Linguistic Anthropology: Language and Ontology
This course will be a seminar providing an introduction to the literature of Anthropological Linguistics . for graduate students. In 2019 the course will have a special focus: Language and Ontology. The "ontological turn" in anthropology and other social sciences has been described as a ‘dual movement towards, on the one hand, exploring the basis of the Western social and intellectual project and, on the other, of exploring and describing the terms in which non-Western understandings of the world are grounded.' Linguistic anthropology has historically provided many of the tools needed to address this intellectual effort, creating somewhat of a paradox, since some formulations of ontological approaches to anthropology are seen as contrasting with linguistic approaches to anthropology. During the seminar we will try to address this seeming contradiction. The course will also show how linguistics is important for the study of biological anthropology and archaeology, taking an historical approach starting with the 19th Century antecedents of modern linguistics, and tracing the history of anthropological linguistic thought from Franz Boas to modern linguistic anthropologists dealing both with environmental and social reality. Students
wishing a more extensive introduction to the evolution and biology of language should enroll in ANTH5021W. Previous study of linguistics will be helpful, but is not required, as we will review basic concepts during the seminar.
The course will have two short written essays (5-8 pages) during the semester. Students will also complete a term paper for the course on a subject of direct interest to their own research dealing with linguistic anthropological issues. These topics should be discussed with the course instructor. The course paper can be an expansion of one of the short papers, or a topic relevant to graduate thesis research (i.e., part of a thesis chapter).