New courses in Anthropology from MIT OpenCourseWare, provider of free and open MIT course materials. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology 2013-06-14T17:40:21+05:00 MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu en-US Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course introduces diverse meanings and uses of the concept of culture with historical and contemporary examples from scholarship and popular media around the globe. It includes first-hand observations, synthesized histories and ethnographies, and visual and narrated representations of human experiences. Students conduct empirical research on cultural differences through the systematic observation of human interaction, employ methods of interpretative analysis, and practice convincing others of the accuracy of their findings. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-01-how-culture-works-fall-2012 Buyandelger, Manduhai 2013-05-31T10:01:46+05:00 21A.01 en-US culture anthropology fieldwork observation interviews Halloween public spaces gender style race class religion MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course enhances cross-cultural understanding through the discussion of practical, ethical, and epistemological issues in conducting social science and applied research in foreign countries or unfamiliar communities. It includes a research practicum to help students develop interviewing, participant-observation, and other qualitative research skills, as well as critical discussion of case studies. The course is open to all interested students, but intended particularly for those planning to undertake exploratory research or applied work abroad. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=6c9fe575f67c9c41bb343c085fca0c95 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-801j-cross-cultural-investigations-technology-and-development-fall-2012 Paxson, Heather 2013-03-01T14:54:18+05:00 21A.801J EC.702J STS.071J EC.792J 21A.839J STS.481J en-US ethnography cultural anthropology genealogy interviews fieldwork observation technology technology transfer development globalization research culture health gender women economics international global D-lab MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course examines how medicine is practiced cross-culturally, with particular emphasis on Western biomedicine. Students analyze medical practice as a cultural system, focusing on the human, as opposed to the biological, side of things. Also considered is how people in different cultures think of disease, health, body, and mind. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=8b1ef75d4133166449de54ed560883b2 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-215-disease-and-health-culture-society-and-ethics-spring-2012 Jackson, Jean 2013-01-23T10:45:03+05:00 21A.215 en-US history of medicine sickness healing disease causation beliefs disease treatment institutions of medicine MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course covers major theorists and theoretical schools since the late 19th century. Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Bourdieu, Levi-Strauss, Geertz, Foucault, Gramsci, and others. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=3c83e9cd09618526e778f467dd449f25 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-750j-social-theory-and-analysis-fall-2011 Fischer, Michael M.J. 2012-07-24T10:09:24+05:00 21A.750J STS.250J en-US Marx Weber Durkheim Bourdieu Levi-Strauss Geertz Foucault Gramsc social theory concepts debates history of ideas intellectual history anthropology MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm An introduction to the cross-cultural study of ethnic and national identity. We examine the concept of social identity, and consider the ways in which gendered, linguistic, religious, and ethno-racial identity components interact. We explore the history of nationalism, including the emergence of the idea of the nation-state, as well as ethnic conflict, globalization, identity politics, and human rights. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=fe9c62a8838ca360c1a122c86d41e804 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-226-ethnic-and-national-identity-fall-2011 Jackson, Jean 2012-06-20T10:09:51+05:00 21A.226 en-US ethnicity culture race oppression social structures transnationalism globalization ethnic conflict MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course examines computers anthropologically, as artifacts revealing the social orders and cultural practices that create them. Students read classic texts in computer science along with cultural analyses of computing history and contemporary configurations. It explores the history of automata, automation and capitalist manufacturing; cybernetics and WWII operations research; artificial intelligence and gendered subjectivity; robots, cyborgs, and artificial life; creation and commoditization of the personal computer; the growth of the Internet as a military, academic, and commercial project; hackers and gamers; technobodies and virtual sociality. Emphasis is placed on how ideas about gender and other social differences shape labor practices, models of cognition, hacking culture, and social media. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=f0b952ecdd4dd19e888a31a18a3cf567 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-350j-cultures-of-computing-fall-2011 Helmreich, Stefan 2012-06-12T12:30:39+05:00 21A.350J STS.086J WGS.484J en-US women in computing computers computer history robotics artificial intelligence history of technology MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm Explores connections between what we eat and who we are through cross-cultural study of how personal identities and social groups are formed via food production, preparation, and consumption. Organized around critical discussion of what makes "good" food good (healthy, authentic, ethical, etc.). Uses anthropological and literary classics as well as recent writing and films on the politics of food and agriculture. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=f03a3a6fbdd3999696b4a8fb09688f8c http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-265-food-and-culture-spring-2011 Paxson, Heather 2012-01-09T15:39:55+05:00 21A.265 en-US anthropology cultural anthropology social anthropology food food culture organic food locavore sustainable farming artisanal cheese MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course explores stereotypes associated with Asian women in colonial, nationalist, state-authoritarian, and global/diasporic narratives about gender and power. Students will read ethnography, cultural studies, and history, and view films to examine the politics and circumstances that create and perpetuate the representation of Asian women as dragon ladies, lotus blossoms, despotic tyrants, desexualized servants, and docile subordinates. Students are introduced to the debates about Orientalism, gender, and power. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=2b5bfda4cff003691b086c818e7a05d8 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-470j-gender-and-representation-of-asian-women-spring-2010 Buyandelger, Manduhai 2011-09-23T15:56:16+05:00 21A.470J SP.448J WGS.448J en-US gender representation asian women stereotypes colonialism nationalism diaspora power MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm Through investigating cross-cultural case studies, this course introduces students to the anthropological study of the social institutions and symbolic meanings of family, household, gender, and sexuality. We will explore the myriad forms that families and households take and evaluate their social, emotional, and economic dynamics. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=4dd3a051812ae8b5f4620aacc9d65646 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-232j-rethinking-the-family-sex-and-gender-fall-2010 Paxson, Heather 2011-08-22T15:05:00+05:00 21A.232J WGS.172 en-US family sex gender anthropology household sexuality social institutions MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This class examines how anthropology and speculative fiction (SF) each explore ideas about culture and society, technology, morality, and life in "other" worlds. We investigate this convergence of interest through analysis of SF in print, film, and other media. Concepts include traditional and contemporary anthropological topics, including first contact; gift exchange; gender, marriage, and kinship; law, morality, and cultural relativism; religion; race and embodiment; politics, violence, and war; medicine, healing, and consciousness; technology and environment. Thematic questions addressed in the class include: what is an alien? What is "the human"? Could SF be possible without anthropology? http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=fa64385bac20ee46a6145ad9c6e0077b http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-270-anthropology-through-speculative-fiction-fall-2009 James, Erica Helmreich, Stefan 2011-01-25T09:23:59+05:00 21A.270 en-US speculative fiction vampires cyborgs utopias dystopias time travel sexuality gender futurism reproduction extraterrestrials race religion alienation cultural studies MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course explores how identities, whether of individuals or groups, are produced, maintained, and transformed. Students will be introduced to various theoretical perspectives that deal with identity formation, including constructions of "the normal." We will explore the utility of these perspectives for understanding identity components such as gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, language, social class, and bodily difference. By semester's end students will understand better how an individual can be at once cause and consequence of society, a unique agent of social action as well as a social product. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=833cfc37951092d10aa41a33cbaad2e2 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-218j-identity-and-difference-spring-2010 Jackson, Jean 2011-01-11T12:48:12+05:00 21A.218J SP.454J WGS.454J en-US class social interaction discourse performance bodies conformity deviance gender biology culture race constructivism essentialism structuralism incarceration religion food group membership sexuality ethnicity institution identity formation stigma MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm Still photography, a practice and form of expression that has worked its way into every facet of social life and every culture in the world, is considered here from the perspectives of history and social science. We will discuss the uses and functions of pictures; how they are to be understood and interpreted; whether they have clear-cut content and meanings; how they shape and are shaped by politics, economics, and social life. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=18a49583066effd4332022e5358d5d2b http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-348-photography-and-truth-spring-2008 Howe, James 2010-06-08T15:59:12+05:00 21A.348 CMS.835 en-US Photography anthropology culture subject and treatment of image art ethnographic documentation ethnography documentary taking pictures MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course explores a range of contemporary scholarship oriented to the study of 'cybercultures,' with a focus on research inspired by ethnographic and more broadly anthropological perspectives. Taking anthropology as a resource for cultural critique, the course will be organized through a set of readings chosen to illustrate central topics concerning the cultural and material practices that comprise digital technologies. We'll examine social histories of automata and automation; the trope of the 'cyber' and its origins in the emergence of cybernetics during the last century; cybergeographies and politics; robots, agents and humanlike machines; bioinformatics and artificial life; online sociality and the cyborg imaginary; ubiquitous and mobile computing; ethnographies of research and development; and geeks, gamers and hacktivists. We'll close by considering the implications for all of these topics of emerging reconceptualizations of sociomaterial relations, informed by feminist science and technology studies. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=179e99fae6d1222ff20615e8e77b29a0 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-850j-the-anthropology-of-cybercultures-spring-2009 Suchman, Lucy 2009-12-01T15:13:33+05:00 21A.850J STS.484J en-US automata robotics cybernetics artificial intelligence student work Turing test bioinformatics construction of identity mobile computing cybergeographies virtual reality geek culture hackers free software posthuman MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm If the twentieth century was the century of physics, the twenty-first promises to be the century of biology. This subject examines the cultural, political, and economic dimensions of biology in the age of genomics, biotechnological enterprise, biodiversity conservation, pharmaceutical bioprospecting, and synthetic biology. Although we examine such social concerns as bioterrorism, genetic modification, and cloning, this is not a class in bioethics, but rather an anthropological inquiry into how the substances and explanations of biology — increasingly cellular, molecular, genetic, and informatic — are changing, and with them broader ideas about the relationship between "nature" and "culture." Looking at such cultural artifacts as cell lines, biodiversity databases, and artificial life models, and using primary sources in biology, social studies of the life sciences, and literary and cinematic materials, we rephrase Erwin Schrödinger's famous 1944 question, "What Is Life?" to ask, in the early 2000s, "What Is Life Becoming?" http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=cb7498fb79ee3593a64a4c9fc101dd63 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-355j-the-anthropology-of-biology-spring-2009 Helmreich, Stefan 2009-09-30T15:17:37+05:00 21A.355J STS.060J en-US synthetic biology genetics Charles Darwin evolution eugenics bioprospecting ethics biodiversity race molecular biology sociology of science construction of identity intersex biotechnology narratives and metaphors MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This class examines the ways humans experience the realm of sound and how perceptions and technologies of sound emerge from cultural, economic, and historical worlds. In addition to learning about how environmental, linguistic, and musical sounds are construed cross-culturally, students learn about the rise of telephony, architectural acoustics, and sound recording, as well as about the globalized travel of these technologies. Questions of ownership, property, authorship, and copyright in the age of digital file sharing are also addressed. A major concern will be with how the sound/noise boundary has been imagined, created, and modeled across diverse sociocultural and scientific contexts. Auditory examples — sound art, environmental recordings, music — will be provided and invited throughout the term. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=0cea24dd7ba0ce5745296f7f4511f5fe http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-360j-the-anthropology-of-sound-spring-2008 Helmreich, Stefan 2008-12-23T03:42:04+05:00 21A.360J STS.065J CMS.710J en-US sound art Jacques Attali music musicology post-modern recording ethnomusicology ethnography soundscape voice audio sonic space science sound cultural studies MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This advanced course in anthropology engages closely with discussions and debates about ethnographic research, ethics, and representation. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=08390b9a2170c2514baabebef98bd35b http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-112-seminar-in-ethnography-and-fieldwork-spring-2008 Helmreich, Stefan 2008-12-10T12:12:50+05:00 21A.112 en-US fieldwork anthropology ethnography culture theory data analysis research design interviewing method student work military anthropology controversies MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm Americans have historically preferred to think of the United States in classless terms, as a land of economic opportunity equally open to all. Yet, social class remains a central fault line in the U.S. Subject explores the experiences and understandings of class among Americans positioned at different points along the U.S. social spectrum. Considers a variety of classic frameworks for analyzing social class and uses memoirs, novels and ethnographies to gain a sense of how class is experienced in daily life and how it intersects with other forms of social difference such as race and gender. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=1f32339e85e21bad9ccb2b55422bb222 http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-235-american-dream-exploring-class-in-the-u-s-spring-2007 Walley, Christine 2007-11-01T00:55:08+05:00 21A.235 en-US Class inequality anthropology narrative ethnography marx weber bourdieu post-structuralism habitus race gender upward mobility downward mobility deindustrialization assembly line rich post war underclass MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course examines relationships among technology, culture, and politics in a variety of social and historical settings ranging from 19th century factories to 21st century techno dance floors, from colonial Melanesia to capitalist Massachusetts. We will be interested in whether technology has produced a better world, and for whom. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=c1ca38c9171a176481510bde5bbcd39f http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-340j-technology-and-culture-fall-2006 Helmreich, Stefan 2007-03-30T00:12:43+05:00 21A.340J STS.075J en-US MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This course seeks to examine how people experience gender - what it means to be a man or a woman - and sexuality in a variety of historical and cultural contexts. We will explore how gender and sexuality relate to other categories of social identity and difference, such as race and ethnicity, economic and social standing, urban or rural life, etc. One goal of the class is to learn how to critically assess media and other popular representations of gender roles and stereotypes. Another is to gain a greater sense of the diversity of human social practices and beliefs in the United States and around the world. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=e61df22983bfe25978cc3f4a0b16f69a http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-231j-gender-sexuality-and-society-spring-2006 Paxson, Heather 2006-09-14T10:30:44+05:00 21A.231J SP.455J WGS.455J en-US gender sexuality marriage nationalism race class sex globalization professionalization agency appetite identity transvestite transgender intersexuality motherhood fetus sexism 21A.231J 21A.231 SP.455J SP.455 MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm This class has been reorganized to focus primarily on the War in Iraq. As in previous years, the class still examines war in cross-cultural perspective, asking whether war is intrinsic to human nature, what causes war, how particular cultural experiences of war differ, and how war has affected American culture. http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=e00ce5b7cff74efca88487676ff4b9ec http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-217-anthropology-of-war-and-peace-fall-2004 Gusterson, Hugh 2006-06-28T16:14:30+05:00 21A.217 en-US anthropology war peace f humans are by nature warlike the evolution of war in cross-cultural perspective the socialization of warriors and the construction of enemies the recent emergence of anti-war movements sociobiological and other theories of war ethnic hatred and civil war in Rwanda Bosnia and Northern Ireland military culture in the U.S. and elsewhere peace movements studies of military conversion Northern Ireland humans are by nature warlike MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm