Summer 2020/Fuller Online
MB526
Aasland

MB526: ANTHROPOLOGY FOR GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT(4 Units: 160 hours). Erik Aasland.

DESCRIPTION: In a globalized world, profound opportunities for cultural interaction and exchange exist. Anthropology offers critical resources for understanding cultures, both our own and those of peoples worldwide. This course focuses on application of anthropological and sociological insights for engagement and witness in diverse cultural settings. Exploring the interface of proposition, story, and wisdom in cultural context serves as one of the foundational approaches to cultural competence.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon successful completion of this course, students will have demonstrated: (1) application of anthropological theory to their inter-cultural ministry engagement for intercultural mission approaches, (2) competence with a limited set of field-based culture-learning techniques, (3) understanding of Biblical foundations for care of all peoples within their unique contexts, and (4) understanding of philosophical and theological issues of postmodernism and our globalized reality.

RELATIONSHIP TO PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: Electives fulfill the MAT PLO that states “Students will have demonstrated academic capacities appropriate to an area of focus in a theological discipline or to interdisciplinary theological study.” Addresses MAICS Area of Interest Class “Students will have demonstrated capacities to pursue vocations that engage the mission of God globally.”

COURSE FORMAT: This course will be conducted online on a ten-week schedule aligned with Fuller’s academic calendar for a total of 40 instructional hours. Students are required to interact with the material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning.

REQUIRED READING: approximately 850 total pages required.

Hiebert, Paul G. The Gospel in Human Contexts: Anthropological Explorations for Contemporary Missions. Baker Academic. 2009. ISBN: 978-0801036811, Pub. Price $26.00 [224 pp.].

Rynkiewich, M. Soul, Self, and Society: A Postmodern Anthropology for Mission in a Postcolonial World. Cascade Books, 2012. ISBN: 978-1606087732, Pub. Price $35.00 [296 pp.].

Selected Readings pertaining to A Christian Perspective of Anthropology. On e-Reserve. [275 pp.]

Aasland, Erik. 2009. “Two Heads are Better than One: Using Conceptual Mapping to Analyze Proverb Meaning”. Proverbium: Yearbook of Annual Proverb Scholarship. (26): 1-18. [21 pp.]

Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1988. Chapter 6. “Honor and Poetic Vulnerability” Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. 978-0520292499, Pub. Price $31.95. Fuller Library has this available in eBook format. University of California Press. Pp. 186-207. [23 pp.]

Basso, Keith. 1996. “Quoting the Ancestors”. Chapter 1. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. 978-0826317247, Pub. Price $24.95 Albuquerque, NM, University of New Mexico Press. Pp. 3-37. [35 pp.]

Behar, Ruth. 1996. “The Vulnerable Observer”. Chapter 1. The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology that Breaks Your Heart. ISBN: 978-0807046319, Pub. Price $20.00 Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. $19.00. Boston: Beacon Press. Pp. 1-34. [35 pages]

Geertz, Clifford, and Robert Darnton. 2017 [1973]. Ch. 5 “Ethos, Worldview, and the Analysis of Sacred Symbols”.The Interpretation of Culture : Selected Essays.. $15.99. New York: Basic Books. Pp. 136-154 [19 pp.]

Groothuis, Douglas. 2000. "Truth in Jeopardy". Chapter 1. Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism. $17.09. IVP Books. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library, pp. 17-31 [15 pp.]

Howell, Brian M. 2011. "Multiculturalism, Immigration and the North American Church: Rethinking Contextualization." Missiology: An International Review no. 39 (1): 79-85. [7 pp.]

King, Roberta R. "Translating the Message via the Global Arts," Ch. 4 in Global Arts and Christian Witness: Exegeting Culture, Translating the Message, Communicating Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019. [17 pp.]

Kuipers, Joel C. 2009. "Unjuk Rasa ("Expression of Feeling") in Sumba: Bloody Thursday in Its Cultural and Historical Context." In Ritual Communication, edited by Gunter Senft and Ellen B. Basso. ISBN: 978-1847882950, Pub. Price $39.95. New York: Berg. Pp. 223-242 [20 pp.]

Kusserow, Adrie. 2017. “Anthropoetry,” Ch. 5 in Anand Pandian and Stuart McLean Eds. Crumpled Paper Boat: Experiments in Ethnographic Writing. ISBN: 978-0822363408, Pub. Price $26.95. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. $25.95. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Pp. 71-90 [19 pp.]

Lyotard, Jean-Francois. 1984. “Introduction” and “The Field: Knowledge in Computerized Societies”. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Translated by Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. ISBN:ISBN: 978-0816611737, Pub. Price $19.50 Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Pp. xxiii-xxv and 3-6. [10 pp.]

Priest, Robert. 1993. "Cultural Anthropology, Sin, and the Missionary." In God and Culture: Essays in Honor of Carl F. H. Henry, edited by D.A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. [11 pp.]

Priest, Robert. 2015. “The Value of Anthropology for Missiological Engagements with Context: the Case of Witch Accusations”. Missiology: An International Review. Vol. 43(1) 27–42. [16 pp.]

Ralph, Laurence. 2014. “Disability,” Ch. 4 in Renegade Dreams: Living Through Injury in Gangland Chicago. ISBN: 978-0226032719, Pub. Price $20.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. $20.00. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Pp. 119-142. [23 pp.]

Shaw, R. Daniel. 2018. Ch. 1. “The Dynamics of Ritual and Ceremony: Transforming Traditional Rites to Their Intended Purpose” in Shaw, R. Daniel. Traditional Ritual As Christian Worship Dangerous Syncretism or Necessary Hybridity? ISBN: 978-1626982628, Pub. Price $50.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. $50.00. The American Society of Missiology Series, No. 56. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. [18 pp.]

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

Approximately 850 pages of required reading. [56 hours].
Class activities such as video lectures, PowerPoint presentations,etc. [20 hours].
250-word weekly discussions (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #] [10 hours]. This will be due by 11:59 p.m. PST Thursday of each week.
Two 125-word weekly discussion responses (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 3, and 4 [10 hours]. These should be posted by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday of each week.
Ethnographic Interviews (3) with a person from a cultural background substantially different from the student’s own. Students will complete one analytic journal per interview (30%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 & 2 [10 hours of DLA and 18 for writing].
Research Proposal and Research Paper: Your proposal will consist of a draft thesis, description of your use of the required readings, and citations with accompanying descriptions for three outside sources. The final paper will be 2500 to 3000 words describing and analyzing a ritual, tradition, performance, or event with mission relevance from a different society (45%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 3 and 4] [30 hours].
Initial and Final Terminology Test (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2 & 4 [6 hours]].

PREREQUISITES: None. Enrollment priority will be given to students in SIS Mission Partnership organizations.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Elective.

FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes.