Anthropology 33: Culture and Communication

Winter 2006
(Room: Fowler A103B)

Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday 11am-12:15pm

Instructor: Prof. Alessandro Duranti
Office: Haines 349 
Office Hours: Tuesday 2:15-3:15pm and Thursday, 12:45-1:45pm or by appointment
Teaching Assistants: Steven Black (sblack@ucla.edu), Cristopher Engelke (crengelke@ucla.edu), Wendy Klein (wendyk@ucla.edu), Diana Pash (dpash@ucla.edu), Clarice Rios (clarice.r@gmail.com)
Instructor Email: (aduranti@anthro.ucla.edu)

[updated March 7, 2006]

This course satisfies the General Education Requirement in the social sciences and it is the first course in the linguistic anthropology series at UCLA. It introduces students to basic concepts and qualitative methods in the social sciences including ethnographic fieldwork and the analysis of face-to-face communication. In its focus on the details of everyday activities across a number of communities, it is meant to provide a bridge between linguistics and socio-cultural anthropology through the introduction of concepts and analytical techniques that privilege observation, participation, video recording and transcription of spontaneous interaction (as opposed to experimental tasks or introspection). Topics include language socialization, literacy, music and the visual arts, the power of language, miscommunication, and universal and culture-specific properties of human communication.

Course Texts (all required):

  1. Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill, Eds. (1998). Language and Myths. Penguin Books.
  2. Lisa Capps and Elinor Ochs (1998). Constructing Panic: The Discourse of Agoraphobia. Harvard University Press.
  3. A. Duranti, Ed. (2001). Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader. Blackwell. (Reader)
  4. H. Morphy. 1998. Aboriginal Art. London: Phaidon Press. 

    Study Questions for Lectures

    Assignments:

  5. ASSIGNMENT #1: Analysis of video recorded material (30 points, group project)
  6. ASSIGNMENT #2: Data Collection and Classification of exchanges (greetings) (30 points)
  7. ASSIGNMENT #3 :Graphic Illustration of a Key Concept (30 points, group project)

Exams:

  • First test (Midterm) (60 points), Second Test (last week of classes) (90 points), and weekly in-class short tests (total: 40 points - NO MAKE-Ups!).
  • Session attendance (20 points)

SYLLABUS

January 10.

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE: GOALS, READINGS, REQUIREMENTS, GRADING

  1. Introductory remarks and review of syllabus
  2. What is a theory? Data, Description, and Hypotheses
  3. An example from music.

January 12.

THEORY, METHODS, AND DATA

Readings:

  1. L. Bauer & P. Trudgill (Eds.) Language Myths [Start reading the book]

January 17.

METHODS, I: FIELDWORK AND RESEARCH AGENDAS

Readings:

  1. Morgan, M.M.[1994]. The African-American Speech Community: Reality and Sociolinguistics. Reader, Chapter 3.
  2. Bauer and Trudgill (Eds.) Language Myths. Read Myth 13: Black Children Are Verbally Deprived, and Myth 14: Double negatives are illogical.
  3. Capps and Ochs (1995) Constructing Panic. Chapters 1, 2 and 3.

January 19.

LEARNING TO READ TRANSCRIPTS

Readings:

  1. A. Duranti. Hand-out to be distributed in class on transcription as a complex cultural activity that is informed by particular theoretical assumptions and methods.
  2. Look through the readings for this course to get a sense of different transcription techniques.
  3. Examine Transcription conventions and references.
  4. Examine Examples of Transcribed Greetings.
  5. ASSIGNMENT #1: Analysis of audio-visual material available on the web (due to your TA two sessions from today or as agreed with your TA)

January 24.

UNIVERSALS OF HUMAN LANGUAGES AS SOCIO-HISTORICAL ENTITIES

Readings:

  1. L. Bauer and P. Trudgill (Eds) Language Myths. (Pay particular attention to the following chapters: Myth 2: Some languages are just not good enough; Myth 7: Some languages are harder than others; Myth 10. Some languages have no grammar; Myth 17: They speak really bad English down south and in New York City; Myth 19: Aborigines speak a primitive language; Myth 20: Everyone has an Accent Except Me)
  2. Capps and Ochs, Constructing Panic. Chapter 4: A Grammar of panic.

January 26.

LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION ACROSS CULTURES

Readings:

  1. Duranti, A. 2001. Linguistic Anthropology: History, Ideas, and Issues. In Reader, pp.23-26 (section 7: 'Language Acquisition and Language Socialization')
  2. Ochs, E. & B.B. Schieffelin. [1984]. Language Acquisition and Socialization: Three Developmental Stories and Their Implications. Reader, Chapter 11.
  3. Capps and Ochs, Constructing Panic. Chapter 9: Socializing Emotion; and Chapter 10: Socializing Anxiety.

January 31.

LITERACY, AND CLASSROOM INTERACTION

Readings:

  1. Heath, S.B. [1982] What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills at Home and School. Reader, Chapter 13.
  2. Philips, S.U. 1972. Participant Structures and Communicative Competence: Warm Springs Children in Community and Classroom. Reader, Chapter 12.
  3. Bauer and Trudgill (Eds.) Language Myths. Read Myth 8: Children can't speak or write properly anymore.

February 2.

Review in preparation for midterm exam

February 7.

Midterm (no blue books needed)

February 9.

CROSSTALK: THE ROOTS OF MISCOMMUNICATION

VIDEO: "Crosstalk" by John J. Gumperz (Produced by BBC)

Readings:

  1. Bailey, B. [1997]. Communication of Respect in Interethnic Service Encounters. Reader, Chapter 5.

February 14.

LANGUAGES IN CONTACT

Lecture will include a presentation by Steven Black entitled 'Language Ideologies: School Names in South Africa.'

Readings:

  1. Gumperz, J.J. [1968]. The Speech Community. Reader, Chapter 1. [Concentrate on speech community and verbal repertoire].
  2. Bauer and Trudgill (Eds.) Language Myths. Read Myth 2: Some languages are just not good enough.
  3. Spitulnik, D. [1996]. The Social Circulation of Media Discourse and the Mediation of Communities. In Linguistic Anthropology: Reader, Chapter 4.

February 16.

CREATING SOCIAL IDENTITIES

Presentation by Wendy Klein: "Turban Narratives: Identification and Belonging among Punjabi Sikh Families in Southern California"

ASSIGNMENT # 2 (Due to your T.A. two sessions from today OR as agreed with your TA)

Readings:

  1. Capps and Ochs (1995) Constructing Panic. Chapter 5: Accomodation as a source of panic; Chapter 6: Nonaccommodation as an Outcome of panic; Chapter 7: Paradoxes of panic; Chapter 8: Constructing the irrational woman.
  2. Bauer and Trudgill (Eds.) Language Myths. Read Myth 6:Women talk too much.
  3. Baquedano-López. Creating Social Identities through Doctrina Narratives. Reader, Chapter 14.

February 21.

ACTS, ACTIVITIES, EVENTS: THE FORMULAIC-CREATIVE CONTINUUM

Readings:

  1. Duranti, A. [1997]. Universal and Culture-Specific Properties of Greetings. In Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader, Chapter 9.
  2. Irvine, J.T. [1979]. Formality and Informality in Communicative Events. In Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader, Chapter 8.

February 23.

POWER IN LANGUAGE

Readings:

  1. Ochs, E. & C. Taylor. [1995] The "Father Knows Best" Dynamic in Dinnertime Narratives. In Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader, Chapter 19.
  2. Hill, J.H. [1998]. Language, Race, and White Public Space. In Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader, Chapter 20.
  3. Capps and Ochs (1995) Constructing Panic. Chapter 11: Therapeutic Insights; and Chapter 12: Epilogue: Flying.

February 28.

ART IN AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: AN INTRODUCTION.

Museo Ettore Guatelli in Ozzano Taro (Parma, Italy)

The Museum of Jurassic Technology.

ASSIGNMENT #3 (30 points) (Due to your T.A. two sessions from today, unless otherwise specified by your T.A.)

Readings:

  1. Howard Morphy.Aboriginal Art.

Other resources:

  1. Rainforest Soundwalks. Recorded by Steven Feld (EarthEar 2001).
  2. Voices of the Rainforest . Recorded by Steven Feld (Rykodisk, 1991).

March 2.

ART IN AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, 2:THE VISUAL AND RITUAL LIFE

Interview with Fred Myers on Aboriginal Paintings

Readings:

  1. Howard Morphy.Aboriginal Art.

March 7.

ART IN AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, 3: VERBAL PERFORMANCE

Lecture will include a presentation by Damien Droney (Honors Student, Dept of Anthropology, UCLA) entitled 'Street Art and Marketing in Los Angeles'

Readings:

  1. Bauman, R. [1975]. Verbal Art as Performance. Reader, Chapter 7.

March 9.

Review.

Readings:

  1. Duranti, A. 2001. Linguistic Anthropology: History, Ideas, and Issues. In Reader, pp. 1-38, (bibliography on pp. 465-79).

March 14.

The Final Lecture: When Everything Magically Comes Together.

Review Readings for the second part of the course.

March 16.

SECOND AND FINAL EXAM (no blue books needed)

Readings:

  1. Catch up with the readings for the second part of the class.

No Exam during finals week