All posts by brw208

About the course

This course was geared for entering first-year students in the College of Arts & Sciences. 20 students enrolled. The seminar was taught by Bruce Whitehouse of the Department of Sociology & Anthropology.

Assignments

  1. Participation (30% of course grade): This was measured through attendance and discussion in the classroom as well as online (through remarks and questions posted via Hypothes.is and Course Site).
  2. Unit essay (20% of course grade): Each student chose one of the course’s thematic units and wrote an essay discussing the most important readings assigned in that unit.
  3. Case study essay (20% of course grade): Working with one partner, students selected a book from a list of anthropological case studies (see “Other readings” below), read the book, and wrote an essay evaluating the author’s main arguments.
  4. Class presentation (10% of course grade): Each student paired from the case study essay gave a 10-minute presentation to the class about the book they read.
  5. Final project (20% of course grade): Students used WordPress to synthesize this blog compiling collective guidelines and recommendations for ways to address global poverty and other problems. Students themselves determined the format and structure of these guidelines, and  allocated tasks for completing the project in a participatory manner.

Reading list

Assigned texts (read by the entire class)

Films and videos (viewed outside of class time)

Other readings (selected by pairs of students for specific assignments):