SOAN 349: Frontiers &
Borders
MW 2:45-4:00, Alumni 108
Colgate University
Spring 2005 Professor Thomas Hall
NEW Office: B3 Alumni, x7042, email: tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
OFFICE HOURS:
M 4-5, TU 2-3, W 11-12, & by appointment
Last Updated 3-7-05
Study Guide for Midterm
FINAL VERSION
The midterm will be Wed. March 9 in class.
The Midterm will cover: Barfield Chs. 1 thru 5; Barth pps. 39 -100; Donnan & Wilson Chs. 1 thru 6; Khodarkovsky Chs. 1 thru 3; Slatta Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10; Weber & Rausch Chs. 6 thru 16; Wells Chs. 1 thru 7.
The following are sample questions. The midterm questions will either be identical to those below, or shortened version of them. I purposely as many questions to help you study.
I will announce on March 7, the number of questions and format for the midterm. Typically I have several short answer questions [one phrase to three sentences], with some choices. Then essays in groups among which you select.
Short Answer or Identify: if a date, why it is significant, BRIEFLY; if an acronym, what it stands for.
bandeirante
barrier vs. buffer
charro
cross-cutting cleavage
encomienda
epigraphy
fibula
frontier vs border vs borderlands vs boundary
(and how different writers use the terms)
frontier of exclusion
frontier of inclusion
frontier thesis [Frederick Jackson Turner]
gaucho
internal vs external frontiers
Lapp
llanero
limes
liminal
maroon
oppidum/oppida
pampas
place vs space
Saami
terra
sigillata
pottery
trader tourism
tribal zone
vaquero
Vercingetorix
vicus/vici
Essays:
Note: when the question mentions one or more books, the question is asking what that or those authors say, not a general discussion. General discussions will say something like, "discuss......"
"Kinds of evidence" means what they are, such as income data, firm size data, etc, it is NOT a request to recite the specific data.
1. What is the "outer frontier strategy"? Why was it so effective?
2. What is the "inner frontier strategy"? When was it used?
3. Many people think Central Asia pastoralists, the steppe nomads, are responsible for the periodic collapses of the Chinese empire. What does Barfield say about this. What is his evidence?
4. How do the chapters in Barth illustrate his argument that it is "The ethnic boundary that defines the group, not the cultural stuff that it encloses"?
5. What is distinctive about an anthropological approach to borders and frontiers? [i.e. Donnan & Wilson]. Gives at least three illustrations from the substantive chapters.
6. What are the key principles driving the Russian frontier expansion? In what ways is it distinctive? In what ways is is similar to other frontiers?
7. Slatta talks about the frontier as a membrane. What does this metaphor tell us about frontiers? Show how it does, or does not, fit at least 4 different frontiers we have discussed.
8. Describe and explain at least 3 of Slatta's suggestions for how to study frontiers. Illustrate the principles with examples, either from Slatta or other readings.
9. Based on the authors in Weber & Rausch, what is distinctive about Latin American Frontiers? Give a few illustrations from the examples in the collection.
10. Compare and contrast the approaches to frontiers in Weber & Rausch with those in Slatta. Do they mostly agree or mostly disagree? How?
11. How is the Roman frontier in German distinctive? What does Wells add to the discussion by relying so heavily on archeological evidence to supplement textual evidence?
12. Compare and contrast Roman and Chinese frontier processes. What does this comparison tell us about frontiers in general.
13. Compare and contrast Roman and Russian frontier processes. What does this comparison tell us about frontiers in general.
14.Compare and contrast German and Russian frontier processes. What does this comparison tell us about frontiers in general.
15. What are the roles of stratification (class inequality) in frontier processes? Gives some illustrations from various readings.
16. According to Donnan & Wilson, what are differences between a border and a frontier? Illustrate with some examples from the readings.
17. Why is the study of borders or frontier regions especially useful in understanding how people develop and change identities?
18. Some news commentator suggests that if we just tighten border controls smuggling and illegal entries will cease. You are called upon to present "deep background" as an expert on borders and frontiers. What would be you key points? [Do NOT write this as an editorial full of rhetoric, but as a detailed background].
19. Describe and explain the "paradox" of borders and frontiers: that while often peoples become more similar in practices, the boundaries actually sharpen. Give a few examples of each process.
Send comments or questions to tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
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