ANTH 102.014 / Understanding Other Cultures
Monday, Wednesday, Friday / 3:35–5:25 / Hamilton 101
Professor: Alice Kasakoff
(3 credits)
Fulfills 3 hrs. of the 9 hr. social science distribution requirement
Accelerated Course: Begins March 17 – Ends April 28
Course Readings:
Delaney, Carol 2004 Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. London: Blackwell.
Basso, Keith 1996 (get 2nd edition) Wisdom Sits in Places. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Second ethnography: title to be announced.
Course Content:
This class will focus on understanding anthropological concepts, methods, and approaches through an “experiential approach” involving exercises in your own culture(s). Students will learn about cultural anthropology by reading ethnographies (books describing a culture) and doing ethnography (gathering data by participating, observing and interviewing members of a culture). The text book is organized into aspects of human experience that are found in all cultures: space, time, the body, food, language. Each chapter also includes a professional article on the topic. During the class period we will discuss the ideas in the chapter and final articles, watch films dealing with these topics in a variety of other cultures and each week students will do an exercise gathering data on the topic of the week themselves. We will also read two ethnographies describing two cultures in detail (Apache and one to be announced).
Course Presentation:
Lectures, class discussion and films.
Method of Evaluation:
Weekly exercises (30%); Midterm (30%); Final (35%); Attendance, class participation (5%)
Audience:
Undergraduate students. Students in professional majors will learn how to be more sensitive to the cultural backgrounds of their clients.