AN101: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

FALL 2020 - BOSTON UNIVERSITY . UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL . HEAD TEACHING FELLOW under the direction of professor AYSE PARLA . taught two sectionS

This course provides a foundation for students interested in fields that emphasize cultural analysis. It is designed to introduce you to the ways in which cultural anthropologists frame their inquiries and think about key aspects of the social world, including gender, class, family, ethnicity, race, nation, politics, ritual, and emotions. Through ethnographic portrayals of people living in many different regions around the world, we will examine some of the unstated assumptions of our everyday lives and call into question our commonsense notions about everything from sex to economics, science to inequality. Students will learn key concepts and approaches in cultural anthropology, read and discuss and explore various ways that anthropologists frame their inquiries. The course will distill key anthropological insights for students who –regardless of their future career paths –are interested in integrating ethnographic sensibilities into their professional and personal lives. 

Course lectures, exercises, readings, discussions, and assignments aim to: Open your mind to the diversity of human experience; Challenge your assumptions of what is natural or universal; Foster your appreciation for plurality and difference (one of anthropology’s most vital lessons); Develop relational and holistic approaches to research and analysis; Encourage qualitative methodologies and especially participant observation as a key research technique and a general orientation to critical thinking.­­