to do research) and was an enthusiastic amateur archaeologist who indoctrinated his children and grandchildren into hunting for Native American artifacts in the fields of Arkansas. Ann’s mother, Martha, had a great love of culture, and especially music. She was ambitious for Ann, and realized and nurtured her intelligence.” After high school, Ann went north to a leading university for women, Bryn Mawr College, near Philadelphia (the first women’s university to offer a PhD). There she majored in Spanish but took as many courses in anthropology as she could. Archaeology was a particular passion, and during her undergraduate studies and in later years she took part in summer excavations in Indiana, Oklahoma, Yucatan, and Guatemala. After taking her ba (magna cum laude) in 1950, she enrolled in the anthropology graduate program in Barnard College, Columbia University. Her Master’s thesis was on raven myths in Northwest America and Northeast Asia. FROM PHILADELPHIA TO MELANESIA: THE LAKALAI PROJECT In 1952, Ann began a PhD in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. The program there reflected the traditional American view of anthropology as an enterprise encompassing four fields: cultural anthropology, archaeology, physical anthropology, and linguistics. This fitted well with Ann’s wide range of interests. One of Ann’s teachers was Ward Goodenough, a rising star in American anthropology who was also trained in descriptive and historical linguistics. Goodenough obtained funding for a project focusing on the Lakalai people of...

A ANTROPOLOGIA HISTORICIZADA OU OS ÍNDIOS DE FENIMORE COOPER: CLÁSSICOS E HISTÓRIA NO ENSINO DE ANTROPOLOGIA NO BRASIL

Resumo Este artigo trata da relação entre o desenho das grades curriculares em programas de pós-graduação em antropologia (PPGA), a seleção de conteúdos de disciplinas obrigatórias e a compreensão que, nestes programas, professores têm sobre as obras e os autores tidos como clássicos e seu lugar no ensino. Parte da ideia de que as características das grades e certas tendências a respeito de autores, textos e temas propostos nas disciplinas obrigatórias exprimem uma hierarquização do conhecimento antropológico destinado ao ensino neste nível. Essa hierarquização remete a um cânone para a formação dos novos antropólogos no Brasil, mas também a traços idiossincráticos das relações sociais nos cursos de antropologia. Com base na análise qualitativa de grades e programas de disciplinas em seis PPGAs no Brasil e a revisão de arquivos e entrevistas com professores e coordenadores dos cursos em quatro dos seis PPGAs iniciais, temas como relações interinstitucionais e intergeracionais, divisão do trabalho e reprodução social surgem no âmago da reflexão sobre o ensino, à luz de noções como "clássicos" e "história".

Leaping into the unknown.

Passion is not something you can plan for. When I was in elementary school and someone would ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would shout something along the lines of “a pirate astronaut” or “a Tyrannosaurus rex ” because those were the things that piqued my interest at the time. As I've aged my passions have changed, and though sometimes I still think it would be fun to be a pirate astronaut, these days I aspire to a career in neuroscience. But it hasn't been a direct path, and changing fields during my training, though challenging, has provided a valuable perspective that has improved my research and, I believe, will continue to serve me well throughout my career. ![Figure][1] ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER > “Being a researcher, no matter the field, is about adaptation.” By the end of my senior year of high school, I knew only that I was more fascinated by the natural world than by business or politics. That was all. But 3 weeks prior to the start of my freshman year of college, I took an elective course in biological anthropology. I became fascinated with human variation; ancient hominid fossils; and the behavior of our closest living relatives, the great apes, and ended up earning a degree in anthropology. For my undergraduate thesis, I investigated differences in circulating hormones between musicians and nonmusicians and how musical ability might be related to differences in physiology. After this experience, I felt the itch to look deeper into the molecular and cellular mechanisms of behavior. The next step, I decided, was graduate school in neuroscience—a subject in which I had not taken a single course. Quite a pickle I'd gotten myself into! How was I going to make the jump into this new field? I wrote my graduate school applications to showcase how I had arrived at the decision to pursue neuroscience research without a neuroscience background and my genuine interest in the mechanisms of behavior. I emphasized that I was trained in how to think about complex subjects and use the scientific method—skills I could apply to any topic. To improve my chances, I applied broadly to programs with an emphasis on behavior: anthropology, psychology, and—as a reachȁneuroscience. To my relief, it worked! After a gap year spent as the assistant project director for a chimpanzee field site for ecological research in western Uganda, I began graduate school in my first-choice neuroscience program. Since entering my new field 3 years ago, I've found that a key obstacle to overcome is the lingo. Few things in academia are scarier than walking into a room, listening to a lecture, and having absolutely no idea what just transpired. Early on, I would break out into cold sweats at the thought of having a neuroscience-based conversation. I had to quickly pick up on words like “orthodromic” and “deacetylation” to communicate with my peers. My anthropologist self had to adjust to my new intellectual environment, which I did by reading—a lot. A cycle emerged: A feeling of severe stupidity would be followed by intense reading, followed by another period of feeling stupid as I realized that, no matter how much I read, new gaps in knowledge would keep popping up. Even now that I feel relatively comfortable identifying myself as a neuroscientist, that cycle continues. Finding my way in a new discipline helped me realize that being a researcher, no matter the field, is about adaptation. Good scientists need to be able to recognize imminent paradigm shifts and adjust hypo theses accordingly. They should be prepared to explore new experimental approaches when original tactics don't work. And they should be comfortable examining questions from alternative angles, as sometimes the best way to tackle a problem may be hidden in an unfamiliar area. Because of my experience changing fields, I feel equipped to do all of these things, and although it was scary and difficult at times, I believe the experience will make me a better scientist in the long run. I anticipate that my passion will shift again as new discoveries are made. Overcoming the challenge of transitioning fields in graduate school has prepared me for whatever direction my research takes me. [1]: pending:yes

Autonomous Vehicle Study Builds Bridges between Industry and Academia

Researchers have long explored the desirability and benefits of industry‐university collaborations and acknowledge they can be fraught with difficulties. We examine one such alliance, focused on driverless cars, a current hot topic in the public imagination and in technology design. Our collaboration began as an alliance between two anthropologists, one a professor at the University of North Texas, the other a consultant with the Nissan Research Center in Sunnyvale, California. We designed a research project for a design anthropology course that Christina Wasson taught in Fall 2014. Brigitte Jordan, at the time, was conducting an informal ethnography class for engineers and computer scientists at NRC. Our alliance had two objectives: to determine what a successful industry‐university collaboration could look like when it involves ethnographic research in the high‐tech sector, and to provide insights into usable ethnographic methods and data that would support social and cultural questions in autonomous vehicle (AV) research at the Nissan center. We found these two geographically separated classes eventually allowed building bridges across academia and industry, anthropology and engineering, leading in the long run to some softening of the boundaries between the two disciplines. Here we discuss significant variance in the research cultures of class participants at UNT and NRC (ethnographers and automotive engineers), and the various manners in which these differences were bridged over the course of the project (or not, as the case may be). We explore factors which inhibit or encourage exchange between university and industry micro‐cultures, consider reasons for the success or failure of such projects, and offer suggestions for improving future collaborations. We end with ideas about what a model for productive industry‐academia collaboration could look like.

Tribes or Nomads: A Comparative Study of Collaborative Learning Frameworks

This paper explores the relative value of "permanent" working groups versus "ad hoc" groups in large introductory level anthropology courses. The aim is to manage tutor workload while simultaneously enhancing students’ attainment of the learning objectives. In addition, a main learning objective was for students to practice critical thinking and develop an understanding of cultural relativism. We argue that one effective experiential approach to teaching such concepts is collaborative learning with others in diverse learning groups. We explore the factors enhancing such learning experiences. Based on our survey research we conclude that ad hoc groups are better for exposing students to diverse perspectives and permanent working groups are better for fostering an intimate learning experience within a large class. Although our original goals for using groups were mainly pragmatic, our research on teaching methods shows that it exposes students to diverse perspectives. We find this particularly appropriate for courses in anthropology aiming to teach the meaning of diversity and other related concepts. Therefore, we recommend that tutors/instructors choose their collaborative learning strategy based both on their intended learning outcomes and their learning environments.

Back to the Future?: Emergent Visions for Object‐Based Teaching in and beyond the Classroom

AbstractThis article introduces a special issue ofMuseum Anthropologydevoted to innovative strategies for teaching with objects. Although a century ago anthropology, museums, and objects were intimately entwined, trends in many museology and anthropology courses have drifted toward focusing on ideas and people rather than objects. The contributors to this special issue have cultivated new pedagogical approaches that complement or realign literature‐focused classroom canons that can distance students from the very objects under study. In keeping with recent theoretical approaches to objects that highlight the sensory dimensions of material culture, many of the articles in this special issue examine the challenges and potential rewards when educators foster physical engagement with objects in and beyond the classroom. Taken together, the articles also underscore how object‐based teaching can yield new theoretical and practical insights, enhance the social relevance of classroom activities, and facilitate meaningful benefits for local communities. [material culture, praxis, pedagogy, embodied practices, object‐based teaching]

The anthropology of infectious disease

This book synthesizes the flourishing field of anthropology of infectious disease in a critical, biocultural framework. Leading medical anthropologist Merrill Singer holistically unites the behaviors of microorganisms and the activities of complex social systems, showing how we exist with pathogenic agents of disease in a complex process of co-evolution. He also connects human diseases to larger ecosystems and various other species that are future sources of new human infections. Anthropology of Infectious Disease integrates and advances research in this growing, multifaceted area and offers an ideal supplement to courses in anthropology, public health, development studies, and related fields.

Ethnography and the Classroom Challenge: Exploring the use and assessment of Ethnography in the IB Diploma Programme

This paper discusses the teaching and assessment of ethnographic material in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) Social and Cultural Anthropology course in the context of a major review of the programme. It provides an outline of the historical and ideological development of the IB and the DP, locating anthropology as a discipline within this framework. Using examples from the classroom and examinations, the paper discusses how ethnographic material is used at a local level (by teachers) and how it is assessed, at a global level, by the IB, in terms of the skills in reading ethnography. The paper also reflects on some of the challenges of teaching anthropology through ethnography presented at a global level – in the design of the curriculum; and, at a local level – in the teaching of the course. In conclusion, it is argued that understanding these challenges from both perspectives is necessary if the “ideals” of the course become a reality in the classroom. Getting this “right” requires not only shared understandings of these ideals, but also the recognition that strategies need to be articulated and exemplified.