The aim of this course is to introduce students to the field of anthropology generally, and to the history, concerns, and methodologies of the disciplinary subfield known as cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropologists have traditionally investigated small-scale societies, elucidating and exploiting apparent differences between themselves and others in their quest to understand human diversity. Through lectures, required readings, films and class exercises, students in this course will explore the practices and thought systems of peoples mostly outside the industrialized west, and come to appreciate the variety of values, institutions, and technologies which characterize human society. It is hoped that students will then be able to apply anthropological perspectives to their interpretations of events both in their own culture and in our increasingly interdependent world.
Students are responsible for all readings and attendance at lectures and films.
Although roll call will rarely be taken, students should be aware that about half of the examination questions will be based upon lectures and classroom discussions. Only students who have requested, in writing, the professor's permission in advance to reschedule a test and who have received that permission will be allowed to make-up a quiz. The remaining twenty percent of your grade will be figured on the basis of two other assignments . First , each student will be expected to complete review forms for some of the readings from the Angeloni volume. The professor will choose the four at random.