Time Schedule:
Jessica A. Johnson
ANTH 228
Seattle Campus
An introduction to the study of race, class, gender, and sexuality in anthropology. Through ethnographic and theoretical readings, students are introduced to the concept of identity as intersectional construction and social performance.
Class description
This course approaches identity formation as a social and cultural process inflected through intersections of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. Students will explore how practices and representations of identity are conveyed and reproduced in theoretical and ethnographic texts, as well as in visual media. The primary aim of this course is to ask how our identities are shaped through notions of “normalcy,” articulations of community, and discourses of national belonging, as we simultaneously challenge and contest stabilized categories of “the norm,” definitions of community membership, and boundaries of nation-state. Specifically, we will ask how identity categories are produced through institutional sites such as the law, religion, media, and corporations. Furthermore, we will inquire as to how such classifications and understandings of self-identity shift according to fluctuating political and economic conditions, such as those leading to the 2008 Election. Thus, identity formation will be examined as in flux; a dynamic activity in which we act as agents that reproduce and interrupt systems of power.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
This course is organized as a seminar with in-class writing prompts and small group work leading into large group discussions. Each week, we will establish key terms and examine course topics through theoretical, ethnographic, and visual texts. Thoughtful contribution to class discussions is a key component of your grade.
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
Close reading and critical assessment of the assigned texts are necessary to complete the required written work, which includes three short journaling assignments (2-3 pages) and a final project/presentation. The final project is a mini-ethnography that culminates in a fieldwork portfolio to be presented and turned in at the end of the quarter. In this portfolio, students will include their fieldwork notes and a 5-8 page paper in which they outline their research question, describe their field site, incorporate course readings as a conceptual framework for their paper, and provide an analysis that explores and links their question to the data collected.
Class Participation 20% Journaling Assignments 30% Final Project/Presentation 50%
