ganenjie.thonavocat

A sort of 101 list of primary materials would be:

Franz Boas - Language and Culture
Emile Durkheim - Elementary Forms of Religious Life + Rules of Sociological Method + Division of Labor in Society
Weber - The Protestant Ethic + Political Writings + Economy and Society (vol. I if you have time)
Marcel Mauss - The Gift
Malinowski - Argonauts of the Western Pacific
A.R. Radcliffe-Brown - Structure and Function in Primitive Society
EE. Evans Pritchard - African Political Systems + Witchcraft, Oracles, Magic
Edmund Leach - Political Systems of Burma
Raymond Firth - Elements of Social Organization
Ruth Benedict - various
Claude Lévi-Strauss - Structural Anthropology
Maurice Godelier - Perspectives in Marxist Anthropology
Max Gluckman - Order and Rebellion in Tribal Africa
Clifford Geertz- The Interpretation of Cultures
Marshall Sahlins - Culture in Practice
James Clifford and George Marcus - Writing Culture

Besides that, a lot of smaller works should be suggested. What's more, Anthropology's reliance on continental philosophy and social theory make these latter literatures essential reading--i.e. Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze, Bourdieu. I've left out Queer and Feminist critiques, the contributions of semiotic perspectives, the contemporary basically, but it all depends on the sub-area you're working in and what faculties you're working with.

Good Luck!

Regarding the grades:
The grades here, especially in the disciplinary departments, really are strange, and I was also worried about that at the beginning. However, you will usually send in your original transcript, since most schools do not expect you to send in the conversion. I have heard that most schools will know about Swiss grading, and IHEID grading, where a 5.25 often equals an American A, I would say. In addition, this is something where LORs can play an important role. Grade conversion of the Swiss system is a mess anyway, but IHEID is sufficiently well-known in a lot of universities, I think, that this grade difference is not that important. I'd say that the name would actually help you, and most schools in the US do know about European/Swiss grading. At IHEID, you usually need an average of 5 or higher to transition seemlessly into the PhD. That's similar for other schools, I expect.

Know the school, know the faculty, know the research speciality, know yourself.

I meet with two of my POIs and both were extremely easy and helpful! This is a good thing so just enjoy it and see where it goes

I revised my SOP and writing sample to the point where my notoriously-difficult-to-please advisor (who's also chair of the department) emailed me and said, "This was worth coming into work early on a Monday for."

I finished teaching my first class ever and got great feedback from my students (final conferences are tomorrow with their portfolios due Thursday). Several of them have told me it was their favorite class of the semester and the vast majority said it really helped with their writing.

I've finished eight out of thirteen applications, with the remaining five not due until the end of December/early January. I am organized enough to just need to upload the documents and fill out the applications when I have the time to sit down and do so.

I took and survived the subject test, getting a score I can live with.

I guess I got a lot more done than it feels like. This process seems designed to suck every last ounce of self-worth out of you, so it's helpful to sit down and list all the things you did right.

Oh, and even though it's not important in the slightest, I got a chili pepper on RMP. My face when I saw that:

http://graduateinstitute.ch/students/infoadmin/statetudiants_en.html

Hope this helps. Good luck everyone.