ANTH 283 - Anthropology for Education: A Liberal Arts Education - What is it Good For?

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

In the context of a historical moment in which the relevance of higher education is being questioned by prominent politicians and other subsets of U.S. society, this course is animated by the questions: “What can a liberal arts education do for you that a good credit card cannot do?” and “What sorts of questions about ourselves and society does a liberal education help us to think about and respond to?” Starting with historical texts that help students explore the practice of the liberal arts idea in a variety of cultural contexts and current debates about the value of higher education in the United States, students learn how to use anthropological methods to study the practice and lived experience of the liberal arts from the perspectives of students (including themselves), faculty, and alumnae/i. In addition to course readings, assignments include interviews, participant observation, response papers, developing an opinion piece, and writing a mini-autoethnography, all of which are designed to facilitate deeper understandings of the educational model in which students are embedded and prepare students to articulate their perspective to a broader public. Candice Lowe Swift.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS