Anthropology is the inclusive study of humanity in all its rich variety of manifestations, both past and present. During the course of the semester we will examine the concepts which anthropologists use to compare and contrast such societies. While cultures around the world share universal institutions such as language, the family, and religion, these institutions take a seemingly infinite variety of forms.
Anthropologists seek to understand what is common to all cultures, and what is truly unique.
They strive to comprehend the range of variation in cultural patterns and behaviors and, above all, to understand why cultural institutions take the unique forms that they do. Required course materials will be presented in class-time lectures, in occasional films, and in a basic text entitled Mirror for Humanity , by Conrad Kottak. The text supplies an overview of concepts that will be more fully defined in class lectures. An additional text, The Yanamamo is a classic ethnographic study written by anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon who lived with and studied the non-literate tribe of the South American tropical forest. We will see the Yanomamo in two films.