Dallas L. Browne, Ph.D.                                   Office: PH 0227
Anthropology 307 Section 001                         Time: M, W, F; 2:00 - 2:50 P.M.        

Classroom  PH 0405                                        Office Hours: 3:00 – 3:50 P.M.  M,W

Tel. : 650-2138                                               Web site:  http://www.siue.edu/~dbrowne

 

PEOPLE AND CULTURES OF LATIN AMERICA: Fall 2003

Course Description and Objectives:

            This course introduces the student to the rich diversity of cultures and lifestyles that flourish throughout Latin America.  The course begins with a brief review of ancient civilizations which thrived during the pre-Columbian Era, and then explores selected cultural themes and concepts that give this region its uniqueness, rich cultural diversity, and great variety.  These themes range from cumbia, salsa, and magarena music to the politics of race and ethnicity, spirit possession, tobacco enduced trances, shamanism, ritual cannibalism, modern Mayan ritual battles to restore and renew the universe, as well as  false male pregnancies or cuvades among Brazilian Native American Indians. 

Course Requirements:

1.  Map.  First week of class the assignment will be distributed in class.  Due 9/19.  
Maps must be accompanied by a report on ONE of the following countries;
Mexico, Argentiana, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, or Venezula .
This assignment is worth 15% of your grade.

2.  Final Paper.  Each student must write a final paper of 7 – 10 pages.  It must use at least two books and eight articles (not more than three of which can be internet sources from referred journals) on a topic of your choice related to Latin American or Caribbean Culture.  This paper will serve as your final examination. The  following books are suggested to help you begin research:

Ellen Kintz.  Life Under the Tropical Canopy: Yucatec Maya.
Beverly Newbold Chinas. The Isthmus Zapotec:  Mexico.
Michael J. Harner.  The Jivaro of Ecuador.
Crocker.  The Canela: Bonding Through Kinship & Sex.
Joseph M. Murphy.  Santeria: African Spirits in America.
Joseph Murphy.  Santeria:African Spirits in America.
Leonard E. Barrett. The Rastafarians.
Zora Neale Hurston.  Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti.
Alfred Metraux.  Voodoo in Haiti.
Katherine Dunham.  Island Possessed: Voodoo in Haiti.
Edith Clarke.  My Mother Who Fathered Me.
Rigoberta Menchu. I, Rigoberta Menchu: a Guatemala Indian woman..
David Stoll. Rigoberta Menchu & The Story Of All Poor Guatemalans.
Patrick Tierney. Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists &  Journalists Devastated the Amazon.
Topic choosen by 09/22; bibliography by 10/08; thesis by 10/24; draft 10/31 and FINAL paper due  12/15/03 .   This assignment is worth 30% of your grade.

3.In-class  Presentation.  Each student will choose one book to report on in class.  The following books and corresponding dates are approved: Beardan, The Aztecs of Cental Mexico (September 17th); Chagnon, The Yanomamo (October 13th, 15th, & 17th ) or Patrick Tierney, Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon, (October 17th);  Ellen Kintz, Life Under the Tropical Canopy: Tradition and Change Among the Yucatec Maya (Mexico) October 22nd); Rigoberta Menchu, I Rigoberta Menchu or David Stoll, Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans. (October 24th); or William and Jean Crocker, The Canela: Bonding Through Kinship, Ritual and Sex. (November 3rd & 5th).  Or to create an eHRAF Presentation, go to the SIUE Library Home Page and click on library.  Next click on Online Information.  Then click on Reference Sources.  Next, click on Social Science, then click on eHRAF Collection of Ethnography.  Then choose one of the following cultures to report on in class: (Mexico) Maya, Tarahumara, Tzeltal; (Latin America) Aymara, Bahia, Bororo, Guarani, Kogi, Kuna, Mataco, Ndyuka, Ona, Saramako, Shipibo, Tukano, Warao, Yanoama.  Provide a brief overview of major features of tribal life of your group then focuse your presentation on one aspect of their culture such as their religion, warfare, kinship, marriage, political system, economics, identity formation, or education.     

Prepare an oral presentation that is 15 minutes long.  Practice and time your presentation at least twice outside of class before making your in-class presentation. You may use slides, posters or any visual aids except films, video tapes or CD’s.  Explain how your chosen topic provides a broader understanding of the culture that you selected.  Worth 15% of grade.

4.  Examinations.  There will be two scheduled Mid-term examinations.  The first is scheduled for 10/01/03, while the second is scheduled for 11/14/03. Each is worth 20% of your grade.  The Final Paper, worth 35% of the course grade, must be submitted on or before 12/15 at 10:00 A.M. in PH 0227.


5.  Grading:

a. Map,September19............................................................15%                                                                             c.   In-Class Presentation…................................................. 15 %
Aztec, September 17th 
Yanomamo, October 13th, & 15th 
El Dorado, October 17th 
Mexican Maya, October 22nd 
Guatemalan Maya, October 24th 
Canela, November 3rd or 5th
Other cultures (arrange with professor)
d.  First exam October 01…................................................… 20%
e.  Second exam November 14.....................................……… 20%
f.   Final paper December15th.....................................….…… 30%
 TOTAL.........................................................................………. 100%

6.  Textbooks: Paul Goodwin, Jr. Global Studies: Latin America. 10th ed. Patricia J. Lyon.  Native South Americans: Ethnology of the Least Known Continent.       Ellen R. Kintz.  Life Under the Tropical Canopy: Tradition and Change Among the Yucatec Maya.   Beverly Newbold Chinas.  The Isthmus Zapotecs: A Matrifocal Culture of Mexico.  William and  Jean Crocker.  The Canela: Bonding Through Kinship, Ritual and Sex.   Napoleon A. Chagnon.  Yanomamo:  The Fierce People. 


7. BOOKS  Available in SIUE Bookstore;  James Michner. The Caribbean. **, Francis F. Berdan, The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society,   Patrick Tierney, Darkness in El Dorado; Rigoberta Menchu, I Rigoberta Menchu(Me llamo Rigoberta Menchu y asi me nacio la conciencia); David Stoll, Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans; Yolanda and Robert Murphy.  Women of the Forest.   Michael J. Harner, The Jivaro: People of the Sacred Waterfall.    Joseph M. Murphy.  Santeria: African Spirits in America.  Beverly Newbold Chinas.  The Isthmus Zapotecs:  A Matrifocal Culture of Mexico.    Evon Z. Vogt.  The Zincantecos of Mexico: A Modern Maya Way of Life. 

           

COURSE OUTLINE

Week              Assignment                 Topics

M 8/25             Goodwin. pp. 1 - 7       Orientation/Physical and Social Environments.
Highly recommended READING: Michner, The Caribbean:1-24


W  8/27           Goodwin  pp. 106-107 Calypso, Reggae, Salsa/ Music and Culture.
 Video : Music In Latin America   MAP ASSIGNMENT DISTRIBUTED IN CLASS            


F   8/29            Lyon, pp. 1-43 The Olmecs - Origins of American Civilization?
RECOMMENDED: Michner, pp. 59-100, 
See also, Laura Minelli. The Olmec: Mother Culture of  Mesoamerica.
SIUE Library Reserve Desk.


M  9/01            LABOR DAY: No classes – read, review, reflect and take excellent notes.


W  9/02           Recommended             Olmec and African Explorer-Settlers in Mexico
Ivan Van Sertima.       They Came Before Columbus.                     

 


F  9/05             Lyons, pp.1-50            The Maya: Commoners/Calendars & Kings
RECOMMENDED: Michner: 25-58, or  Michael D. Coe. The Maya.
FILM: MAYALAND VT 315 or  MAYANS: Apocalypse Then # 84        


M  9/08            Lyons, pp. 1-50           Rulers, Riddles and Abandoned Cities.
Recommended: Linda Schele. A Forest of Kings.                      


W  9/10           Lyons. pp. 1-50           Time and Technology 
 Recommended: Linda Schele. A Forest of Kings.                      


F   9/12            FILM: MAYA LORDS OF THE JUNGLE    VT 668


M   9/15           Bearden.  1-25             Rise of the Aztec 
SIUE Library Reserve Desk.Recommended but NOT  REQUIRED:
Berdan, The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society 
or Brian Fagan. The Aztec.  


W   9/17          Bearden.  26-51           Aztec Religion & War 
  SIUE Library Reserve Desk. Recommended but NOT REQUIRED:
Berdan, The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society 
or Brian Fagan. The Aztec.  


F   9/19            FILM: 500 Nations, Mexico - The Aztec Nation # 121
          *****MAP ASSIGNMENT DUE TODAY IN CLASS*****         


M  9/22           Hopkins, pp. 57-70      Inca Society and The Cult of the Dead 
SIUE Library Reserve Desk
Choose culture and topic for paper: submit index card with choice.


W  9/24           Hopkins: 71-85.           Inca Society, and Huascas.                            


F   9/26            FILM:  The Inca VT 484A or  Inca - Secrets of a Civilization #119


M   9/29           In class review session for First Examination.


W  10/01         FIRST EXAMINATION: Bring pencil, eraser and ink pen.


F  10/03           Post-Exam Review in class. Discuss Somatic Norm Images


M   10/06         Chagnon. Ppp. 1-30     Fieldwork and Culture Shock: Yanomamo


W   10/08        Chagnon. Ppp. 31-62   Geneology & Cosmology Submit bibliography with
at least ten sources on your topic.                              


F   10/10          Film:  A Man Called "Bee": Studying the Yanomami of Brazil.#102


M   10/13         Chagnon. The Yanomamo.  In class presentations.                   


W  10/15         Chagnon. The Yanomamo. In class presentations.
Endocannibalism, osteopaghy, & anthropophagy.
See also Lyons:  301 - 322. 


F  10/17           Chagnon: 159-206 Infanticide, War, Feast, Trade Alliances
Is Patrick Tierney right?Did Chagnon help kill Yanomamo?
Tierney.  Darkness in El Dorado.

M  10/20         Lyons pp  73-91          Slash & Burn Farming in Kuikuru Amazonia
Lyons pp 92-119           Farming in Timbira & Gran Pajonal 
FILM: Chinampas       # 109


W   10/22        Class presentation         Modern Maya Culture 
Kintz. Life Under the Tropical Canopy.     


F  10/24           Rigoberta Menchu vs. David Stoll on the Maya in Guatemala.
R. Menchu. I Rigoberta Menchu & Stoll Rigoberta Menchu  Choose thesis for final paper


M  10/27          FILM: Sacred Games of the Modern Maya of Mexico


W   10/29        Reading: Lyon. Native South Am. pp. 373-384Depopulation.Wagley.
" The Effects of Depopulation upon Social Organization as Illustrated by the Tapirape Indians.
" Couvade& tobacco highs. Charles Darwin, "Wherever the European has trod,
death ...pursues the aboriginal."


F  10/31           Lyon’s pp 370-373.    Polyandry & Surui Society
Submit FIRST DRAFT of paper in class.    


M  11/03          Crocker. The Canela.    In class presentations.  See Lyons: 184-194.


W  11/05         Crocker. The Canela.    In class presentations.


F   11/07          VIDEO: The Canela.


M  11/10          FILM: Kayapo - Gold Native American Air Force  Social Change.
See, Lyons. pp. 73 - 91. & pp. 343 - 345.  Farming, Initiation and Beautiful Names.


W   11/12        In Class Review for Second Exam.  Be prepared!


F   11/14          SECOND EXAMINATION: Bring pencil & eraser.


M   11/17         Review Second exam in class


W   11/12        Lyons pp 267-288.      Shaman, Medicine Men & Healing                 


F   11/14          The Church & Mexican Cultural Subordination, or Liberation?


M  11/17          FILM: The Quechua - Huasca Spirits & Apu Sacred Places
Lyons. pp. 238 - 250.  "The Spiritual World of the Quechua."


W     11/19      Death & Latin American Culture/ The Day of the Dead.
Recommended: Octavio Paz Labyrinth of Solitude.  Et. passim. 
Also Cf. Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff.   SIUE: Library Reserve Desk


F     11/21        FILM: Embera - Black Middlemen & Trade in Colombia's Choco  
See, Lyons. pp. 159 - 166 &  pp. 346 - 357.  Trade, Barter & Culture.


NOVEMBER 24-30   FALL BREAK: No classes, read and review.


M     12/01       Time, Food & Health + Culture, Corruption & Inefficeincy.


W      12/03     Machismo & Marianismo. Recommended: Octavio Paz.
The Labyrinth Of Solitude.Et. Passim.  SIUE Library, Reserve Desk. 


F      12/05       Tannenbaum vs. Davis, pp. 15-32  Was Latin American Slavery Benign? 
Library Reserve desk also: Kent/Davidson,pp 198-215 
PALMARES    RECOMMENDED BUT NOT REQUIRED READING:
 Michner, pp. 383-430.


M      12/08      FILM: I Shall Moulder - Palmares  Or  Quilambo                                       


W       12/10    Recommended: Deren. Divine Horsemen.         Voodoo in Haiti


F          12/12   Recommended: Barrett. The Rastafarians.         Rasta, Ganja & Jah.


FINAL PAPER DUE: December 15th, 2003 at 10 A.M. in PH 0227.    


NOTE: Students who need grades before they are issued by the Bursar's Office must supply the professor with a stamped self-addressed post card with the information requested printed clearly and legibly on the back of the card.  Leave a space to record your final grade and the desired information will be mailed promptly.