DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY

This class is a general introduction to cultural anthropology - the holistic study of contemporary social life in a global context. Its hallmarks are a distinctive product, called an ethnography, and a particular research methodology called participant-observation. Together we will explore the world through the lens of childhood and adolescence, and experience the fieldwork of anthropologists through ethnographies written and visual. We will look at the ways in which several cultures socialize children, and at how childhood and adolescence itself is conceptualized and lived. We will consider the interrelated factors - social, economic, demographic and symbolic - that determine the organization of the family, the value and meaning of children, and the place of children in their families, communities, and schools. Though there is much that human beings share in common, we will see that the “cultural construction” of childhood influences child development in domains as varied as morality, intelligence, sexuality and identity. We will also see how historical changes have reshaped the family and transformed our own realities.

We will develop an understanding of what 'ethnography' is, both as a process and a product, as well as learn about cultural relativity and viewing social behavior from a cross-cultural perspective. Students will conduct ethnographic exercises to understand how fieldwork observations and analysis are context dependent. A particular emphasis in course lectures, discussion, and activities will attend to the ways in which qualitative research methods such as ethnographic interviews and participant-observation provide one approach to documenting and understanding social life.

Why do archaeologists dig the past? Archaeology is the study of people through what they left behind from the mundane to the monumental: trash, human and animal remains, burial goods, ritual offerings, buildings, monuments, roads, and fields. In this class, you will be introduced to the questions, theories, and methods of archaeology. You will learn how archaeologists locate, survey, and excavate archaeological sites; how they study artifacts in the lab; and how they use the stuff they find to piece together stories about the past and test those stories against the evidence. Each week, you will meet famous and not-so-famous people and civilizations such as Ötzi the Iceman and Copper Age Europe, King Tut and Egypt, and Momia Juanita and the Inca. You will explore how interpretations of these characters and cultures have changed through time as we ask different questions and improve technologies of survey and analysis. By learning about past peoples, what made them different and what made them similar, you will gain a better understanding of human history so that you may better contextualize the modern world and be poised to address questions of the future including climate change, sustainability, and inequality.