The world’s cultural diversity is most vividly and dynamically displayed through ritual and festival. Ritual is anything but superfluous; rather, some of the most important work of culture is accomplished through the performance of ritual. Through cross-cultural comparison, by way of readings and films, we explore the following dimensions of ritual: symbols, embodiment, emotion, discipline, contestation of tradition and authenticity, and the orchestration of birth, childhood socialization, gender, maturation, marriage, community, hierarchy, world renewal, and death. Written expression is enhanced through drafting, revision, and peer review.

What does it mean to be a region forged and defined by conquest? “Latin America” is a construct—a term referring to a vast region of the western hemisphere colonized by speakers of Latin-derived languages (including Spanish, Portuguese, and French). In this context, culture is political and politics are cultural. Throughout what is now called Latin America and the Caribbean, the cultural practices of Indigenous and African peoples became the justification for the imposition of European rule, territorial expansion, enslavement, the extraction of labor and natural resources, Christian evangelization, and the racialized legal frameworks that facilitated it all. This course traces these historical processes and examines present-day legacies of colonialism, including ethnic inequalities, colorism, economic vulnerability, patriarchal relations, and social unrest. We consider, as well, the agency of people of Indigenous and African descent as they pursued survival with tactics ranging from acquiescence and strategic passing to creative blending to outright defiance, resistance, and rebellion. Throughout, we look at how art, music, dance, literature, and religion have engaged critically with the forces of fascism, revolution, socialism, dictatorship, neo-imperialism, and globalization.

"Until the lions have their storytellers, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter," wrote Ngugi wa Thiong'o. In a core line of inquiry, historical anthropologists have traced the expansion of empires and cultural transformations under colonial pressures. Such investigations yield theoretical insights into the dynamics of systems and agency; power, hegemony, acquiescence, and resistance; racialization and the colonial construction of difference; capital accumulation; and the ways in which conventional anthropological and historical approaches have mirrored and abetted empire. Archives typically represent the perspectives of the colonizers. Any effort to grasp the experiences and perspectives of the colonized, therefore, must critically engage with the archive and seek sources beyond institutional texts. Storytelling, visual arts, and song are rich repositories of indigenous, alternative, and counterhegemonic histories and visions of time and prophecy. In this course, students have hands-on opportunities to access and analyze digitized and published primary sources and we discuss the ethical responsibilities of those who seek to represent the past.

This is the first course of a two-semester Scholar's Thesis sequence in anthropology, in which students will conduct an original research project. In this first course, working with a thesis advisor, students will formulate a research question, conduct a literature review, prepare the research design, write a research proposal, and begin data collection, following the conventions of cultural anthropology or archaeology.