Assignments are due every Thursday. Unless you can impress me with a good explanation, an assignment that is turned in late will be treated as the assignment for the following week. That is, you will have missed a week. You are allowed to miss two weeks’ assignments in the course of the semester and still receive credit for the class.
As assignment options proliferate, you can do any assignment you like from a previous week, as long as you haven’t done it already.
The thing to remember is to complete an assignment for every week. If you’ve received permission to turn in one week’s assignment late, it still only counts for that past week. You’ll need to turn in a different assignment for the current week.
Spring Semester
Assignment 1: Due January 12
Read “Ocean Power,” by the anthropologist Ruth Underhill. It is a chapter from her book Singing for Power. You can find it here.
After reading it once, go back and write a summary of it. What is she describing? Who are the participants? What is special about what they are doing? How and why are they doing it? (These questions are just suggestions. You may find more or different things you think are important in the reading.)
I’m not looking for your reaction to the reading — this is an exercise in careful reading and careful writing.
Finished product — about a paragraph, but well written and proofread.
Assignment 2: Due January 19
This assignment has several parts. I’m asking you to (1) carefully read all the quoted material (2) look at some photographs on-line (3) study and think about the printed out picture (4) do some coloring and (5) answer a question at the end.
Here is a line drawing based on the carved tomb lid of Pacal the Great, a Mayan king who ruled Palenque from 615 (when he was twelve) until 683. Print it out as close to filling an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper as possible — at least. Or you can wait until Tuesday when I’ll have copies at school.
Here is the tomb lid in situ: http://www.delange.org/PalenqueTomb/PalenqueTomb.htm This webpage is from Eve & George DeLange’s travel diary, whoever they are.
Read the first three descriptions of what’s going on in this picture, according to archeologists.
Study the picture and make as much sense of it as you can. Use your own wits, use the three passages, and if you like use any additional research you want to do. Then color the picture in a way that will help clarify what you see in it. For example, if you think something is a tree, you could color its leaves green and its trunk brown. You don’t have to color everything. In fact, it will probably be easier to understand the picture if parts are left out. This should be a fun assignment that you will enjoy doing carefully. You may prefer coloring an 11 x 17 xerox.
I’m not asking you to come to any conclusions about the correct interpretation, but it is worthwhile to remind ourselves that we don’t have to accept an explanation simply because it has been given by a teacher or a scientist. Nor should we reject an explanation just because it has come from a teacher or a scientist. Here’s what I do want you to write:
If you did want to reach a conclusion about which interpretation is correct (that is, I, II, and II on one side and IV and V on the other), what are some things you would want to know more about ? What other evidence would you look for ? What what questions would you ask ? Another way to look at this, if you wanted to argue that one interpretation or the other was correct, what extra information would you like to have to support your argument?
Assignment 3: Due February 2
I invite you to branch out! Explore a topic that that intrigues you, read a relevant book, do something that you can then share with the class. Or — Choose one of the following.
1. The musical instrument challenge. Using simple materials you can easily find around you, make a musical instrument that will play at least five notes. Bring it to class and play us a tune.
For this assignment, I am not limiting you to naturally occurring materials (like, say, agave or gourds), so you can use the detritus of modern civilization if you choose. Note – all your materials must be simple (no bringing in a “found” harmonica).
2. Using these images of Mayan gods, create a story book, comic book, or series of gag strips. What I mean is, print them out, cut them out, xerox them if you need multiple copies, and glue them in place in your book. Color them. Add speech balloons or captions. You can make up your own story or you can do a little research and find a Mayan story to tell. You could print out Mayan scenery for backgrounds! I will have copies of these images (faces both directions, so they can talk to each other) at school on Tuesday. If you want to refer back to the story of Xbalanque and Hunapuh that I read to you in class for inspiration, you can find a link to it under the Assignment 4 options.
3. Eat your gruel. As I’ve discussed in class, a mixture of coarsely ground grain and liquid — of various consistencies — shows up as a staple in many cultures. For example, Chona describes her mother’s wild seed porridge in “Autobiography of Chona, a Papago Woman”; the K!ung bickered over mealie meal in “N!ai: The Story of a K!ung Woman”; the ancient Mayans took lumps of fermented cornmeal into the fields for their mid-day meals; I read you a description of Tibetan tsampa in class.
For this assignment, do some research and find a detailed enough description or a recipe for a traditional mixture of this sort to make some for yourself. If you like, bring some in to share.
In addition to eating your gruel, write a short paper about it. What did you make? What region of the world, culture, historical period, etc. is it from ? Provide instructions on how to make it and a description of its taste. Where did you get your information? How can you be sure your information was reliable? What aspects of the preparation are not authentic?
Assignment 4: Due February 9
Choose one of the following, or one of the preceding assignments you haven’t already done. Note – now that Robert has argued that he can play found objects by hitting whatever is nearby, no one else can use this idea.
1. Read Jared Diamond’s theory about the collapse of Mayan civilization in his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Turn in a list of his theories as to why Mayan civilization collapsed. For each theory, list the facts he uses to support it.
You can find the entire book Collapse online here . The chapter about the Mayans goes from page 166 to 186. There will also be a copy of the book at school or you can find it in most libraries. In the book, the chapter about Mayans goes from page 157 to 177. Note – Don’t print the whole book out – especially if you are using the school printer! It is over 500 pages long. Print only pages 166 to 186 if you must.
This is fairly dense reading. You will be able to follow it better if you keep your mind on the written portion of this assignment as you read.
2. Read the unabridged story of Xbalanque and Hunapuh and the Lords of Xibalba. When I read it to you during class, I cut out some pretty good parts. This link takes you to Chapter One of Part Two of the Popul Vuh. Read the entire Part Two, which is 14 chapters long. Don’t get bogged down by confusing parts; don’t read the footnotes unless you want to. Turn in answers to the following questions: what happened to Hunbatz and Hunchouen? Why don’t we know what toads eat? What happened to the two brothers at the end?
3. Watch the movie Apocalypto. This is an R rated movie, so judge for yourself if you need to talk to your parents and get their ok ahead of time. We have a wide range of ages in the class and probably a wide range of family policies about movie watching. Read this article– Orcs in Loincloths– for the opinion of a Mayanist about the movie. Write a thoughtful, well-written paragraph about what, as an Anthropology student, you gained from watching the movie.
Assignment 5: due February 16
To begin to get an understanding of Hindu beliefs, please explain the following terms. You may be able to rely entirely on my February 14 lecture or you may need to do supplemental research. The purpose of this homework is to help you get familiar with these concepts; relying on a dictionary definition won’t do that by itself.
(Be aware that these words are often defined differently in different eras, religions, or sects, so for this purpose you are more interested in understanding their general meaning.)
Cutting and pasting is forbidden. You must use your own words.
Brahman
Samsara
Varna or Varm system
Caste system
Karma
Dharma
Assignment 6: No school on February 23 because of Rodeo Days, so check back for the assignment that’ll be due March 1.
