Course Description:
In this course, we will focus on a survey of topics that will help us hone the discussion on cultural production, manifestations, and contestations. The course will provide an interdisciplinary perspective grounded in Anthropology, but also including materials from other fields in the social sciences, such as History, and Cultural Studies. The course will also introduce students to the four-field approach in Anthropology (Cultural Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Archaeology, and Linguistics). The geographical regions that will be covered in this class will be Latin America and the Caribbean (including its diasporas) and the United States of America. This will provide students with a context to discuss topics that include culture, race and ethnicity, connecting it to the main arguments around cultural difference, identity, political economy, health, food, environment, language, politics, gender, sports, and religion.
Common General Education Learning Outcomes addressed by this course:
The students will engage with various anthropological topics, using the Four-Field Anthropology tradition, and will assess information from a variety of sources by:
- describing the four-field approach in anthropology,
- giving appropriate and constructive feedback to student colleagues,
- creating diagrams or maps showing connections between multiple ideas/authors/themes,
- completing forums, and short reflexive response papers,
- collaborating with student team members responsibly and ethically.At the end of the semester, students will be able to identify and discuss race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, belief, social class, language, history, and material culture by explaining the relationships between these anthropological themes, in relationship to society and human diversity.
Image 2: L’Odyssée Belle, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple Textile, San Salvador (2021) Link
