Mar 28, 2024  
2018-2019 Course Catalog 
    
2018-2019 Course Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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ANTH 1023 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Credits: 3
Hours/Week: Lecture 3 Lab None
Course Description: This course examines the fundamental social processes that universally bind humans together and tear them apart: subsistence, language, kinship, reproduction, alliances, food production, economics, competition, warfare and death. The anthropological approach to these topics is to study human societies from around the world using the guiding concepts of culture and evolution.
MnTC Goals
5 History/Social/Behavioral Science, 8 Global Perspective

Prerequisite(s): Course placement into college-level English and Reading OR completion of ENGL 0950  with a grade of C or higher OR completion of RDNG 0940  with a grade of C or higher and qualifying English Placement Exam OR completion of RDNG 0950  with a grade of C or higher and ENGL 0090  with a grade of C or higher OR completion of ESOL 0051  with a grade of C or higher and ESOL 0052  with a grade of C or higher.
Corequisite(s): None
Recommendation: None

Major Content
  1. Introduction to Anthropology
  2. Human Origins and Evolutionary Theory
  3. Culture as Socially Transmitted Information
  4. The Individual and Society
  5. The History of Anthropology
  6. Anthropological Theory
  7. Patterns of Subsistence
  8. Language
  9. Kinship
  10. Sex, Gender, Marriage, and the Division of Labor
  11. Alliances, Competition, and Warfare
  12. Cultural Contact

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course students will be able to:

  1. explain the anthropological concept of culture.
  2. articulate their understanding of cultural evolution.
  3. evaluate the effects of the developed world on indigenous populations.
  4. describe patterns of human subsistence.
  5. critically evaluate racist claims about human variation.
  6. assess the empirical strength of various anthropological theories.

Competency 1 (1-6)
05. 01. Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition.
05. 02. Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures.
05. 03. Use and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories.
Competency 2 (7-10)
08. 01. Describe and analyze political, economic, and cultural elements which influence relations of states and societies in their historical and contemporary dimensions.
08. 02. Demonstrate knowledge of cultural, social, religious and linguistic differences.
08. 03. Analyze specific international problems, illustrating the cultural, economic, and political differences that affect their solution.


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