Professor Ann Marie Leshkowich
Beaven 231
793-2788
aleshkow@holycross.edu
Office Hours: M 2-4, W 11-12, F 11-12

 

Assignment Objectives

Learning how to "do" anthropology requires practicing two different, but closely related skills: 1) defining and analyzing theoretical models and 2) constructing a project and methodology which will provide information to address these concerns. Weekly written assignments will give you the opportunity to develop and practice both of these skills.

Theoretical papers: These papers will ask you to answer a specific question related to the models, arguments, or evidence used by one or more of the authors assigned for a particular week. The questions are designed to elicit your insights in a way which demonstrates that you have both read the material and begun to think critically about the issues raised.

Methodological papers: Methodological papers will require completion of a specific field exercise related to the readings for a specific week. After conducting an interview or observation, you should write up your results in a 2-3 page summary. Your summary can include the type of data collected, problems encountered, the benefits or weaknesses of the methods used, or reflections about how you might use this method in your senior thesis or other research.

NOTE: These papers require advance preparation, so be sure to select your sites or arrange for interviews well in advance of class. You may also wish to base different methodological assignments on the same work site or individuals.

***Weekly assignments will not be required for weeks 6 and 10, when 5-7 page essays are due.***

 

Arguments and Thesis Statements

Response papers are relatively short, but they each require you to reflect critically on the course's material, themes, and modes of inquiry. Each paper MUST have an introductory paragraph with a clearly articulated thesis that states the argument which the rest of the paper will advance. A thesis statement is not a declaration of fact, a broad claim, or an obvious assertion. A thesis statement is an interesting and specific contention about which one can reasonably debate and disagree. A thesis statement also serves to orient the reader by highlighting the major themes which will be discussed in the rest of the paper. Each of the assignments below pose several questions which are intended to guide you in formulating a provocative and insightful thesis.

Examples of thesis statements:

BAD: Gendered divisions of labor vary across societies. (This statement is both obvious and general. Nobody would be likely to disagree, so there's nothing interesting to argue about.)

BETTER: Gendered divisions of labor vary, but the general pattern is for women to handle domestic labor, while men handle public labor. (This statement presents a more specific characterization of gendered divisions of labor, one which may strike the reader as insightful. However, it does little to suggest an interesting argument as to why this might be the case or why this observation is significant. The statement seems a rather basic assertion of fact, not a compelling logical argument.)

GOOD: Although it may at first glance appear that gendered divisions of labor across cultures share the assumption that women do domestic work while men do public work, a closer examination reveals a self-reinforcing situation: because men do public work, they have the opportunity to come together as a group to determine group practices and beliefs. This gives them the power to define their work as more important and to restrict women's ability to engage in it. What seems a simple cultural assessment of biological differences is in fact intimately related to issues of power and social control. (These sentences draw the reader in by explaining that what seems to be a simple case is in fact more complicated, for reasons which the author introduces. The statements also present an arguable explanation for a generalized pattern in gendered divisions of labor.

 

Paper Requirements and Grading

Each paper should be 2-3 double-spaced pages. Assignments are due in hard copy form at the beginning of class. Electronic submissions will not be accepted. Nine assignments will be given, and each student must complete at least eight. Each of the eight assignments will be worth three points, for a total of 25% of your course grade. A ninth paper can be completed for extra credit up to a maximum of 25 points. Late papers will not be accepted.

 

CALENDAR OF WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

Week 1: August 30
INTRODUCTION
No assignment

 

Week 2: September 6
DIVISIONS OF LABOR
Theoretical essay #1:

According to Raymond Aron, a central idea underlies Durkheim's sociology: "The individual is born of society, and not society of individuals" (16). With specific reference to the division of labor, explain Durkheim's conception of the roles of society, on the one hand, and individual psychology, on the other, in shaping the individual. What strengths and weaknesses do you see in his argument? (Hint: you may want to begin by identifying a key strength or weakness and using that as the thesis statement that organizes your essay.)

 

Week 3: September 13
GENDERED DIVISIONS OF LABOR AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Methods assignment #1: Gendered divisions of labor in the workplace

This assignment requires you to document and consider how labor is divided along gender lines and the broader implications of this division for both individuals and society. First, select a busy work environment, such as a store, a dining hall, a library, or an office. Next, spend at least two hours observing the course of work in this place. How many workers are employed? What kinds of work do they do? Do men and women seem to perform different tasks? What kind of hierarchy exists? How do workers interact with each other? Does gender appear to play a role in this? How do you know? After completing your observation, spend some time chatting with one or two of the workers or a supervisor about your observations of gender relations in their workplace. Do they perceive a gendered division of labor? Do they support it? How do they explain it? What effects do they see gender as having on work relations?

 

Week 4: September 20
PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC PRODUCTION
Theoretical essay #2: Public Work and Women's Liberation

According to Engels, the growth of male-owned private property and the rise of the monogamous family brought about the "world historical defeat of the female sex" (120) by trapping women's labor within the domestic sphere. From this analysis, Engels suggests that "the first condition for the liberation of the wife is to bring the whole female sex back into public industry" (137-8). Today, with women throughout the world working for pay outside the home, Engels' solution would seem to have been implemented. Pick an example of women's work in "public industry" and discuss whether the outcomes have been what Engels predicted. What strengths and weaknesses does this suggest about Engels' model for explaining gender inequality?

 

Week 5: September 27
WOMEN, FARMING, AND RURAL HOUSEHOLDS
Methods assignment #2: Households and work

Engels, Sacks, White, and Wiegersma all discuss the role of the "household" in shaping the possibilities for gender identity and divisions of labor, and the ways in which this labor is then interpreted or used by the household.

The methods assignment for this week has two parts: 1) interview a worker about how his or her work affects the household, and 2) obtain concrete information about the household, in terms of size, relations between its members, and its durability over time. You can focus the interview around whatever themes you wish, but you may want to explore the following: how the decision to begin working was made, how the income from this work is spent, what types of work other household members perform, how the "reproductive" aspects of the household are performed, how household decisions about expenditures are made, who heads the household and why, and whether the interviewee sees any differences within the family according to gender or age.

 

Week 6: October 4
WORKING DAUGHTERS
ESSAY #1 DUE THIS WEEK

 

Week 7: October 11
ENGENDERING SELVES IN THE FACTORY
Methods assignment #3: Work and Self

In this fieldwork assignment, you will explore the relationship between work and personal identity by conducting a mini life history interview centered on an individual's career and employment history. In addition to eliciting factual information (how long at this job, training, previous jobs, hopes for the future, etc.), try to get your interviewee to discuss how his or her work relates to a sense of self. Does he or she identify him/herself primarily through work? In what ways? How would you explain this identification and the reasons for it? How do income, education, responsibility, working environment, and family seem to shape how this individual defines the relationship between self and work?

 

Week 8: October 18
THE DISCIPLINED BODY (1)
Methods assignment #4: Place, Bodies, and Discipline

Foucault's work describes the small and often unrecognized ways in which power shapes our ways of thinking by controlling our bodies. By "discipline," he refers to a mode of knowledge which employs techniques to control and regulate bodily movements. Such techniques are most obviously present in such institutions as mental hospitals, schools, military camps, prisons, and factories.

This assignment asks you to explore the significance of techniques of bodily control by considering the way a specific setting shapes the movements of the people within it. There are many possible settings: a workplace, a store, a school, a dining hall, a community center, a government office, a gymnasium, or a library. As a first step, you should diagram or describe in detail the physical structures of your chosen location: doors, windows, counters, walls, partitions, lights, tables, etc. Then observe how people move through the space. Are there spaces that are off-limits to some? Why? How does the space imply a way of differentiating between and organizing people? How is access to the space obtained (not just physically, but in terms of privileges, membership in a community, etc.) How are the activities which occur within that space directed? Are individuals working together collectively, in smaller groups, or alone? What are they doing, what kinds of motions are involved, and how do these seem shaped by the space or by the individuals who seem to manage the space? Are there individuals or groups who seem to be doing something different from what the space or its creators intend? Your paper should include a diagram of the space, as well as a discussion of your findings.

NOTE: PROPOSAL FOR FINAL PAPER ALSO DUE THIS WEEK

 

Week 9: October 25
THE DISCIPLINED BODY (2)
Theoretical essay #3:

Ong opens her book with the following question: "Why are Malay women workers periodically seized by spirit possession on the shopfloor of modern factories?" (xiii). What is her answer to this question? Do you find her argument convincing? Why or why not?

 

Week 10: November 1
MONEY, EXCHANGE, AND MORALITY: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
ESSAY #2 DUE THIS WEEK

 

Week 11: November 8
GENDER, MODERNITY, AND DESIRE
Methods assignment #5: Relations of exchange

The readings for this section focus on how money and exchange are intimately connected to issues of morality: the disruptive social effects of a transformation in labor and production, the moral meanings associated with money and the means of acquiring it, or the ways relationships to money are used as criteria to classify and rank individuals and families.

This assignment asks you to explore the exchange of an object or service, not simply as an economic transaction, but for what it reveals about social relations and cultural ideas. You will construct a social and cultural biography of an object or service. You can select anything: an heirloom, a piece of clothing, a food item, a restaurant meal, a computer, a travel service, a class being taught. (Note: the object or service need not be something directly purchased on the market, although it might be easier to deal with something that was at some point purchased.) Interview the current possessor of the object or service, such as its owner, or a store which intends to sell it. What you will then do is try to trace the history of the item/service. Where did it come from? How was it acquired? What skills or relationships were necessary to acquire it? How were they acquired or formed? Who will purchase or get the item next? How and why? What is their relationship to the current possessor? How is this relationship transformed by the item/service? If you can trace the item back to its previous possessor, try to interview him or her by asking the same questions. Try to track the history of this object's ownership as far back as you can. Does the nature or meaning of the object change at any given point? Does it, for example, go on and off the market? Why? What are some of the cultural notions surrounding the exchange of this kind of item or service? Are they different from the meanings your interviewees have suggested? If you can meet the person who acquires the object or service, also interview him or her. Find out why they wanted this thing, and how they plan to use it. You might then want to use your paper to reflect on what this "thing-centered" approach reveals about people and ideas.

NOTE: FINAL PAPER ABSTRACT AND BIBLIOGRAPHY ALSO DUE THIS WEEK.

 

Week 12: November 15
WOMEN AS COMMODITIES
Theoretical essay #4:

In her review of Maid to Order, Janet Salaff notes that "the homonym of the title calls to mind human commodities, consistent with the author's anthropological perspective that draws on Foucault and Gramsci." Are the Filipina domestic workers described by Constable human commodities? Why or why not? What are the implications (for understanding the relationship between gender, ethnicity, and economic development) of calling them such? In answering this question, feel free to refer to other works we have read, such as Marx, Foucault, or Irigaray. Finally, be careful to distinguish your own argument from Constable's.

 

Week 13: November 29
Student presentations on final research projects. No written assignment this week.

 

Monday, December 4
FINAL PAPERS DUE by 5 p.m. in Professor Leshkowich's office (Beaven 231).

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu