Class schedule
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READING
Introduction
Mead and Samoa
Bedouins
Dopefiends
WRITING
Mead and Samoa
Bedouins
Dopefiends
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ANTHROPOLOGY 204
READING ETHNOGRAPHY
SPRING QUARTER 2010
UNIT 3: RIGHTEOUS DOPEFIEND AND ETHNOGRAPHY AS SOCIAL ADVOCACY
Read the introduction, "A Theory of Abuse," from Righteous Dopefiend. Come to class prepared to write a short essay on whether you think ethnography is the proper place for social activism or not. I will lecture on the transition from Us-Not Us to Us-Us as the scope of ethnographic writing.
Tuesday, May 17
Read popular and scholarly reviews of Righteous Dopefiend. Come prepared to write on the difference between popular and academic reviews. I will lecture on the differences between the ways this book has been and might be seen by anthropologists and others, and what this might tell us anthropologists about how we are seen.
Wednesday, May 18
Read chapter 1, "Intimate Apartheid" in Righteous Dopefiend. Come to class ready to write about whether this chapter changed the way you think about race, and to participate in a free-for-all on the topic of the way we think and write about race in America today, and how this chapter fits into our current ways of writing and talking about the topic.
Thursday, May 19 Quiz Sections
Read Chapter 2, "Falling in Love," and Chapter 3, "A Community of Addicted Bodies," in Righteous Dopefiend. Your section discussion will be on the concept of cultural relativity. What is it, what are its limits, what are its virtues and dangers, how does Bourgois and Schonberg's book follow or violate the notions of cultural relativity?
Friday, May 20
No extra reading or short writing assignment for today, except that your essay on the Bedouin ethnographies is due today at 5:00 p.m. I will lecture on the dopefiends as not-Us, and reflect on what that says about the relationship between Being There and Being Here when the There is actually Here.
Monday, May 23
Read Chapter 4, "Childhoods," and Chapter 6, "Parenting," in Righteous Dopefiend. Come prepared to write on whether these chapters have changed your ideas about the family in America today. I will lecture on the controversy over the role of the family in contemporary American society, and the way that the families of the Edgewater dopefiends fit into this controversy.
Tuesday, May 24
Read Chapter 5, "Making Money" in Righteous Dopefiend. Come to class ready to write a short essay summarizing Bourgois and Schonberg's critique of neoliberalism. I will lecture on how and why journalists and writers make fun of professors.
Wednesday, May 25
Read Chapter 7, "Male Love," in Righteous Dopefiend. Come to class prepared to write on what this chapter says about American ideas about sexuality. I will lecture briefly on three paradoxes in dopefiend culture: apartheid, homophobia, and familial devotion, and we will also go over the topics for the final essay, due June 8.
Thursday, May 26 Quiz Sections
Read Chapter 8, "Everyday Addicts," and chapter 9, "Treatment," in Righteous Dopefiend. Your section discussion will center on comparing the role of storytelling in the books by Lavie and Bourgois/Schonberg. In particular, you should pay attention to the relationship between irony and morality.
Friday, May 27
Read the conclusion, "Critically Applied Public Anthropology," in Righteous Dopefiend. Come to class prepared to write on how Bourgois and Schonberg's public advocacy is like or different from Mead's. I will lecture on a comparison between ethnographic writing as public advocacy in Mead and Bourgois/Schonberg.
Tuesday, May 31
Read Nancy Scheper-Hughes, "Parts Unknown." Come to class prepared to write a short essay on whether you agree with Scheper-Hughes's stand that an ethnographer must sometimes violate the canons of neutrality and cultural relativity. I will lecture on this question after you have done your writing.
Wednesday, June 1
Read the UW Human Subjects Research Application and Nora Jacobson et al., "Ethical Review of Interpretive Research: Problems and Solutions. I will lecture on the relationship between university ethics boards (IRBs) and the ethics of research.
Thursday, June 2 Quiz Sections
Read Kevin Fagan, "Shame of the City." Your discussion should focus on the differences in the way San Francisco homeless material is presented in an ethnography and in an investigative series in a major newspaper. You will also do a section evaluation.
Friday, June 3
No extra reading for the last day. Come to class prepared to do exercise similar to the one you did on Friday, January 8, about an ethnography you would like to write, but in this case make sure you refer to how your ethnography would be similar to or different from the ones we have read. We will also do a class evaluation, and I will present some final remarks.
Wednesday, June 8
Your Essay on Righteous Dopefiend is due to the dropbox at 9:30 a.m. today