Welcome to
Trash, (Shit), Dirt
ARCHY 234, Spring 2021
What is this class about?
How do we develop a sense of disgust? What is the life cycle of cultural objects? How do people “clean up”? Where does your trash go? What can shit tell us about human history? What is considered “dirty” in different cultural contexts and different historical moments?
We'll try to answer these questions and more in this anthropologically and archaeologically centered exploration of the diversity of human practices of defining and handling dirty stuff. We will explore how cities handle “trash” and “shit”, Seattle’s history of dumps and junk yards, how people in other parts of the world and at other times in history have managed trash and sewerage. You will make trips to some trashy and shitty places, consider intestinal parasites and the information embedded in them, and explore the amazing, hidden universe of waste.
Meet your instructors, Peter Lape (professor) and Yoli Ngandali (TA)
Peter Lape
I am an archaeologist and museum curator. My job is to carefully dig up people's trash, analyze it, and then store it in beautiful, museum-quality containers forever. These days I mostly dig up trash from 3,000-4,000 year old sites in the islands of eastern Indonesia, but I also find it fascinating how contemporary people in these islands deal with trash and shit. When I was a kid, one of my favorite Saturday activities was to take our household trash to the dump with my dad (we lived in the country and didn't have trash pickup). Car junkyards and building salvage warehouses are current favorite haunts of mine. I hope to share the joy of exploring these and other places where we deal with trash, sewerage and recycling.
Hello! I am a graduate student in archaeology and your TA for this quarter. I am a member of the Ngbaka Tribe from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I am currently engaged in community-based participatory research (CBPR) with Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest and hope to conduct CBPR with my own Ngbaka community in the future. I am an archaeology crew leader with the Field Method in Indigenous Archaeology field school in Oregon. We excavated the privy (outhouse) of a 19th and early 20th-century school on the Grand Ronde reservation and have found that even when we are digging up old trash in these seemingly strange places they are full of rich tribal history and stories. I look forward to being your TA this quarter and discussing how trash, 💩, and dirt are relevant to human cultures!
What can you learn in this class?
- figure out the strange and wonderful ways anthropologists and archaeologists see the world around them,
- use that perspective to delve into the ways humans interact with and think about material objects, particularly how we "dispose" of the ones we consider "dirty,"
- and apply your new anthropological and archaeological understanding of trash, shit and dirt to real global problems.
What are the assignments and how are grades calculated?
Here is how we will figure out what grade to give you at the end of the quarter:
- 20% reading responses (due at 9AM before each class)
- 20% Paper #1: Track your trash and comments on other's reports (due April 14)
- 20% Paper #2: Inventory your room and comments on other's reports (due April 28)
- 20% Paper #3: Explore re-use and comments on other's reports (due May 12)
- 20% paper #4: Follow your shit and comments on other's reports (due May 26)
Note: There may be changes to the syllabus over the course of the quarter to allow for guest speakers and inclusion of any newly published research, so check this Canvas site frequently. However, criteria and due dates for major assignments will not change.
Another note: there will likely be extra credit opportunities over the quarter, watch for announcements
How to contact us outside of class meeting times:
Feel free to use the Canvas message system or email. Please start your message with a polite greeting and use a helpful subject heading. Also, please be nice, spell things correctly, and use complete sentences. We will answer your message as soon as we can within normal business hours.
We will hold weekly office hours on Zoom (Peter: Mondays 12:30-1 pm, Yoli: Tuesdays 2-3 pm). Feel free to drop in anytime (there is a waiting room to allow one student at a time). We will also try to be on Zoom about 5-10 minutes before class and are happy to chat and answer questions then too. If none of those work for you, message us to set up an appointment.
What are the rules and policies?
Zoom protocols:
It isn't possible to replicate the in-person class environment on Zoom, but this is how we will attempt to make these meetings fun and inspiring (and hopefully not exhausting and soul crushing).
- You will need to log in using your UW NetID to be allowed in to Zoom sessions.
- Please turn your camera on for class discussion and breakout rooms, unless it seriously impacts your internet bandwidth; you can turn your camera off while someone (me or a guest) is doing a lecture or presentation
- Please have your preferred name (first and last) and your pronoun preference set on your Zoom profile.
- Feel free to use the chat for questions that come up during lectures.
- Zoom class sessions will be recorded and made available after each class (click on the Zoom tab on the left side of this Canvas page to access recorded class sessions). Due to the importance of discussion in this class, our preference is for students to join the synchronous (live) class sessions, but you have the option to view or review class lecture and discussion at any time in the quarter.
Other normal-times policies:
- Late submissions will not be accepted unless you make alternate arrangements prior to the due date. Get those assignments in on time or accept the consequences.
- We welcome ongoing feedback about the class. Please feel free to send suggestions for improvement at any time during the quarter.
- You are expected to produce your own work in this class. Plagiarism or any other form of cheating will not be tolerated. There won't really be any good opportunities to cheat, actually. All students are expected to uphold the University of Washington standard of student conduct.
- We are committed to meeting the needs of all class participants. The Disabled Student Services (DSS) Office coordinates academic accommodations for enrolled students, University staff, and academic personnel with documented disabilities. We are happy to discuss ways of expanding access to this class that are not only mandated by law.
- College can be a difficult time, especially during a global pandemic. The UW has comprehensive Counseling and Mental Health Services, including individual and group counseling as well as 24/7 counseling and crisis support through My SSP.