Project MUST be based on your firsthand observations of gender-based behavior (consult with instructor on this); plan a 15-minute oral class presentation plus a full written version (2000 words or more) including published sources you consult for comparative material.

GOALS of the course: To understand history of gender concepts in Western society and compare these with concepts in several non-Western societies; to better understand and deal with demands and expectations in our contemporary society.

This course will explore how the study of gender challenges archaeological culture histories, impacts methods, and impacts theoretical issues. We will spend most of our time looking for the role of gender in various culture areas histories, technological developments, archaeological classifications, and the practice of archaeology. You will learn how to formulate research questions. You will also learn something about the careers of several women archaeologists.

Grades will be based on class attendance, participation, reading quizzes, a 6-8 page paper on one of the following topics: the careers of one or two women archaeologists, or gender and some specific archaeological problem, or a discussion of two relevant books.

Feb. 19  What is archaeology, what is gender, what are we going to do

Feb. 21  Textbook study

Feb. 26  Women in the Past--discuss Conkey and Spector article (#3)

Feb. 28  Where is gender in the evolution of humans? (#7)

Mar. 12  Where are women in the classification tools of archaeology?

         pre-pottery cultures, pottery cultures; lithic sequences, etc.

Mar. 14  Information about women through skeletal analysis (#6)

Mar. 19  Where are women in faunal analysis--OFT, diets, procurement (#2 part 1)

Mar. 21  Where are women in the Archaic of the Eastern US, (#2 part 2)

Mar. 26  Where are women in Aztec society? (#1)

Mar. 28  Women Professionals (#4)

#3 Conkey, Margaret and Janet Spector 1984. Archaeology and the Study of Gender. In Advances in
Archaeological Method and Theory Vol 7, edited by Michael Schiffer, pp. 1-38. Academic Press,
Orlando.

#4 Gero, Joan 1985. Socio-Politics and the Woman-at-Home Ideology. American Antiquity 50(2):342-350.

#5 Gero, Joan 1991. Genderlithics: Women's Role in Stone Tool Production. In Engendering
Archaeology, edited by Joan Gero and Margaret Conkey, pp. 163-193. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

#6 Rothschild, Nan 1979. Mortuary Behavior and Social Organization at Indian Knoll and Dickson
Mounds. American Antiquity 44:658-675.

#7 Zihlman, Adrienne 1989. Woman the Gatherer: The Role of Women in Early Hominid Evolution. In Gender and Anthropology, edited by Sandra Morgen, pp. 21-40.

Structure: The course will consist of lectures and discussions. There also will be one or two laboratories.

Course requirements: Students will be graded on the following:
A mid-term examination (30%), two short papers (20%) and one major research paper (20pp. in length) on a selected topic (50%).

Syllabus: The following topics will be covered:
I. Introduction- Historical perspective on the development of gender studies in anthropology.

II. Biological and social bases of gender differences. This segment of the course will examine the biological and social bases of gender roles and status differences.
1. Primate behavior and the emergence of culture
2. Males and females as shapers of human evolution
3. Biological and social bases of gender roles and status differences
4. Female reproductive ecology
5. Reorganization of labor in early hunter/gatherer societies in the Upper Paleolithic.

III. Technological and Social Transformations. In this segment we will examine several significant social and economic transformations in prehistory.
1. Technological changes and sedentary communities
2. Origins of agriculture, demography and paleodemography
3. Development of craft specialization, technical innovations, occupational specialization
4. Emergence of state level societies; methodological issues in archaeological and ethnohistorical interpretations.
5. Relationship of gender and power to production and social life.

IV. Gender in the Long-term Historical Processes. In this segment we will examine several case studies known from the proto-historical and historical record. These studies have special significance to archaeologists who typically study long-term historical processes normally outside of the concerns of cultural anthropology.
1. Ancient Mesopotamia (the economic and social activities of naditu women in Old Babylonian Nippur and Sippar)
2. Medieval western Europe (women's religious responses--a comparison of male and female writings and gender-related symbol using during the 12th through 16th centuries.)

Reading List: The following will be required:

Gero, Joan and M. Conkey
1991 Engendering Archaeology. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell Ltd.

Moore, Henrietta
1988 Feminism and Anthropology. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.

Morgen, Sandra
1989 Gender and Anthropology: Critical Reviews for Research and Teaching.
American Anthropological Association. Washington, D.C.

Silverblatt, Irene
1988 Women in States. Annual Review of Anthropology 17.

Dates, Assigned Readings, Discussion topics

Jan 9
M&V 1, handout, S preface, Intro
bio-cultural perspective; sex and gender
social roles, objectivity in science; debates

Jan 16
M&V 2, 3
Human biological differences, sex-linked
traits; genes vs. environment; why 2 sexes.

Jan 23
M&V 4, Callender & Kochems
Cultural classifications of sex and gender;
alternative roles (female husbands, berdache)

Jan 30
M&V 5; McGrew
Non-human primates: biological & social
Feb 6
M&V 6; Zihlman, Fedigan
Human evol. & gender roles: the first families

Feb 13
Ehrenberg 1, 2
archaeological evidence, models, controversy

Feb 20
M&V 7; S 1
Hunting/gathering: sex & gender; ethno data

Feb 27
Griffin & Griffin
Hunting and gathering

Mar 6
M&V 8, Mead all, S 2
Horticultural societies

Mar 13
Horticultural societies

Mar 27
M&V 9; S 3-6
Agricultural societies

Apr 3
M&V 10; S 7, epilog
Pastoral societies; the industrial West

Apr 10
S 8, 9
Different theoretical perspectives