The methodological, political, and ethical issues of participant observation. Students read and discuss classical examples of participant-observation research. Each student conducts a participant-observation field research study and presents a preliminary version of the results to the seminar before submission of the written report. Students examine both the historical and structural factors that have molded the construction of poverty and the strategies that people use to survive it. Attention is also given to welfare reform and its impact on populations of color and battered women.
Readings consider new social theories of sexuality.
An overview of changes in the social meaning of sexuality in the U.S. that have occurred during the past several hundred years. This allows for a closer analysis of changes in sexual meanings during the last half of the 20th century. An introduction to the study of East Africa through language lessons in Swahili and readings in classical Swahili poetry, coastal history, and ethnographies. Conversational lessons in Swahili and readings provide further background on historical coastal society. Course themes include questions of representation and cultural production, gender issues, and the relationship between art and politics.