Anthropology 101: Introduction to General Anthropology

Section 1: Tues/Thurs 9:10-10:25 Todd 430

Fall 2017

Instructor: Katie Richards

Office: College Hall 338
Office Hours: Tuesdays 10:30-12:00 or by appointment
Email: katie.richards@wsu.edu

TA: Kim Sheets

Office: College Hall 371
Office Hours: Wednesdays 9-11 or by appointment
Email: kimberly.sheets@wsu.edu

Course Description

Anthropology is the study of peoples and cultures around the world and through time. In this
course you will gain a foundational understanding of the four subdisciplines of anthropology:
cultural, biological, linguistic, and archaeology. This will allow us to use the entire scope of the
human experience to better understand what it means to be human. Anthropology allows us to
broaden our perspective and often challenges what we know through exploring similarities and
diversity in human behavior around the world.

Learning goals and objectives

This course advances university learning goals of diversity, creative and critical thinking,
information literacy, and communication by exposing students to cross-cultural perspectives that
extend back to our earliest human ancestors. After completing this course, students will have an
enhanced understanding of human diversity learned through detailed examination of multiple
cultures around the world and through time. The concepts of culture and diversity will be
discussed starting with the origins of mankind and extending to the exploration of behavioral,
cultural, and linguistic diversity expressed in the modern world.

Texts

The Essence of Anthropology 4th Edition by Haviland, Prins, Walwrath, and McBride
- Its only $23 to rent it for the semester from Amazon. You can also rent a digital copy
from the Bookie website for $32.

An ethnography of your choice

Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border by Luis Alberto Urrea
Dont Sleep, there are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle by Daniel L. Everett
Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine Dettwyler

*All additional readings mentioned in the syllabus will be made available to you through
Blackboard under the Readings tab.
Attendance

Attendance will be crucial if you wish to do well in this course. We will have group discussions
that will help you better understand the concepts in the readings and prepare you for the exams.
We will also cover material in class that may not be covered in your readings. If you miss a day
you are still responsible for knowing the material covered in class during your absence. I would
suggest borrowing notes from a friend and then discussing the lecture material with either myself
or the TA when you return.

Grading/Assignments

Exams (100 pts each)

- There will be three exams in this course each worth 100 points. These exams are largely
non-cumulative, but major concepts may appear on any exam. Make-up exams will NOT
be allowed except under exceptional and formally documented circumstances.

Reading write ups (10 pts each, 100 pts total)

- You will be required to write a short annotated bibliography for each of the non-textbook
readings we do. This write up is not a simply a summary or an abstract, but should also
critically evaluate the reading. This should not be an evaluation of whether or not you
liked the reading. The annotations should be shorta quarter to a half a page double
spacedfor each. Most days these write ups will be for you benefit during class
discussions; however, ten times throughout the semester I will ask you to turn these write
ups in to be graded. These must be typed and will be turned in at the beginning of class.
These write ups will NOT be accepted after we have turned them in as a class. E-mailed
copies will only be accepted under extreme circumstances.
Critical Responses (25 pts each)
- Three times throughout the semester you will be asked to critically examine an article we
are reading for class. Specific instructions for these papers will be provided later on in the
semester. These papers are designed to help you carefully dissect an argument, evaluate
its merit and form your own opinion on that topic. These will each be worth 25 points

Final paper (75 pts)

- You will also be required to write a 4-6 page final paper evaluating and responding to an
approved ethnography. The ethnography options are listed above under the Texts header.

You will receive more specific instructions about this paper later in the semester. This
paper will be due the week after Thanksgiving break, and it is expected that it will be
well written with no or few grammatical mistakes. This being said, please DO NOT start
the paper the night before it is due. This paper will take time and careful editing in order
to receive an A.
 Assignment Points % of final grade
Exam 1 100 18.2
Exam 2 100 18.2
Exam 3 100 18.2
Reading annotations 100 (10 each) 18.2
Critical responses 75 (25 each) 13.6
Final paper 75 13.6
Total 550 100%

A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D F
100-93% 92-90% 89-87% 86-83% 82-80% 79-77% 76-73% 72-70% 69-67% 66-60% <60%

Assignment expectations and formatting

- The TA and myself will do our best to grade your papers in a timely manner; however, in
order for us to do this, we expect that the papers will be proof-read and carefully edited.
Read over them a few times. I suggest reading them out loud to yourself. Often it is easier
to evaluate the clarity of a paper if you hear how it sounds. You can also have a friend
read over it. If you are having a problem with any of your papers or just want someone to
look over it and give you feedback, feel free to come see myself or the TA, or go to the
WSU Writing Center in CUE 303. The Writing Center is a great no-cost resource for
students. Also, please remember that this class is large and in an attempt to not kill our
TA or drive her to insanity, all assignments will be returned with limited comments. If
you would like more detailed comments on your paper and notes on how to improve on
future papers, the TA and/or myself would love to discuss that with you during our office
hours. Nothing brings us more joy than actually talking to students during our office
hours (we get lonely).

- It is expected that all assignments will be double-spaced using 12 pt Times New Roman
font with 1 inch margins.

Late Policy
- All assignments and exams are due on the date specified. Late assignments will be
accepted at a penalty of 10% off of the possible maximum score for each day it is late.

- Exams cannot be made up unless I have been notified prior to the original exam date and
when accompanied by a documented medical excuse pursuant to University policy.

Extra Credit
- There will be opportunities to achieve up to 30 points extra credit in this course. That is
5% of the total points, which could raise your grade by half a letter grade (see, Im not
completely heartless). These opportunities will be announced in class and will generally
involve going to lectures, watching approved videos, or participating in certain activities
and completing a write up of your experience. If you know of a lecture or presentation
happening on campus that relates to the topics discussed in this course and you would
 like to receive extra credit for going, come talk to me. I always love hearing about
interesting lectures!

General policies

Classroom Etiquette
Youre almost there! Only one page left, youve got this! The classroom is a learning
environment. Please be considerate to others in the class. Sleeping, texting, or listening to
music on headphones are disruptive behaviors and are NOT acceptable in the classroom.
Please keep phones silent or off. Laptops are allowed only for note taking purposes.
Online shopping, facebooking, tweeting (or whatever the youths are doing on the
interwebs these days), reading/writing papers for other classes (or for this class), or other
such activities is prohibited. This behavior is not only disrespectful, but it is distracting to
students around you. Also, most of the time students who are using their laptops for other
purposes think they are being super sneaky, but its usually pretty obvious to the
instructor. Students who are not abiding by these common courtesies will be asked to
alter their behavior. If the behavior continues, you will be asked to leave.

Academic Honesty
Academic integrity is the cornerstone of the university. Any student who attempts to gain
an unfair advantage over other students by cheating, will fail the assignment and be
reported to the Office of Student Conduct. Cheating is defined in the Standards for
Student Conduct WAC 504-26-010 (3). For more information go to
www.academicintegrity.wsu.edu.

Anyone found guilty of plagiarism will receive a zero for the given assignment and will
be reported to the office of the Dean of Students. Please refer to
http://www.libraries.wsu.edu/library-instruction/plagiarism if you have any questions
about what plagiarism is.

Students with disabilities

Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability. If
you have a disability and may need accommodations to fully participate in this class,
please visit the Access Center (Washington Building 217; 509-335-3417) to schedule an
appointment with an Access Advisor. All accommodations MUST be approved through
the Access Center.

Safety
Washington State University is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its
faculty, staff, and students. I recommend reviewing the Campus Safety Plan
(http://safetyplan.wsu.edu) and visiting the Office of Emergency Management website at
http://oem.wsu.edu for a comprehensive list of university policies and procedures for
emergencies. If youre reading this and youve actually read the whole syllabus, thank
you!