Anthropology

What is culture? It is the thing that has made humans so successful, and it is what binds us together as a species, but it is a difficult thing to define or perceive. We can see it in art, language, customs, ways of dressing, ways of preparing and eating food, ways of relating to the environment, and relationships to others; these things help us understand what a particular culture is at its core. But what exactly is this thing we call "culture?"

This class will introduce you to how we study culture and the vast cultural variation within the human species. We will look at how humans have dealt with the challenges of living with their environment and other societies, what humans do in different situations, and why they respond to certain circumstances the way they do. We will also look at the science of anthropology and how we can compare the dizzying array of cultural expression across the world to discover patterns observed cross-culturally.