ANTHR 1400 - The Comparison of Cultures

(GB) (CA-AS)

Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

A. Willford.

An introduction to cultural anthropology through ethnographies, or the descriptive accounts of anthropologists. Through readings and lectures, students acquaint themselves with a number of cultures from several parts of the world. The cultures range in form from those of small-scale tribal societies to those of state societies. Throughout the course, we attempt to make sense of exotic cultures in their own terms. Attention is focused on variation in cultural patterns as they are expressed in social, economic, and ritual practices. In this encounter, the principles of anthropology, as a comparative enterprise that poses distinct cultural systems in relief, will be developed. Fiction, films, and exercises supplement the formal anthropological materials.