/files/2734006/Syllabus_2022(4).doc

 

COURSE SYLLABUS   Social Anthropology Course code: SOC 280 Semester and year: Spring 2022 Day and time: Tu 2:45 – 5:30 pm Room: 310, Main Building   Lecturer: Markéta Šebelová, MA Lecturer contact: marketa.sebelova@aauni.edu Office hours: Tu 5:30-6:00 pm, arrangement in advance necessary

 

Credits US/ECTS	3/6	Level	Intermediate
Length	15 weeks	Pre-requisites	None
Contact hours	42 hours	Course type	Required/Elective

 

1. Course Description

The aim of this course is to provide an introduction to the field of Social and Cultural Anthropology and anthropological themes, such as kinship, marriage, and social identity (constituted by gender, race & age), further complemented by ideas related to politics, economics and religion. The course will expose the students to the lives of different people around the world and to some of the ways anthropologists have come to understand them.

In particular, we will examine key terms, concepts and approaches used in anthropological writings and theorizing and we will focus on their application in various ethnographies. Students are expected to think analytically and compare evidence across cultures, including our own. The primary challenge is to develop a capacity for stepping out of our own cultural mindset.

2. Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will gain understanding that categories of difference (such as cleanliness, dirt, kinship, gender, age, race, etc.) are often not biologically given but culturally and socially constructed and gain sense of the various ways in which these categories differ in the world.

Students will further develop a basic understanding of the various ways in which anthropologists have understood culture, have theorized about it and of the multiple methods employed by them while conducting research.

Likewise, students will develop an appreciation for cultural diversity and move beyond ethnocentric understanding of the world. In addition, the students will be able to demonstrate the ability to critically read, analyze, critique and comment upon academic anthropology journal articles.

3. Reading Material

There are two kinds of readings in this course – selected chapters from two anthropology textbooks and various anthropological articles. As the course will be conducted in hybrid mode, all reading is available on the web course-site where the students can easily access it. However, one textbook is available in printed copy and can be borrowed from AAU library: Kottak, Conrad P.: Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity. 8^th ed. McGraw Hill. 2000. As there are two textbooks by the same author, if you borrow the textbook from the library, please make sure that you read it for appropriate weeks as specified in the course schedule below.

The textbook reading is used to provide a theoretical basis for each lecture, whereas the articles represent so to speak ‘an application of theory in praxis’ and are mostly ethnographies related to the explored concept.

Considering the general programs of students’ studies (i.e. Politics and Society; or Humanities, Society and Culture), particular attention has been paid to ethnographies of Europe and/or complex societies. Their full listing is provided in Section 5 under Course Schedule.

4. Teaching methodology

The course consists of lectures and discussions. Thus, while I need to lecture, as this is an introductory class, I like to engage students with the lectured material and I ask many questions during the lectures to make relevant the discussed theoretical topic to the world and problems around us.

This way, the reading constitutes an integral part of the course, and students should be aware that they are required to do the assigned readings for each week because it is active participation in discussion of the articles which forms essential part of the grade, NOT attendance of the course.

5. Course Schedule

Please note that the course schedule is subject to change!

Date	Class Agenda
Week 1 Feb 8	Topic: Introduction Description: Introducing the subject of anthropology and social anthropology, discussion of methodology, theoretical approaches Reading: Kottak, Conrad, P.: What is Anthropology? Chapter 1. 2013:4-20; and Kottak, Conrad, P.: Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology. Chapter 3. 2013:50-73. Assignments/deadlines: N/A
Week 2 Feb 15	Topic: Classifying the world, the concept of culture Description: Discussing the concept of culture, introduction and brief review of anthropological theories of culture Reading: Kottak, Conrad, P.: Culture. Chapter 3. 2000: 60-75. (printed copy) Miner, Horace: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. In Magic, Witchcraft and Religion: An Anthropological Study of Supernatural. Ed. Pamela Moro, James Myers & Arthur Lehman. McGraw Hill. 2008:140-143 Lee, Richard Borshay: Eating Christmas in the Kalahari. In Conformity and Conflict. Ed. J. Spradley, & D. McCurdy, Little, Brown and Company. 1987:26-34. Kluckhohn, Clyde: Queer Customs. In Classic Readings in Cultural Anthropology. Ed. Gary Ferraro. 2009:6-12. Assignments/deadlines: Homework
Week 3 Feb 22	Topic: Disgusting, Forbidden and Unthinkable Description: Further developing the concept of culture Reading: Frykman, Jonas: The Cultural Basis of Physical Aversion. And Peasants View of Purity and Dirt. In Culture Builders. Rutgers University Press. 1987:157-160, 174-220. Assignments/deadlines: Homework
Week 4 March 1	Topic: Family and Kinship Description: Describing various forms of classifying kinship relations in the world Reading: Kottak, Conrad, P.: Kinship and Descent. Chapter 13. 2000:334-348. (printed copy) Bohannan, Laura: Shakespeare in the Bush. In Conformity and Conflict. Ed. J. Spradley, & D. McCurdy, Little, Brown and Company. 1987:35-45. Wolf, Margery: Houses and Families, and Lim Han-ci: The Father. Chapters 3 & 4. In The House of Lim. Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1968:23-44. Assignments/deadlines: Homework, Fieldwork project assignment – part I
Week 5 March 8	Topic: Marriage and Alliance Description: Discussing the concept of marriage & types of marriage arrangements Reading: Kottak, Conrad P.: Marriage. Chapter 15. 2000:392-413. (printed copy) Löfgren, Orvar: The Home Builders. In Cultural Builders. Rutgers University Press. 1987:88-125. Assignments/deadlines: Homework
Week 6 March 15	Topic: Race, Gender and Age Description: Discussion of categories of race, gender and age Reading: Kottak, Conrad P.: Ethnicity and Race. Chapter 6 (part 1). 2013:124-140; and Gender. Chapter 9. 2013:208-225. Wolf, Margery: Lim Hue-ling: An Eldest Son. Chapter 5. In The House of Lim. Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1968:45-58. Stein, Leonard I.: Male and Female: The Doctor-Nurse Game. In Conformity and Conflict. Ed. J. Spradley, & D. McCurdy, Little, Brown and Company. 1987:167-176. Tannen, Deborah: Rapport-talk and Report-talk. In Classic Readings in Cultural Anthropology. Ed. Gary Ferraro. 2009: 13-17. Assignments/deadlines: Homework & Kinship chart project due
Week 7 March 22	Topic: Presentation of your research paper topic or presenting the person for the life-history collection project Description: Detailed description of the assignment can be found below in section 7. Reading: N/A Assignments/deadlines: Presenting your research paper topic together with 3 anthropological articles and an outline of the final research paper OR - presenting your person for the life-history collection project, together with an essay how an article (on NEO) about collecting life histories by Julia G. Crane and Michael V. Angrosino applies to their project.
Week 8 March 29	Topic: Mid-term break Description: Mid-term break Reading: N/A Assignments/deadlines: N/A
Week 9 April 5	Topic: Time Description: Discussion of various conceptions of time Reading: Löfgren, Orvar: The Time Keepers. In Culture Builders. Rutgers University Press. 1987:13-41. Assignments/deadlines: Homework
Week 10 April 12	Topic: Exchange and Production Description: Discussion of socio-economic arrangements in different societies Reading: Kottak, Conrad P.: Making a Living. Chapter 7. 2013:154-176. (available on NEO) Lee, Richard Borshay: The Hunters: Scarce Resources in the Kalahari. In Conformity and Conflict. Ed. J. Spradley, & D. McCurdy. Pearson Education. 12th edition. 2006: 107-121 Bourgois, Philippe: Office Work and the Crack Alternative. In Conformity and Conflict. Ed. J. Spradley, & D. McCurdy. Pearson Education. 12th edition. 2006:165-177. Assignments/deadlines: Homework
Week 11 April 19	Topic: Hierarchy, Power and Political Systems Description: Discussing power – types of authority, various types of socio-political organizations, etc. Reading: Kottak, Conrad P.: Political Systems. Chapter 8. 2013: 182-201. Harris, Marvin: Life Without Chiefs. In Conformity and Conflict. Ed. J. Spradley, & D. McCurdy. Pearson Education. 12th edition. 2006: 284-293. Cronk, Lee: Reciprocity and the Power of Giving. In Conformity and Conflict. Ed. J. Spradley, & D. McCurdy. Pearson Education. 12th edition. 2006: 147-153. Optional Reading: Bourgois, Phillippe: Understanding Inner-City Poverty: Resistance and Self-Destruction under U.S. Apartheid. In Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Lines. Jeremy MacClancy ed. The University of Chicago Press. 2002:15-32. Wolf, Margery: Lim So-lan: A Second Wife. Chapter 6. In The House of Lim. Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1968:59-74. Assignments/deadlines: Homework
Week 12 April 26	Topic: Cosmology Description: Discussing various forms of religious activities, linking religious systems to socio-political and socio-economic organizations. Reading: Kottak, Conrad P.: Religion. Chapter 17. 2000: 450-476. (printed copy) Harris, M.: India’s sacred cow. In Conformity and Conflict. Ed. J. Spradley, & D. McCurdy, Little, Brown and Company. 1987:208-219. Bax, Mart: The Madonna of Medjugorje: Religious Rivalry and the Formation of a Devotional Movement in Yugoslavia. In Anthropological Quarterly 63(2):63-75. Optional Reading: Eriksen, Thomas, H.: Religion and Rituals. In Small Places, Large Issues. Pluto Press.1995:196-213. Wolf, Margery: A Gift of Pride. Chapter 12. And Epilogue. In The House of Lim. Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1968:141-148. Assignments/deadlines: Homework
Week 13 May 3	Topic: Nationalism Description: Discussion of nationalism, and conclusion of the course Reading: Kottak, Conrad P.: Chapter 6 (part 2): Ethnic Groups, Nations and Nationalities. 2013:140-148. Anderson, Benedict: The Concepts and Definitions. In Imagined Communities. Verso. 1983:5-7. Trevor-Roper, Hugh: The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scotland. In The Invention of Tradition. E. Hobsbawm & T. Ranger ed. Cambridge University Press, 1983:15-41. Holy, Ladislav: Excerpt from Introduction (Czechs and Slovaks, Czech National Identity), and National Traditions and the Imagining of the Nation. In The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation. Cambridge University Press. 1996:5-11, 114-137. Assignments/deadlines: Homework
Week 14 May 10	Topic: Ethics and Conclusion Description: Discussion of ethics in cultural/social anthropology and conclusion of the course Reading: Levine, Andrew: Human Rights and Freedom. In The Philosophy of Human Rights, International Perspectives. Alan S. Rosenbaum ed. Greenwood Press. 1980:137-149. AAA Code of Ethics Assignments/deadlines: Homework; Fieldwork project assignment – part II
Week 15 May 17	Topic: Research paper or life-history collection due Description: Detailed description of the research paper can be found below in section 7. Reading: N/A Assignments/deadlines: Research paper or life-history collection due

 

6. Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)

Grading in this class is based upon collection of points (percentage) by students. There are six compulsory assignments and one optional. Detailed description of all assignments can be found in section 7 below.

Compulsory requirements:

• class participation worth 20% of the final grade, it is based on active participation during class discussions. That means that each class you earn 0 - 2 points based on your participation during the class, (max 20 points);
• homework consists of written submission of answers to the questions related to reading to each lesson. Due before every lecture and worth 20% of the final grade, i.e. each class you earn max 2 points; OR fieldwork project assignment comprises of doing an ethnographic research. Due on March 1 and May 10, worth 20% of the final grade.
• kinship chart project – worth 10% of the final grade. Due March 15;
• presentation of an assigned article – worth 10%. Due individually as students present;
• presenting your topic for the final research paper together with three articles OR an outline of the final research paper or presenting your person for the life-history collection project, together with an essay how an article (on NEO) about collecting life histories by Julia G. Crane and Michael V. Angrosino applies to their project. Worth 5% of the final grade and due March 22;
• final research paper or collection of life history of one or two members (over 60) of the family or someone else – worth 35%. Due May 17.

Optional assignment that can be used to ‘improve’ the grade:

• two critical essays on the assigned anthropological reading (each worth 5% of the final grade, max. 2 essays).

Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)

Assignment	Workload (average)	Weight in Final Grade	Evaluated Course Specific Learning Outcomes	Evaluated Institutional Learning Outcomes*
Class participation	2, 5 hours per week	20%	Gaining understanding of various religious beliefs and practices, and anthropological approaches and theories towards them. Ability to discuss and place into proper context these beliefs and practices and understand the links between religion, culture and society.	1,2,3
Homework	4 hours per week	20%	Gaining understanding of various religious beliefs and practices, and anthropological approaches and theories towards them. Ability to discuss and place into proper context these beliefs and practices and understand the links between religion, culture and society.	1,2,3
Kinship chart	10 hours	10%	Ability to use anthropological symbols for kinship charts, and comprehend them. Gain experience in conducting fieldwork.	2,3
Presentation of an article	10 hours	10%	Presentation skills, ability to explain the studied topic to peers, identify key issues, subject knowledge. Team work.	1,2,3
Presenting final research paper topic or presenting a person for the life-history collection project	10 hours	5%	Gaining experience in academic research. Ability to identify and summarize key issues. Alternatively gaining experience with conducting interviews and with conducting ethnography, learning to find general in particular i.e. how the larger social context reflects on a life of an individual.	1,3
Final research paper or collection of life history	35 hours	35%	Gaining experience in academic research and writing a research paper. Ability to identify and summarize key issues. Alternatively gaining experience with conducting interviews and with conducting ethnography.	1,2,3
TOTAL	150	100%

*1 = Critical Thinking; 2 = Effective Communication; 3 = Effective and Responsible Action

OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT
Two critical essays	6 hours each essay	5% each essay	Ability to analyze the discussed topic and relate it to other reading (i.e. theories, approaches) and/or the world around us.

 

7. Detailed description of the required and optional assignments

CLASS PARTICIPATION

During each class, students are required to be prepared to answer questions pertaining to reading scheduled to be lectured/discussed in that class and/or be actively engaged in the lecture. The questions are posted on the course web-site together with reading material and need to be read and answered for homework assignment. Active class participation is worth 20% of the final grade, and means that the students actively engage in the on-line lecture. In each class, students can earn max 2 points, and the maximum points earned in the assignment is 20, while there are 13 lectures where class participation is graded.

HOMEWORK

The questions pertaining to reading need to be submitted in writing on NEO before the beginning of the relevant class. The submitted answers to the questions must be individual work! Otherwise, such work will be considered as plagiarism for all parties involved! Again, students can earn max 2 points per each class and the maximum points earned in the assignment is 20, while there are 11 lectures where homework is graded.

FIELDWORK PROJECT ASSIGNMENT: INVESTIGATING PERSPECTIVES – OUTSIDER AND INSIDER

This project is possible to do instead of the homework assignment; however, it is open only to in-class students who are in their third and fourth year of studies (i.e. all other students need to do the homework assignment).

The project comprises of two parts. First part is to be completed by March 1, 2022 and the second part is due May 10, 2022. Only fully completed project will be graded, i.e. both parts need to be submitted on time. The aim of the project is to observe and record/narrate the differences from your own society/culture which you observe as you stay here in the Czech Republic and consequently document them and reflect on them.

Thus, in the first part of the project, the students will record the differences which they find strange (the outsider view) and the way they understand the social life around them. This needs to be done in writing but should also be complemented by photographs or videos.

In the second part, as the semester progresses and your knowledge of cultural/social anthropology increases, you need to reflect on your notes and photographs/videos from the first part, and note if your perspective changed (and if so how), do the ‘strange’ facts make more sense now? Or do you still notice them? Has your view changed? Has your view of your own culture changed? If so, how? How do you understand Czech culture now? In other words, you will provide an insider view from anthropological perspective.

To do this project, the students need to read an excerpt from Julia G. Crane & Michael V. Angrosino on Taking Photographs (p. 157 – 162) available on NEO. Both parts of the project have to be submitted via NEO. The first part should be at least 3 pages long (typed, double spaced, font Times New Roman, size 12) + photographs/videos and needs to discuss at least two of the points mentioned below. The second part need to be at least 5 pages long (again typed, double spaced, font Times New Roman, size 12) + photographs/videos, and needs to contain some links to the material covered in class.

The students can consider the following differences:

• people – people relationships (men x women; older x younger; parents x children, etc.);
• people – food relationship;
• people – drinks relationship;
• people – nature relationship;
• people – animals relationships;
• people – time relationship;
• people – space relationship.

 This assignment is STRONGLY not recommended to students who plan to travel rather extensively. Further, this is NOT a ‘political-correct’ exercise, but rather an exercise on how well you can observe, document and describe observed differences. The project is worth 20 points.

Inspiration: https://www.insider.com/new-york-south-africa-differences-life-trip-2020-1#they-were-just-everywhere-11

KINSHIP CHART PROJECT

Interview members (at least two people) of your family (or family of your friends) and draw a kinship chart tracing family members that your interviewees can remember. Try to put together as complete chart as possible. Include at least three generations in total, and at least 30 people including ‘ego.’ Moreover, include people that are considered part of the family, although they might not be related biologically.

The chart must follow the conventions used by anthropologists and must include an explanation of each symbol. The conventions will be covered during lectures and can be also found in Kottak 2000:347.

A required part of the project is to compile a description about all people who appear on the chart. This description must be typed, on a separate sheet of paper, specifying each person by her/his relationship to ego using the conventional shorthand letters (F, M, S, D, B, Z, H, W, C).

The project is due in class on March 15, 2022 and is worth 10% of the final grade.

PRESENTATION OF AN ASSIGNED ARTICLE

In pairs or individually, students will choose a specified anthropological article and beforehand prepare a presentation which they will perform during on-line lecture. Each presentation needs to be submitted via NEO before the class when the article is to be discussed. Students need to keep in mind that others will not necessarily read those articles and thus you need to present your article in a comprehensible manner and link it with material already covered in class. The aim is to relay what is interesting about the article, how it relates to our class and what it is about.

The presentation needs to address and contain

• brief review of the article content (i.e. what the article is about),
• discussion of the main argument (i.e. what the author is trying to say)
• discussion of its relationship to other reading and/or relationship to the world around us (i.e. how the article fits within the framework of our class)
• discussion of interesting points that article raised, or parts that were incomprehensible (i.e. what problems you had while reading)

Presentation is worth 10% of the final grade.

 

 

PRESENTING FINAL RESEARCH PAPER TOPIC or PRESENTING A PERSON/PEOPLE FOR THE LIFE-HISTORY COLLECTING PROJECT

This assignment is to help students to prepare for their final research paper or life-history collecting project. The presentations need to be submitted in written form via NEO by April 5, 2022, before the class. Each presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

In case of the research paper, I would like students to choose/find a topic which they find interesting, however, within the frame of Cultural/Social Anthropology and write (for the final paper) 8-15 pages based on three sources (preferably articles) coming from journals found under the heading of Anthropology in JSTOR, Pro-Quest or Wiley databases (Google will NOT do! Even Google Scholar is not enough!). For this assignment students need to read their chosen articles, and present their chosen topic together with a detailed outline of their intended future paper. The presentation needs to address and contain:

• brief review of the content of the articles (i.e. what the articles are about),
• discussion of the main arguments (i.e. what the authors are trying to say in each article)

In case of life-history collecting project, the students need to present a person/people who they have decided (and have arranged) to interview about their life history. The aim of the project is to realize how larger social context reflects upon individual life and this perspective needs to be included in the final project. For this assignment, however, the students will present the person concerned (someone who is at least 60 years old) and write a summary of an article (on NEO) about collecting life histories by Julia G. Crane and Michael V. Angrosino (about 1 page, double-spaced, typed 12 font) and how they plan to use the advice provided in the article. The presentation thus needs to address and contain:

• details of the person/people arranged to be interviewed,
• brief review of the content of the article by Crane and Angrosino (i.e. what the article is about),
• discussion of application of the advice provided in the article to the particular life-history project.

The assignment is worth 5% of the final grade.

 

FINAL RESEARCH PAPER

The paper should be between 8-15 pages long, (not shorter!) typed, double-spaced, in font 12 and it is to be submitted via NEO by May 17, 2022. I would like you to choose a topic that you find interesting, however, within the frame of Cultural/Social Anthropology. Each student will have to present his/her chosen topic together with at least three sources coming from journals found under the heading of Anthropology in JSTOR, Pro-Quest or Wiley databases in class on March 22, 2022. The presentation needs to be submitted via NEO by March 22, 2022.

These databases should be available through libraries of your home universities of through AAU library and Academy of Science library.

Final research paper will count for 35% of the final grade and is due by May 17, 2022.

COLLECTING LIFE-HISTORY

Interview a member of your family or someone else who is at least 60 years old and compile his/her life history. The work needs to capture the whole life-cycle of the person concerned and should be complemented by photographs, official documentation and contemporary material from newspapers, journals etc. in order to situate the personal experience of a person into the socio-political context in which the person interviewed lived. Students need to read carefully article (on NEO) about collecting life histories by Julia G. Crane and Michael V. Angrosino and pay attention to the advice given there. On April 5, 2022, students will have to present the person who they are interviewing and provide details about the interviews.

The life-history final paper needs to be minimum typed 10 pages long (i.e. without the additional material), and submitted via NEO by May 17, 2022. Together with the paper, students need to submit recorded interviews with the person concerned. The project is worth 35% of the final grade.

 

OPTIONAL CRITICAL ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

Throughout the second half of the semester the student can hand in maximum two critical essays on specified anthropological articles (below). Each critical essay should be 3-5 pages long, typed, double-spaced and sent to my email account before the reading is discussed in class (i.e. students need to send their essays before the class during which the article is anticipated to be discussed.) The essay should contain

• brief review of the article content (i.e. what the article is about),
• discussion of the main argument (i.e. what the author is trying to say),
• discussion of its relationship to other reading and/or relationship to the world around us (i.e. how the article fits within the framework of our class).

The aim of the essay is to critically reflect on the reading, and thus although the essay should include review of the content, this should be done in main points, and thus briefly because the main point of the critical essay is to discuss the author’s principal argument and critically reflect on it!

Articles that can be subject of students’ critical essays are following:

Week 9:           Löfgren, Orvar: The Time Keepers. In Culture Builders. Rutgers University Press. 1987:13-41.

Week 11:        Bourgois, Phillippe: Understanding Inner-City Poverty: Resistance and Self-Destruction under U.S. Apartheid. In Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Lines. Jeremy MacClancy ed. The University of Chicago Press. 2002:15-32. (this is the optional reading this week)

Week 12:        Bax, Mart: The Madonna of Medjugorje: Religious Rivalry and the Formation of a Devotional Movement in Yugoslavia. In Anthropological Quaterly 63(2):63-75.

Week 13:         Trevor-Roper, Hugh: The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scotland. In The Invention of Tradition. E. Hobsbawm & T. Ranger ed. Cambridge University Press, 1983:15-41.

and/or

Holy, Ladislav: Excerpt from Introduction (Czechs and Slovaks, Czech National Identity), and National Traditions and the Imagining of the Nation. In The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation. Cambridge University Press. 1996:5-11, 114-137.

Week 14:         Levine, Andrew: Human Rights and Freedom. In The Philosophy of Human Rights, International Perspectives. Alan S. Rosenbaum ed. Greenwood Press. 1980:137-149.

8. General Requirements and School Policies

General requirements

All coursework is governed by AAU’s academic rules. Students are expected to be familiar with the academic rules in the Academic Codex and Student Handbook and to maintain the highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work.

Electronic communication and submission

The university and instructors shall only use students’ university email address for communication, with additional communication via NEO LMS or Microsoft Teams.

Students sending e-mail to an instructor shall clearly state the course code and the topic in the subject heading, for example, “COM101-1 Mid-term Exam. Question”.

All electronic submissions are through NEO LMS. No substantial pieces of writing (especially take-home exams and essays) can be submitted outside of NEO LMS.

Attendance

Attendance, i.e., presence in class in real-time, is required. Students who are absent 35 percent of classes or more cannot complete the course. Those with a majority of unexcused absences will be failed; those with a majority of excused absences will be administratively withdrawn from the course. Students may also be marked absent if they miss a significant part of a class (for example by arriving late or leaving early).

Absence excuse and make-up options

Should a student be absent from classes for relevant reasons (illness, serious family matters), and the student wishes to request that the absence be excused, the student should submit an Absence Excuse Request Form supplemented with documents providing reasons for the absence to the Dean of Students within one week of the absence. If possible, it is recommended the instructor be informed of the absence in advance. Should a student be absent during the add/drop period due to a change in registration this will be an excused absence if s/he submits an Absence Excuse Request Form along with the finalized add/drop form.

Students whose absence has been excused by the Dean of Students are entitled to make up assignments and exams provided their nature allows. Assignments missed due to unexcused absences which cannot be made up, may result in a decreased or failing grade as specified in the syllabus.

 Students are responsible for contacting their instructor within one week of the date the absence was excused to arrange for make-up options.

Late work: No late submissions will be accepted – please follow the deadlines.

Electronic devices

Electronic devices (e.g. phones, tablets, laptops) may be used only for class-related activities (taking notes, looking up related information, etc.). Any other use will result in the student being marked absent and/or being expelled from the class. No electronic devices may be used during tests or exams unless required by the exam format and the instructor.

Eating is not allowed during classes.

Cheating and disruptive behavior

If a student engages in disruptive conduct unsuitable for a classroom environment, the instructor may require the student to withdraw from the room for the duration of the class and shall report the behavior to the student’s Dean.

Students engaging in behavior which is suggestive of cheating will, at a minimum, be warned. In the case of continued misconduct, the student will fail the exam or assignment and be expelled from the exam or class.

Plagiarism and Academic Tutoring Center

Plagiarism is “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.” (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd Edition, Random House, New York, 1993). Hence, plagiarism is not allowed and will result in failing the entire course!

Turnitin’s White Paper ‘The Plagiarism Spectrum’ (available at http://go.turnitin.com/paper/plagiarism-spectrum) identifies 10 types of plagiarism ordered from most to least severe:

1. CLONE: An act of submitting another’s work, word-for-word, as one’s own.
2. CTRL-C: A written piece that contains significant portions of text from a single source without alterations.
3. FIND–REPLACE: The act of changing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of the source in a paper.
4. REMIX: An act of paraphrasing from other sources and making the content fit together seamlessly.
5. RECYCLE: The act of borrowing generously from one’s own previous work without citation; To self-plagiarize.
6. HYBRID: The act of combining perfectly cited sources with copied passages—without citation—in one paper.
7. MASHUP: A paper that represents a mix of copied material from several different sources without proper citation.
8. 404 ERROR: A written piece that includes citations to non-existent or inaccurate information about sources
9. AGGREGATOR: The “Aggregator” includes proper citation, but the paper contains almost no original work.
10. RE-TWEET: This paper includes proper citation, but relies too closely on the text’s original wording and/or structure.

 

At minimum, plagiarism from types 1 through 8 will result in failing the entire course and shall be reported to the Dean. The Dean may initiate a disciplinary procedure pursuant to the Academic Codex. Allegations of bought papers and intentional or consistent plagiarism always entail disciplinary hearing and may result in expulsion from AAU.

If unsure about technical aspects of writing, and to improve their academic writing, students are encouraged to consult with the tutors of the AAU Academic Tutoring Center. For more information and/or to book a tutor, please contact the ATC at: http://atc.simplybook.me/sheduler/manage/event/1/.

Course accessibility and inclusion

Students with disabilities should contact the Dean of Students to discuss reasonable accommodations. Academic accommodations are not retroactive.

Students who will be absent from course activities due to religious holidays may seek reasonable accommodations by contacting the Dean of Students in writing within the first two weeks of the term. All requests must include specific dates for which the student requests accommodations.

Grading Scale

Letter Grade	Percentage*	Description
A	95–100	Excellent performance. The student has shown originality and displayed an exceptional grasp of the material and a deep analytical understanding of the subject.
A–	90–94
B+	87–89	Good performance. The student has mastered the material, understands the subject well and has shown some originality of thought and/or considerable effort.
B	83–86
B–	80–82
C+	77–79	Fair performance. The student has acquired an acceptable understanding of the material and essential subject matter of the course, but has not succeeded in translating this understanding into consistently creative or original work.
C	73–76
C–	70–72
D+	65–69	Poor. The student has shown some understanding of the material and subject matter covered during the course. The student’s work, however, has not shown enough effort or understanding to allow for a passing grade in School Required Courses. It does qualify as a passing mark for the General College Courses and Electives.
D	60–64
F	0–59	Fail. The student has not succeeded in mastering the subject matter covered in the course.

* Decimals should be rounded to the nearest whole number.