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WOMEN WRITING CULTURE
ANTH 323 (Spring 2013)
Instructor: Professor Dorothy Hodgson
Office:
Room 314, Ruth Adams Building, Douglass Campus
Telephone: 848-932-8757
Email:
[email protected]
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 9:30-11:30am, or by appointment
Class Time: Tuesdays, 12:35-3:35pm
Location:
Room 205, Biology Building, Douglass Campus
This course seeks to place women ethnographers center stage in the current debates about how, for
whom, and to what end ethnographies should be written. Women have exerted a strong presence in
anthropology, yet their contributions as writers have rarely been highlighted. The history of
women's ethnographic writing shows that women have experimented widely and creatively in their
efforts to translate and give meaning to foreign cultural categories and experiences. Women have
used, and to continue to use, diverse writing styles, including cross-cultural juxtapositions, life
history, memoir, fictional forms, feminist critique, and meditations on the fieldwork process. The
range of their work herald postmodernist concerns for an ethnography that is more humane,
polyphonic, reflexive, and closer to "native" voices. The aim of the course is twofold: to bring
gender consciousness to our understanding of the history of anthropology and to bring a subtler
literary consciousness to our reading of ethnographic writings.
The course is divided in two parts. In the first section, we will examine important predecessors in
the history of women's ethnographic writing, while we shift in the second section to an exploration
of the work of several contemporary women ethnographers. Given the immense amount of work
by women writing and working in a number of different national and theoretical traditions in
anthropology, I have chosen to emphasize the tradition of American cultural anthropology to
maintain historical and cultural continuity and keep our discussion focused. Within this "tradition,"
I have tried to incorporate a wide selection of work by women from different cultural, racial,
religious and class backgrounds.
COURSE OBJECTIVES – After taking this course, students will be able to:
 Understand the history and influence of female anthropologists on theoretical and
methodological debates in the discipline
 Critically evaluate how gender (and other social differences) shapes theory, methodology
and ethnography
 Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different modes of conveying ethnographic
material
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1) Attendance, reading and discussion:
20%
Attendance is mandatory. Since this is a course focused on the writing of ethnography, there is a
substantial amount of required reading. Students are expected to have read the assigned material
for each class meeting and to actively contribute to discussion of the issues. More than one
unexcused absence and/or late arrival (defined as more than 15 minutes after class has started)
from class will lower your final grade by 10 points. Each additional unexcused absence or late
arrival will lower your final grade by an additional 10 points. Documentation of an excused
absence must be submitted to me within 2 weeks of missing class or the absence will be
considered unexcused.
2) Weekly Commentaries:
20%
Since this is a course focused on the writing of ethnography, there is a substantial amount of
required reading. Students are expected to have read the assigned material for each class meeting
and to actively contribute to discussion of the issues. To facilitate discussion, each week students
will submit a brief (one to two page) response to the week's readings by Monday afternoon (4pm
at the latest) to the “Class Discussion” section of the course Sakai site, under the relevant topic.
The response may be in the form of a brief summary, insight into a particular passage, a
commentary or meditation on the unit's theme, a list of questions with a short discussion of the
readings, or whatever format facilitates your reading and discussion of the assigned material. You
must post a minimum of 10 commentaries over the course of the semester.
3) Class presentations
10%
Each member of the class will also make an oral presentation as part of a small group on the week's
author and readings. The presentation should offer enough background and insight to help set the
stage for our discussion. A written outline of the presentation should be distributed to class
members.
4) Papers
25% each
Two 8-10 page double-spaced essays (due in class on March 5th and May 7th) are required for the
course. Each essay should be a critical analysis of the work of any ethnographer we have read up to
that point in the class. Comparisons and links between the works of two or more ethnographers are
strongly encouraged, as are efforts to draw out the links between the life and the work of the
ethnographer(s) in question. Another option is to develop an interpretation of the way in which a
particular writer (or set of writers) has dealt with her "femaleness" and the question of voice in her
writing of culture. I am open to other creative ideas as well, but students should meet with me early
on to discuss them.
5) Extra credit:
Students can receive two points of extra credit (up to ten points total for the term) on their final
grade for attending talks and programs about cultural anthropology or gender that will be
announced in class. You must attend the event from beginning to end, write a list of 4 questions
for the speaker (or about the event), and submit questions to Professor Hodgson within 24 hours
of the event. No other form of extra credit will be given.
FINAL GRADE: Will be calculated as follows: Attendance, reading & discussion (20%),
Weekly Commentaries (20%), Class Presentations (10%), Midterm Paper (25%), and Final Paper
(25%), with a possible 10 additional points of extra credit available on the final numeric grade.
The Grading Scale is: A = 90 and above; B+ = 88-89; B = 80-87; C+ = 78-79; C = 70-77; D =
60-69; F = 59 and below
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
All students must strictly adhere to the Rutgers Academic Integrity Policy which identifies and
defines violations of cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and
denying others access to information or material. Full definitions of each of these violations, as
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well as the consequences of violating the Academic Integrity Policy are available as part of the
student handbook. For details see:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdf
LAPTOPS, CELLPHONES AND COMMON COURTESY
We are all responsible for creating and maintaining a culture of respect, active listening and
participation in the classroom. To that end, I have the developed the following policies: student
may use laptops to take notes in class or to refer to e-versions of the readings. But if I see that a
laptop is being used for email, Facebook, or anything other than taking notes or reading course
materials, then you will no longer be allowed to use your laptop in class for the rest of the
semester. Cellphones must be turned off. If your cellphone rings during class or I see that you
are texting or looking at it, I will take it away for the rest of the class period.
REQUIRED TEXTS [Available at Barnes and Noble and on reserve in Douglass Library]
Ruth Behar and Deborah Gordon, eds. 1995. Women Writing Culture. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Ella Deloria. 1988 [1944] Waterlily. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
Lila Abu-Lughod. 1986. Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Barbara Myerhoff. 1978. Number Our Days. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Ruth Behar. 1993. Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza's Story. Boston:
Beacon Press.
The following text, which contains short biographies of many of the anthropologists we will study
in this course, is also on reserve in Douglass Library:
Ute Gacs et al, eds. 1989. Women Anthropologists: Selected Biographies. Urbana: University of
Illinois Press.
Additional readings listed below are available through the course SAKAI site
(sakai.rutgers.edu)
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COURSE OUTLINE: WOMEN WRITING CULTURE
SA: Reading available on Sakai
RT: Required Text
Week 1: Introduction (Jan 22)
FILM: “Coming of Age” (about Margaret Mead)
Week 2: Legacies: Alice Fletcher & Elsie Clews Parsons (Jan 29)
Fletcher, Alice. 1891. "Indian Messiah." Journal of American Folklore 4:57-60. (SA)
Fletcher, Alice. 1883. "On Indian Education and Self-Support." Century Magazine 4:312-315. (SA)
Parsons, Elsie Clews. 1916. "When Mating and Parenthood are Theoretically Distinguished."
International Journal of Ethics 26(2): 207-216. (SA)
Parsons, Elsie Clews. 1916. "Feminism and Sex Ethics." International Journal of Ethics 26(4):
462-465. (SA)
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Parsons, Elsie Clews. 1922. "Preface," and "Waiyautitsa of Zuni, New Mexico." In Elsie Clews
Parsons, ed., American Indian Life. New York: B.W. Huebsch, Inc. (SA)
Lamphere, Louise. 1995. “Feminist Anthropology: The Legacy of Elsie Clews Parsons.” In
WWC… (SA)
Week 3: Contradictions, Erasures, Prospects (Feb 5)
Clifford, James. 1986. "Introduction." In James Clifford & George Marcus, eds., Writing Culture:
The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press. (SA)
Gordon, Deborah. 1988. "Writing Culture, Writing Feminism: The Poetics and Politics of
Experimental Ethnography." Inscriptions (special issue on "Feminism and Critique of Colonial
Discourse") 3/4: 6-24. (SA)
Behar, “Introduction: Out of Exile,” In Women Writing Culture (WWC) (RT)
Gordon, “Conclusion: Culture Writing Women: Inscribing Feminist Anthropology,” In WWC (RT)
Week 4: Writing the Poetics of Culture: Ruth Benedict (Feb 12)
Benedict, Ruth. 1934. “The Pueblos of New Mexico,” from Patterns of Culture. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin (SA)
Benedict, Ruth. 1959. "The Story of My Life...," "Journal, 1912-1916," "Race Prejudice in the
United States," "Postwar Race Prejudice," "Selected Poems, 1941." In Margaret Mead, ed., An
Anthropologist At Work: The Writings of Ruth Benedict. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. (SA)
Babcock, Barbara. “’Not in the Absolute Singular’: Rereading Ruth Benedict.” In WWC (RT)
Week 5: Writing the Observed World: Margaret Mead (Feb 19)
[We will see two films in class: "Dance and Trance in Bali" (20 mins) and "Bathing Babies in
Three Cultures" (11 mins)]
Mead, Margaret. 1930. Selections from Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of
Primitive Youth for Western Civilization. New York: William Morrow (SA)
Mead, Margaret. 1942. "We Are All Third Generation" and "These Things We Can Do," in And
Keep Your Powder Dry. New York: William Morrow and Co. (SA)
Lutkehaus, Nancy. “Margaret Mead and the ‘Rustling-of-the-wind-in-the-Palm-Trees School of
Ethnographic Writing.” In WWC (RT)
Week 6: Writing the Speaking Voice: Zora Neale Hurston (Feb 26)
Hurston, Zora Neale. 1935. Selections from Mules and Men, pps. 1-57 New York: Harper & Row
(SA)
Hurston, Zora Neale. 1942. "I Get Born," "Research," "My People, My People," chapters in Dust
Tracks on a Road. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott (SA)
Hurston, Zora Neale. 1951. "Why the Negro Won't Buy Communism." American Legion
Magazine 50: 14-15, 55-60. (SA)
Hernandez, Graciela. “Multiple Subjectivities and Strategic Positionality: Zora Neale Hurston’s
Experimental Ethnography.” In WWC (RT)
Week 7: The Informant Writes: Ella Deloria (Mar 5)
[NOTE: Midterm essays are due this week]
Deloria, Ella. 1988 [1944] Waterlily. (RT)
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Medicine, Beatrice. 1978. "Learning to be an Anthropologist and Remaining Native." In Elizabeth
Eddy & William Partridge, eds., Applied Anthropology in America. New York: Columbia
University Press. (SA)
Finn, Janet. “Ella Cara Deloria and Mourning Dove: Writing for Cultures, Writing Against the
Grain.” In WWC… (SA)
Week 8: Writing Subjectivity into Social Analysis: Hortense Powdermaker (Mar 12)
Powdermaker, Hortense. 1966. Selections from Stranger and Friend: The Way of an
Anthropologist. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. (SA)
Powdermaker, Hortense. 1944. "Preface," and "What Prejudice Does to Us," In Probing Our
Prejudices: A Unit for High School Students. New York: Harper and Brothers. (SA)
NO CLASS MARCH 19 ~ SPRING BREAK
Week 9: Writing Emotion: Lila Abu-Lughod PART I (Mar 26)
Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1986. Veiled Sentiments, pps. 1-167 (RT)
Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1988. "Fieldwork of a Dutiful Daughter." In Soraya Altorki and Cammillia
Fawzi El-Solh, eds., Arab Women in the Field: Studying Your Own Society. New York:
Syracuse University Press. (SA)
Week 10: Writing Emotion: Lila Abu-Lughod PART II (April 2)
Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1986. Veiled Sentiments, pps. 168-259 (RT)
Week 11: Writing the Self: Barbara Myerhoff PART I (April 9)
[We will see Myerhoff's film "Number Our Days" (29 mins) in class.]
Myerhoff, Barbara. 1978. Number Our Days, pps. 1-152 (RT)
Frank, Gelya. “The Ethnographic Films of Barbara G. Myerhoff: Anthropology, Feminism, and the
Politics of Jewish Identity.” In WWC (RT)
Week 12: Writing the Self: Barbara Myerhoff PART II (April 16)
Myerhoff, Barbara. 1978. Number Our Days, pps. 153-281 (RT)
Week 13: Writing Lives: Ruth Behar PART I (April 23)
Behar, Ruth. 1993. Translated Woman, pps. 1-164 (RT)
Behar, Ruth. “Writing in My Father’s Name: A Diary of Translated Women’s First Year.” In
WWC (RT)
Week 14: Writing Lives: Ruth Behar PART II (April 30)
Behar, Ruth. 1993. Translated Woman. pps. 169-342 (RT)
Behar, Ruth. “Writing in My Father’s Name: A Diary of Translated Women’s First Year.” In
WWC (RT)
Final Essay Due May 7, 10am
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