课程详述

COURSE SPECIFICATION

以下课程信息可能根据实际授课需要或在课程检讨之后产生变动。如对课程有任何疑问，请联

系授课教师。

The course information as follows may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen

circumstances, or following review of the course at the end of the session. Queries about the course should be

directed to the course instructor.

课程名称 Course Title

乡土世界: 乡村人类学 From the Soil: Rural Anthropology

授课院系

Originating Department

社会科学中心 Center for Social Sciences

课程编号

Course Code

SS050

课程学分 Credit Value

课程类别

Course Type

通识选修课程 General Education (GE) Elective Courses

授课学期

Semester

春季 Spring

授课语言

Teaching Language

英文 English

授课教师、所属学系、联系方

式（如属团队授课，请列明其

他授课教师）

Instructor(s), Affiliation&

Contact

（For team teaching, please list

all instructors）

Erin Thomason, 青年会士 Junior Fellow

人文社科荣誉学会 Society of Fellows in Liberal Arts

联系方式 Contact: thomasonee@mail.sustc.edu.cn

实验员/助教、所属学系、联系

方式

Tutor/TA(s), Contact

无 NA

10.

选课人数限额(可不填)

Maximum Enrolment

（Optional）

授课方式

Delivery Method

讲授

Lectures

习题/辅导/讨论

Tutorials

实验/实习

Lab/Practical

其它(请具体注明)

Other（Please specify）

总学时

Total

11.

学时数

Credit Hours

12.

先修课程、其它学习要求

Pre-requisites or Other

Academic Requirements

无 NA

13.

后续课程、其它学习规划

Courses for which this course

is a pre-requisite

无 NA

14.

其它要求修读本课程的学系

Cross-listing Dept.

无 NA

教学大纲及教学日历 SYLLABUS

15.

教学目标 Course Objectives

这门课的目标是探究世界各地乡村的特点，将重点探讨农民的生活和农业生产的变迁。本课将融合许多跨学科的研究办法

与理念，例如：社会学研究、科学技术研究和批判性发展研究。通过审视乡村社会，学生们将更好地理解世界和本地农产

业链以及农民生活的变化。课程的前半部分包含了农村研究发展中的主要话题，后半部分会列举全球各地区，分析当地农

村面临的挑战。本课程中，学生们将完成一个关于农村变化的迷你田野调查，包含一个小时的观察和半个小时的访问。

The goal of this course is to explore rural places throughout the world. An emphasis is placed on agricultural change and

peasant life. The course will integrate interdisciplinary material from across the social sciences including sociology,

science and technology studies, and critical development studies. In examining rural societies, student will better

appreciate global and local agriculture supply chains and the impact of development projects on rural life. The first half of

the course covers major topics in development studies. The second half of the course uses global places as case

studies to investigate challenges in rural life. Students will complete a mini-ethnography consisting of one hour of

observation and 30 minute interview on rural change.

16.

预达学习成果 Learning Outcomes

本课程预期让学生掌握以下知识和技能：

 用英文做简短展示

 英文短文写作

 把本课材料与实际应用结合

 搜索学术资源

 引用学术资源

 进行观察和采访

Upon successful completion, students will be able to:

 Give brief presentations in English

 Compose short essays in English

 Integrate course material with practical application

 Search for academic sources

 Cite sources in an academic essay

 Conduct an observation and interview

17.

课程内容及教学日历（如授课语言以英文为主，则课程内容介绍可以用英文；如团队教学或模块教学，教学日历须注明

主讲人）

Course Contents (in Parts/Chapters/Sections/Weeks. Please notify name of instructor for course section(s), if

this is a team teaching or module course.)

Week 1: Introduction to the course: Why should we care about the rural? (2 credit hours)

 Review of the Syllabus

 History of Rural/Peasant Studies in Social Sciences

In the first class, I will review the important items on the syllabus, covering how to access readings and group

assignments. Next I will offer a brief summary of the history of rural and peasant studies in the social sciences and a

brief discussion on why rural spaces matter in an urbanizing society.

Week 2: Theories of Development and why they matter to rural spaces. (2 credit hours)

 Development Theories--an introduction

 Modernization Theory

 Neoclassical Theory

In a three part series, I cover the prevalent theories about development with an emphasis on why they matter to rural

communities. In the first part, I discussion modernization and neoclassical theory with an emphasis on development

projects that use these theories as models. Students will complete an in-class exercise to link theoretical ideas to

practical applications.

Week 3: Development Theory II: World Systems Theory and Commodity Chains (2 credit hours)

 World Systems Theory

 Commodity Chains—(sugar as an example)

In the second part of the series on Development Theory, I cover world-systems theory and explore commodity chains as

a historical and political phenomenon. We will focus on Mintz’s analysis of the global circulation of sugar as our main

example of commodity chains. Students will also listen to a short clip on the circulation of cotton.

Week 4: Development Theory III: Critical Development Studies (2 credit hours)

 Critical Development Theory

 Post-development Theory

In the third and final part of Development Theory, I cover two critical perspectives from Arturo Escobar and Ronaldo

Munck, detailing their critiques of modernization and neoclassical theory. In order to summarize the three weeks of

development theory, students will be divided into three teams and debate the merits and drawbacks of each theory and

it’s practical application.

Week 5: The City/The Country: Divisions that matter? (2 credit hours)

 Boarders and Boundaries

 Mediated representations of the Rural

 Place and Place-based identity

In this class, students will watch two different clips from popular television shows from The United States and China and

complete an in-class exercise to understand rural and urban representations as mediated by cultural politics of

belonging. I start the lecture with a brief history about the anthropology of boundaries and we will end the class with a

discussion about how identity may or may not correlate to place.

Week 6: Agricultural Change—Green Technology (2 credit hours)

 1960’s “Green Revolution”

 Contemporary Innovations in Agriculture

How has technological innovations impacted agricultural life? Two historical moments will be discussed—the 1960’s

Green Revolution which adopted new fertilization and harvesting techniques and more technological innovations such as

solar power, organic farming, drone pesticide application and cold-chain storage infrastructure.

Week 7: Migration and Urbanization (2 credit hours)

 Migration

 Urbanization

In this class we will discuss the impact of migration and urbanization on rural spaces including a discussion of “left-

behind populations” and peri-urban communities

Week 8: The “Feminization of Agriculture” (2 credit hours)

 Demographic Studies of Gender and Agriculture

 Social Change

Are more women in agriculture a sign of “girl power?” In this lecture we’ll explore the impact of changing gender roles on

everyday life in rural communities and focus particularly on global patterns of agricultural labour. A linkage between

migration and gender will be discussed.

Week 9: China (Part 1): Three Ethnographies of Rural Life (2 credit hours)

I will offer a summary of three different ethnographies of rural life in China—Yunxiang Yan’s Private Life under Socialism,

Xin Liu’s In One’s Own Shadow and Hans Steinmuller’s Communities of Complicity. Students will prepare a short

reading report on selections from each ethnography and we will discuss the theoretical connections between the

analysis and the topics we covered above.

Week 10: China (Part 2): Rural People and Urban Life (2 credit hours)

 Factory Girls

 Migrant Children and Urban Schooling

Does a rural identity last even when live in a rural place? In this lecture, we’ll talk about rural-urban migrants and the

ways that different practices of belonging shape identity. The focus will be on factory girls and rural children who have

entered urban public schools.

Week 11: India (2 credit hours)

 Caste-divisions in Agriculture

 Urban-farming movements

In this week, we discuss urban food movements and read a short article about urban farmers. We will discuss the role of

class in agriculture by using India’s caste system as a case example.

Week 12: Africa (2 credit hours)

 Rural Monetary Access

 Give a Man a Fish

In this week, we will begin to think about the link between rural spaces and monetary access. We will study alternative

distribution development model using an example in Southern Africa. Students will make connections between micro-

finance campaigns and theories of development covered earlier in the course.

Week 13: South East Asia (2 credit hours)

 Commercialization of Everyday Life

 Hybrid Households

How does commercialization impact the daily lives of agriculturalists? We will think about how changing standards for

livelihoods impacts everyday life by looking at societies in South East Asia. Finally, we will think about how hybrid

households change rural and urban identities.

Week 14: Latin America (2 credit hours)

 Environmental Concerns

 Agroecological Systems

Using Latin America as a case example, we will turn to the twin concerns of environment and agriculture discussing the

role of climate change, agricultural pollution, and deforestation in changing agricultural communities. Students will study

the concept of environmental justice.

Week 15: United States (2 credit hours)

 Political Identity

 “Proud Redneck”

Using recent politics in the United States as a basis for discussion, we will explore the role of political identity, social

conservatism, and rural place making. Students will think through how divisions based on place might be overcome to

create a more harmonious social world.

Week 16: Student Presentations (2 credit hours)

 Student Presentations

 Final Discussion

In the final session, students will give five minute presentations on their mini-ethnographic projects. I will make some

final summarizing statements tying together the themes covered in the course.

18.

教材及其它参考资料 Textbook and Supplementary Readings

本课程无固定教材，将根据一下参考资科自编教材：

Books

Pingali, Prabhu, and Gershon Feder. 2017. Agriculture and Rural Development in a Globalizing World: Challenges and

Opportunities. Routledge.

Selected Chapters and Articles

Williams, Raymond. 2013. The Country And The City. Random House. Ch 1-2.

Frazier, Camille. 2018. “‘Grow What You Eat, Eat What You Grow’: Urban Agriculture as Middle Class Intervention in

India.” Journal of Political Ecology 25 (1): 221–38. https://doi.org/10.2458/v25i1.22970.

Ming, Holly H. 2013. The Education of Migrant Children and China’s Future: The Urban Left Behind. Routledge. Part II

Bidwell, Nicola J., Heike Winschiers-Theophilus, Gereon Koch Kapuire, and Mathias Rehm. 2011. “Pushing Personhood

into Place: Situating Media in Rural Knowledge in Africa.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Locative

media and communities, 69 (10): 618–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2011.02.002.

Rigg, Jonathan. 2014. More than the Soil : Rural Change in SE Asia. Routledge. Chapters 4-6

Ferguson, James. 2015. Give a Man a Fish: Reflections on the New Politics of Distribution. Duke University Press,

Chapters 3-4

Altieri, Miguel A., and Victor Manuel Toledo. 2011. “The Agroecological Revolution in Latin America: Rescuing Nature,

Ensuring Food Sovereignty and Empowering Peasants.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (3): 587–612.

https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.582947.

Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2018. Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. The New

Press. Chapters 1, 6-7.

Film Clips:

Beverly Hillbillies (USA 1962)

课程评估 ASSESSMENT

19.

评估形式

Type of

Assessment

评估时间

Time

占考试总成绩百分比

% of final

score

违纪处罚

Penalty

备注

Notes

出勤 Attendance

20%

More than 3 absences will affect

grade

课堂表现

Class

Performance

小测验

Quiz

课程项目 Projects

平时作业

Assignments

期中考试

Mid-Term Test

期中报告

Mid-Term

Presentation

40%

Two 750-word essays

期末考试

Final Exam

期末报告

Final

Presentation

40%

500-word research report and five-

minute in-class presentation

其它（可根据需要

改写以上评估方

式）

Others (The

above may be

modified as

necessary)

20.

记分方式 GRADING SYSTEM

 A. 十三级等级制 Letter Grading

 B. 二级记分制（通过/不通过） Pass/Fail Grading

课程审批 REVIEW AND APPROVAL

21.

本课程设置已经过以下责任人/委员会审议通过

This Course has been approved by the following person or committee of authority

所列英文文献无敏感信息，同意开课。

2018-10-23