2011-2012 Academic Catalog

Dec 26, 2024

2011-2012 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ID 120 - Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology

From Cannibals to Corporations: Humanity in Context. The purpose of this course is to provide students with a rich anthropological understanding of culture. What does it mean to be human across our many differences and similarities? How do people give meaning to their lives across time and space? How are some of the most intimate features of our lives socially patterned? Students will learn to see the familiar in the strange and the strange in the familiar—in other words to appreciate something about other cultures and, through this mirror, to learn something new about their own. The class also provides an introduction to anthropological history, ethnographic method, and social theory. From the U.S. suburbs to hunter-gatherers in the Amazon, students will explore the diversity of human societies around the world through the lens of critical issues such as development, power, identity, war, globalization, inequality, and cultural survival in the twenty-first century. Through class assignments, students will also have the opportunity to use tools of anthropological observation and problem-solving. Throughout the semester, we will discuss the politics and practicality of applying anthropological knowledge for a more just world.