Introduction to Social Anthropology

The course explores anthropological approaches to society culture history and current events. Themes include social organization ideology religion exchange subsistence gender land use ethnicity ethnic conflict and local/global interrelations. Students explore these themes through detailed studies of women in North Africa ethnicity in Bosnia ritual exchange in the South Pacific and political organization in Southeast Asia. The instructor also reviews his current applied research on contemporary indigenous responses to political economic and ecological changes in Latin America with special emphasis on the Amazon Basin. Students grapple with the intellectual and ethical challenges both past and present of anthropologists.