ANTH 170 - Topics in Anthropology

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Introduction to anthropology through a focus on a particular issue or aspect of human experience. Topics vary, but may include Anthropology through Film, American Popular Culture, Extinctions, Peoples of the World. The Department.

Topic for 2024/25a: Water and Culture. Water is necessary for human life. But cultural anthropologists have shown that it is always, also, meaningful in a remarkable range of ways. In our daily water choices, and in our water goals as citizens, we can make better choices when we know more about different water systems in the world and how other people value water. The course introduces classic anthropological approaches such as “making the strange familiar and the familiar strange” and considering the “social life of things.” Focusing on the relation between drinking water and wider cultural systems, water localities studied through texts and films may include Bali, Singapore, the US, former Soviet Georgia, urban Egypt, and Fiji. Students experiment with different genres for written assignments. The course also provides an introduction to the Poughkeepsie area through group projects at local water-related sites. Martha Kaplan.

Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS