Kurzus nemzetközi vendég- és részidős hallgatóknak

Kar

Társadalomtudományi Kar

Szervezet

TÁTK Kulturális Antropológia Tanszék

Kód

EKAN120

Cím

Anthropology of Asia

Tervezett félév

Tavaszi

Meghirdetve

2024/25/2

ECTS

2

Nyelv

en

Oktatás célja

General Introduction I shall clarify in the outset that this class is not about “the anthropology of Asia” per se, but more so about developing a critical understanding of what this concept invokes. In the first half of the term we will work together to make sense of the historical dynamics that has led to an understanding of cultures that are pinned onto maps, deconstructing the naturalization of the isomorphism among space, culture and people - with casual references to “Asia”. Beside developing this critical understanding, the other purpose of the course is to help you to grow academically. Assuming that some of you do not aim to become an Asia expert, we will try to make connections between your own research interest and their relation to Asia. To do so, we will design the second half of the course based on the topics you proposed on our first class, and see how certain concepts, ideas or practices work within specific places and times in the geographical realms of Asia. These classes are designated to discuss more empirical articles and provide room for student presentations. The last class will be designated to draw a common conclusion about the merits and the pitfalls of thinking along “the anthropology of Asia” based on the theoretical introduction of the first half of the course complemented by the more empirical experiences of the second.

Tantárgy tartalma

Week 0 As this will be the first time we meet, I would like everybody to introduce him or herself to the class, with a special focus on your research interest. Since all of you are in the year of submitting your thesis, this would be the occasion when we highlight a component of your own research interest that should be developed during our work together. Please send me an email that briefly summarizes your research topic by the previous day, 25 September. I would also like you to think about the following question: in your opinion, does it make any sense to talk about the anthropology of Asia? If so, what is it? Week 1 - Mapping Cultures and the Anthropology of Asia Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson, “Beyond ‘Culture’: Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference,” Cultural Anthropology 7, no. 1 (1992): 6–23. Lila Abu-Lughod, “‘Writing against Culture,’” The Cultural Geography Reader , March 3, 2008, 62–71 Week 2 - Imagined Communities Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism , Rev. ed (London ; New York: Verso, 2006). Introduction Andreas Wimmer and Nina Glick Schiller, “Methodological Nationalism and beyond: Nation–State Building, Migration and the Social Sciences,” Global Networks 2, no. 4 (2002): 301–334. Week 3 - Transnationalism Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch, and Cristina Szanton Blanc, “From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration,” Anthropological Quarterly 68, no. 1 (January 1995): 48 Peggy Levitt and Nina Glick Schiller, “Conceptualizing Simultaneity: A Transnational Social Field Perspective on Society,” International Migration Review 38, no. 3 (February 23, 2006): 1002–39 Week 4 - Beyond Ethnicity Rogers Brubaker, “Ethnicity without Groups,” European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie 43, no. 2 (August 2002): 163–89 Richard Jenkins, “Rethinking Ethnicity: Identity, Categorization and Power,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 17, no. 2 (April 1994): 197–223 Week 5 - Orientalism - A one way road? Edward Said, Orientalism , 46-64 (Imaginative Geography and Its Representations: Orientalizing the Oriental) Ien Ang, “Together‐in‐difference: Beyond Diaspora, into Hybridity,” Asian Studies Review 27, no. 2 (June 2003) Week 6 – Toward an anthropology of the global Since this will be our midterm class, I hope by this time we achieve a common understanding and you might have a clearer idea about both the purpose of the course and your own research projects. We will designate this class to conclude the theoretical half of the course and to discuss together each student’s idea about the final paper proposal and schedule the presentations for the upcoming weeks. Michael Burawoy. 2000. “Introduction: Reaching for the Global” Pp.1-40 in Burawoy et al. Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World. California. Appadurai, Arjun (1996), The Production of Locality, in Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press), pp. 178-200 Recommended: Michael Burawoy. 2009. The Extended Case Method: Four Countries, Four Decades, Four Great Transformations and One Theoretical Tradition. California. Conclusions: The ethnography of great transformations. Pp. 245-67. Christopher Bayly. 2004. The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914. Global Connections and Comparisons. Oxford: Blackwell. Introduction. Pp. 1-22.                 Access at https://www.scribd.com/doc/41214420/Birth-of-the-Modern-World Jonathan Xaver Inda and Renato Rosaldo (2008). “Tracking Global Flows”. In the Anthropology of Globalization: a reader. Anna Tsing (2008). “The Global situation”. In the Anthropology of Globalization: a reader. Oxford: Blackwell Marcus, George (1995) Ethnography in/of the World System: The emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 24, (1995), pp. 95-117 Week 7 Chinese beauty pageants Chow, Y. F. (2011). Moving, sensing intersectionality: A case study of Miss China Europe. Signs, 36(2), 411–437. Siu, L. (2005). Queen of the Chinese Colony: Gender, Nation, and Belonging in Diaspora. Anthropological Quarterly, 78(3), 511–542. Recommended: Cohen, C. B., Wilk, R., & Stoeltje, B. (Eds.). (1995). Beauty Queens on the Global Stage: Gender, Contests, and Power (1 edition). Routledge. Introduction Chiou-Ling Yeh, "Politicizing Chinese New Year Festivals: Cold War Politics, Transnational Conflicts, and Chinese America," in Culture and Belonging in Divided Societies: Contestation and Symbolic Landscapes (Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009) Week 9 – social reproduction Fraser, N. (2016, August). Contradictions of Capital and Care. New Left Review. https://newleftreview.org/issues/II100/articles/nancy-fraser-contradictions-of-capital-and-care Caroline Grillot, “The Creation of a Nonexistent Group: Sino-Vietnamese Couples in China’s Borderlands,” Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Cultural Review E-Journal No. 15 (June 2015) http://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-15 Recommended: Mies, M. (1986). Patriarchy and accumulation on a world scale: Women in the international division of labour. Zed. Chapter 6 Parreñas, R. S. (2001). Mothering from a Distance: Emotions, Gender, and Intergenerational Relations in Filipino Transnational Families. Feminist Studies, 27(2), 361–390. Week 8 – gender and pop culture Yaqin, A.. Islamic Barbie: The Politics of Gender and Performativity. In Fashion Theory The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture,  2007. 173-189 Lisa Weems, “Refuting “Refugee Chic”: Transnational Girl(hood)s and the Guerilla Pedagogy of M.I.A.,” Feminist Formations 26:1 (Spring 2014): 115-142. Week 10 - capitalism Chan, Jenny. Forthcoming, Dying for an iPhone: The Labour Struggle of China’s New Working Class Ong, A. 2010 (new edition), Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory women in Malaysia, Chapter 1, 7, 8, 9, conclusions. Recommended: Gowlland, G. (2007). Made in China: women factory workers in a global workplace. Week 11 – colonialism George Steinmetz. 2003. “’The Devil's Handwriting’: Precolonial Discourse, Ethnographic Acuity, and Cross-Identification in German Colonialism” Comparative Studies in Society and History 45, 1: 41-95. A. Blunt, “Imperial geographies of home: British women in India, 1886-1925,” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers NS 24 (1999): 421-440. Recommended: George Steinmetz. 2007. The Devil's Handwriting: Precoloniality and the German Colonial State in Qingdao, Samoa, and Southwest Africa. Chicago. Tarik Jazeel, “Postcolonial Geographies of Privilege: Diaspora Space, The Politics of Personhood and the ‘Sri Lankan Women’s Association in the UK’,” The Institute of British Geographers, 31 (2006), 19–33. Week 12 Gupta, Akhil and Sharma, Aradhana (2006). “Globalization and Postcolonial States”. Current Anthropology 47(2): 277-307. Thomas, Deborah A. and M. Kamari Clarke (2013). “Globalization and Race: Structures of Inequality, New Sovereignties, and Citizenship in a Neoliberal Era”. Annual Review of Anthropology 42:305–25.

Számonkérés és értékelés

Composition of your grade Class participation: 30% Two readings are assigned to each topic, which will form the basis of in class discussion. Readings are proposed to ensure that we speak the same language, therefore you are strongly recommended to read them. This component of your grade ensures that you actively and meaningfully participate in the discussion with your comments, questions or reflections. Given the circumstances, in order to facilitate participation in the online sphere you shall upload one question, one critical assessment and one appraisal (something you find useful in terms of your own work) relating to the articles by each Wednesday night to the online forum. Presentation: 30% You have 15 minutes for presenting the topic and preliminary research as a proposal for your final paper. The purpose of the presentation is to provide an opportunity for facilitating your research project for the final paper. Final paper: 40% You will have to do a small research project. You can choose your topic and method freely, as long as it is related to the issues discussed in the class. You are strongly encouraged to work in line with your thesis. Papers should be 10 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12. You are welcome to discuss your paper with me by appointment. The deadline for proposal abstracts is the 7th of November  , for the submission is the 15th of January.

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