Spring 2018 - SA 332 D100
The Anthropology of Childhood (A) (4)
Class Number: 7771
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Jan 3 – Apr 10, 2018: Mon, 2:30–4:20 p.m.
BurnabyJan 3 – Apr 10, 2018: Wed, 2:30–4:20 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Pamela Stern
pstern@sfu.ca
1 778 782-4677
Office: AQ 5066
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Prerequisites:
SA 101 or 201W.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
A cross-cultural examination of the social and cultural relations that shape childhood in different settings. Topics to be considered could include: the social definition of childhood and child rearing; the institutional arrangements established for children and youth and the impact that these have on children, families, and society; the social construction of child and youth cultures.
COURSE DETAILS:
What is the nature of childhood? How do children experience their worlds? Are there universals in the ways that children’s lives unfold? If so, what accounts for the similarities? Or are there unique, culturally specific childhoods? What accounts for these differences?
In this course we will employ anthropological tools to examine the social, cultural, ideological, political, and economic lives of children and youth. Taking a life course approach, we will consider the ways that children in diverse societies participate in constructing their lives. We will explore the lives of children in kin groups, as workers, as physically and intellectually developing individuals, as students, as citizens. We will consider how race, class, gender, citizenship, family, and migration status inform children’s subjectivities and their opportunities. Concerns about risk and precarity encourage us to consider the politics of childhood and to consider whether a notion of universal rights for children advances the security of children as individuals and collectively. Throughout the course we will think critically about childhood as an aspect of the human life course and as an analytical category. Active student participation is required. Classes will consist of lectures, discussions, group work, exercises and films.
Grading
- Bi-weekly reading responses 30%
- Individual or group term project 25%
- Term essay 30%
- Attendance and constructive participation 15%
NOTES:
Grading
Where a final exam is scheduled and you do not write the exam or withdraw from the course before the deadline date, you will be assigned an N grade. Unless otherwise specified on the course outline, all graded assignments in this course must be completed for a final grade other than N to be assigned.
Academic Dishonesty and Misconduct Policy
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology follows SFU policy in relation to grading practices, grade appeals (Policy T 20.01) and academic dishonesty and misconduct procedures (S10.01‐ S10.04). Unless otherwise informed by your instructor in writing, in graded written assignments you must cite the sources you rely on and include a bibliography/list of references, following an instructor-approved citation style. It is the responsibility of students to inform themselves of the content of SFU policies available on the SFU website: http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student.html.
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Briggs, Jean L. (1999). Inuit Morality Play: The Emotional Education of a Three-Year-Old. New Haven: Yale University Press.
ISBN: 978-0300080643
Huberman, Jenny. (2012). Ambivalent Encounters: Childhood, Tourism, and Social Change in Banares, India. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
ISBN: 978-0813554068
Additional journal articles and book chapters will be available through Canvas.
Registrar Notes:
SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS