Course Syllabus

Fall 2024 | ANT-1010-VO01 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Martha Lance
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View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Gilberto Diaz Santos

General Education Requirements

VSCS Humanistic Perspectives

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course is a survey of basic issues, concepts, theories, and methods of cultural anthropology. Students think critically about the nature of culture and society from the perspective of the past and the present. Topics include social and political organization, gender, myth and religion, language, adaptation, and cultural change.

Essential Objectives

1. Describe the origin and development of anthropology as a social science and as a humanities field, the subject matter it includes, and how it relates to other disciplines.
2. Explain and apply key anthropological concepts, including culture, ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, adaptive strategies, agency, social stratification, magic, ritual, cultural change, and world-view.
3. Discuss the application of quantitative and qualitative anthropological methods to the study of human culture and examine the relationship between method and theory.
4. Describe the development of anthropological theories such as cultural evolution, structural functionalism, cultural ecology, and symbolic interactionism and understand how current theoretical approaches are used to explain cultural phenomena.
5. Examine the role and importance of fieldwork in cultural anthropology and discuss ethical conduct within the discipline, including bias in research design and practice.
6. Discuss the diversity of humans past and present by identifying differences, similarities, and interrelationships among individuals, cultures, and societies.
7. Apply basic anthropological concepts to better understand and respect the characteristics of unfamiliar cultures and critically examine aspects of familiar cultures, cultural conflict, and systemic racism.
8. Describe the various roles that cultural anthropologists play in today's world and give examples of current research questions and applied cultural anthropology in business, medicine, education, development, and advocacy.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

This course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations.

Fall 2024 textbook details will be available on 2024-05-20. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

ANT-1010-VO01 Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Methods

This class is largely discussion based. You can count on reading a chapter a week of our texfbook supplemented by short readings and films. While our approach emphasizes cross-cultural study of human behavior, the course invites you to carefully consider your own cultural behavior. This is truly an applied anthropology course and we will use our anthropological skillset to more deeply understand the issues facing us nationally, internationally and locally.

Consistent discussion posting is a must for this to be a lively and interesting online course.

You will also be asked to do several fieldwork exercises throughout the course.

Short papers assigned throughout the course will test your anthropological skills as well.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

As outlined in the discussion rubric included online, students are expected to thoughtfully present their own thoughts each week and respond to at least one post by a classmate. Written work should be presented double spaced and 12 point font. If using online materials or other research materials, credit should be given to the origninal authors. Plagerism is not permitted in this course.

Students will contact the professor with any concerns or canvas confusions!

Semester Grading

Class Contribution

Grades are based on attending class, participating and being fully prepared.

Weekly online discussions and short film responses: 25% of grade

These include discussion items that sometimes are simply questions I pose to you or they might include a video that you need to watch and then answer additional questions.

Sometimes I will forward a news items via email to everyone that requires that you read the article and respond. I will ask each of you to keep your eye out for news items that are pertinent to the course as well. You can post in the Anthropology Antennae discussion area for extra credit. If you are between two grades in the end, I will take a look to see what extra contributions you made and reserve the right to bump up your grade.

Discussion contributions are two part – your own posting due eachFriday by 11 pmand one response to postings of your classmates due the followingMonday at 11 pm.You must post at least two items per week to get any credit. Not participating impacts the learning experience for all of us.

Written Assignments

You are required to do some writing in this course in the form of short responses, short papers, field notes, a midterm and a final. Exams will be mostly essays and will be posted several weeks in advance of the due date.

Midterm: 20 % of grade

Final: 25 % of grade

Paper Assignments: 25% of grade

For the fieldwork portion of the course, you will have several short assignments that require you move from your armchair.

Weekly Quizzes: 5% of grade

You will have weekly vocabulary quizzes. These are mostly multiple choice and designed to help you master course content and prepare for written assignments and exams. Included are electronic flashcards of important concepts and terms that will help you study for the quizzes. You can take the quizzes as many times as you like until you earn an “A.”

Missing & Late Work Policy

The instructor reserves the right to lower the grades of missing and late work without prior permission.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity