Anthropology 1020E/001 – Many Ways of Being Human

Anthropology 1020E/001 – Many Ways of Being Human
Sept. 2012 – April 2013
Monday 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., B&GS 0153
Wednesday 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m., B&GS 0153
Note: This syllabus may be adjusted as required throughout the term. All students are responsible
for attending class for information in this regard.
Introduction
This course introduces students to anthropology, which is the study of human beings and the
differences and similarities among groups. The course will be taught by four instructors, each
specializing in one of the subfields of anthropology: linguistic anthropology, cultural
anthropology, biological anthropology and archaeology. This approach will give students both
an in-depth and a holistic look at the various ways anthropologists learn about human groups,
and the kinds of questions they ask.
Course Instructors
Dr. Karen Pennesi (First Term, Part 1) Dr. Andrew Walsh (First Term, Part 2)
SSC 3404
SSC3402
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Dr. Ian Colquhoun (Second Term, Part 1) Dr. Lisa Hodgetts (Second Term, Part 2)
SSC 3428 SSC 3427
Office Hours: Mon. and Wed. noon – 1 p.m. Office Hours: Mon. and Wed. noon – 1 p.m.
Teaching Assistants
Pauline Goetz (First Term) (pgoetz2@uwo.ca) Jose Sanchez (First Term) (jsanch3@uwo.ca)
SSC 3314 SSC 3304
Office Hours: Mon. 12-1 Office Hours: Wed 11-12
Required Books (Available in the bookstore)
1. Zdenek Salzmann, James Stanlaw and Nobuko Adachi (2012) Language, Culture and
Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology (5 th edition). Westview Press.
2. Richard Robbins and Sherrie Larkin (2007) Cultural Anthropology: A Problem-Based Approach,
First Canadian Edition. Nelson Education Ltd.
3. Shawn Lehman (2010) Introduction to Evolutionary Anthropology. Pearson Canada Inc. /
VangoBooks.
4. Robert Muckle (2006) Introducing Archaeology. Broadview Press.
Be sure to get the correct edition. New copies are available at the Western Bookstore or used
copies can be purchased through the internet. Keep in mind that delivery delays for online orders
may cause you to fall behind in the reading assignments.

Marking Breakdown
Assignment 1 10% Due Oct. 17, 2012
Assignment 2 10% Due Nov. 28, 2012
December Midterm 30% Scheduled by Registrar’s Office
Assignment 3 10% Due Feb. 6, 2013
Assignment 4 10% Due Mar. 27, 2013
Final Exam 30% Scheduled by Registrar’s Office
Assignments and Exams
Additional information for each assignment will be provided in class or on OWL.
Assignment 1: Write a language autobiography in 1000 words, reflecting on your experiences
learning and using language(s) in relation to the concepts and issues we have studied in
the course. The assignment is designed to get you to think about the variety of linguistic
experiences and competencies individuals have and how language is connected to
many other aspects of life. In particular, you should consider how culture, social
structure, institutions and power relationships all affect language choices and practices.
Assignment 2: Based on observations of your own family and of those around you, write a
short (1000 word) essay based on Exercise 5.3 (p. 182) in Robbins and Larkin. To be
discussed further in class.
Midterm: The midterm exam will only cover material in the first term. It will include material
covered in class and in the readings from both instructors.
Assignment 3: Anthropologists often engage in “applied research” (e.g., ethnoprimatology
and primate conservation, medical anthropology, forensic anthropology – see Lehman,
Chapter 9). More and more these days, anthropologists are also using the
“blogosphere” as a way to highlight their research, engage in public outreach, and raise
the public’s awareness of anthropological research. Find a blog that focuses on material
relevant to biological anthropology and provide a short (1000 word) critical review of the
type of content presented in the blog, how the blog covers that material, and whether the
blog could be usefully employed in this course as a source of supplemental material – if
not, why not? What would you change?
Assignment 4: Using archaeological evidence from the site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, write a
short (1000 word) account of a day in the life of someone of your own age and gender
who lived there during the Neolithic period.
Final Exam: The final exam will only cover material from the second term. It will include
material covered in class and in the readings from both instructors.
Course Policies (please read carefully)
Submitting Assignments
All assignments must be submitted BOTH electronically, through OWL, and as a hard copy in
class. Your assignment will not be considered complete until BOTH the electronic copy and the
paper copy have been received. If you are unable to submit your assignment in class, you may
leave it in the drop box outside the Anthropology Main Office (SSC 3326). The drop box is
emptied each morning and stamped with the previous day’s date. Do NOT submit assignments
as e-mail attachments or by sliding them under the professor’s door. These will be discarded

unread. Late assignments will be penalized 5% per weekday unless you provide documentation
from Academic Counselling to justify an extension.
Missed Deadlines
Occasionally illness or other personal issues make it impossible to meet deadlines. In such cases
adequate documentation must be submitted to Academic Counselling of your home faculty,
according to the terms of the Senate policy regarding medical accommodation as specified at:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/accommodation_medical.pdf. Providing such
documentation is accepted by Academic Counselling, reasonable effort will be made to
accommodate your situation. Without this, no accommodations will be made.
Format of Assignments
All written assignments must be typed, double-spaced, 12 point font, with 2.5 cm (1 inch)
margins, and stapled (staplers can be purchased for less than $2 and will be useful for the rest of
your academic career). You may print double-sided. Number all pages beginning after the cover
page. The title page must have your name, the professor's name, the course number and the
assignment title. Follow the guidelines of the American Anthropological Association
(http://www.aaanet.org/publications/style_guide.pdf) for proper citation of references within the
essay and in the bibliography. Points will be deducted if your assignment does not meet these
requirements.
Plagiarism and Scholastic Offences
Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate policy,
specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following website:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf. All
required assignments may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the
commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of
plagiarism. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in
the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently
submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently
between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).
Use of Electronic Devices
The only electronic device allowed in class is a laptop computer, solely for the purpose of taking
notes related to the class. Mobile phones must be turned off during class. Other uses of
computers or other devices are distracting to the students around you, and you may be asked to
leave if you disturb others in this way.
Accessibility
If you need this outline or any other course information in a different format, or need any other
assistance to make this course accessible to you, please contact Dr. Pennesi as soon as
possible so she can help. Where appropriate, get to know the people in Services for Students
with Disabilities - Room 4100 in the Western Student Services Building (661-3031), as they can
provide you with additional assistance specific to your personal needs.

FIRST TERM (Pennesi and Walsh)
How will the course work? How can students succeed? What is anthropology?
Sept. 10
What is linguistic anthropology?
Sept. 12 anthropology; linguistics; linguistic anthropology; methods
Required Readings: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 1, 2
What is unique about human language?
Sept. 17 development of language; design features; nonverbal communication
Required Readings: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 5, 6
Sept. 19 language acquisition; multilingualism
Required Reading: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 7
How and why do languages change?
Sept. 24 sound systems; word structure; meaning; sentence structure
Required Readings: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 3, 4
Sept. 26 processes of language change; reconstruction of languages
Required Reading: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 8
How is language used to accomplish social goals?
Oct. 1 dialects; styles; pidgins and creoles; ethnography of communication
Required Readings: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 9, 10
Oct. 3
verbal art; performance and performativity
THANKSGIVING Oct. 8
How do we use language to divide and unite people?
Oct. 10 linguistic ideology; indexicality
Required Reading: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 13
Oct. 15
Oct. 17
identity; gender; race; ethnicity
standard and non-standard language
Assignment 1 due on Oct. 17
How does language affect the way we think?
Oct. 22 linguistic relativity; colours and kinship
Required Reading: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 12
How can we apply linguistic anthropology?
Oct. 24 language planning; language revitalization; translation; law; ethics
Required Reading: Salzmann, Stanlaw, Adachi Ch. 14

What is Cultural/Social Anthropology, and how do we do it?
Oct. 29, Oct. 31, and Nov. 5
Required Reading: Robbins and Larkin, Chapter 1
How do people live differently?
Nov. 7 and Nov. 12
Required Reading: Robbins and Larkin, Chapter 2
How do people understand the world differently?
Nov. 14 and Nov. 19
Required Reading: Robbins and Larkin, Chapter 4
How do people associate with one another differently?
Nov. 21, Nov. 26, and Nov. 28
Required Reading: Robbins and Larkin, Chapters 5 and 6
Assignment 2 due on Nov. 28
How can we account for social, political and economic inequalities in the world today?
Dec. 3
Required Reading: Robbins and Larkin, Chapter 7
Review for midterm exam
Dec. 5 main ideas; concepts; types of exam questions
*** Midterm Exam – During December Exam Period – (30%) ***
SECOND TERM (Colquhoun and Hodgetts)
What do biological anthropologists study and how do they study it?
Jan. 7 and Jan. 9
Read: Lehman, Chapters 1 (Intro. To Evolutionary Anthropology) and 9 (Applied
Anthropology).
How does genetics inform biological anthropology?
Jan. 14 and Jan. 16
Read: Lehman, Chapters 2 and 3 (Microevolution, Macroevolution, and Evolutionary
Anthropology); see also, Ackerman (2006), “The Downside of Upright”
( http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/07/bipedal-body/ackerman-text ).
Why study primates? How well do we know the primate fossil record?
Jan. 21 and Jan. 23
Read: Lehman, Chapters 4 (Living Primates) and 5 (Origin of the Primates);
see also, Roach (2008), “Almost Human”
( http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/chimps-with-spears/mary-roach-text ).

What were the australopithecines, and are they ancestral to Homo sapiens?
Jan. 28 and Jan. 30
Read: Lehman, Chapter 6 (The First Hominins);
see also Garrett (2005), “The People Time Forgot: Flores Find”
( http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/georgia/flores-hominids-text ).
How many fossil hominin species are there, and who were the Neandertals?
Feb. 4 and Feb. 6
Read: Lehman, Chapter 7 (Human Origins: Rise of the Genus Homo);
see also, Hall (2008), “Last of the Neanderthals”
( http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/neanderthals/hall-text ).
Assignment 3 due on Feb. 6
Are human races real? Insights on race from biological anthropology.
Feb. 11 and Feb. 13
Read: Lehman, Chapter 8 (Human Variation);
see also, Shreeve (2006), “The Greatest Journey”
( http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/03/human-journey/shreeve-text ).
READING WEEK: Feb. 18-22
What do archaeologists really do and why does it matter? Who owns the past?
Feb. 25 and Feb. 27
Read: Muckle: Chapter 1 and pp. 62-65 (Ethics and Archaeology)
Plus additional short readings posted on OWL
What can things tell us about people?
Mar. 4 and Mar. 6
Read: Muckle: Chapter 4; pp. 100-104 (Excavation); pp. 114-122 (Artifact Analysis)
Plus additional short readings posted on OWL
Why do archaeologists keep a bunch of old bones and seeds?
Mar. 11 and Mar. 13
Read: Muckle: pp. 122-125 (Ecofact Analysis); pp. 155-159 (Reconstructing
Palaeoenvironments); pp. 164-172 (Reconstructing Subsistence Strategies,
Wild vs. Domestic, and Reconstructing Diet)
Plus additional short readings posted on OWL
Why do archaeologists map sites?
Mar. 18 and Mar. 20
Read: Muckle: pp. 93-99 (Discovering Archaeological Sites); pp. 159-164 (Reconstructing
Settlement Patterns)
Plus additional short readings posted on OWL
Was everyone equal?
Mar. 25 and Mar. 27
Read: Muckle: pp. 175-186
Plus additional short readings posted on OWL

Assignment 4 due on Mar. 27
Can the dead speak?
Apr. 1 and Apr. 3
Read: Muckle: pp. 187-192 (Reconstructing Ideology)
Plus additional short readings posted on OWL
Archaeology in action
Apr. 8
Review for final exam
Apr. 10 main ideas; concepts; types of exam questions
*** Final Exam – During April Exam Period – (30%) ***