Peasant Societies
(ANTH
4890/5890, Fall 2003, Univ. of Toledo) Tuesday-Thursday, 9:30-10:45, SA1180
Course website:
http://homepages.utoledo.edu/nlight/sa/
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Dr. Nathan Light
Visiting Assistant Professor
Office: University Hall, 2640b (west end of UH) Office hours: MW, 10-noon, & by appointment Phone:
419-530-5574 |
Goals
and Policies
In this class we
will use readings, videos, class discussion, research and writing in order to
understand peasant societies and theories about them. In-class writing assignments will give you an opportunity to
reflect on readings, videos and class discussion, and research assignments will
help you extend your understanding of themes that we consider in class. You will learn to think critically about
peasant societies in the context of world history, cultural practices and the
changing patterns of agricultural, economic and family organization.
Difficulties
Make sure you come into this
course intending to devote your time to it, so you do not have to drop
out. Let me know if you are having any
problems, and take advantage of UT services that can help, such as the Writing
Center (530-4939) and Tutoring Office (530-2206) across from Carlson Library,
and the Office of Accessibility (530-4981) University Counseling Center
(530-2426).
Participation,
Absences and Assignments
I
require class attendance and participation: they count for 20% of your
grade. Show up on time, avoid distractions such as
cell phones and be prepared to participate.
There will be in-class work that will count for another 20% of your grade and cannot
be made up. Assignments are due in
class on the date specified. Absences
will be excused only for documented illnesses and emergencies. Late work will lose one letter grade every 3
days unless I give you an excused absence.
Type all homework assignments, put your name on the first page, and keep
a copy. Please do not submit work
electronically because I will probably lose it.
Source
Citation, Plagiarism and Cheating
All
written work in this course must be your own words and ideas, or clearly marked
as borrowed. Ideas, facts and phrases
taken from elsewhere must specify the source, including page number. I will not accept research work without
citations of sources. Plagiarized work
is any writing which is not your own words, but which you claim to have
written. Cheating includes any use of
unauthorized sources or help. I will
give an F for the course to anyone who plagiarizes or cheats on an
assignment.
Texts
The following textbooks are required. They are at the Student Bookstore on Bancroft and the UT Bookstore. I also suggest trying Half.com or other bookstores if you want lower prices for used copies.
·
Degh,
Linda. Folktales and Society: Story-Telling in a Hungarian Peasant Community
·
Ginzburg,
Carlo. Night Battles:Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the 16th and 17th
Centuries
·
Scott,
James C. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance
Other required readings will
be provided in class, on the internet or through library reserve. All readings must be read before class on
the date listed.
Grading
·
Attendance
and participation: 20%
·
In-class
writing assignments (these will not be announced and cannot be made up): 20%
total
·
shorter
paper: 4-6 pages, 15%
·
class
presentation: 10 minutes with handouts, 15%
·
final
paper, 8-10 pages, 30%
Peasant Societies Course
Calendar
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Date
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Have Read
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Discussion and Assignments
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Aug. 26 |
Week 1 |
Introductions: What is a
peasant? What is peasant society? How
and why have people studied them? |
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Aug. 28 |
Readings from Peasant
Society |
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Sep. 2 |
Week 2: Online reading
"Post-Socialist Peasants" |
Basic concepts and issues |
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Sep. 4 |
Nomadic and sedentary
relations: Qazaqs of China up
through section on Chinese Policies towards nomads |
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Sep. 9 |
Week 3: Scott, preface,
Ch. 1 & 2 |
Class struggle |
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Sep. 11 |
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Sep. 16 |
Week 4: Scott, Ch. 3 &
4 |
Peasants in Malaysia |
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Sep. 18 |
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Video: Dadi’s Family |
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Sep. 23 |
Week 5: Scott, Ch. 5 &
6 |
History and Ideology |
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Sep. 25 |
D. Gupta “Everyday
Resistance or Routine Repression?” JPS 29.1 |
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Sep. 30 |
Week 6: Scott, Ch. 7 &
8 |
Resistance and Hegemony |
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Oct. 2 |
Work on literature reviews |
video: Small Happiness |
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Oct. 7 |
Week 7: Look at: Henry
Glassie, “Working the Land” pp. 315-495 in Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(on reserve) |
Work in class on topic analysis paper |
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Oct. 9 |
Look at E. Estyn Evans Irish
Folk Ways (on reserve) |
Video: Mekong (From
Tibet to Laos) |
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Oct. 14 |
Week 8: Ginzburg, ix-xxii,
1-32 |
Social history of
practices and beliefs |
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Oct. 16 |
Ginzburg, 33-68 |
The Benandanti; discussion
of non-systematic beliefs and rituals |
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Oct. 23 |
Week 9: Ginzburg, 69-97 |
topic analyses due, 15%, video: Carnaval
del Pueblo
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Oct. 28 |
Week 10: |
Discussion of 3 videos,
esp. gender |
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Oct. 30 |
Ginzburg, 99-145 |
Discussion of Inquisitors
imposing new interpretations |
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Nov. 4 |
Week 11: |
Video: Initiation Kut
for a Korean Shaman, excerpts |
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Nov. 6 |
Degh, 3-61 |
Hungarians in Bucovina and Transdanubia |
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Nov. 13 |
Week 12: Degh, 63-119 |
Theories of the folktale
in its social contexts; discuss Final Papers |
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Nov. 18 |
Week 13: Degh, 121-186 |
video: TBA; have final
ethnographic paper topic |
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Nov. 20 |
Degh, 187-234 |
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Nov. 25 |
Week 14: Degh, 235-310 |
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Dec. 2 |
Week 15: Folktale examples
on reserve |
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Dec. 4 |
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research presentations,
15% |
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Dec. 9 |
Week 16: readings TBA |
research presentations |
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Dec. 11 |
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Dec. 16 |
Final paper due, 30% |
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