- Name: Peoples & Cultures of the World
- Division: Liberal Arts
- Discipline: Anthropology
- Units (Credits): 3.00
I. Catalog Course Description
Offers a comparative survey of selected societies from throughout the world. Emphasis is on the impact of global developments on traditional societies.
II. Course Objectives and Linkage to General Education Program
The information in the parentheses after a course objective refers to the specific general education (GE) learning outcome that the objective meets. Objectives without this information are not linked to WNC’s general education program.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will have demonstrated they can:
- Exhibit factual knowledge of a broad range of cultures of the world. (GE 1).
- Examine cultural change through the lens of ethnographic and ethnologic research. (GE 4).
- Describe diverse positions on selected anthropological values or practices (GE 5).
- Demonstrate an appreciation of cultural diversity through an examination of cultural interaction from selected areas of the world (GE 5).
- Demonstrate analytical and critical thinking through substantially error-free prose suitable to the purpose of relating selected anthropological topics to personal experience and knowledge (GE 2, 6)
This class provides an overview to the scientific examination and comparison of world cultures. Anthropologists use the concept of culture to account for the tremendous variety of ways humans have adapted to their surroundings and to each other. The course will examine the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, and research methods of cultural anthropology. A major goal is to provide students with an awareness of the wide spectrum of cultural and social variation throughout the world, while at the same time stressing those characteristics that are shared by all human beings. By learning about other societies we learn, ultimately, about ourselves.
The class includes lectures, discussions, ethnographic films, and student presentations. Students will exercise academic skills in reading, writing, research, critical thinking, and oral communication.