Anthropology 105H - Language,Culture&Comm Hons
Spring
2019
01
4.00
Ge Jian
TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
UMass Amherst
22210
Elm Room 228
gjian@umass.edu
The course starts with a basic understanding of the structure of language and its origins, but focus mostly on the socio-cultural significance of language by addressing such questions as: To what extent does language shape our thoughts? Do all children follow the same language acquisition patterns within a society or across cultures? What are the differences between language and dialect? How do people do things with language, and how does this vary across cultures? How does language reinforce or challenge social stratification and inequalities? Why is Ebonics controversial? Do we need English-Only laws in the United States? Should we do anything about disappearing languages? Is English going to be the world language? And most important of all, how is language implicated in struggles for power, and what is its role in the construction of nations, and racial and gender identities?
This course will answer all these questions from the perspective of linguistic anthropology, the discipline that focus on the intersections of language, culture and society, with the help of other disciplines of socio-linguistics, communication studies, cultural studies and discourse analysis. The goal of the course is to provide the students with a history of the development of linguistic anthropology, its theoretical and methodological issues, and case studies that illustrate the understandings of language in socio-cultural contexts and how linguists and anthropologists engage real world issues. It aims to address commonly held misconceptions about language as well as important issues such as appreciation of diversity, multiculturalism, language policies, ethics and social justice. Students will also practice ethnographic methods through a hands-on research project on a topic of their own choice under the instructor?s guidance. (Gen. Ed. SB, DG)
This course will answer all these questions from the perspective of linguistic anthropology, the discipline that focus on the intersections of language, culture and society, with the help of other disciplines of socio-linguistics, communication studies, cultural studies and discourse analysis. The goal of the course is to provide the students with a history of the development of linguistic anthropology, its theoretical and methodological issues, and case studies that illustrate the understandings of language in socio-cultural contexts and how linguists and anthropologists engage real world issues. It aims to address commonly held misconceptions about language as well as important issues such as appreciation of diversity, multiculturalism, language policies, ethics and social justice. Students will also practice ethnographic methods through a hands-on research project on a topic of their own choice under the instructor?s guidance. (Gen. Ed. SB, DG)
Open to Commonwealth Honors College Students only.