Also examines how we and people in other cultures think of disease, health, body, and mind. Exploration and conquest. Colonialism, resistance, and adaptation. Missionizing and culture contact. Cases include struggles of Maya, Iroquois, and native New Englanders.
Students learn to use primary documents.
Major emphasis on the period from 1970 to present but certain units explore historical antecedents as far back as late eighteenth century. The role of the family in human evolution, and as a symbol in our own social and political lives. An introduction to the anthropological study of human sexuality, gender constructs, and the sociocultural systems these are embedded in. Examines current critiques of Western philosophical and psychological traditions, and cross-cultural variability and universals of gender and sexuality. It explores the nature of contemporary transformations, including those in economics, media, and information technologies, population flows, and consumer habits, not through abstractions but by focusing on the daily lives of people in various parts of the world.