Students will discover that these activities only seem to be normal, seem to be understandable, seem to be easy to explain, because we take them for granted and in doing so make them appear normal. In other words, we actively hide our own strangeness from ourselves and from each other. Consideration of qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry as applied to social situations. Design of research project after review of relevant literature. Study of the nature, structure, and functions of human communities, particularly within the context of urban American society, but recognizing the role of urban structure throughout human society.
Consideration is given to the changing place of community in contemporary social settings.
The Atlantic slave trade forced millions of Africans to Latin America and the Caribbean. This course examines the origins, character, and persistence of diverse African cultures in the New World as well as their extraordinarily colorful and creative hybridization through interactions with European and indigenous languages and traditions. This includes African dialects, religions, music, art, dance, family structures and values, folk psychologies, healing practices, and more. This course reviews comparative anthropological approaches to the study of magic, witchcraft, and religion, primarily in a non-Western societies. The course will emphasize shamanic and spirit possession religions and radical religious movements, such as nativistic and messianic cults.