Anthropology 369 The Anthropology of Political Protest and Direct Action

Summer 2012 Instructor: Jennifer Carroll Email: jencarr2@uw.edu Office Hours: Denny 407, 10:00-11:00am M/W and by appointment Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. -Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon So in this case, the question becomes: What sort of social theory would actually be of interest to those who are trying to help bring about a world in which people are free to govern their own affairs? -David Graeber, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology I was at the jail where a lot of protesters were being held and a big crowd of people was chanting 'This Is What Democracy Looks Like!' At first it sounded kind of nice. But then I thought: is this really what democracy looks like? Nobody here looks like me. -Jinee Kim, at the WTO Protests in Seattle

Course Overview Course Description

This course is designed to serve as both a theoretical and a practical introduction to anthropological engagements with direct action and political protest. Students will become familiar with major social theories that have both shaped and been shaped by social movements and direct action. Students will learn how to engage with these theories in order to look critically at direct action approaches to political protest and social dissent. Students will also wrestle with the difficult question of whether anthropology has adequately addressed the issues that direct action raises and what role the discipline may have in its engagements with political unrest and social change. This course is divided into two sections. Module 1 (week 2-week 6) addresses theoretical approaches to protest and direct action. Module 2 (week 7-week 9) addresses particular case studies more closely, and allows an opportunity to put the theories from Module 1 to work in analyzing and understanding the direct action movements that have shaped protest and political dissent in our era.

Texts
Required: Barbara Epstein 1991 Political Protest and Cultural Revolution: Non-Violent Direct Action in the 1970s and 1980s. Berkeley: University of California Press. Franz Fanon 1963 The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.

David Graeber 2004 Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, LLC. David Graeber 2009 Direct Action: An Ethnography. Oakland: AK Press. Doug McAdam 1999[1982] Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency: 1930-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Course Reader* (local print shop- TBA) *All readings for this course are available either in print or online through the UW library system on are available on the Internet. You are not required to purchase the course reader, but if you choose not to purchase it, you are responsible for accessing and reading all assigned materials on your own. Recommended: Some of our course readings come from these books. The selections assigned are available in the course reader, but if you have a strong interest in social theory and social movements, then I highly recommend that you add these books to your personal library. The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition. 1978 Robert C. Tucker, ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. The Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings 1916-1935. 2000 David Forgasc, ed. New York: New York University Press.

Course Assignments and Grading Grading

Course grades will be determined as follows: Five Short Response Papers: 20% (4% each) Class Participation: 25% Final Group Paper: 50% Final Presentation: 5%

Short Response Papers (20% of final grade)

Students are required to submit five short response papers throughout the course of the term. One paper is due each Friday of Module 1, and each prompt will concern the readings for that week. Prompts for all five of these papers will be provided on the course website and via email on the Saturday preceding the Friday when they are due. Students should keep these prompts in mind as they do their readings. Response papers will always be due into the Catalyst drop box at midnight at the end of the days when they are due. They should be submitted in Times New Roman or Ariel 12 point font, have 1 margins on all sides, be double spaced, be titled, and have a heading with the students name, the date. Papers should be submitted in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format ONLY. These papers should be between 600 and 800 words long (about 2-3 pages). Papers shorter than 600 words and longer

than 800 words will not be accepted. Even though these are short papers, they should be wellorganized, properly edited, and thoroughly proofread prior to submission.

Participation (25% of final grade)

Dialog and debate are central to the discipline of anthropology. Satisfactory participation requires students to come to class prepared to discuss all of the readings assigned and to actively engage in discussion about those readings and the topics at hand. Active engagement in discussion does not simply mean talking. Asking questions, active listening, making room for and inviting others to participate, and making other meaningful, if small, contributions to class are all appropriate forms of classroom engagement. Being a part of a class of this size (especially a cultural anthropology class!) requires each of us to recognize that different individuals have different reaction times, different speeds of speech and lengths of conversational pauses. Some students may not be native speakers of English or may process information differently and at different speeds. Some people take a longer time to consider their words, and others sometimes speak without thinking! There is no concrete outline for how a student should participate in class, but everyone is required to make a consistent, concerted effort to actively engage.

Group Paper (50% of final grade)

This project represents students opportunity to put the critical theories and analytical approaches from Module 1 into practice by providing a written critique of the Occupy Wall Street movement that began (in its visible form, at least) in September 2011. Students will be divided into groups of five. Each group will be responsible for designing and authoring a 25-page paper that probes into a particular feature, question, problem concerning the Occupy movement. Possible Group Paper questions include: 1) How are women or minorities represented socially or politically in the Occupy Movement? 2) What narratives and/or what narrative devices are being used to spread the message of the Occupy movement? 3) Does the Occupy movement really have anything to do with ownership? Or citizenship? Or democracy? 4) Are certain groups being silenced within the Occupy movement? Who are they? How do we know they are there? How are they being silenced? 5) Who are the people gathering in the streets for the Occupy movement? How does their background(s) or identity(ies) change things? Shape things? 6) Why are people joining second wave Occupy movements, like Occupy Seattle and Occupy Dallas? What motivates them? Are these other Occupy movements a gathering of individual strangers, or were many of them already networked and/or organized? 7) Who is not showing up or did not show up to support the Occupy protests and why? Part 1 of the paper will be co-authored by all group members. This section will be 10 pages in length (no more, no less). This part of the paper should consist of the following sections: An introduction that clearly defines: o the question that the paper seeks to answer about the movement and the main argument of the paper

o the scope of the paper (what part of the movement will be looked at, which people, which places, and why?) o the major theoretical frameworks that the authors are employing in the paper o the data that is used in the analysis (interviews, mass media, websites, blogs, etc) and why it was chosen. A detailed explanation of the theory that is being used to frame the analysis and arguments in the paper. A brief discussion of the data that is used in the paper. How was it collected? What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses? How is this data useful for answering the major question? An anthropological analysis or critique of that data which attempts to answer the major question posed in the introduction, supports the main argument of the paper, and offers new and interesting insights and/or realizations that in some way deepen our understanding of the social meanings, structures, and processes within the Occupy movement.

Part 2 of the paper will consist of five conclusions, each one written independently by each individual group member. Each students conclusion will be 3 pages in length (no more, no less), which means that Part 2 will be 15 pages long in its entirety. (An exception will be made if, due to class size, there are more or less than five students in a group. A group of 4 will have 12 pages total, a group of 6, 18 pages, etc.) The 3-page conclusion of each group member must: Identify what the author believes to be the most salient points made in the group paper, and explain why these messages, observations, or conclusions are so important. Discuss briefly what questions were left unanswered or areas left unexamined by the theories used in Part 1, and what new kinds of theoretical approaches could be or need to be developed in order to better understand these issues (For example, does our understanding of violence really apply to police brutality? Is there a need to better understand the role that social class plays in the Occupy movement? Do we need to develop better theories about blogging and personal narrative on the Internet? Does our definition of hegemony need to be changed or updated? Etc.). Discuss what he or she thinks the role of anthropology or anthropologists should be in the Occupy movement and/or in social movements and direct action campaigns now and in the future. Each group will submit a single, finalized paper into Catalyst Drop Box. Group Proposals for paper topics will be due on Friday, August 3. Paper Outlines, which describe the structure and content of Part 1 of the paper will be due on Friday, August 10. Group Presentations (described below) will be made in class on Thursday August 16. Final Drafts of the paper will be due on Saturday, August 18.

Final Presentation (5% of final grade)

On the last day of class, students will present the work that they have completed for their final paper in front of the class. Each group should provide handouts for their classmates that outline the topic of their paper, major theoretical frames, and a brief summary of their analysis. Students are encouraged to be creative with these materials. If they wish, students may prepare electronic slideshows for their presentation, which can be emailed to the class list in lieu of designing and printing handouts. Students will provide anonymous feedback for their peers presentations. The goal of this exercise is to provide thoughts, ideas, and constructive criticism that students may find helpful when authoring their final papers. Providing this feedback for others will constitute part of each students presentation requirement and grade.

Extra Credit
Extra credit assignments may be given at the discretion of the instructor. If the instructor specifies a due date for an extra credit assignment, no extensions will be allowed, and the assignment will not be accepted after that date.

Grade Disputes
The University of Washington has procedures in place to handle grading disputes and appeals. This and other information about grading policies can be found online at http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html

Student Expectations Anticipated Absences

If you are unable to come to class due to illness, personal or family emergency, or any other reason, you are responsible for informing the instructor prior to that class period. If you miss class for a reason that was unforeseen (traffic accident, etc.), you are responsible for informing the instructor as to the reason for your absence as soon as possible. It is expected that the instructor will be informed as to the nature of every absence, regardless of the cause. The excusing of absences is at the discretion of the instructor. If you are ill, you must bring a doctors note in order for that absence to be excused.

Classroom Behavior and Preparation

Please be on time for class. If you cannot be on time for class, for whatever reason, please enter class without causing too much of a disturbance. This means enter the classroom quietly and sit in the first available seat. The same goes for those who need to leave class early. Please select a location close to the door of the classroom and leave quietly so as to keep the inevitable disruption to a minimum. By acting in such a manner, you are showing respect to your fellow students and the instructor.

It is expected each student will be prepared for class. Preparation is defined in this course as having read all of the material prior to the class period, cell phones either turned off or put on silent, possession of a functioning writing utensil and something which to write on, and have on their person the relevant textbooks/reading material for the class period. The student can determine the relevant information for the class period by referring to the course schedule, which is available on the class website. Students are welcome to bring laptops to class for note taking and accessing relevant on-line references and course materials. Email checking, chatting, game playing, and web surfing are highly inappropriate uses of class time and are disrespectful to the instructor and the other students in class. Students blatantly misusing technology in the classroom (including cell phones) will be asked to leave and will receive no credit for classroom participation on that day.

Electronic Document Submission via Catalyst Dropbox

Whenever an assignment is submitted as an electronic document, it is the students responsibility to make sure that the file is correct and complete. If an electronic document is submitted and is unreadable or in anyway corrupted, the assignment will be considered incomplete and late penalties will apply until a proper, functional document is submitted. All written assignments should be submitted in .doc or .pdf format. All filenames should reflect the students name and the assignment.

Individual Student Needs and Disability Support

Every student deserves the opportunity learn in the best and most appropriate environment possible. If you have a question, concern, comment, request or other need please come and talk to me in person or send me a detailed e-mail as soon as possible. I can make adjustments or accommodations for individuals or the entire class, but only if I am made aware of them. Students with medically recognized and documented disabilities and who are in need of special accommodation have an obligation to notify the University of their needs. Students in need of accommodation should contact the Office of Disability Resources for Students at 206-543-8924 (Voice) or 206-543-8925 (TTY) You can also find more information online at http://www.washington.edu/students/drs/. If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible

Academic Honesty
I take academic honesty very seriously. When flagrant cheating or plagiarism occurs, it is an insult to me, to the students in this course, and to the guilty student. It is an insult to the time we spend here teaching and learning from each other. Academic instruction, particularly in the liberal arts, is unique in its focus on intellectual fluency and collaborative effort rather than taskbased competition and self-promotion. Your college education does not consist of a collection of hoops that you need to get through. This course requires you to engage with course materials, with other students, with the instructor, and with the greater academic community in a productive

and innovative fashion. Academic dishonesty defeats the purposes of this class and of this institution, and it will not be tolerated. Especially in a discipline that requires you to be able to engage with the ideas of others and to cite multiple unique sources, plagiarism is an incredibly self-defeating activity. Plagiarism is, at the very least, grounds for a zero grade for that assignment. If a student is suspected of deliberate plagiarism on an assignment, that student will be reported to the Dean Representative on Academic Conduct in accordance with UWs Academic Honesty Policy. More information on UWs academic honestly policies can be found online: http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/help/academichonesty.php

Course Schedule
WEEK 1: Intro: Anthropology, Meet Anarchy. Anarchy, Meet Anthropology: Tuesday: Course introduction. Thursday: Graeber, David. 2002. The New Anarchists. The New Left Review MODULE 1: THEORETICAL ENGAGEMENTS WEEK 2: How We Think Direct Action Succeeds: The Case of the Civil Rights Movement Tuesday: Doug McAdam. Selections from Chapters 1, 2, and 3 Thursday: Doug McAdam. Chapters 6 and 7 Short Paper #1 Due Friday at Midnight WEEK 3: Why We Think It Fails: Two Classical Texts Tuesday: Karl Marx. The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon Thursday: Antonio Gramsci. Selections on Hegemony and the Historic Bloc Short Paper #2 Due Friday at Midnight WEEK 4: Physical Violence and Structural Violence Tuesday: Franz Fanon. Concerning Violence from The Wretched of the Earth Thursday: John Galtung 1969. Violence, Peace, and Peace Research. Journal of Peace Research 6(3): 167-191. Short Paper #3 Due Friday at Midnight WEEK 5: What Does Democracy Look Like? Tuesday: --Barbara Epstein. Political Protests and Cultural Revolution. Chapter 2 --David Graeber. Direct Action. Selections from Chapters 6 and 7 Thursday: --Barbara Epstein. Political Protests and Cultural Revolution. Chapter 5 --Anna Hutsol. Freedom to Bare Breasts in Public Essential to Democracy. Kyiv Post June 17, 2010. http://www.kyivpost.com/news/opinion/op_ed/detail/70059/print/ --Pink Revolution: Ukrainian Girl-Activists Undress in Flash-Mob Protests http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6n_3JfCtz4 Short Paper #4 Due Friday at Midnight WEEK 6: What Might A Radical Anthropology Look Like? Tuesday: David Graeber. Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, Pages 1-64. Thursday: David Graeber. Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, Pages 65-105. Short Paper #5 Due Friday at Midnight

MODULE 2: CONTEMPORARY CASE STUDIES WEEK 7: Tuesday: Movement for Indigenous Autonomy, Chiapas Mexico --Stephen, L. 1997. The Zapatista Opening: The Movement for Indigenous Autonomy and State Discourses on Indigenous Rights in Mexico, 1970-1996. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 2(2) 2-41 --Collier, G. 1997. Reaction and Retrenchment in the Highlands of Chiapas in the Wake of the Zapatista Rebellion. Journal of Latin American and Carribbean Anthropology 3(1): 14-31. Thursday: World Trade Organization, Seattle WA --Smith, Jackie 2001 Globalizing Resistance: The Battle of Seattle and the Future of Social Movements. Mobilization. 6(1): pp. 1-21. --Epstein, Barbara 2000 Not Your Parents Protest. Dissent 47(2): 8-11. --Martinez, Elizabeth 2000 Where Was the Color in Seattle? Looking for Reasons Why the Great Battle was So White. Monthly Review. 52(3): 141-148. Group proposal for final paper due Friday at midnight. WEEK 8: Summit of the Americas, Quebec QC Canada Tuesday: David Graeber, Direct Action: Introduction, Chapters 1 and 4. Thursday: David Graeber, Direct Action: Chapter 5, Selections from Chapter 8 Outline for Part 1 of final paper due Friday at midnight. WEEK 9: Tuesday: Summit of the Americas, Quebec QC Canada David Graeber, Direct Action: Chapter 10 Thursday: The Occupy Movement GROUP PRESENTATIONS! Group Papers due into Catalyst Drop Box on Saturday, August 18 by midnight.