Overview of Course

This course aims to develop an anthropological perspective and toolkit that will stimulate our thinking and enhance our learning during and after the voyage. A central question considered will be: what explains the diversity and similarity of human ways of doing and being we observe in our travels? To address this question, we will develop a toolkit of some core concepts (e.g., culture, cultural relativism, holism, social organization, etc.) and methods (ethnography, systematic comparison) of cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropology is the study of the diverse ways people live and interact with the world around them. Students will learn and practice skills applicable to many fields of study, including how to make systematic observations, document observations in a field notebook, find patterns (if they exist) in their observations, and communicate written results with clarity and potency. By practicing these skills, students will learn how new, data-informed knowledge of the world is created through original research. Our readings, discussions, and activities will focus on the peoples and places we visit. We will strive for an intellectual and emotional synergy between our learning in the classroom and our experiences during the voyage.