Anthropology is a century-old, multidisciplinary attempt to understand human behavior as fully as possible--especially those stable, shared patterns known as "culture." A good first step for students of anthropology, and the goal of this course, is to "make the strange familiar, and the familiar strange." This course begins with a brief survey of anthropology's "four fields" (archaeology, linguistics, physical anthropology, and cultural anthropology), before exploring some of the variations in the most common cultural themes: food, kinship, marriage, religion, etc. Throughout, we will also consider the experience of being an anthropologist ("culture shock," for example), and turning the anthropological lens towards our own society.

Required texts are Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge (2010, 13th ed, isbn 0495810827), and Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir (2002, isbn 0743202414). Course primarily follows a reading-and-discussion format, with occasional writing assignments.