Tag Archives: teaching

Talking Timbits and Double Doubles: First Day Conversations in Anthropology 100

September looms and it’s time to start planning for that important first class with with my new batch of students. That means it’s time to add Timbits and coffee to my to-do list. Not because I plan to eat them (palm oil!), but I need them for class. It started like this… read more…

  • dateAugust 22, 2016
  • comments4
  • posted byErin McGuire
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Teaching about Indigenous Peoples and Cultures

Teaching about other peoples and cultures is often challenging. For me this includes teaching courses on Indigenous peoples and cultures of North America, including those known as Native Americans, Indians, Aboriginals, and First Nations. With two main challenges (authenticity and place) in mind, I recently created a new course on Indigenous Peoples and taught it in a condensed seven-week term. The class met every Friday from 9:00 – 4:00 and focused on the First Nations of the Greater Vancouver area. Four days were spent off-campus and three were spent on-campus. read more…

  • dateJuly 6, 2016
  • comments1
  • posted byBob Muckle
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Proposing a Harry Potter and Anthropology Course

My discussion last month centred on the emerging trend for developing disciplinary courses in concert with popular culture themes. The possibilities for relevant and insightful connections are as endless as the imaginations of fiction authors, screenwriters, musicians, and other artists. In this post, I want to delve deeply into a course at the intersection of popular culture and anthropology that certainly would have held my attention as an undergraduate. Here, I propose a Harry Potter and Anthropology course that uses Harry Potter as a gateway to discussions of the important themes of four-field anthropology. read more…

  • dateApril 20, 2016
  • comments1
  • posted byLeah McCurdy
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Ancestral Lines, Second Edition

At the core of the Teaching Culture series of ethnographies is John Barker’s Ancestral Lines: The Maisin of Papua New Guinea and the Fate of the Rainforest. This book has been tremendously successful in college and university classrooms because of its beautiful writing, its clear organization, and because it does not talk down to or bore students. This week, the book is available in a new edition, and we asked John Barker, the author and editor of the Teaching Culture series, to say a few words about its publication and the history behind the book. read more…

  • dateApril 4, 2016
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  • posted byJohn Barker
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Popular Culture Courses for Anthropology

There are some important distinctions to make regarding popular culture and/or imaginative literature as an aspect of a course. First, what is the primary focal point of the course: popular culture or the academic discipline as a whole? There are many courses in media studies, sociology, or anthropology departments that focus on popular culture or media as a subject of inquiry and critical analysis. Here, I highlight courses in which introductory disciplinary understanding is the primary goal and popular culture serves as a lens through which to focus student attention and the development of their disciplinary knowledge. read more…

  • dateMarch 15, 2016
  • commentsComments Off on Popular Culture Courses for Anthropology
  • posted byLeah McCurdy
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