Comments on: Syllabi-o-rama!

By: Ariel W.

Ariel W. — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:56:31 +0000

The MMORPG class sounds fascinating, one I wish I’d taken during my college courses. I was recently inducted into World of Warcraft addiction and with my background in anthropology was quite amazed at the sense of community, enmity, and overall complexity of the groups within the game.
Wondered if there were studies available to discuss the phenomenon. Especially considering World of Warcraft alone has over 9 million subscribers worldwide currently.
Now I have a reading list to work through. :)
I would love to hear more at the end of the term about some of the class’s observations and discussions.

Report this comment

By: Rex

Rex — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:29:45 +0000

Sorry James I didn’t mean to come across as cross, its just that the issue is complex here (and discussed in most writing on first contact), and often embroiled in postcolonial politics as well. Porgera district was contacted in 38, derestricted (‘pacified’) in 62 or so, there was independence in 75 — so the colonial period in Porgera lasted only a dozen years or so and was not exactly, how shall I put it, free from incidents. And of course things have not exactly calmed down there since then.

Report this comment

By: James Battle

James Battle — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:20:08 +0000

Rex,

My apologies for the lack of clarity in my response. What I should have said was that the difference between pre-colonial violence and post-colonial peace was one of the arguments of the book, not mine. Of course I don’t believe it. I had trouble with the argument when I read the book as a master’s student, and I still do. Thanks for the needed correction.

Report this comment

By: Rex

Rex — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:32:04 +0000

I know _Like People You See In A Dream_ quite well, but I didn’t include it because there was no time in the course. Our focus is on the Taylor-Black patrol (with a prelude about the Leahys). As for your description of pre-colonial violence and post-colonial peace — you don’t honestly believe that do you?

Report this comment

By: James Battle

James Battle — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:07:21 +0000

I’m surprised that you didn’t include Crittenden and Schiefflin’s Like People You See in a Dream: Stories of First Contact in Six Papuan Societies, a work that poses questions about violence among indigenous groups in contrast with violence perpetrated by outsiders, namely Europeans. Although Papuan societies’ members lived in constant fear of ongoing raids and killing by other Papuan groups, European violence, even when it created lasting peace, was vehemently resented.

However, given the historical position of anthropology at the University of Hawai’i, vis a vis the Hawaiian Studies Department, I can see how such an ethnography could be somewhat politically unpalatable.

I wonder what others have to say.

Report this comment

By: Kerim

Kerim — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:52:46 +0000

I’m working on my syllabi right now, but you can find all my courses on my recently redesigned homepage:

http://kerim.oxus.net/teaching/

Report this comment

By: Fuji

Fuji — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:54:33 +0000

I’m teaching a seminar on Theory in Anthropology, a seminar on Popular Culture, and a laboratory course on Visual Anthropology (producing their own ethnographic film). We start next Monday, so I don’t have final versions of the syllabi yet! You can find them on my website, probably later this week.
Here are my old syllabi; if you look at the links in the left column, you should be able to find a pdf version.

Report this comment