Department of Anthropology

Chair

James A. Boon

Director of Graduate Studies

Carolyn M. Rouse

Professor

James A. Boon

John Borneman

Carol J. Greenhouse

Abdellah Hammoudi

Alan E. Mann

Lawrence Rosen

Associate Professor

João Biehl

Isabelle Clark-Deces

Rena S. Lederman

Carolyn M. Rouse

Visiting Associate Professor

Janet M. Monge

Lecturer

Mekhala D. Natavar

 

The aim of the Department of Anthropology is to prepare students for effective and knowledgeable teaching, and for useful and creative research in anthropology. The application of the anthropological point of view outside educational institutions and in public policy matters is considered to be an important one. The doctor of philosophy in anthropology is the final degree in the graduate program.

Upon admission to the department, each student is assigned an adviser whose special field corresponds most closely to the interest expressed in the student’s application. A new adviser subsequently may be appointed on the initiative of either the student or the adviser. The student and the adviser together then work out a plan of study that is reviewed at least twice a year. This plan includes enrollment in ANT 501, 502, the Proseminar in Anthropology, which provides preparation for the first-year segment of the general examination, and one seminar attended by all first- and second-year graduate students. In addition to three departmental courses, students may take one reading course. Upon admission, students are expected to have had undergraduate training in general anthropology, though this need not be equivalent to an undergraduate major. Students deficient in this respect may supplement the graduate program with undergraduate courses. Exceptional preparation is reflected in a more advanced plan of study. Additionally, it is hoped that every graduate student will have an opportunity to assist in teaching as a significant part of their graduate education.

Language Requirement

The candidate is required to demonstrate competence in one foreign language of anthropological scholarship. Students are expected to fulfill this requirement early in the fall of their first year of study. Satisfaction of the language requirement is a prerequisite for the general examination.

General Examination

The general examination consists of four parts. The first part, taken during the spring of the first year, is a comprehensive examination of the basics of social/cultural anthropology. Areas covered generally include, but are not limited to, analysis of ethnographic examples, kinship studies, major theoretical developments in the discipline, political and economic organization, and systems of meaning. A basic reading list is provided to students early in the first term, and ANT 501, 502, the Proseminar in Anthropology, deals with an important part of these readings.

The second and third parts of the general examination, to be taken in the spring of the second year, consist either of examinations on topics chosen by the student, or a combination of two major research papers, or a single integrated paper of equivalent length and substance. The particular topics, chosen by the student in consultation with the respective examination committee members, concern an ethnographic area focus and a theoretical/subfield focus. Topics may be closely related to the student’s intended area of dissertation research. In addition, an oral examination is administered on an approved bibliography submitted by students in the fall term of topics of his or her choosing. All portions of the general examination are graded on a pass/fail basis. The designation “with distinction” may be awarded to either year of generals.

Finally, each student makes a presentation of his or her proposed dissertation fieldwork (doctoral research) to faculty and students. The proposal is submitted in writing to an adviser for assessment; after approval, it is presented orally for discussion with the faculty and student body. This portion of the research requirement is graded on a pass/fail basis. The proposals are generally completed no later than the fall term of the third year.

Students qualify for the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree by successfully completing all course work through two years of study, completion of the language requirement, and passing the first part of the general examination.

Dissertation

The student who has qualified in the general examination submits a dissertation based on original research. This research is supervised by a committee of four advisers, one of whom serves as chair and principal adviser. Departmental acceptance of the dissertation qualifies the candidate for the final public oral examination. This examination is based on the dissertation but extends beyond it to matters of the discipline as a whole and confirms the candidate’s readiness for a career in the profession. In order to defend in May of any year, a candidate must submit a complete dissertation draft by February 15 to his or her principal adviser.

Pertinent Courses

Several 500-level courses, normally limited to graduate students, are offered each year. Also available are a number of 400-level courses in which advanced undergraduates also participate.

Students are encouraged to seek the advice of specialists in their areas of interest outside the department and to take pertinent courses offered by other departments and programs. Arrangements can be made, for example, to take courses in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, or at one of the several institutions with which the Graduate School has reciprocal relationships (see page 34).

Facilities

The small size of the department permits informal contact between students and faculty, adaptable to many purposes. A lounge and a reading room are available in the department’s quarters.

Courses

ANT 501, 502 Proseminar in Anthropology

Staff

A two-term survey of major anthropological writings, the Proseminar in Anthropology is primarily for first-year graduate students.

ANT 508 Theories of Symbolic Action

Staff

The properties of symbolic action (ritual, political ceremony, drama, psychotherapy) are explored and related to processes such as social integration, modernization, and psychological conflict.

ANT 541 Topics in Social Anthropology

Staff

The course explores the ethics and politics of field research, with special attention given to the differences between anthropology and its disciplinary neighbors, as well as ideas about “the field” and relations between researchers, their interloculors, and auditions. It also considers practical matters such as participant observation, field notes, and other research sources.

ANT 570 Interdisciplinary Research

Staff

The course examines selected problems of joint concern to anthropology and other disciplines such as architecture, communications research, economics, history, philosophy, science, and urban studies.

Graduate Reading Courses Recently Offered

The Anthropology of History

The Anthropology of Knowledge

The Anthropology of North Africa

Culture, Politics, and Identity

The Ethnography of South Asia

Readings in Legal Anthropology

Religion and Media

Religions of the Western World

Southeast Asian Ethnography

Structure and Exchange

Subjectivity

Supplementary Undergraduate Courses

The following courses, which are also listed in the Undergraduate Announcement, deal with selected topics that graduate students normally draw upon in the formation of their programs of study.

ANT 404 Special Topics in Regional Studies

Staff

The course analyzes a major world region, stressing the issues of cultural diversity, history, and social change. Attention is given to the theoretical contributions of regional study, the history of regional approaches, and the internationalization of the production of anthropological research. Prerequisite: instructor’s permission.

ANT 405 Topics in Anthropology

Staff

A selected topic in anthropology is studied; the particular choice varies from year to year.

ANT 406 Theoretical Orientations in Cultural Anthropology

Staff

The course analyzes classical and contemporary sources of cultural anthropology, with particular emphasis on those writers dealing with meaning and representation. The topical focus of the course varies with the instructor. Prerequisite: anthropology major or the instructor’s permission. Three-hour seminar.

ANT 412 Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion

Staff

This course covers classic and modern theories of religion relevant to anthropologists. Students familiarize themselves with anthropological monographs dealing with a particular aspect of religion: shamanism, witchcraft, possessions and ecstasy, healing, or another. Prerequisite: instructor’s permission.

ANT 413 Cultures and Critical Translation

James A. Boon

The seminar reviews approaches to language and culture by Sapir, Saussure, and their forerunners and successors. The course draws on anthropology, linguistics, and other disciplines, alert to critical theories of translation. Topics include fieldwork encounters, standardized nationalist and colonialist languages, philosophies of translation, ritual languages, marketplace discourse, and orality/literacy. One three-hour seminar. Prerequisite: anthropology major or the instructor’s permission.

ANT 414 Representing Difference: Documentary Films as Practice

Staff

This seminar seeks to foster a critical viewing of mass media by addressing the creative processes through which crosscultural social documentaries are made, and then analyzing the resulting films. Through analysis of narrative conventions, visual aesthetics, and production practices, the seminar can consider how documentaries—those that deal with transnational culture and difference—are “powerful,” “persuasive,” “beautiful,” or “unconvincing.” This seminar focuses on U.S. and Latin American documentaries. One three-hour seminar.

ANT 415 The Anthropology of Science

João Biehl

This course considers how the sciences can be studied ethnographically, how they vary culturally one from another, and how scientific knowledge is generated. It helps students develop an understanding of the values and social contexts of Western scientific practice through the comparative study of Western and non-Western systems of knowledge, and explores the implications and validity of the assumption that the sciences are culturally produced rather than are objective standards transcending culture. One three-hour seminar.

ANT 425 Post-War French Social Theory

Abdellah Hammoudi

Using the works of thinkers such as Bourdieu, Foucault, Levi-Strauss, Merleau Ponty, Ricoeur, and Sartre, the course presents students with some of the conflicting images of Western society as viewed by these thinkers. The course introduces students to these authors, with an emphasis on their departure from the traditional school of thought and the consequences of their ideas on the production of knowledge about societies. Two 90-minute seminars.

ANT 441 Gender: Contested Categories, Shifting Frames

Rena S. Lederman

This course gives an exploration of the reciprocal influences of anthropology and gender studies, considering both classic and recent contributions. An evaluation of key interpretive categories (e.g., “nature,” “domestic,” and “woman”), specifically in the context of cross-cultural translation and a comparison of the various approaches to questions about the universality of gendered power hierarchies. One three-hour seminar.

Pertinent Course in the Program in Linguistics

512 Advanced Syntax