DIS , 11:15 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. , Tu,Th (01/22/2008 - 05/09/2008)
BlegH 335

Instructor: Valentine,David

Grading basis/credits: 4 credit(s)

Prereq: 1003 or 1005 or 4003 or grad student or instr consent

Liberal Educ. Reqs: Meets CLE req of Citizenship/Publ Ethics Theme; meets CLE req of Writing Intensive

Description: What are the possibilities and pitfalls of an anthropological perspective in public policy and social justice work? Anthropology has long been associated with an ethos of advocacy and activism, but anthropological analyses are not always welcomed by policy makers or, sometimes, by the very people anthropologists claim to want to help, raising a host of ethical, theoretical, and methodological issues. This seminar will look both at anthropologists' attempts to marry ethnography, advocacy, social justice, and ethical action, but also consider some of the darker moments of anthropology's history. The focus will be on diverse social justice movements and issues in the U.S. and globally in the context of U.S.-dominated globalization. We will consider how social differences are implicated in larger political, economic and social injustices, and how we as anthropologists might respond effectively and ethically to these injustices. Some of the topics we will explore include: labor, globalization, development and the legacies of colonialism; human rights; environmentalism and environmental disasters; problems of studying the powerful; housing and homelessness; and ethical debates within anthropology. We will use these topics to discuss a series of questions: what are the relations of social power that pertain in ethnographic encounters? What are anthropologists' ethical responsibilities when their views of what is "right" clashes with those of their study participants? Who reads what an anthropologist writes, and who has rights over what is read? How does one write ethnography so that it is effective in public policy and social justice work? How is ethnographic data actually used or misused in public policy debates and social justice work? Is it possible to define "social justice" or "human rights" cross-culturally? How does an anthropologist use her/his data to aid her/his study participants -- and is that aid always welcome? As well as an emphasis on cultural, social, political, and economic differences, this class thus also requires students to think about (and directly engage in the practice of) ethics and citizenship. We will discuss both cases from anthropology and students' own experiences which demonstrate the fine line between holding firm ethical positions while also recognizing that very often ethics and the practice of engaged citizenship is contextual and needs to account for competing positions. This 4 credit course includes a service learning component in which students will be expected to do ethnographic research in a grassroots, community, or social justice setting, for 4-6 hours a week for ten weeks over the course of the semester. A key part of the course will be training students in ethnographic research methods, interview methods, and qualitative data analysis so that students will have a useable skill upon leaving the class. The data from this research will form the basis for students' final papers.

Class Time: 10% Lecture, 80% Discussion, 10% Student Presentation.