This was the homepage for Introduction to Anthropology 2017 using the 3rd edition of Anthropology: What Does it Mean to Be Human? In 2021, I used the updated 5th edition and was able to record the lectures in a YouTube Playlist:
One interesting feature of the 2017 course was an attempt to tackle “ten big questions” that anthropology addresses. The questions for Anthropology 2017:
- Is Capitalism the Best Economic System?
- Why Does Politics Matter?
- Is Kinship Important?
- Is Marriage Natural?
- Is Social Inequality Inevitable?
- Is Nationalism Bad?
- Is Health Subjective?
- When Did Globalization Begin?
- Why Does Globalization Feel New?
- What Will Happen in the Future?
Part 1: Human Nature, Race, Evolution
Horace Miner, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema,” American Anthropologist (1956)
L&S, chapter 1, “What is Anthropology?” (3-20) (via anthropology blogs)
Is Race Genetic?
Lavenda & Schultz, chapter 3, “What about Human Variation?” (59-84)
Michael Yudell, Dorothy Roberts, Rob DeSalle, and Sarah Tishkoff, “Taking race out of human genetics,” Science, 2016
Yolanda Moses, “Why Do We Keep Using the Word ‘Caucasian’?” Sapiens, 2017.
L&S chapter 4, “What Can the Study of Primates Tell Us?” (97-118)
Barbara Smuts, “What are Friends For?” in Natural History (1987)
L&S chapter 5 (part 1 of 2), “What Can the Fossil Record Tell Us?” (119-132)
“The Latest on Homo naledi” by John Hawks in American Scientist (2016)
L&S chapter 5 (part 2 of 2), “How Did Homo sapiens Evolve?” (133-161)
Part 2: Domestication, Agriculture, Culture
L&S chapter 6, “How Do We Know about the Human Past?” (163-192).
“New Women of the Ice Age” by Heather Pringle in Discover (1998).
L&S ch. 7 (pt 1 of 2), “Why Did Humans Settle Down, Build Cities?” (193-212)
“The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race” by Jared Diamond in Discover (1999).
L&S chapter 7 (part 2 of 2), “Why Did Humans Establish States?” (213-228)
How the Inca Leapt Canyons by John Noble Wilford in The New York Times (2007)
Lavenda & Schultz chapter 8 (part 1 of 2), “How Does the Concept of Culture Help Us?” (229-236).
“Our Babies, Ourselves” by Meredith Small in Natural History (1997)
L&S chapter 8 (part 2 of 2), “How Does the Idea of Cultural Relativism Help Us?” (237-246)
L&S module 3, “On Ethnographic Methods” (247-259)
“Shakespeare in the Bush” by Laura Bohannan in Natural History (1966)
Thu 3/23: L&S ch. 9, “Why Is Understanding Human Language Important?” (261-284)
“How Language Shapes Thought” by Lera Boroditsky in Scientific American (2011).
L&S chapter 10, “How Do We Make Meaning?” (289-322)
Part 3: Anthropology 2017 & Global Transformations
1. Is Capitalism the Best Economic System?
L&S chapter 11, “Why Do Anthropologists Study Economic Relations?” (323-348)
Richard Borshay Lee, “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” in Natural History (1969).
2. Why Does Politics Matter?
L&S ch. 12, “How Do Anthropologists Study Political Relations?” (349-372)
Jack Weatherford, “Tribal Politics in Washington” in PoLAR – Political and Legal Anthropology Review (1993)
3. Is Kinship Important?
L&S ch. 13 (part 1of2), “Where Do Our Relatives Come From?” (373-388)
Jason Antrosio, “Anthropology, Sex, Gender, Sexuality: Gender is a Social Construction” blog-post on Living Anthropologically (2012)
4. Is Marriage Natural?
L&S chapter 13 (part 2 of 2), “What is Marriage?” (388-414)
Alice Dreger, “When Taking Multiple Husbands Makes Sense” in The Atlantic (2013)
5. Is Social Inequality Inevitable?
L&S chapter 14 (part 1 of 2), “What about Social Inequality?” (415-434)
6. Is Nationalism Bad?
L&S chapter 14 (part 2 of 2), “What about Nation and Nationalism?” (434-446)
Richard Handler, “Let’s Keep Arguing About Flags and Statues” in Sapiens (2016).
Peggy Levitt, “Why We Need Transnational Social Protection for Migrants” in Sapiens (2017).
7. Is Health Subjective?
L&S chapter 15, “How is Anthropology Applied in Medicine?” (447-474)
8. When Did Globalization Begin?
L&S module 5, “Background to the Global Political Economy” (475-478)
Charles C. Mann, “The Real Story of Globalization” in The Wall Street Journal (2011)
9. Why Does Globalization Feel New?
L&S chapter 16 (part 1 of 2) “What about Globalization?” (479-501)
Rubén G. Rumbaut, “Immigration’s Complexities, Assimilation’s Discontents” in Contexts (2008)
10. What Will Happen in the Future?
L&S ch. 16, (part 2 of 2) “Can We Be at Home in a Global World?” (501-509)
This course is part of a series of Intro-to-Anthropology courses online. My latest attempt from 2022 is one that outlines Human Problems & Human Potential. There were three other courses that used the textbook Anthropology: What Does it Mean to Be Human? (2021, 2018, and 2016). In 2020 I used the textbook Through the Lens of Anthropology.
For a full recorded lecture series from 2021, see the YouTube Playlist: