Cultural Anthropology Online 

 

Syllabus PDF: Cultural Anthropology Online Syllabus.pdf

Course Description

Cultural Anthropology is one of four subfields of anthropology. Cultural anthropology studies people across time and space, viewing cultural change through mechanisms, such as globalization. It is unique with the social sciences in that it draws on the other three subfields of anthropology– archaeology (past societies), physical anthropology (human biological evolution), and linguistic anthropology– to better understand human social and cultural diversity. As cultural anthropologists, we take a comparative view, looking at the broad scope of human diversity through studying the similarities and differences found within and between cultures. As Geertz said (above), we’re interested in what makes us odd and unique, in addition to understanding what we all have in common.

We typically conduct fieldwork, living with those we study for a minimum of one year, and make effort to become an “insider,” which permits us to understand in a first-hand manner how and why people believe and do what they do! While challenging, extracting own cultural assumptions and beliefs allows us to better convey the worldview of the people we study. Withholding our own culturally-based perspectives in effort to understand the perspective of those we study is called “cultural relativism.” We will use this perspective for the course in an effort to see the world through a wide range of cultural lenses. In an increasingly globalized world, where we come into contact with forms of social and cultural difference on a daily basis, learning to understand people who differ from ourselves is invaluable to creating tolerance and equality.

Through the course, we will cover a range of topics using the perspectives and approaches discussed above. These include, but are not limited to: Defining and understanding the concept of culture, language and communication, ethnicity and race, resources and environment, power and politics, social organization, families, kinship, marriage, sex and gender, religion, globalization, and the future.

Course Objectives

1. Define the scope of anthropology and discuss the role of cultural anthropology within the discipline.
2. Recognize the methods, theories and perspectives used to study and understand human cultures.
3. Explain the importance of the ethnographic method in the study of culture.
4. Employ the relativist perspective while discussing cultural variation.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of anthropological concepts including ethnicity, gender, political organization, economic systems, kinship, rituals and belief systems.
6. Explain the interconnectedness of the economic, political and sociocultural forces of globalization amongst diverse cultural groups.
7. Analyze and evaluate the ethical issues anthropologists encounter, and professional ethical obligations that must be met in the study of and application in cultural groups different from their own.

Course Materials

Digital Textbook

“Perspectives” can be downloaded online in PDF format. It is produced by the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges, a section of the American Anthropological Association.

Additional Materials

There will be required supplemental readings and videos for the course. Articles and videos will be annotated on the weekly module checklist and embedded inside of the module for you to watch or read. Please be sure to complete all items placed on the checklist– these items are required. Optional resources will be annotated as such.

Course Assessments

Your final grade will reflect how well you communicate your comprehension of course material. Assessments are a way to measure how and what you’ve learned. Part of the criteria for written assessments (discussion, assignments, quizzes and the project) is college-level writing and critical thinking/reasoning. The effort you put into the class will correlate with your scores and your final grade in the course. Attendance is essential. Ultimately, your success is in your own hands: you will receive the score you earn.

Formatting for Written Work

Any submitted work should be well written and should give credit to sources of ideas or words, as needed. If you’re unfamiliar with citations (in-text and Works Cited), please check out Purdue’s website. I’ll accept MLA, APA, or CMS, as long as you’re consistent for the format.

Purdue’s website is the go-to for most academics.

Consider bookmarking the link for future use. The left-hand menu lists the styles accepted (MLA, APA, CMS).

Important: If you have questions about how to cite, please reach out to me via email. Do not plagiarize. I’m here to help!

Topic Quizzes (150 points)

There will be 13 quizzes (10 points each) given at the end of each topic and one Orientation quiz (20 points). The number of questions per quiz will be contingent on the number of topics covered.

Format/Content: Students can anticipate an average (give or take) of 10 points total. Quizzes are not cumulative and will focus on the material covered within the topic. This includes all videos, lectures, textbook readings, articles, and any other required materials for a given topic (See: topic module for each checklist). Questions will be multiple choice and true/false.

Lowest Two Quiz Scores Dropped: At the end of the semester, your lowest of the 13 topic quizzes will be dropped. It doesn't matter if you missed the quiz completely due to illness or an emergency or if you simply didn't do well. This does not include the Orientation Quiz. 

Timed Quizzes: Quizzes will be given exclusively within the time period listed in the schedule on Canvas dates and below in Course Schedule. Students will be permitted to retake the quiz one time, for any reason (if you accidentally submit the quiz, this will count as an attempt). If students take the quiz twice, the student will earn the score they achieved on the second attempt (even if the first attempt’s score was better: be sure to study!). 

*Quiz scores should show up in “Grades” immediately; if they don’t appear, please contact me via email. If the points do not show, but a yellow exclamation mark appears, you should be good!

Missing a quiz deadline will result in a 0 on that quiz. See “Makeup Quizzes” below.

Technology Requirements and Preparing for Quizzes: Please read the instructions for the quiz located at the quiz portal once it opens (located at the bottom of each module). The quiz will open at 12am on the date it is scheduled to open and will close immediately at 11:59pm on the day it is scheduled to close.

Students must take all quizzes with a hardwired connection; Wi-Fi often leads to a dropped connection. A dropped connection will result in the quiz being submitted: this will count as an attempt.

Learn how to hardwire, if you’re unfamiliar.

Essay Exams (130 points)

Overview and Point Value: Essay exams will be given three times during the semester. Essays questions will be provided one week in advance and posted in the course files area. There will be an essay question for each topic covered within the unit(s) listed in the course schedule. 

Point delegation

Essay Exam 1: Units 2 & 3– 50 points

Essay Exam 2: Units 3 & 4– 50 points

Essay Exam 3: Unit 5- 30 points

Timing: Each exam will be timed. The timing will be in the instructions for each exam– since the first two exams cover more topics than the third, they will be given more time.

Essay Exam 1: 2 hours

Essay Exam 2: 2 hours

Essay Exam 3: 1.5 hours

Preparing the responses in advance will result in better use of time and likely better quality essay responses within the allotted time. 

Quality of Work: While there is no designated length for essays, responses must show comprehension of related concepts and terms, in addition to providing support/evidence for statements made. All submitted essays must use proper grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation. 

Discussion (150 points)

Students are expected to keep up with the readings, videos, online lectures, assignments and discussion postings on a daily basis.

The goal of discussion is to first show your own understanding of the course material, then explore or compare ideas with a classmate through discussion. The discussion boards are where you actively learn and share ideas and information with classmates! The more active you are, the more you will learn!

Deadlines: Be sure to annotate all deadlines at the beginning of the semester. Keeping a schedule handy, or inputting due dates into your electronic calendar (computer or cellphone) with alerts, will help to ensure you meet deadlines. Discussion deadlines are Friday for your original/first post and Sunday for all replies. Deadlines are always the end of the day (EOD) at 11:59pm.

Discussion Board Organization: Each module has 2-3 topics within it and there are 12 topics total. Each of these discussion board forums for discussion is worth a total of 10 possible points, with point delegation being based on a set of prompts provided to you in the “Discussions” area of Canvas.

Discussion board forums will be present for every topic; it is my hope in having you focus on a single topic at a time, with inconsistent deadlines, you’ll learn each topic better than having multiple topic’s worth of content to cover in a single timeframe.

Tardiness: Discussion posts will be accepted no later than 24 hours after the deadline. All posts submitted within those 24 hours will be accepted with an automatic 10% deduction for tardiness (1 points total for late discussion). Late original/first post and late replies will result in 10% lost for each (or 20% total- 2 points our of 10).

Grading: Student scores will be based on adherence to Instructions for Discussion criteria, which is described at the top of the “Anthropology” discussion topic. Use of the prompts/questions for each topic’s discussion forum will be located inside each topic’s discussion section: read carefully. Your comprehension of the course material must be conveyed through your post: please craft your posts thoughtfully, with attention to college-level writing (including capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar).

Feedback: Students may enter the “Grades” area on Canvas to see their earned scores, as well as individualized feedback for discussion posts. Students are encouraged to read feedback immediately. Please email me with any questions.

• Grades and feedback should be provided within one week of the tardy submission date. Should anything prevent this from occurring, I will be certain to notify you.

Suggestion: In order to ensure that your post has no grammatical or spelling errors, typing posts first into a Word document (with spelling and grammar check on) will help. As discussion forums close to students on the tardy due date, you may also want to hold onto a copy of your work (e.g. in a Word doc) for quiz preparation.

Ethnographic project (60 points)

Doing Anthropology: Students will be asked to select one site from a list of approved ethnic enclaves in the local area. Students will identify the six of the nine markers of ethnicity, discussed in “Ethnicity and Race” lecture, at their site. For this fieldwork assignment, students will speak with people at their site, take detailed field notes, and photograph each marker they find. This should be a welcome change to the typical assignment, as you’ll be out meeting people, potentially eating ethnic food and experiencing culture first-hand!

Submitted Work: The final product will result in an ethnographic book that walks the reader through the ethnic enclave using ethnic markers/symbols and descriptions from individuals who self-identify as members of the ethnic group regarding the meanings/uses behind these symbols. The goal of the project is to learn the “insider” perspective, as an anthropologist would while in the field; no sources other than the people at your site should be used for your project’s data. The book format will allow you to be creative in your presentation, though it will need to be organized by marker.

While students may select the same ethnic enclave as a classmate/friend, selected markers, descriptions, and images must be unique. All work must be your own.

Assignment Document: Assignment instructions and description of the assignment will be posted in Course Documents on Blackboard at the time that the “Race and Ethnicity” topic is covered. Please read the document as soon as it is made available, evaluate the instructions carefully, and plan accordingly. You will be asked to submit your selected site within a couple days of the release of the assignment. Your instructor will provide you feedback and potentially suggestions.

Time/Planning: Students can anticipate needing a minimum of one day at their selected enclave site (depending on your level of preparation for the assignment and comprehension of course materials), plus time to complete the book (the bases of your grade). A list of pre-approved sites will be in the assignment document.

Resource: I am available for questions, if you have them. Once you’ve read the assignment document thoroughly, reflect on any questions you might have and feel free to reach out to me via email. Please try not to wait until the last minute and note my email response time (above in Course and Instructor Information).

Score/Grade: Points will be allocated based on the grading criteria in the assignment doc. Feedback for the assignment, as well as scores, should be available to students within two weeks of the tardy submission deadline.

Tardiness: As with late discussion posts, you will be given an extra 24 hours to complete the assignment with a 10% deduction (6 points total for this assignment).

*Students who are unable to participate in this assignment, or may experience challenges completing the assignment, should communicate with me in the first week of class.

Course Policies

1) Attendance/participation 

First week attendance is taken by participation in all online assessments, including the Orientation Quiz and Introductions Discussion Forum. Students who fail to participate by the end of Week 1 will be subject to the course drop policy (see: below) as “no shows.” Attendance is not taken when a student logs in, but instead it is taken when the student participates in weekly assessments (i.e. discussion and quiz). 

Students are asked to participate in discussion and other required assessments each week. Students who are unable to meet the weekly deadline are required to communicate with me immediately– in other words, within the week of missed assessments. 

Students who miss one week of course materials and assessments will receive an email from me indicating that they must participate the following week in order to remain enrolled. If the student has not responded to my email by the end of the second week of non-participation, the student has excessive absences and will be dropped.

Important: For attempts to count as participation, assessments submissions by the student must be substantive. 

 

2) Drop Policy

Week 1–No Show Drop: In this course, you must complete all of the following activities by Friday of the first week of classes or you will be dropped as a “No Show”:

1. Complete Orientation Quiz by the end of the day Friday
2. Complete “Introductions” Discussion original post and post three thoughtful replies to classmates

Students who fail to meet the above criteria for participation/attendance (see: Above) will be dropped from the course.

Excessive absence is defined, for this class, as two consecutive weeks of missed coursework/assessments. Students who are excessively absent will be dropped from the course.

3) Plagiarism and Academic Honesty

You should be familiar with the Academic Honesty Policy at Santa Ana College. There is absolutely NO tolerance for cheating in this class. Academic dishonesty or cheating is defined as an intentional act of fraud in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or efforts of another without authorization. This includes assisting other students in acts of dishonesty or coercing students into acts of dishonesty, whether it is in coursework or on exams. Any student caught cheating or assisting another student in the act of cheating, will receive a zero score for the assignment or quiz. Students will be reported to the Dean of Student Development upon a second breach of the Academic Honesty policy or if the initial breach is egregious in nature. If you have any questions regarding this policy or application of this policy, please let me know.

Plagiarism is defined as the use of intellectual material produced by another person without acknowledging its source. You commit plagiarism when:

1. Using the views, opinions, or insights of another without acknowledgement.
2. Copying the writings or works of others into your academic assignment without crediting the original author, then submitting such work as your own.  Even using a small phrase without quotation marks is considered plagiarism. 
3. Paraphrasing the original phraseology without proper attribution. 
4. Faking a reference or giving references to original sources without looking them up. 
5. Changing the order of the original sentence or a few words or phrases without citing the source. 

Please explore the campus webpage on plagiarism to learn how to avoid plagiarism. If you have further questions, please reach out to me ASAP.

4) Late work

Discussion posts and their responses, in addition to the ethnographic project, will be accepted 24 hours late and with an automatic 10% deduction. If extra credit is offered, there is no late extension.

Your first, original discussion post is due by the end of the day Friday. All of the following replies are due by the end of the day Sunday. The discussion portal will remain open until the end of the day Monday for late submissions.

Your ethnographic project cannot be done in a day. Please do not wait until the last-minute to head into the field to collect your ethnographic data.

Makeup Quizzes: Quizzes cannot be made up without a doctor’s note or other document stating that you were unable to take the quiz during the its scheduled period due to an emergency. Plan to take quizzes during scheduled time dates/times.

5) Communication

Communication with me: Your primary form of contact with me, unless otherwise scheduled with your instructor, must be through my SAC email address: Quinn_Nicole@sac.edu

• Please note that your email to me must include the course number (see above) in the heading of the email. You must also include your first and last name somewhere in the email.
• You are welcome to follow me on Instagram, though no course-related messages should be sent through this app: AnthroQuinn
• If we have a virtual office hours appointment, we will meet on Skype. Be sure to send a message in Skype to let me know your first and last name, as well as the course you are enrolled in at the time of the message. Please locate me by user name: AnthropologyQuinn

Response Time: M-TH you can expect a response within 24 hours. Emails sent between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening may take until the next business day to receive a response (Monday of the following week, if it is not a holiday).

For questions that other students may also have, please consider posting in the Questions Forum. This will allow other students to see my reply, if a classmate has not gotten to the question first. This may be particularly useful over the weekend, when my response time may be more lengthy.

DSPS: Your success in this course is important to me. Santa Ana College and I are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability that may have some impact on your ability to do well in this course, I encourage you to speak with me as soon as possible. Also, please contact Disabled Student Programs & Services so that we can all collaborate on your classroom accommodations in a timely manner. DSP&S is located in The Village (V-203), and their phone number is 714-564-6294. The DSP&S office requires documentation of your disability in order to receive reasonable accommodations. If you do not have documentation, they will work with you to acquire it. I look forward to supporting you to meet your learning goals.

6) Canvas & Email 

We will be using Canvas for everything this semester. As such, I ask that you log into Canvas daily and check all Announcements. All communication from me will go through the email address you submitted to Webadvisor and/or the email that is used in Canvas. If the email you provided to SAC is not one you check regularly, you may update your Webadvisor email address or forward your emails from the email address you provided to one you will check daily.

Update your Email: Login to WebAdvisor, click on “Address Change”, Enter your Email Address, Click “Submit”, and “Log out” to exit. Please see the Distance Education website for further details.

7) Student Conduct and Behavior

During the semester, we will cover a great many controversial topics. Everyone is entitled to their personal opinion and should be treated with respect, whether or not you agree with them (this includes the instructor). Anthropology is a field that studies human differences, along with that research is a required respect for forms of social and cultural difference. Of course, these are typically the basis of our variety of perspectives! I encourage you to value these differences and use sensitivity in your discussion posts. It is my hope we learn from one another.

This is an inclusive class/classroom. All students are welcome. Please consider me an ally for all forms of social diversity (even if it isn’t represented in the above symbols)– if you need assistance, I’ll help or try to find someone who can.

 

 

 

 

8) Quality of Work

As this is a college course, you will be expected to present thoughts, ideas, and concepts at a college-level. This includes proper punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and spelling (yes, even in your Discussion Board posts). All assignments will be graded with this expectation.

• The use of cuss words, casual (e.g. “dude” or “what the heck?!”) voice, or “text” language (e.g. “LOL” or “OMG”) is inappropriate in a college-level course. Please consider our class a professional environment and present thoughts and ideas with that in mind.

Point Value

Total	550	100%
Assessment	Point Value	Percentage of Grade
Discussion	150	27%
Ethnography	120	22%
Essay Exams	130	24%
Quizzes	150	27%

 Grade Scale

Point Range	Grade Earned
550 - 495	A
494 - 440	B
439 - 385	C
384 - 330	D
329 or less	F