ANTH 1A: Introduction to the Comparative Study of Human SocietiesInstructor: Sargam Sharma Prerequisites: None Course Description: What can anthropology offer to our lives? Anthropological analysis reveals to us the contingent nature of things we might otherwise take for granted. Through this introductory course, students will be able to cultivate an appreciation for the different ways in which people undertake similar tasks, organize social structures, communicate to make themselves known, and decide what is valuable and what is not. The readings in the course will show the ways in which meaning is made and achieved in everyday life through effort and collaboration. Students will also learn about the discipline’s method of ‘participant observation’. Differently from other methods of “data collection" anthropology’s commitment to being immersed in the way of life of its interlocutors offers insights that statistical or journalistic accounts may miss. Finally, the weight of history pervades the discipline’s own sense of its aims. Hence, the discussion will also be opened up to understand what the discipline was and what it can be given its proximity to power, and how anthropologists wrestle with enduring binds of power relations in the form of sex, gender, race, caste, class and region. Session: Session I Day: T, W, Th Time: 1:50pm - 4:20pm Credit Hours: 4 Credits Course Format: Remote Learning Course for Summer 2025 Brandeis Graduation Requirement Fulfilled: DJW, NW, SS Enrollment Limit: Course Classification: Undergraduate Level Course Course Tuition: $3,700 Course Fees: None Open to High School Students: Yes |
