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For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

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Sunday, January 18, 2015

The Accidental Ethnographer Syllabus (a)

On this date on Round and Square's History 
18 January 2014—China's Lunar Calendar 2014 01-18
18 January 2013—Channeling Liam: Celsius 
18 January 2012—Seinfeld Ethnography: Swimming in East River

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
[a] Land and ocean RF
The Accidental Ethnographer
History 293/Anthropology 375
Spring 2015
MWF 8:00-9:50 AM
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Monday           2:30-4:00
363-2005                                                                                   Wednesday     2:30-4:00
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment

Required Books
Barzun, Jacques, Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers 
Booth, Wayne, The Craft of Research (Third Edition) 
Hamilton, Nigel. How to Do Biography (available online through the library) 
Hexter, Jack. The History Primer 
Peacock, James.  The Anthropological Lens (available online through the library) 
New York Review of Books 
Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual (required in all history courses)

Travel Reading Packet (Available on GoogleBooksTM)
Verne, Jules. Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) 
Hearn, Lafcadio, Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life (1907)

Ethnography Reading Packet (Distributed in class)
Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough (1893) 
Mauss, Marcel. Seasonal Variations Among the Eskimo (1904) 
Boas, Franz. Tsimshian Mythology (1916) 
Granet, Marcel. Festivals and Songs in Ancient China (1919) 
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) 
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa (1928

Books By William Edgar Geil (Distributed in class) 
Geil, William Edgar. The Isle That is Called Patmos (1896) 
Geil, William Edgar. Ocean and Isle (1902) 
Geil, William Edgar. A Yankee on the Yangtze (1904) 
Geil, William Edgar. A Yankee in Pigmy Land (1905) 
Geil, William Edgar. The Great Wall of China (1909) 
Geil, William Edgar. Eighteen Capitals of China (1911) 
Geil, William Edgar. Adventures in the African Jungle Hunting Pigmies (1917) 
Geil, William Edgar. China’s Sacred 5 (1926) 
Geil, William Edgar. Laodicea; or, the Great Sermon of the Stones (1897) 
Geil, William Edgar. Practical Christianity, or, The Commandments Up-to-Date (1900) 
Geil, William Edgar. Heaven: What, When, and Where? (1900) 
Geil, William Edgar. The Men of Galilee (1906) 
Geil, William Edgar. The Men on the Mount (1907) 

Books About William Edgar Geil (available on DVD; handed out in class) 
—, William Edgar Geil, The Missionary-Missioner (preface, William T. Stead (1910) 
Wilson, Philip Whitwell. An Explorer of Changing Horizons: William Edgar Geil (1927)

Course Description
This course in historical methods and cultural analysis will examine in detail the life of William Edgar Geil (1865-1925). A native of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Geil was well known in and beyond the United States, and was a distinctive voice in fin de siècle (and, indeed,  début du siècle) understandings of the world beyond the West. From the late nineteenth century on, he traveled extensively to Africa, New Guinea, and China, writing ten books throughout his career that introduced the customs and histories of various peoples.

Geil's last book, The Sacred 5 of China, is the only account in a Western language of China's five cardinal mountains. He died suddenly in 1925 on a trip to Italy, and his widow sought to extend his legacy with a commissioned biography. It had little influence; he died at almost precisely the "wrong" time—in a decade when academic ethnography was forming into a distinct genre, with its books written by trained fieldworkers eager to cut "amateurs" from their ranks. Geil was largely forgotten until his papers were discovered in 2008 in a barn near Doylestown.

The instructor has examined more than 10,000 documents from Geil's archive, and students will study digital copies of them in the course of their research during the term. By engaging the written record of the life of a world traveler (including his handwritten notebooks), we will study an author who became, in many ways, an "accidental ethnographer"—eclectic and evangelical to the end—who can teach us a great deal about historical research and the history of cultural anthropology. 

Evaluation
Quizzes........................................15% 
Final Presentation........................15%
Final Paper...................................40%

Class attendance and participation is expected.

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:

The Accidental Ethnographer
HIST 293/ANTH 375
Week I 
(January 19-23)
Monday 1/19
Film: Geil of Doylestown

Wednesday 1/21
Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days (first third)  
      1  In which Phileas Fogg and Passepartout accept each other...
      2  In which Passepartout is convinced that he has at last found...
      3  In which a conversation takes place which seems likely to...
      4  In which Phileas Fogg astounds Passepartout, his servant.
      5  In which a new species of funds, unknown to the moneyed...
      6  In which Fix, the detective, betrays a very natural impatience.
      7  Which once more demonstrates the uselessness of passports...
      8  In which Passepartout talks rather more, perhaps, than is...
      9  In which the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean prove propitious...
    10  In which Passepartout is only too glad to get off with the loss...
    11  In which Phileas Fogg secures a curious means of conveyance...
    12  In which Phileas Fogg and his companions venture across...
    13  In which Passepartout receives a new proof that fortune...
    14  In which Phileas Fogg descends the whole length of the...
    15  In which the bag of bank-notes disgorges some thousands...
Round and Square 
     Syllabic Cycles: Introduction (a-d)  Read all four posts, not just “a.” 

Friday 1/23
Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days (to the end) 
    16  In which Fix does not seem to understand in the least...
    17  Showing what happened on the voyage from Singapore...
    18  In which Phileas Fogg, Passepartout, and Fix go each about...
    19  In which Passepartout takes a too great interest in his master...
    20  In which Fix comes face to face with Phileas Fogg.
    21  In whichthe master of the "Tankadere" runs great risk of losing...
    22  In which Passepartout finds out that, even at the antipodes, it is...
    23  In which Passepartout's nose becomes outrageously long...
    24  During which Mr. Fogg and party cross the Pacific Ocean.
    25  In which a slight glimpse is had of San Francisco.
    26  In which Phileas Fogg and party travel by the Pacific Railroad.
    27  In which Passepartout undergoes, at a speed of twenty miles...
    28  In which Passepartout does not succeed in making anybody...
    29  In which certain incidents are narrated which are only to be met...
    30  In which Phileas Fogg simply does his duty...
    31  In which Fix the detective considerably furthers the interests of...
    32  In which Phileas Fogg engages in a direct struggle with bad...
    33  In which Phileas Fogg shows himself equal to the occasion.
    34  In which Phileas Fogg at last reaches London.
    35  In which Phileas Fogg does not have to repeat his orders to...
    36  In which Phileas Fogg's name is once more at a premium...
    37  In whichit is shown that Phileas Fogg gained nothing by his... 
From the Geil Archive (read all nine posts)  
     Introduction 
     1-Southern Mountain Museum
     2-Sacred Mountain Map
     3-Hat and Cattle
     4-Seeking Anthropology
     5-Curly Fives
     6-How to Write the Book
     7-Mortarboard Man
     8-Orator
Week II
(January 26-30)
Monday 1/26
Round and Square  
Quotidian Quizzes: Introduction (a-h) Read all eight posts, not just “a.” 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus
Geil, Adventures in the African Jungle Hunting Pigmies (1917)
     Off For Mombasa
     Pigmies of Long Ago
     Approaching Africa
     Billy is Kidnapped
     The Escape From The Fort
     Donkeys and Dangers
     The Land of the Lions
     Sure-Shot, the Missionary
     Billy Outwits a Lion
     Africa's Inland Sea
     Monkeys and Sleeping Sickness
     A Human Panther
     Over the Swamps Toward Sunset
     More Hobnobbing With Royalty
     Fever in the Foothills
     Termites and Driver Ants
     Snakes and Avalanches
     A Bag of Jiggers
     A Savage Welcome
     On a Curious Lake
     A Letter From the Explorer
     African Dwarfs, and Others
     The Forest of Eternal Twilight
     Pigmies At Last
     The Haunts of the Pigmies
     Pigmy Palaver
     The Burial of a Pigmy
     Lost in the Forest of the Pigmies
     A Letter Home
     A Visit to the Jolly Pigmies
     Still More Pigmies
     Wrecked in the Rapids
     Noble Lives

Wednesday 1/28
Booth, The Craft of Research: 1-50
     Thinking in Print: The Uses of Research
     Connecting with your Reader: (Re-)Creating Yourself and Your Reader
     From Topics to Question
Barzun, Simple and Direct: xi-xiv, 1-56
     Preface
     Introduction
     Diction, or Which Words to Use
Hexter, The History Primer: 21-42
     The Case of the Muddy Pants, the Dead Mr. Sweet, and...
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)
    13  Out of the Frying Pan

Friday 1/30 
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Explore the site for one hour. Spend the second hour making a list of a dozen things you noticed (including at least five specific source references with item numbers from the DHS collection). Send a one-paragraph e-mail response (with analysis) to the instructor by 10:00 a.m. on Friday, 1/30.

Week III
(February 2-6)
***No Class Meeting on 2/2***
Check Your E-mail for the plan (but you need to do the work on the syllabus)
Monday 2/2
Round and Square—See Separate RSQ Syllabus
New York Review of Books See separate NYRB syllabus 
Geil, The Sacred 5 of China
     Carefully read all front matter...in detail, especially "The Magic of 5" (xv-xix)
     Tai Shan, Green Peak of the East
     Nan Yo, Red Peak of the South
     Sung Shan, Yellow Peak of the Centre
     Hua Shan, White Peak of the West
     Heng Shan, Black Peak of the North

Wednesday 2/4
Booth, The Craft of Research: 51-101
     From Questions to a Problem
     From Problems to Sources
     Engaging Sources
Barzun, Simple and Direct: xi-xiv, 57-107
     Linking, or What to Put Next
Hexter, The History Primer: 43-64
     What Makes it So Easy and So Hard, or the Language of History
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive
Explore the site for one hour. Spend the second hour making a list of a dozen things you noticed (including at least five specific source references with item numbers from the DHS collection). Write a one paragraph e-mail to the instructor by 10:00 a.m. on Friday 2/6.

Week IV
 (February 9-13)
"Grammar" Week!
Monday 2/9
Round and Square—See Separate RSQ Syllabus
New York Review of Books See separate NYRB syllabus 
David Foster Wallace, Tense Present (Dropbox)
Zerubavel The Clockwork Muse (Dropbox)
Barzun, Simple and Direct: 109-144
    Tone and Tune, or What Impression Will It Make?

Wednesday 2/11
LaFleur, Rob's Style Sheet (handout)
I.A. Richards, How to Read a Page (Dropbox)  
Booth, The Craft of Research: 103-151
     Making Good Arguments: An Overview
     Making Claims
     Assembling Reasons and Evidence 
     Acknowledgments and Responses
From the Geil Archive (read all four posts)
    23  Geil, An Intellectual Bricoleur

Friday 2/13
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive
Explore the site for one hour. Spend the second hour making a list of a dozen things you noticed (including at least five specific source references with item numbers from the DHS collection). Write a one paragraph e-mail to the instructor by 10:00 a.m. on Friday 2/13.

Week V
 (February 16-20)
Monday 2/16
Round and Square—See Separate RSQ Syllabus
New York Review of Books See separate NYRB syllabus 
William T. Stead, "Missionary Missioner," 1-62
     The Man and His Methods
     Round the World after Missionaries
     The Great Melbourne Mission
     Across China and Darkest Africa
     In Defence of Missions
     A Missioner for the Missions
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 19-97
     The First Book: Apprenticeship
          The Horizons
          His Inheritance
          The Struggles of a Student
          The Objective
          Towards the Sun
          The Twilight of Old Turkey
          The Island of Saints
          The Seven Lamps
          The Arming of Europe
Booth, The Craft of Research, 153-202
     Warrants
     Planning
     Drafting Your Report
Barzun, Simple and Direct, 145-185
    Meaning, or What Do I Want to Say? 
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)
    24  Voting Rights
    28  The Perfect 2

Wednesday 2/18
Work on your letters!

Friday 2/20 
Work on your letters!

Letter Assignment Due by 10:00 p.m. on Friday, February 20th (hard copy in MI 111). 
See my late assignment policy.

Week VI
 (February 23-27)
Monday 2/23
Round and Square—See Separate RSQ Syllabus
New York Review of Books See separate NYRB syllabus 
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 101-271
     The Second Book: Achievement
          The Enquiry
          Salt of the South Seas
          Savor of the Salt
          Thresholds of China
          Yankee on the Yangtze
          From Burmah to Bombay
          Across Africa
          The Pigmies
          The Great Wall

Wednesday 2/25
Booth, The Craft of Research, 203-248
     Revising Your Organization and Argument
     Communicating Evidence Visually
     Introductions and Conclusions 
Barzun, Simple and Direct: 187-226
     Composition, or How Does It Hang Together?
Hexter, The History Primer, 65-79
     Points Without Lines, or the Record of the Past
From the Geil Archive (read all four posts)
    32  The Sarawak Museum

Friday 2/27 
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive
Explore the site for one hour. Spend the second hour making a list of a dozen things you noticed (including at least five specific source references with item numbers from the DHS collection). Write a one paragraph e-mail to the instructor by 10:00 a.m. on Friday 2/27.

Week VII
 (March 2-6)
Monday 3/2
Round and Square—See Separate RSQ Syllabus
New York Review of Books See separate NYRB syllabus 
Geil, The Isle That Is Called Patmos
     A Trip to Patmos
     The Monastery of St. John
     Persecutions
     John and the Revelation
     The Geography of Patmos
     Georgirene's Description of Patmos
     St. John's Visit to Patmos
     Patmos in Classical History
     The Re-Inhabiting of the Island
     The Female Monastery
     Home Life on Patmos
     Mount St. Elias
     Prochorus
     Hermits of Patmos
     The Monastery of the Apocalypse
     A Meditation
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 275-372
     The Third Book: Association
          A Layman's Use of the Bible
          The Forest and the Pagoda
          Changes in Changeless China
          The Mind of China
          The Soul Within the Mind
          The Book That Never Was Written
          The Final Victory

Wednesday 3/4
Booth, The Craft of Research: 249-276
     Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly
     Some Last Considerations
Barzun, Simple and Direct: 227-254
     Revision, or What Have I Actually Said?
Hexter, The History Primer, 80-109
     The Sown and the Waste, or the Second Record
From the Geil Archive (read all four posts)
    36  Sentimental Geil

Friday 3/6 
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive
Explore the site for one hour. Spend the second hour making a list of a dozen things you noticed (including at least five specific source references with item numbers from the DHS collection). Write a one paragraph e-mail to the instructor by 10:00 a.m. on Friday 3/6.

Week VIII
Midterm Break

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:

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