ANTH - Anthropology

This course promotes understanding of the world’s cultures by providing an introduction to cultural anthropology, the study of contemporary cultures worldwide. Case studies are selected for specific ethnographic focus, through which to explore different approaches to life, considering questions of power and inequality, gender, personhood, and religion. The experiences of colonial encounters and internal domination are examined. Issues of development and cultural survival are addressed, as is the relationship of ecology to the social world, including one of the most pressing issues of our time: the management of resources that are held in common and utilized by a group. The aim of this course, ultimately, is to assist students in developing the ability to start thinking like an anthropologist; that is, to approach questions that interest them from an anthropological perspective.