Course Overview
ARCHY/ANTH 101: Anthropology of War
University of
Washington—Spring 2008
Course summary:
The Anthropology of War is a 5 credit,
project-based introductory course designed to challenge students to think
critically about communal violence.
Co-taught as ANTH and ARCHY 101, and employing theories and methods from
both archaeology and sociocultural anthropology, the
course will focus on a series of related questions: What is war? Is it defined the same way across cultures
and throughout time? Is group violence
part of the “normal” functioning of society or does it represent the breakdown
or absence of routine social controls?
Are there gendered dimensions to communal violence that cross
contexts? How is war remembered and
commemorated in different cultural contexts?
What difference does technology make to how war is conducted and
understood? What might we learn if we
compare the various archives of wars past with the violent conflicts we see
around us today or that we imagine in the future?
The Anthropology of War is part of two University of
Washington initiatives: the campus wide effort to make Foundations courses an
innovative introduction to the disciplines; and the Difficult Dialogues
project, which seeks to make student engagement with the communities around
them a key element of their education.
We will therefore take an experiential learning approach to this
course. The course is designed to
challenge students to relate their coursework to projects involving diverse
Seattle communities as interlocutors.
Many Seattle residents have stories to tell about how war has shaped
their identities and their communities, and the very geography of the city is
determined by wars remembered and wars forgotten.
Instructors:
Danny Hoffman (djh13@u.washington.edu) Office Hours: 10:30-12:30, Th (Denny 243)
Peter
Lape (plape@u.washington.edu) Office Hours:
10:30-12:30, Th (Denny 140)
Meeting times
and places:
Tuesday, Thursday:
9:00-10:20: lectures, quizzes or skills training workshop Johnson 102
Monday, Wednesday: section meetings (see below for
times): discussion, project work or presentations
Section information:
Team 1
Section number
and meeting time/location:
AA (M, W; 10:30-11:20) PAR 313
AB (M, W; 12:30-1:20) DEN 212
TA team:
Robertson Allen (roballen@u.washington.edu) Office Hours: 10:30-12:30, Th
(Denny 409)
Molly Odell (meodell@u.washington.edu) Office Hours: 1:30-3:30, W (Denny 411)
Team 2
Section
number and meeting time/location:
AC (M, W; 10:30-11:20) PAR 106
AD (M, W; 12:30-1:20) DEN 304
TA team:
Karen Capuder (karenc5@u.washington.edu) Office Hours: 9:00-10:00, M,W (Denny 429)
Emily Peterson (emilypt@u.washington.edu) Office Hours: 2:00-4:00, W (Denny 411)
Team 3
Section number
and meeting time/location:
AE (M, W; 10:30-11:20) LOW 118
AF (M, W; 12:30-1:20) DEN 209
TA team:
Amy Jordan (ajordan2@u.washington.edu) Office
Hours: 10:30-11:30, 12:30-1:30 Th (Denny 411)
Laura Zanotti (lcz@u.washington.edu) Office Hours: 11:30-1:30,
T (Denny 433)
Course website:
http://courses.washington.edu/war101/
Learning goals:
We identify two primary learning goals: 1) Introduce
students to the range of possibilities of anthropological inquiry, and 2)
Assist students in critically engaging the challenging legacy of conflicts
which have shaped their identities and the identities of others they encounter
in and beyond the university.
We want students to recognize that the archeological
record of fortification in East Timor and ethnographies of contemporary wars in
Sierra Leone can be put into fruitful dialogue with an exhibit on the
Vietnamese American emigrant experience at Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum or the
narratives of returning Iraq war veterans. We also want students to recognize
that they have a part to play in that dialogue – as researchers and as
citizens. This course is one piece in a
web of related efforts to engage students in thinking about their education as
a critical engagement inside and outside the classroom.
Course
organization:
In class time for this course will be divided
between sections, lectures, and skills workshops. Sections for this class will
meet two times a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, and are co-taught by two TAs. Monday sections
are usually devoted to work developing and executing the projects. Course instructors will also participate in
some of these discussions, and on some weeks we will not meet in order to give
students time to work on projects.
Wednesday sections are usually devoted to discussions of the lectures
and readings.
Lectures will also meet twice a week, on Tuesdays
and Thursdays. Tuesday lectures will
cover new topical material. Thursday
meetings will vary in format. Some weeks
will be lectures, others will be devoted to exams or to skills workshops in
which we will go over the tools (conceptual and material) that anthropologists
employ in the field and which students will use for their projects. For example, we will hold training workshops
in archaeological site documentation and mapping, use of mini-disc audio
recorders and audio editing software.
Course
requirements:
·
Read and be prepared to discuss assigned readings for each class
meeting
·
Complete three projects and three quizzes
·
Engage with communities inside and outside of the course and the
University of Washington
·
Post your projects to the course via the course Memory Map and present your project
results to the class
Student assessment:
·
45% - Project (3 parts, 15% each).
Each of the three projects (archaeological mapping, ethnographic
interview, and dialogue project) will be evaluated independently. See the
Projects page for more information about requirements and evaluation standards.
·
25% - Participation. This part
of the grade is based on participation in the lectures, sections and
workshops. Grades are assigned in
consultation with TAs.
·
30% - In-class quizzes (3 at 10% each).
There will be three in-class quizzes during the quarter which will cover
material from the lectures and readings.
Other information and policies:
·
Academic
honesty
All students
will uphold the University of Washington standards of student conduct (http://www.washington.edu/students/handbook/conduct.html).
The following web site has information on plagiarism, cheating, and guidelines
for collaboration: http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm.
·
Accessibility
Please let us
know if you need accommodation of any kind. We can work with the University of Washington Disabled Student Services (DSS) to provide
what you require. The DSS webpage is www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Disabled_Student.html.
·
Late
assignments
Late submission
of assignments is not accepted without prior approval of your TA. No make-ups are provided for missed
assignments in the absence of documented and legitimate medical or family
emergencies.
·
Laptops and cell phones
Laptop computers and cell phones may not be
used during lecture or section meetings without prior approval from the
instructors.