Exercises

Exercise 1: Visual Self-Analysis

In order to understand other people and other cultures, it's certainly useful to have an idea of what we project to the world--and to be able to discuss how that jibes with how others see us. This exercise will also introduce each student to the rest of the class, so when you think about the images you want to include, be sure that they "say" something that gives us an idea of who you think you are.

Procedure/method: Take or gather a group of digital photographs (or digitized copies of old photos) that reflect you and your life; edit them if you wish, and then select five of these to present to the class as a slide show (Adobe, PowerPoint, etc.). If you can do no more than take a few phone camera shots, that's fine--but do put them into a format that can be shown in class. Save your slide show on a flash drive in PC format (that's what we've got in the classroom; sorry). The idea is to see if you can tell us something about yourself using a few photos. Feel free to use old stuff, too--pictures of you as a kid, prom pictures--whatever; but select only five final entries from the group. Don't worry about a cute slide show--just use a black background with no text or animations.

This exercise will provide the foundation for class week 2. It's worth points (5), and you'll earn at least three no matter what the show looks like. More points can be earned for thoughtful selection and storytelling capability. That is, photos that reflect solid consideration of principles we discuss week 1, and that deliver meaningful information will earn the full five points.

Your fellow students will be asked to comment briefly on each presentation, and the comments will be discussed week 3, and these will help me determine how many points each collection of photos is worth.

Points: 10
Due: Week 2

Exercise 2: Ethnographic Analogy (Experimental Archaeology)

This assignment is due by the end of class week 5, but may be attempted at any point after week 1.

The purpose of this exercise is to help students understand the relationship between material evidence and interpretation. The exercise has been adapted from one designed by John Kantner at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Although it is not specifically visual in nature, it emphasizes the relationship between material culture and the archaeological record--both subjects of visual anthropology. It also asks you to think critically and analytically about human behavior, and should help you complete your final project. This and your project proposal, along with your record of class participation, will comprise your midterm grade.

Archaeologists use three fundamental assumptions to reconstruct the dynamic behaviors of the past from the static objects found in the archaeological record:

Once the components of the archaeological record ceased to be affected by the cultural system that created them, a static condition was achieved that has since been affected by natural processes and cultural behaviors unrelated to the initial formation of the record.

The archaeological record itself is a static phenomenon that exists only in the present.

At any other moment in time, the actual manifestation of this record may be different than what you see right now.

To reconstruct past dynamic behaviors, we must understand the relationship between the static record and the behaviors that created it. Research tries to address the assumptions listed above by examining the factors that create and influence the relationship between the archaeological record and the original dynamic behaviors. This research includes ethnographic analogy, ethnoarchaeology, and experimental archaeology. For this exercise, you are to do a little ethnographic analogy and ethnoarchaeology.

Find some cultural activity that you can observe for at least fifteen minutes, and answer the questions that follow. Restrict your observation to such activities as religious rituals, live performances (music, dance, theater), and conversations in bars or coffeehouses (remember that the Scottish Enlightenment probably would not have taken place and capitalism not invented were it not for Scottish pubs, and the coffeehouse was a center for intellectual activity in France and Austria at the turn of the nineteenth century; but gossiping and date-mongering aren't really appropriate for this exercise. If you're going to eavesdrop on a discussion, make sure it has something to do with what we're studying in this class). The idea is to judge the possible cultural impact of a common activity, and to assess its material impact on the archaeological record.

1. What is the activity you are observing? Is it unique to our culture, or would you expect similar activities in other cultures? Do you think the behaviors you are observing are "universal" (i.e., found in all societies throughout human history)?

2. Are there any material items involved in the activity? What would the "archaeological record" from this activity look like? How long would this record last? Are there any behaviors involved in the activity that would not be represented in the archaeological record?

3. If you were an archaeologist at some time in the future, what material items would you find remaining from the activity? Remember to consider what people take away with them from a site; do not assume that everything you see would be left for an archaeologist in the future to discover. Do you think you could reconstruct the original behaviors (i.e., the activity you observed) from the material remains? What analogies would you need to make?

4. Would you have an easier time reconstructing the activity if the same activity occurred in the same place over a long period of time? Why?

5. As an archaeologist in the future, could you use experimental archaeology (i.e., set up conditions in which you could tentatively reconstruct possible scenarios) to help you interpret the remains of the activity?

6. How would using the tools of visual anthropology affect the way in which you conduct this experiment? For example, how would photographing or filming the activity affect your interpretation, or the activity itself? What if you were to sketch it instead of simply observing it?

Keep notes while you observe the chosen activity. Draw a map of the site you observe, indicating the objects you think would help archaeologists reconstruct the activity. If possible and appropriate, make drawings or take photographs if you think visual references would be helpful. Organize and type your notes, arranged by question. Then summarize your interpretation of the behavior you have observed, its relationship with current cultural experience (how does it reflect the cultural community in which you live?), and its possible impact on how future archaeologists might interpret early 21st century culture. Do not assume that these archaeologists will be ignorant of our cultural context, however, any more than we are completely ignorant of any of the cultures we are exploring in this class or have in other classes. Remember, too, that we have a variety of ways in which we may make it easier for our descendents to understand us, because we have many more (and possibly more enduring) media through which we can convey our own understanding of who we are.

Submit your typed notes and your conclusions before the end of class week 5. Answer the questions in complete sentences, using appropriate grammar, syntax, and spelling. You may augment your written work with any drawings, photographs, or other documentation you think appropriate (do not, however, hand me a box of artifacts or "samples" of anything). Please use a cover sheet that lists your name, the course, the date, and a title for your observation/analysis (something more creative than "analogy exercise").

Some helpful links:

Archaeology Glossary Project: Ethnoarchaeology: for those of who who really, really, really need a dictionary definition.

Minnesota State University's "EMuseum" has a small but informative section on ethnoarchaeology.

Doing Ethnography: a variation on the kind of assignment I'm asking you to do, this is from an Introduction to Anthropology course at the University of New Mexico, taught by Dr. Ariane Pinson. She does a superb job of outlining the procedures necessary to help us understand the material and cultural impact of human activities. The difficulty some researchers (and universities) have in separating the human and social sciences becomes apparent when we examine how closely the methodologies coincide.

Points: 10
Due: Week 5

Exercise 3: Film Analysis

This exercise explores what we can learn about cultures through observation.

Using your notes from the films N!ai: The Story of a !Kung Woman, The Hunters, and Rivers of Sand, as well as linked resources, describe and compare the roles of men and women among the Bushmen and the Hamar.

A chart will do nicely for this exercise, but beside each role/behavior you list for each gender and in each culture, note briefly the evidence you’re using. For example, if you assign “teaching children to hunt” as a male role in either or both of these groups, note where you saw or read about this. Be as thorough and as detailed as you can. Be prepared to discuss the results of this exercise in class week 7.

When thinking about gender roles, consider the following passages from Clifford Geertz’s essay, “Thick Description.”

The aim of anthropology is the enlargement of the universe of human discourse . . . As interworked systems of construable signs (what, ignoring provincial usages, I would call symbols), culture is not a power, something which social events, behaviors, institutions, or processes can be causally attributed; it is a context, something within which they can be intelligibly—that is, thickly—described.

Understanding a people’s culture exposes their normalness without reducing their particularity. . . . It renders them accessible: setting them in the frame of their own banalities, it dissolves their opacity. (Geertz, “Thick Description,” section IV)

Thick description amounts to constructing the richest possible “story” of the culture under consideration, which, in turn, allows for the clearest (perhaps fairest) interpretation of that culture’s lifeways. One way to consider Geertz’s comments is to compare the way N!ai and the Afrikaans preacher interpret the story he tells in his sermon.

Keep the following in mind: