This course introduces students to the substantive issues, methods, and concepts of sociocultural anthropology. Generally speaking, sociocultural anthropology is the study of how human beings organize their lives as members of society, and the ways in which they make these lives meaningful as cultural individuals. This study involves encountering, interpreting, and communicating about the human situation in all its variety.

Through readings on such diverse topics as America's last "wild Indian," gift exchange on a tropical Pacific island, adolescence in Samoa, family life in Taiwan, gender identities in Brazil, AIDS in Haiti, and McDonald's in Hong Kong, this course will explore contemporary anthropological approaches to two central questions:

1) How do individuals lead social and cultural lives?
2) What fate and value do cultural differences have in today's interconnected world?

The first portion of the class is devoted to a consideration of anthropological concepts of culture, methods of ethnographic fieldwork, and various ways of thinking about and interpreting society and social action. In the rest of the class, we explore a variety of different anthropological topics, including witchcraft, kinship, gender, medicine, and economic exchange. We will conclude with an exploration of current debates about the meaning of culture and future directions in the anthropological study of globalization and public culture.

Course Syllabus

Writing Assignments

Lecture Handouts

Study Guide Questions for Readings

Exam Review Materials

Announcements: Will be posted as necessary