Social and Cultural Anthropology, September 8

The first anthropological text we will use is Joe Kane's Savages. You will need to purchase this book for class, but I hope that this will be the only text you need to purchase throughout the year. You can find it at Powell's, Amazon, Random House, and other mainstream book stores. You do not need a hardback version, and used copies are highly recommended.

This book is not written by an anthropologist but a journalist in 1995. It is from this perspective we will begin to look at how "The Other" is perceived by anthropologists and non-anthropologists. "The Other" is a term many contemporary anthropologists criticize past anthropologists of defining in their studies of people "other" than Western European peoples. The use of the word "savages" and other ways of referring to people not like "ourselves" will be at the forefront of our discussion. What does "native" imply to you? What kind of person do you think of in terms when you hear/read "savage", "primitive", "indigenous" or "native"? This is where the culture of language begins to be the query of our focus on an indigenous culture of South America.

To read book reviews of Joe Kane's book, I suggest you begin with Kathleen O'Neill's review in Whole Earth Review and Cheryl Musch's review from Native Web.

History of the Americas, September 8

First assignment for IB History of the Americas (H.o.t.A.): Please pick up and read the first chapter of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. This text resource will be one of the narrative history books we will use throughout the year. Any used copy is fine, however, you will need your own copy to highlight and mark passages. If you know someone from last year's H.o.t.A. class, you could use their book, too.

Howard Zinn is one of the historians we will use to look at the way in which history is written. His book includes historical "facts" similar to the traditional history textbooks you may be accustomed to, but in its narrative form, you should recognize and identify the differences between these texts as well as the ways in which history, particularly, US history, is retold. Zinn is biased in his explanations of US history, but hopefully you will learn that most history IS biased in some way, and analyze WHY history is biased.

In reading the first chapter, "Columbus, the Indians and Human Progress," consider what you have previously learned about the settling of the US and the relationship between indigenous peoples and early colonists to the version of history retold by Zinn. What are the differences? What perspective(s) have you learned about the relationship between indigenous peoples and European colonizers? How have indigenous peoples been portrayed in films (Consider Disney's portrayals in Peter Pan, Pocahontas, etc.), books, or even American myths? What do you know about the indigenous peoples of the Northwest or the Willamette Valley? All of these questions and a discussion of chapter 1 will be addressed in our first few days of school.