GENDER
AND LANGUAGE ACROSS COMMUNITIES
Anthropology
149SL
Winter
2011
Tues-Thurs
9:30 - 10:45AM HAINES A25
INSTRUCTOR: Elinor Ochs
Office
Hours: Thursdays 12-2PM, Haines
318
TEACHING
ASSISTANT FOR SECTIONS: Jennifer
Walton-Wetzel, waltonwetzel@gmail.com
Office
Hours: Tuesday & Wednesday (or by appÕt), 1-2PM, Haines 360
TEACHING
ASSISTANT FOR SERVICE LEARNING:
Lisa Newon, lisa.newon@gmail.com
Office
Hours: Tuesday & Thursday (or by appÕt), 12:30-1:30, Haines
A10
Course
Website: The
course
website (http://classes.sscnet.ucla.edu/course/view/11W-ANTHRO149SL-1)
has
up-to-date information about the course, including lecture notes,
assignments, other course materials, service learning information, and
guidelines for how to carry out research and write field notes.
Course
Objectives:
Gender is rooted in
biology and culture and impacts how
one thinks, feels, and acts in the world.
This course examines how language practices contribute to the
expression
of gendered identities in different social groups and social situations. Ideas about what it means to be male
and female begin in infancy (if not before) and impact how children,
youth, and
adults are expected to communicate at these different life stages. Through readings and field observations
in a community service learning site, students in the course will
consider the
relation of gendered language practices and ideologies to the
(trans)formation
of stereotypes, normativity, privilege, power, cognition, morality,
emotion,
and politeness.
Service
Learning Objectives
Students are required
to complete 20 hours of service
learning in a community service program under the auspices of the UCLA
Center
for Community Learning. Service
Learning allows students to learn
through active participation in
thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs
of
communities. Coordinated through
the UCLA Center for Community Learning, service learning enhances the
academic
curriculum of the students, fosters active civic responsibility, and
provides
structured time for students to reflect on the service experience.
The community sites to
be selected for the class will be
relevant to the goals of the class topic of how gender identities are
communicated in society and their consequences for the realization of
human potential. Once appropriate
community sites have
been identified, contact information, a description of the community
partners,
and expectations regarding meaningful participation in each site will
be
provided to students prior to entering the site.
Students will be
introduced to the concept of service
learning and community-campus partnerships before engaging in community
service
learning through presentations by and discussions with the UCLA Center
for
Community Learning Director and community partners from the particular
community sites that students will serve throughout this class. The
basic principles of good community-campus
partnerships will be considered, including mission,
values, and desired outcomes for the partnership.
Prerequisites: Anthropology
33
Readings
and Other Materials
Required
Texts:
Talbot,
M. (2010). Language and Gender. Cambridge, Polity Press.
Articles
for the course can be downloaded in PDF format from the course website
Readings should be
completed before the lectures
for which they are assigned. This is
critical as the lectures will focus on discussion of readings.
Students are required
to purchase a clicker
device (the i>clicker). This
clicker is for sale in the UCLA bookstore and will be used for quizzes,
monitoring class participation, and for in-class discussions.
You are required to
bring your i>clicker to
every class.
IMPORTANT:
PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR I>CLICKER. IF YOU USE SOMEONE ELSEÕS
YOU WILL NOT GET
CREDIT FOR YOUR WORK.
How to
Register Your Clicker
You must register your
clicker
ID number within the first week of class in order to get credit for
quizzes and
class participation. To do this go
to the class website (http://classes.sscnet.ucla.edu/course/view/11W-ANTHRO149SL-1). In the lower left
hand corner you will see a
link to register the I>CLICKER.
Simply
click on the link and enter the code from the bottom of the
back of your clicker. The i>clicker response system will be used in
class,
and you are responsible for bringing your remote daily.
Grading:
Lecture and Section
Participation
10%
Service Learning
Participation/
Field Notes
10%
Service Learning
Presentation 20%
Midterm Examination
30%
In-Class Quizzes (I>CLICKER) 30%
Participation: Lecture
and section participation is
extremely important. Attendance
will be registered through your I>CLICKER.
During class lectures and sections, you are expected to discuss weekly
reading
assignments, report on your field observations, and discuss progress
towards
your collaborative research presentation.
If you are unable to be present at a class or section meeting,
let your
TA know in advance or bring a doctorÕs note when you return to
class.
Service
Learning Participation: Students are required
to complete 20 hours of
service learning in a community service program under the auspices of
the UCLA
Center for Community Learning. You
will sign up for a service learning site in the first week of class.
Service
Learning Field Notes: In
addition to your service learning participation, you will be expected
to post
Òfield notesÓ on the course website right after each
service learning field
experience (within 24 hours). The
field notes will be no longer than 50 words and should include language
and
gender-related reflections on what happened at the site that day. Individual postings will not be graded
but postings will be credited towards your final grade.
Service
Learning Presentation: You will be asked to
collaboratively present in
class 1 research project based on your service learning experience with
three
other students who are participating at the same field site. This presentation will analyze language
and gender in your field site, making connections between your field
observations, your video/audio recordings at the site, the readings,
and class
discussions. You will have 10
minutes total time to present your
collaborative project in class. The presentation needs to be in a
PowerPoint or
Keynote format. Scheduling of your
presentation will be determined at a later time but will be in the
final weeks
of the course.
You have a choice of field presentation projects:
Choice
1: Together
with your presentation collaborators, audio- or video-record social
interaction
that takes place in the community site (at
least 10 continuous minutes). Using
transcribed quotes from your recording, at least 2 course readings and
other
course materials to date,
analyze how gender is communicated and its social
significance.
Choice 2:
Together with your
collaborators, conduct and record a 20-minute life history interview
with a
participant in the community field site. Using transcribed quotes from
the
recorded interview, at least 2 course readings and other course
materials to
date, analyze how a personÕs life narrative may be influenced by
gender and
language ideologies and practices.
Guidelines
for field project presentations will be distributed during section
discussion
and time
will
be dedicated to helping you develop
your
projects.
In-Class
Quizzes: At the beginning of
most classes, you will be quizzed
(using your i>clicker) on the
reading assignments for that dayÕs
class and the content of the previous
class lecture. Questions will be
multiple choice. At the end of the
term your lowest two quiz grades will be dropped.
Midterm
Examination: There will be a
midterm examination covering the
readings, lectures, class discussions, and other course materials. The exams will contain identifications
and short answers. There will be
no make-up midterm examination.
Emails: If
you have questions about your
service learning site, contact Lisa Newon. If
you have questions about class business, contact Jenny
Walton-Wetzel. If you have
substantive questions about course content, come to office hours of
Jenny
Walton-Wetzel or Elinor Ochs. We
will not address question about lectures
and readings by email.
COURSE
SYLLABUS
January
4
Course
and Service Learning Introduction
January
6
Cultural
and Biological Structuring of Gender, Sex, and Language 1
Readings:
Talbot: Chapter 1
"Language and Gender", pp. 3-17.
Kimura,
D. (1992). Sex Differences in the Brain. Scientific
American, vol 267, pp.118-125.
January 11
Cultural and Biological
Structuring of Gender, Sex,
and Language 2
Readings:
Ortner, Sherry. 1974. "Is Female
to Male as Nature is to Culture?" In: Rosaldo and
Lamphere, Eds. Woman, Culture, and
Society.
Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 67-88.
January
13
Language and Gender: The Two
Cultures Model 1
Readings:
Talbot: Chapter 3
"'Women's Language' and 'Man Made
Language'", pp. 34-47.
Lakoff,
Robin. 1973. Language and Woman's Place. Language in
Society 2:45-80.
January
18
Language
and Gender: The Two Cultures Model
2
Readings:
Tannen,
Deborah. 1998. Talk in the intimate relationship: his and
hers. In Language and Gender: A Reader.
Jennifer Coates, ed. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, Pp. 435-445.
January
20
Performing
Gender through Language 1
Readings:
Ochs, E. (1992).
Indexing Gender. Rethinking
Context. A. Duranti and C. Goodwin. Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press:
335-358.
January
25
Performing Gender
through Language 2
Readings:
Hall, K. (1995). Lip
Service on the
Fantasy Lines. Gender Articulated: Language and the Socially
Constructed
Self. K. Hall and M. Bucholtz. New York, Routledge: 183-216.
Keisling, S. (2001).
""Now I Gotta Watch What I Say": Shifting Constructions of
Masculinity in Discourse." Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 11(2):
250-273.
January
27
Gender-Bending
and Language 1
Guest
Speaker: Robin Conley
Readings:
Conley, R. (2008). "
"At the Time She Was a Man": The Temporal Dimension
Crapanzano, Vincent.
"Self"-Centering Narratives. The Natural
History of Discourse. Silverstein, Michael
and Urban, Greg,
eds. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, Pp106-127.
February
1
Gender-Bending
and Language 2
Guest
Speaker: Muriel Vernon
Readings:
Barrett, Rusty. 1999.
Indexing Polyphonous Identity in
the Speech of African American Drag Queens. In Reinventing
Identities: The Gendered Self in Discourse. M. Bucholtz
et al., eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Pp 313-331.
February
3
Gender,
Language and Politeness 1
Readings:
Talbot:
Chapter 5: "Conversation",
pp. 75-97.
February
8
Gender,
Language and Politeness 2
Readings:
Brown,
P. (1998).
How and why are women more polite: Some evidence from a
Mayan community. In J. Coates (Ed.), Language
and gender (pp. 81-99).
Oxford:
Blackwell
Okamoto, S.
(1995). "Tasteless" Japanese:
Less "Feminine" Speech among Young Japanese Women. Gender
Articulated: Language and the
Socially Constructed Self. K. Hall and M. Bucholtz.: 297-325.
February
10 MIDTERM
EXAMINATION
February
15 Gender,
Language and Power
Readings:
Gal,
Susan. 1995. Language, Gender, and Power: An anthropological
review. In Hall, Kira & Mary Bucholtz. 1995. Gender
Articulated: Language and the Socially Constructed Self. New
York: Routledge. (GA), pp. 169-182
O'Barr, W. M. O. and B.
K. Atkins (1998).
"Women's Language" or "Powerless Language"? Language and
Gender: A Reader. J. Coates.
Oxford, Basil Blackwell: 377-387.
February
17 Gender,
Race, and Language
Readings:
Morgan, M. M.
(1999). No Woman, No Cry: Claiming African American Women's Place. Reinventing
Identities: The Gendered Self in Discourse. M. Bucholtz, A. C.
Liang and L.
A. Sutton. Oxford University Press: 27-45.
February
22 Language,
Gender and Assertiveness
Guest
Speaker: Heather Loyd
Readings:
Goodwin, Marjorie
Harness. 1999. Constructing Opposition
within Girls' Games. In Reinventing
Identities: The Gendered Self in Discourse. M. Bucholtz et al.,
eds.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.xxx.
Keenan (Ochs),
Elinor. 1974. Norm-makers,
Norm-breakers: Uses of
Speech by Men and Women in a Malagasy Community. In
Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking, Richard
Bauman & Joel Sherzer (eds.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 125-143.
February
24 Gender
and Media
Readings:
Talbot, Chapter 8: "Consumerism", pp. 137-158
Talbot, Chapter 12: "Reclaiming the Language", pp. 224-242.
Goffman, Erving. 1976. Gender
Commercials: In Gender
Advertisements. New York: Harper,
pp. 24-27; p. 28; pp. 40-56..
March 1
Gender,
Language, and Politics
Readings:
Talbot, Chapter 10: "Public Talk", pp. 184-202.
Lakoff, R. T.
2006. Language, Gender, and Politics:
Putting "Women" and "Power" in the Same Sentence. The
Handbook of Language and Gender. J. Holmes and M. Meyerhoff.
Malden, MA,
Blackwell: 161-178.
March 3
Gender,
Language, and Youth Identity
+
Collaborative Field Project Presentations
Readings:
Eckert, P. (2005).
Language and Gender in
Adolescence. The Handbook of Language and Gender. J. Holmes and
M.
Meyerhoff. Malden, MA, Blackwell: 381-400.
Bucholtz, Mary. 1999.
"Why Be Normal?": Language and
Identity Practices in a Community of Nerd Girls. Language in Society
28:203-223.
March 8
Collaborative
Field Project Presentations
March 10
Collaborative
Field Project Presentations