Linguistic Anthropology
| Numbering Code | U-LAS05 20007 LE40 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ First semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | Lecture |
| Target Year | All students | Target Student | For all majors |
| Language | English | Day/Period | Tue.5 |
| Instructor name | TAKADA AKIRA (Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies Professor) | ||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course | Contrary to the common image of anthropology (e.g., studying the ‘strange’ social institutions and practices of ‘exotic’ peoples), an increasing number of studies in this domain have analyzed everyday interactions among ordinary people. One justification for this approach is that it provides an opportunity to study how persons and sociocultural worlds mutually constitute each other. It follows that “mind” and “culture”, both of which are fundamental and important concepts in contemporary research about self and society, are not static entities but are part of a social reality that is deployed in moment-to-moment interactions. This perspective is derived from Linguistic Anthropology, which has developed as one of four field approaches to anthropology. Based on this perspective, this course aims to explore concepts of mind and culture. Thus, after introducing this increasingly popular domain of anthropology and its theoretical background, I will reconsider several spheres of social life in which mind and culture intersect (e.g., social cognition, understanding others, socialization and child development, language and communication, and emotion) based on a micro-analysis of everyday interactions in several societies in which I have conducted field research (e.g., Japan, the US, Botswana, and Namibia). | ||
| Course Goals | In this course, we will develop the above areas of interest by analyzing selected domains of everyday life based on various ethnographic materials. | ||
| Schedule and Contents |
TOPICS 1. Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology (weeks 1-2) 2. Theory (weeks 3-4) 3. Social Cognition (weeks 5-6) 4. Understanding Others (weeks 7-8) 5. Socialization and Child Development (weeks 9-10) 6. Language and Communication (weeks 11-12) 7. Emotion (weeks 13-14) 8. Due of End-of-term Paper (week 15) 9. Feedback (week 16) |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy |
Grades will be based on the following: (1) Class attendance and active participation, 40% (2) Two reports, 40% (3) End-of-term paper, 20% |
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| Course Requirements | None | ||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) |
Students will be required to submit two reports, one at the beginning and one during the middle of the course. Details about these reports will be provided in class. Additionally, at the end of the term, students will be required to submit a paper (minimum of 2000 words, printed on A4 sheets) that discusses an aspect of everyday interactions related to the period covered in class. All sources of information (e.g., books, articles, etc.) must be cited appropriately in the paper. |
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| References, etc. |
相互行為の人類学 : 「心」と「文化」が出会う場所, 高田 明, (新曜社), ISBN:9784788516076
For Japanese students, in order to facilitate the active participation in the class, I recommend to read the above book, which is highly relevant to the lecture contents and is written in Japanese. |
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